T1 are through to the Worlds 2026 semi-finals after ending Karmine Corp's run in four games. Bilibili Gaming now stand between the Korean side and a place in the Brooklyn final.
The quarter-final was played on Friday 6 November at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas. The Korean side took the first two games in 36 and 30 minutes. Karmine Corp pulled one back over 37 minutes. T1 then closed out the series in 35 minutes.
The result puts T1 in the Worlds semi-finals for a sixth year running, a streak that began in 2021, Sports Kyunghyang reported. Bilibili Gaming await them on Sunday 8 November, with a place in the final at stake.
Karmine Corp’s tournament began on 15 October. They beat Cloud9 3-2 in the Play-In. In the Swiss Stage, the French organisation opened with a 1-0 win over Anyone’s Legend. Defeats to LYON and Bilibili Gaming followed. Karmine Corp then beat CTBC Flying Oyster 2-0 and Movistar KOI 2-0 to reach the knockouts.
Karmine Corp sat 13th on 1785 in the Elo power rankings, just behind their opponents. The teams had also split their two earlier meetings this year. T1 won 3-0 at the Mid-Season Invitational on 29 June. Karmine Corp won 2-1 at the Esports World Cup on 18 July.
T1 reached the knockouts with wins over LOS, CTBC Flying Oyster and Movistar KOI. Their one Swiss Stage defeat came against Dplus KIA. Bilibili Gaming swept that same Dplus KIA side 3-0 in the first quarter-final on 5 November. In the Swiss Stage, they also beat Hanwha Life Esports 2-0 and Karmine Corp 1-0.
The most recent meeting between the semi-finalists went to Bilibili Gaming. That was a best-of-one in the Esports World Cup 2026 group stage.
The other semi-final is Gen.G against Invictus Gaming on Saturday 7 November at 16:00 Central Time. Gen.G beat LYON 3-0 in their quarter-final. Invictus Gaming beat Top Esports 3-1. Nineteen teams started the tournament, which has a total prize pool of $5,000,000.
Notre aventure à nos premiers Worlds de League of Legends s'arrête ici…
On s'incline sur le score de 1-3 face à T1, et on termine donc Top 5-8 de la compétition.
Merci à tous pour votre soutien indéfectible cette année, on reviendra. #KCORP pic.twitter.com/ODU8KJxEH1
— Karmine Corp (@KarmineCorp) November 7, 2026
UK viewers will hear familiar voices on the English-language broadcast. British casters Andrew ‘Vedius’ Day, Dan ‘Aux’ Harrison and Aaron ‘Medic’ Chamberlain are on the team. Vedius is listed to cast in the Knockout Stage, which runs from 3 to 14 November.
The winner of T1 against Bilibili Gaming will play in the best-of-five Grand Final in Brooklyn. It starts on Saturday 14 November at 2pm EST.