LPL's Nightmare Start: Three Losses, Zero Dragons at Worlds 2026
The Swiss stage of the 2026 League of Legends World Championship opened badly for China’s LPL, and the scoreboard was not the most uncomfortable number of the night. In three straight losses, iG, TES and BLG did not secure a single dragon between them — a resource-side collapse that maps almost exactly onto the three defeats.
Each game had its own script. In the opener, iG jumped out to a 1-for-4 advantage in the early game, only for mid laner Rookie to be repeatedly picked off on Aurora while Gen.G’s Chovy took over on Akali. Gen.G won a 1-for-5 fight at the dragon soul and pushed straight through.
TES never found a foothold against HLE. Zeka ran the game on Yone, HLE pressed from the first minutes and closed it out at 24 minutes. BLG’s loss to MKOI was the surprise of the night: the European side struck first with a 2-for-0 double kill in the bottom lane, and jojopyun’s Sylas picked up a double kill at a dragon fight to build an early lead.
BLG’s mid laner knight answered with two solo kills on Akali, and BLG briefly clawed back a 1-for-3 fight, but MKOI kept stacking dragons and holding the gold lead. In the soul fight MKOI killed BLG’s bot lane duo, took the earth soul and then the Baron. Elyoya’s Jarvan IV, described by Chinese fans as the game’s decisive force, was killed by knight late, but the damage was done.
For BLG, the sharpest criticism landed on Viper’s Ashe, killed in lane and finishing on a 3-5-8 scoreline. Chinese commentators and fans were unforgiving. One agent, Hanyi, questioned why the team did not contest an Elder Dragon with 20 seconds left; a caster noted that all ten co-streamers had predicted a BLG win; another called MKOI a European soft touch. Fans piled on the bottom lane, jungle and support, and former world champion Doinb joked that whoever he watches loses.
The format now bites. All three LPL teams sit in the 0-1 group, where eight teams are drawn into four matches. A second defeat sends them to 0-2 and into best-of-three elimination series, where one more loss ends the run. Because three of the eight teams in that group are from the LPL, the draw could easily produce a Chinese derby — a guaranteed Chinese win, but also a guaranteed Chinese loss.
AL are the only LPL side yet to play. On the other side of the bracket, HLE’s players were relaxed. Top laner Zeus said the first day should be a clean sweep for the LCK, and that facing 369 again after a long break was fun. Zeka called his win one-sided and said he is feeling more confident on AP champions.
The Swiss stage resumes with the 0-1 draw, and the first thing to watch is whether the LPL’s dragon control changes at all — three games without a single one is the stat the region’s coaches will be staring at.