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Karmine Corp are one series away from the Swiss Stage of the League of Legends World Championship 2026. The LEC’s third seed swept MVK Esports 3-0 in the Play-In upper-bracket final at the Riot Games Arena in Los Angeles on 16 October, and will play for the last Swiss Stage ticket on 18 October.
It was a far more convincing performance than KC’s opening series. On the first day of the Play-In, they needed all five games to get past Cloud9 KIA. Against MVK, the representatives of Vietnam, they never looked in danger.
How the sweep happened
According to Strafe, KC won the three games by kill scores of 9-4, 21-11 and 14-7. GosuGamers describes a controlled performance in which KC dictated the pace throughout and gave MVK very few chances to fight back. MVK showed flashes of their potential, but their lack of international experience was visible against a more composed opponent.
GosuGamers singled out the bot lane of Caliste and Busio, while stressing that every KC player contributed. The numbers back that up.
Karmine Corp’s Play-In numbers
Games of Legends (gol.gg) tracks every game of the Play-In. Across KC’s eight games so far, six of them wins, their players have the following averages:
| Player | Role | Games | Win rate | KDA | Kill participation | Damage share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canna | Top | 8 | 75% | 2.7 | 46.3% | 24.7% |
| Yike | Jungle | 8 | 75% | 4.1 | 71.2% | 14.9% |
| Kyeahoo | Mid | 8 | 75% | 2.3 | 58.6% | 27.6% |
| Caliste | Bot | 8 | 75% | 4.4 | 78.3% | 24.9% |
| Busio | Support | 8 | 75% | 3.7 | 78.4% | 8% |
Caliste has the highest KDA of any KC player at 4.4 and averages 506 gold per minute, the highest figure of any player in the Play-In. Busio’s 78.4% kill participation shows how much of KC’s play runs through the bot side of the map.
The Play-In format
The Play-In is a four-team double-elimination bracket in which every series is a best-of-five. Only the winner advances. The four teams were Karmine Corp from Europe, Cloud9 KIA from North America, FURIA from Brazil and MVK Esports from Vietnam.
| Date | Series | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 15 October | Karmine Corp vs Cloud9 KIA | 3-2 |
| 15 October | MVK Esports vs FURIA | 3-0 |
| 16 October | Karmine Corp vs MVK Esports (upper final) | 3-0 |
| 16 October | FURIA vs Cloud9 KIA (lower semi-final) | 3-1 |
| 17 October | MVK Esports vs FURIA (lower final) | In progress at filing |
| 18 October | Karmine Corp vs lower-bracket winner (final) | 11:00 PT / 18:00 UTC |
After losing to KC, MVK dropped into the lower bracket for a rematch with FURIA, whom they had beaten 3-0 on opening day. FURIA had eliminated Cloud9 3-1 to stay alive. The winner of that series meets KC in the final on Sunday, 18 October, at 11:00 PT, which is 21:00 Kyiv time.
KC’s season so far
KC arrive in good form. They reached the Esports World Cup final in Paris in July, where they lost 3-0 to Dplus KIA. The Play-In was always going to be a test of whether that form would travel to Los Angeles, and two series in, the answer looks positive.
What is at stake
The Play-In winner joins the 15 directly seeded teams in the Swiss Stage, which runs from 23 to 31 October at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas. Teams in the Swiss Stage are paired with opponents on the same record; three wins take a team to the quarter-finals and three losses eliminate it.
The four LCK teams, Gen.G, Hanwha Life Esports, T1 and Dplus KIA, are already waiting in the Swiss Stage, along with the top seeds from China and the other major regions. For KC, reaching the Swiss Stage would also mean a chance at revenge against Dplus KIA.
What to watch in the final
KC hold the advantage of a day’s rest, while their opponent will have played two best-of-five series in two days. Whichever team comes through the lower bracket, the bot lane is likely to be a key matchup, with Caliste and Busio the duo that GosuGamers highlighted after the MVK sweep. EsportsSignal will report the result from Los Angeles.
Sources: GosuGamers, Strafe Day 2 recap, Games of Legends (gol.gg) Play-In stats, Aju Press
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