Invictus Gaming Reaches the Worlds 2026 Semifinals

Invictus Gaming advanced to the semifinals of Worlds 2026 by beating LPL rival Top Esports 3-1 in the first quarterfinal match of the elimination stage. The best-of-five series was played on November 3 at the event center in Allen, Texas. The win guaranteed China a semifinal spot after LPL teams started 0-4 in the Swiss stage.

Top Esports took the court without ZUIAN due to visa problems. Bai '369' Jia-Hao, who came into the lineup, was effective in the second game after IG built a lead of more than 10,000 gold in the first. Playing Renekton, 369 turned the series around by killing JiaQi and TheShy on his own late in the game. IG then won the next two games to close out the series.

The two teams had met twice in September. IG won their LPL Split 3 play-off match 3-2 on September 5, while Top Esports had secured a 3-1 win in the LPL Regional Finals on September 17. The total prize pool for Worlds 2026 is 5 million US dollars, and the champion will earn 1 million dollars. Each team eliminated in the semifinals will receive 400 thousand dollars, so IG has guaranteed that amount.

IG's path to this result began in the middle of the Split 3 season, when they were in Nirvana Group. TheShy and Rookie, who returned at the club's request after a break, helped the team qualify for Worlds. Both had won the 2018 world championship with IG. TheShy said he had promised to help the CEO of IG, adding, "I came back to keep my word."

The rest of the quarterfinals will be played this week. Gen.G will face LYON on November 4. Dplus KIA will host Bilibili Gaming on November 5. Europe's last representative, Karmine Corp, will face T1 on November 6. The semifinal matches will be played in Allen on November 7 and 8, and the final will take place in Brooklyn on November 14. IG's semifinal opponent will be the winner of the Gen.G versus LYON match.