Some rivalries have a way of producing exactly the kind of chaos fans came for. Invictus Gaming and Top Esports delivered that and more on September 5, 2026, with IG surviving a punishing best-of-five to eliminate TES from the LPL 2026 Split 3 playoffs with a 3-2 result.
The match, played at the Shanghai IG-Huya Competition Center, was the kind of series that makes regular-season records feel like ancient history. TES came in as the stronger seed on paper, having finished third in the Split 3 regular season standings. They left without a path to the title.
How the series unfolded
TES won the coin toss ahead of Game 1 and chose blue side, a small procedural edge that ultimately did not translate into a series advantage.
For TES, the result is the latest entry in a frustrating chapter. Earlier in 2026, TES reached the Split 2 Grand Finals only to be swept by Bilibili Gaming, 0-3. Finishing third in the regular season and advancing to the playoff bracket is not a small achievement in a competition as deep as the LPL. But for an organization that has spent years at the edge of domestic glory, deep runs without trophies start to tell their own story.
Where IG stands heading into the bracket
IG’s 2026 performances across splits have been uneven. What grounded their year was the Demacia Cup, which they won in dominant fashion by defeating JDG 3-0 in the final.
IG’s institutional weight in the LPL is worth noting. The organization won the 2018 World Championship, the pinnacle of global League of Legends competition, a title that cemented their place in the sport’s early lore.
What to watch from here
For TES, the offseason begins now. The organization will need to assess what went wrong across a year that saw them reach the Split 2 Grand Finals and the Split 3 deep playoff rounds without collecting a title from either.