T1 Beat Karmine Corp 3-1 and Set a Worlds Semifinal With BLG

T1 beat Karmine Corp 3-1 in a best-of-five quarterfinal of the League of Legends World Championship on Friday, November 6, according to Hotspawn's report of November 7. Strafe's schedule had put the series at 5 PM Eastern that day. The result ended Karmine Corp's Worlds 2026 run and sent T1 into a semifinal against Bilibili Gaming, the Chinese team known as BLG. Hotspawn described how it unfolded: T1 won the first two games, Karmine Corp pulled one back, and T1 finished it in game four.

This article follows the series game by game, retraces how Karmine Corp reached the knockout stage, goes back through the earlier 2026 meeting between these teams, and sets out what the result means for the semifinal.

Series result and T1 record from Hotspawn; Swiss Stage record counted from GosuGamers' match reports.

How the series played out

A best-of-five series ends when one team wins three games. Sports Khan, previewing the round on November 3, said every quarterfinal at Worlds 2026 was a best-of-five played as single elimination, and placed the stage at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas. The same preview described T1 as the defending champion, with three straight Worlds titles from 2023 to last year, and noted that a fourth in a row would be a first.

Hotspawn wrote that game one began with a fairly even early game. The organization's composition, built around Yunara, Viktor and Ornn, was designed to scale, and from the middle of the game it took over. T1 won in 35 minutes.

Game two was shorter. Hotspawn reported that T1 finished it in under 30 minutes. Peyz played Kai'Sa well, and Oner on Trundle was described as unkillable. That put T1 up 2-0.

Karmine Corp answered in game three. Hotspawn described a slow, controlled game in which the side showed great discipline, took multiple Baron Nashors and an Elder Dragon, and won to keep the series alive.

Game four also lasted 35 minutes, according to Hotspawn. The outlet wrote that the game turned on a clash between Canna's Renekton, which it called a standout performance, and T1's Miss Fortune and Neeko bot lane duo of Peyz and Keria. Keria's Flash and ultimate play secured the game and the series. Hotspawn also praised Faker's performance throughout the series.

The earlier meeting in 2026

Neither team arrived at the quarterfinal without recent history against the other. Inven Global, in a report published July 18, described the Esports World Cup semifinal as a comeback. It was the first semifinal of the League of Legends event, played at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, and the report noted that the crowd was effectively a home crowd for Karmine Corp.

T1 won game one, with Doran's Jayce winning the top lane against Canna's Shyvana. Inven Global reported that a failed Karmine Corp dive let T1 take a second Dragon, and that T1 later took Baron and held a gold lead above 10,000 by the 27th minute. Karmine Corp took game two after building a lead of about 4,000 gold by the 13th minute, then closed out the game even though T1 sneaked a Baron. In game three T1 pulled ahead, including a teamfight where Faker's Ryze ultimate caught Nuc's Annie. Karmine Corp won the next Dragon fight, then won a teamfight, pushed forward and secured the series 2-1.

Karmine Corp went on to the final, and GosuGamers reported that Dplus KIA won it 3-0 on July 19, with Karmine Corp finishing second. GosuGamers also described Karmine Corp as the Esports World Cup runner-up when it covered the team's Swiss Stage opener at Worlds.

How Karmine Corp reached the knockouts

GosuGamers described Karmine Corp as Europe's third seed at Worlds 2026, and the team came through the Play-In Stage to reach the Swiss Stage. Sports Khan described it as the LEC's third seed that went to a fifth round of the Swiss Stage before barely qualifying for the quarterfinals.

In the Play-In Stage, GosuGamers reported, Karmine Corp beat Cloud9 KIA 3-2, then beat MVK Esports in the upper bracket. MVK Esports beat the CBLOL representatives 3-1 in the lower bracket to earn a rematch, and Karmine Corp won that final qualification series 3-0 for the last Swiss Stage place. The three games ended in 28, 27 and 28 minutes, and the first and third finished 13-2 and 25-12 in kills. MVK Esports were eliminated in 17th place with US$50,000.

GosuGamers wrote that the Swiss Stage ran from October 23 to 31 in Texas. Karmine Corp's first match was against Anyone's Legend, the first seed from China's LPL after it beat BLG 3-1 in the LPL Split 3 grand final. Karmine Corp won by destroying the Anyone's Legend Nexus after about 33 minutes with a 12-4 kill lead. GosuGamers described the result as an upset that came alongside Movistar KOI's win over BLG on the same opening day, and credited bot laner Caliste on Kalista and Canna on Jax as the standouts.

Karmine Corp then suffered back-to-back defeats to LYON and BLG, the same team it would watch advance. After those two defeats it stood at 1-2, and it won its last two matches. GosuGamers wrote that it beat CTBC Flying Oyster in round four and swept Movistar KOI 2-0 in round five. Early Game had described that round as a best-of-three for teams at 2-2.

In that final-round sweep, GosuGamers reported, the first game ran 39 minutes and Karmine Corp won it despite trailing 13-14 in kills. In game two it led 17-4 in kills and by about 14,000 gold at 25 minutes. Inven Global, in a report dated October 31, placed the final Swiss day at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen. It added that Karmine Corp secured the Dragon Soul at 23 minutes in game one and won the Elder Dragon and Baron fights, and that in game two it built a lead of more than 4,000 gold by 16 minutes before taking Baron to end the series. That 3-2 record put Karmine Corp into the knockout stage.

T1 and the semifinal

T1 reached the quarterfinals earlier than Karmine Corp. Early Game reported on October 29 that T1 swept Movistar KOI 2-0 to move to 3-1 and secure a knockout spot, with Doran's Ambessa ultimate in the Dragon Soul fight deciding game one and a gold lead of about 10,000 at 20 minutes in game two. Sports Khan noted that this was T1's last Swiss match, so the team came into the quarterfinal after a long break.

Hotspawn reported that T1 have played in 11 World Championships, including this one, and have never failed to reach at least the semifinals. It listed their first appearance as 2013. Sports Khan had counted the same streak as 10 appearances before the quarterfinal, so the win extended it to 11.

The opponent is BLG, which in GosuGamers' report swept Dplus KIA 3-0 in the quarterfinals to guarantee itself at least a third-to-fourth place finish and US$400,000. GosuGamers stated that Dplus KIA took US$300,000 for fifth to eighth place. Strafe listed BLG's semifinal for Sunday, November 8, at 5 PM Eastern, against the winner of the T1 and Karmine Corp series, which is now T1.

A quarterfinal can end one team's run and extend another's streak.

The history between the two teams is mixed. Hotspawn reported that BLG beat T1 in a best-of-one in the group stage of the Esports World Cup 2026. In the most recent two editions of the Mid-Season Invitational, it counted one 3-2 win for BLG and one clean sweep for T1. And at Worlds 2024, T1 beat BLG 3-2 in the grand final.

Hotspawn also described the shape of the final four. The top four consists of two teams from Korea's LCK and two from China's LPL, and the other semifinal is Gen.G against Invictus Gaming. Strafe listed that match for Saturday, November 7.

What the result means for Karmine Corp

Karmine Corp's run ended in the quarterfinals. The organization came through the Play-In Stage, survived a Swiss Stage that began with an upset, and took a 3-2 record into the knockouts. It also took game three, with multiple Baron Nashors and an Elder Dragon, according to Hotspawn.

Its 2026 run included a win over the first seed from China, a deciding Swiss round won 2-0, and a series against a team that has not missed a Worlds semifinal in 11 tries.

What comes next

The semifinal between T1 and BLG is scheduled for Sunday, November 8, according to Strafe. Hotspawn described it as an LCK against LPL meeting with a place in the Worlds grand final at stake.

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