Top Esports and JD Gaming go out winless in the LPL playoffs Split 3

Naerlyn Published September 7, 2026

Top Esports and JD Gaming have both lost in the lower bracket of the LPL playoffs. After losing in round 1 of the upper bracket, they have now been eliminated without winning a series.

TES and JDG will still get one chance to qualify for the 2026 League of Legends World Championship through the Regional Finals, but they’re out of the playoffs.

Top Esports and JD Gaming are eliminated from the LPL playoffs

Top Esports lost their upper bracket match against LGD Gaming, even though they faced a bottom three Ascend team. Then, they went up against Invictus Gaming in the lower bracket.

The series went on for five games and TES had the early lead in three of them. That didn’t stop them from losing two of these games as IG navigated the mid game better. Then, game 5 was one of the biggest mid-game stomps in tier 1, as IG won in 24 minutes with a 16.7k gold lead.

As for JD Gaming, they fell 3-1 to Team WE, the squad that almost went winless in Split 2. After that, Ninjas in Pyjamas went 3-0 to knock them out.

In the LPL, only the winner of the playoffs qualifies for the World Championship. The other contenders all receive Championship Points, and use them to advance. The team that scored the most points gets the second seed, and the next four in points compete in the Regional Finals for the last two spots.

TES and JDG will get their last chance there. Top Esports will most likely finish second or third in points, which will give them two chances to qualify. However, JDG is locked in the lower bracket, meaning that they’ll need to win two series in a row to make it to Worlds.

TES and JDG will have to play through the Regional Finals. Image Credit: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games

Invictus Gaming and Ninjas in Pyjamas go on a rampage

In the LPL, teams from Group Nirvana usually drop quietly, as they played fewer games in the regular season, and against weaker opponents. In the Split 3 playoffs, IG and NiP have been the reapers of Ascend teams.

IG and NiP made quick work of the bottom two Ascend teams as they both went 3-0 in the play-in. With their victories against TES and JDG, they’ve now taken out half of the other group.

Next up, IG will face WE and NiP will get LGD. Seeing how they’ve fared so far, NiP should make short work of their opponents. The prediction markets give them a 63% probability of winning.

As for Team WE, they’ve proven that they can never be counted out. In Split 2, they went from going 1-13 to stomping Anyone’s Legend and being the only team to beat Bilibili Gaming. While this match should be more of a toss-up, Polymarket still gives IG a market-implied 60% chance of winning.

Featured image credit: Cesar Galeao / Riot Games

Related to:

Top Esports

JD Gaming LPL Split 3 2026 Playoffs