AL on the Brink at Worlds as Tarzan Admits 'Everything Is Broken'
China’s League of Legends fans expected a lot from AL, the LPL’s top seed entering the 2026 World Championship. Two rounds into the Swiss stage, the team is one series away from going home.
AL lost to TES in an all-Chinese matchup on the second day of the Swiss stage, dropping to 0-2 after an earlier defeat to KC. Under the Swiss format used at Worlds, teams that reach three losses are eliminated. The 0-2 bracket now plays best-of-three series, so AL must win its next match or exit at the top 16.
That is a startling position for a first seed. The Swiss stage opened with best-of-one games, where a single draft mistake or a bad early fight can decide everything. AL lost both.
Afterward, jungler Tarzan gave a blunt assessment to Korean media. He said the team is in a confused and frustrated state, that it has not shown the level it is capable of, and that the players must talk through their problems quickly. He also said he had expected the switch to best-of-three to feel easier to prepare for, since a loss in game one no longer ends the series.
The wider picture is mixed for the LPL. TES beat AL to reach 1-1, where it joins CFO and G2 in a pool that still plays best-of-one in round three. TES’s star bottom laner JackeyLove said the win felt good and that the team had time to rest, and credited top laner 369 with finding form quickly despite joining the roster late. 369’s return came after another top laner’s visa problems left the team short-handed; his first win since coming back came against the same opponent, AL, that beat him in his last match before his break.
AL’s problems look broader than one lane. Chinese analyst Han Yi said TES still has issues in the bottom lane but AL’s are bigger, pointing to questionable draft choices and poor form in the mid lane. AL now sits alongside LOS, which also fell to 0-2 after losing to G2, in the elimination bracket. Two more teams will join them from the remaining 0-1 matches.
For G2, the day went better. The European side beat LOS behind a standout Lee Sin performance from SkewMond, who built an early lead and helped close out a chaotic game that stretched to the Elder Dragon. G2 moved to 1-1 and posted on social media afterward about choosing the most ‘Hall of Fame’ way to play.
MKOI, another European team, moved to 2-0 by beating CFO. Jungler Elyoya said it was almost the first time in his career he had started a tournament 2-0, and that reaching two wins means nothing if the team fails to make the quarterfinals.
The Swiss stage now moves into its decisive stretch. For AL, the margin is gone: one more loss and the LPL’s top seed is out before the knockout rounds begin.