Worlds 2026: Riot draws the Swiss Stage round 1 matchups
Karmine Corp, the Play-In winner, opens against Anyone's Legend; all eight matches are played Oct. 23 in Texas, starting at 11 a.m. Mexico City time.
Karmine Corp, from Europe's LEC league, beat MVK Esports 3-0 in the Play-In final and took the last spot in the Swiss Stage of Worlds 2026, according to GosuGamers. With all 16 teams now set, Riot drew the first round in Los Angeles.
Round 1 is played Friday, Oct. 23, in Allen, Texas: eight one-game matches, the first at noon Texas time, which is 11 a.m. in Mexico City (the conversion is ours). The order of the matches within the day is not final yet.
The draw rules, according to Inven Global: pot 1 plays pot 4, pot 2 plays pot 3, and no team draws an opponent from its own region.
| Match | Reported by |
|---|---|
| Gen.G vs. Invictus Gaming | Two outlets |
| Hanwha Life Esports vs. Top Esports | Two outlets |
| T1 vs. LOS | Two outlets |
| Dplus KIA vs. G2 Esports | Two outlets |
| Anyone's Legend vs. Karmine Corp | One outlet |
| Team Liquid Alienware vs. CTBC Flying Oyster | One outlet |
| Team Secret Whales vs. LYON | One outlet |
| Bilibili Gaming vs. Movistar KOI | One outlet |
Two of the matchups pit Korea against China (Gen.G against IG and Hanwha Life against TES), and Dplus KIA, the fourth Korean team, starts against G2. T1 is the only Korean side that does not face an opponent from the big leagues: it drew Brazil's LOS, the only Latin American team in the stage.
In the Swiss Stage, three wins qualify a team and three losses eliminate it; the five rounds are spread between Oct. 23 and Oct. 31, and the quarterfinals begin on Nov. 3, as our schedule guide to the tournament details. The last four matchups in the table come only from GosuGamers, so they are worth checking against the official LoL Esports schedule.
