Worlds 2026: Gen.G and Dplus KIA secure playoff spots, the West falters, and the LPL rebounds

Day 3 of the League of Legends Worlds 2026 Main Event was one to forget for the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC). After a promising start in the first two days, the LEC failed to pick up a win on Day 3. The LCK had a fairly good day, while LPL teams slowly returned to their expected form.

With two teams now securing a spot in the playoffs, things are truly starting to heat up in the Swiss Stage. The remaining Round 3 matches tomorrow will decide the 2-1 and 1-2 pools of teams, along with the first two teams to be eliminated from the competition.

Day 3 of Worlds 2026 Main Event kicked off with taking on . The early game was a bloody affair with both teams trading blows. By the 10th minute, iG held onto a consistent 1-2k gold lead, but AD Carry had a 2k individual gold lead, a factor that proved to be crucial in the Rift Herald fight at the 19-minute mark, which blew the game wide open in favor of iG.

After this swing in momentum, iG continued to press forward and won every teamfight in decisive fashion to pull off a big upset with JiaQi the undisputed star of the show. Invictus Gaming are now one win away from playoffs, while HLE find themselves one loss away from being eliminated at Worlds 2026.

After a shaky start to Worlds 2026, have started to ramp up at the event against all odds. TES faced , a matchup that has become an unexpected rivalry over the past few years. Much like the first match of the day, it was a close game with blows being traded back and forth. However, the game broke wide open in the 25th minute, when G2 poorly executed a teamfight. This allowed TES to get a big gold lead and close out the game in the next 10 minutes.

G2 continue their worrying trend of poor map movements and bizarre macro decisions. The team’s cohesion has also not been up to par compared to their domestic form. With no more second chances, the LEC champions need to quickly regain their footing. On the other hand, TES have been a pleasant surprise, with having an exceptional performance on Ambessa.

secured the first playoff spot at Worlds 2026 with a clean 2-0 win over . The first game of the series was quite close, but DK simply outscaled with their team comp. In the game-ending fight, DK’s AD Carry secured the first pentakill at Worlds 2026 on Kai’Sa.

The second game was not even close despite ’s spicy Diana pick to counter ’s legendary Syndra. A couple of early-game fumbles from MKOI allowed DK to snowball their gold lead and close out the series. Dplus KIA have been impressive at the event so far, but only time will tell if they can keep up this form in the Bo5s.

For the third time, failed to win a series against . This time around, put up a valiant effort and even took the lead in the series with great macro decisions and world-class teamfighting. However, Gen.G quickly bounced back in Game 2 to force a third one.

In the final game of the day, LYON had a promising start with their double AD Carry comp, but s Camille proved to be too much to handle in the mid-game teamfights. The Gen.G toplaner was later named the series MVP as he went 10/4/19 across three games. Gen.G have made the playoffs as everyone expected while LYON will have two more chances at the very least to secure quarterfinals at Worlds 2026.