The LoL Worlds 2026 Play-In bracket begins on Thursday, October 15, with Cloud9 Kia against Karmine Corp and FURIA against MVK Esports. Four teams are fighting for one place in the Swiss Stage, and the bracket runs through Sunday, October 18 in Los Angeles.
The draw is complete, but matches have not started as of October 14. Opening fixtures and their UK start times are confirmed; later opponents are decided by results in the upper and lower brackets. The table below follows the real best-of-five structure without filling unplayed games with invented scores.
LoL Worlds 2026 Play-In bracket: opening matches
| Date | UK start | Bracket round | Match or participants | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday 15 October | 7:00 PM BST | Upper semifinal 1 | Cloud9 Kia vs Karmine Corp | Not played |
| Thursday 15 October | 12:00 AM BST (16 Oct) | Upper semifinal 2 | FURIA vs MVK Esports | Not played |
| Friday 16 October | 7:00 PM BST | Upper final | Winners of Thursday’s matches | Pending opening matches |
| Friday 16 October | 12:00 AM BST (17 Oct) | Lower semifinal | Losers of Thursday’s matches | Pending opening matches |
| Saturday 17 October | 7:00 PM BST | Lower final | Lower semifinal winner vs upper final loser | Pending earlier results |
| Sunday 18 October | 7:00 PM BST | Qualifying final | Upper final winner vs lower final winner | Pending earlier results |
The opening series are both best-of-five. The bracket’s second match begins at 4 PM Los Angeles time on October 15, which is midnight in the UK at the start of October 16. UK viewers should not confuse 11 AM PDT with 11 AM BST; California and Britain are eight hours apart on opening day.
LoL Worlds 2026 Play-In bracket: how double elimination works
The LoL Worlds 2026 Play-In bracket has an upper and a lower route. The two teams that win Thursday’s opening matches face each other in the upper final on Friday. The two opening losers get another series against each other in the lower semifinal. The loser of that lower semifinal is the first side eliminated.
The losing team from Friday’s upper final drops down to Saturday’s lower final against the surviving lower-bracket team. The winner then plays the upper-final winner on Sunday for the last Swiss qualification place. Winning one opening best-of-five is helpful but doesn’t immediately qualify a team.
LoL Worlds 2026 Play-In bracket: all four teams and seeds
| Team | Region | Worlds entry |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud9 Kia | LCS — North America | LCS third seed |
| Karmine Corp | LEC — EMEA | LEC third seed |
| FURIA | CBLOL — Brazil | CBLOL second seed |
| MVK Esports | LCP — Asia-Pacific | LCP third seed |
FURIA’s path was decided at the CBLOL final on October 10, when LOS beat FURIA 3–2. LOS therefore takes Brazil’s direct Swiss place and FURIA enters Play-Ins. The random draw happened after that regional final and set the two October 15 pairings.
LoL Worlds 2026 Play-In bracket: Cloud9 vs Karmine Corp
Cloud9 and Karmine Corp begin at 7 PM BST on October 15, or 11 AM PDT locally. It is a Fearless Draft best-of-five, so every game changes which champions remain available. The winner moves to Friday’s upper final. The loser has to win two elimination series before reaching Sunday’s qualifying final.
The LoL Worlds 2026 Play-In bracket puts an LCS side against an LEC side immediately. Neither has a Swiss berth from qualification alone. A strong best-of-one record from a regional league doesn’t remove the need to win best-of-fives here.
LoL Worlds 2026 Play-In bracket: FURIA vs MVK
FURIA and MVK play at 12:00 AM BST on October 16, equivalent to 4 PM PDT October 15. FURIA enter as Brazil’s second representative, while MVK take the LCP’s Play-In place. As with the Cloud9/Karmine matchup, it takes three game wins to win the series.
The second series is the late UK broadcast. Once both Thursday matches finish, Friday’s upper and lower matchups become known. The LoL Worlds 2026 Play-In bracket won’t have its final participant confirmed until Sunday’s deciding match ends.
What the Play-In winner gets
The winner of Sunday’s qualifying best-of-five joins 15 teams already in Swiss, creating a 16-team group. Riot assigns that winner to Swiss Draw Tier 4 alongside CTBC Flying Oyster, Invictus Gaming and Dplus Kia. The opening Swiss draw is on October 18 after Play-Ins end.
The winning team then faces a Tier 1 opponent in the Swiss opening round: Gen.G, Anyone’s Legend, Team Liquid Alienware or G2 Esports. That opponent isn’t predetermined, because the draw is random within the pools and subject to no same-region matchups in Round 1.
How to watch the Play-In matches from the UK
Every day of the LoL Worlds 2026 Play-In bracket starts at 7 PM BST, with second best-of-five slots at midnight on October 16 and 17 where scheduled. The matches are broadcast through official LoL Esports channels. You can use the LoL Esports schedule for fixture details and streams.
If you are entering Pick’Ems, the Play-In predictions lock before the first match on October 15. Save the full bracket early rather than waiting for the end of the first series. The existing Pick’Ems guide lists every deadline and the rewards for correct predictions.
LoL Worlds 2026 Play-In bracket results and reporting
Scores become official when the best-of-five series ends and Riot posts the result. As of October 14, no Worlds 2026 Play-In game has been played. The LoL Worlds 2026 Play-In bracket table therefore lists confirmed scheduled matches and match dependencies, not fictitious 3–0 or 3–2 results.
The final series on October 18 decides the one qualifying team. That result also determines the final member of the Tier 4 Swiss pool. All opening Swiss pairings are then determined by the post-Play-In draw, not by the teams’ placement in this four-team bracket.
Official competition source and match schedule: Riot Games Worlds 2026 Primer.
