Worlds 2026 Play-In

The 2026 League of Legends World Championship is the apex of LoL competition, that teams spend the entire season preparing for. In the play-in stage, four teams compete to leave only the winner qualifying for the main stage.

Opposing the lowest seeds from Europe, North America, Brazil, and Asia-Pacific, this tournament should be a battle to decide whether EU or NA gets their third seed to the main stage. These two regions have almost always been stronger and remain so. However, the LCP has beaten the LEC before, and Brazil has also dismantled NA. While the CBLOL hasn’t locked their first and second seed yet, FURIA took out Cloud9 5-0 at the Americas Cup.

Upsets aside, we’re looking at a fight between Cloud9 and Karmine Corp. Those two teams have never faced each other yet. C9 is attending their first international since 2023, and KC has only begun being relevant in 2025.

KC lost to Team Liquid at both First Stand 2025 and MSI 2026. Then, they came back against Sentinels at EWC 2026. With both teams having a tendency to crumble under pressure, the play-in’s outcome is still up in the air.