Dplus KIA swept Karmine Corp 3-0 in the League of Legends grand final at the Esports World Cup 2026 — taking home the $600,000 top prize. A tournament that opened with two of its biggest upsets closed with total Korean domination over a team that, just a day earlier, had knocked out the defending world champions in front of its own Paris crowd.
Karmine Corp’s road: two top-tier scalps, one home crowd
Karmine Corp went through two genuinely major upsets to reach the final. In the quarterfinal, the French side swept LPL powerhouse AG.AL 2-0. In the semifinal, it got even tougher: defending world champions T1 took Game 1 in 32 minutes, but KC clawed back in Game 2 (building a 4k gold lead by the 13-minute mark) and closed it out with a decisive dragon teamfight in Game 3 — 2-1 in front of their own home crowd in Paris.
Dplus KIA’s road: ending a three-peat bid
Dplus KIA’s path to the final was quieter but no less convincing: they eliminated Bilibili Gaming (one of the tournament’s shocks), then ended Gen.G’s bid for a third straight EWC title in the semifinal — the team most expected to three-peat didn’t get past the Koreans.
The final: a sweep, no drama at all
In the decisive match, Dplus KIA gave Karmine Corp nothing — a clean 3-0 with none of the comeback drama that had carried the French side past T1 a day earlier. Tournament MVP went to Sin “Smash” Geum-jae, a 19-year-old who closed the event with an 8.1 KDA and an extra $25,000 bonus.
| Stat | Dplus KIA | Karmine Corp |
|---|---|---|
| Final result | Won 3-0 | Lost 0-3 |
| Road to final | Bilibili Gaming, Gen.G (3x champions) | AG.AL, T1 (defending world champs) |
| Tournament MVP | Smash (8.1 KDA, +$25k) | — |
What it means for the scene
For Dplus KIA and star midlaner Showmaker, this is their first international title since 2020 — a return to the top after years without a major trophy. For Karmine Corp, the home tournament turned into a “semifinal heroes, final footnote” story: beating the defending world champions in front of their own fans, then failing to take a single game in the decisive match — a contrast that’s likely to be discussed on the scene for a while.
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