On the morning of October 17 KST, Karmine Corp swept MVK 3-0 in Upper Bracket Round 2 of the Play-In Stage at the 2026 LoL World Championship, held at Riot Games Arena in Los Angeles, USA, advancing to the deciding match for a spot in the Swiss Stage. The series showcased the sheer power of their Korean solo laners, top laner "Canna" Kim Chang-dong and mid laner "kyeahoo" Kang Yea-hoo.
Speaking with Inven after the match, kyeahoo shared his thoughts: "I'm happy we won 3-0, but it's disappointing that we almost lost Game 3. We gave them opportunities because we didn't play well." As he noted, despite holding an advantage in the final game, Karmine Corp nearly lost momentum after dealing carelessly with the opponent's poke composition, but fortunately closed out the series with a backdoor.
kyeahoo laughed as he recalled the moment: "When we practiced during our recent bootcamp in Korea, there was a game we lost because we mismanaged macro when the enemy didn't have Teleport. That feedback stayed in my head. I knew I had to go side lane and somehow leverage the advantage. Realizing that, I was pushing bottom, but the enemy kept failing to respond. So I called out, 'Kennen, use Teleport, and main force, engage the fight.' It was 100% my shotcall."
On the day, MVK threw in several variables to overcome the gap in individual prowess, substituting their jungler in Game 2 and picking off-meta champions like K'Sante and Kog'Maw in the mid lane. Regarding this, kyeahoo explained, "We had already analyzed their champion pools before the match, so I expected them to pick unusual champions. However, they were even bolder than expected. Still, since I was prepared, I wasn't surprised. Also, because they played Kog'Maw in their match the previous day, I practiced against it in advance, which made today's laning phase much easier."
Joining Karmine Corp this year, kyeahoo embarked on a new challenge in Europe. He said, "Back when I played in the LCK, I used to get very nervous. So I set a personal goal in the LEC to learn how to overcome nerves, and I've solved that to some extent. In terms of results, the roster was so good that I came in thinking as long as I did my job, we would win everything."
At the time, "Canna" Kim Chang-dong was starting as top laner for Karmine Corp, and Head Coach Bok "Reapered" Han-gyu, who has extensive Western experience, joined alongside him. Asked if their presence helped him adapt, kyeahoo shared, "The head coach helped me the most. I received a lot of help from him early on when I struggled to communicate in English." He added, "Chang-dong is not really the chatty type—he's pretty nonchalant. I actually communicate 100 times more with the other teammates than he does."
With kyeahoo joining, Karmine Corp seemed poised to become Europe's new powerhouse after going undefeated in the Summer regular season, but they stumbled in the playoffs and finished in 3rd place. kyeahoo mentioned that taking a break and going through the Korean bootcamp before Worlds helped them shake off their slump.
He stated, "We had some downtime after the season ended before the bootcamp, so I rested for about 5 days. After getting a really good rest, all the stress accumulated during the season was gone, and playing scrims in that state felt fantastic. Also, scrimming against strong teams from Korea and China during the bootcamp yielded good results, which gave us confidence. The trust among teammates grew stronger as well."
Now Karmine Corp heads into the final match. Their opponent has not been determined yet, but Cloud9 is widely expected to be the contender. kyeahoo remarked, "I think Cloud9 will advance, but for now, I'll enjoy watching the remaining matches. If we meet Cloud9 again, it won't be like the first game. Since that was our first match, everyone was nervous, and under pressure, our performance didn't come out fully."
He concluded the interview with determination: "Now everyone has adapted to this stage and relaxed, so we'll play much better. If we meet them again, I think we'll win 3-0 or 3-1 and advance to the Swiss Stage. Thank you to the fans who always support us. We will work hard to achieve the best possible results at this Worlds."
