Karmine Corp is the second ever Western LoL team to beat T1 in a BO3

Naerlyn Published July 19, 2026

Day 4 of the LoL Esports World Cup 2026 concluded and the upsets outdid themselves. Karmine Corp beat T1 and Dplus KIA took down Gen.G. Better yet, both matches were incredible. Here’s our LoL EWC semifinals recap.

Karmine Corp vs T1 (2-1)

KC vs T1 started their series and forgot the brakes at home. With a Ziggs-Shen bot lane for KC facing Taliyah-Camille, the EWC meta was in full force. As planned, the two supports left their third solo laner alone the whole game while they acted as secondary junglers.

Both teams fought back and forth, until a singular fight gave T1 a Baron and basically won them the game. The map concluded with 43 kills in 32 minutes.

Back to regular picks, game 2 was less crazy. The two teams still went for skirmishes all the time, but it wasn’t about constant ganks. Caliste “Caliste” Henry-Hennebert secured a 1v2 kill at level 4 and got a second solo kill onto Kim “Peyz” Su-hwan minutes later.

T1 sneaked their classic 20-minute Baron, but it didn’t change anything. KC was in control all game long and they tied the series in 30 minutes.

The final map was as entertaining as it was a mess. KC misplayed bot and top and fell behind with a strong early game comp.

At minute 20, T1 had the Baron buff and a 6k gold lead. Then, they played a terrible fight with a mistimed Rakan engage and a questionable Ryze ult. This allowed Karmine to cut the deficit by 4k.

With another good fight, they were back to 6k. Second throw, back to 3k again. Third good fight, 6k again followed by an Ocean Soul.

Third throw, and KC removed the gold lead and almost won. T1 then almost won on the push back. However, Karmine found one last miracle engage and ended the game with an extremely close finish.

LoL EWC semifinal recap: DK upset Gen.G. Image credit: Riot Games

Dplus KIA vs Gen.G (2-1)

After one massive upset, DK opened their series with a 12k gold lead. Somehow, Gen.G started winning every fight from there, and equalized the game. After taking Baron and Elder and almost winning from it, they somehow lost one final fight and DK took the first map.

Game 2 was a series of picks and teamfights. Slower paced, somehow more calculated, Gen.G ended up winning it. However, DK was determined to win their prize money, and they finished the series with the least close game of the day.

Karmine Corp scored the first ever series victory for a Western team other than G2 Esports against T1. The BO3 ended as tensely as G2’s win against them did. This series also claimed even more kills than their previous encounter with T1 at MSI, at 125 against 120.

As for DK, they have now eliminated G2, Bilibili Gaming, and Gen.G – the three best teams at First Stand. After three upsets, they’ll now go up to the finals where they finally will not be the underdogs.

Featured image credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games