In the matchup between 1-1 teams Hanwha Life Esports and IG in Round 2 of the 2026 LoL World Championship (Worlds) Swiss Stage, held early on the morning of October 26 KST at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas, IG emerged victorious. IG overpowered Hanwha Life Esports by winning major skirmishes throughout the match.
Early in the game, a Level 1 bot lane 2v2 skirmish broke out, with IG starting off by taking down 'Gumayusi's Kalista. Skirmishes also broke out in the topside focused on the junglers, where 'Zeus's Olaf answered back by killing 'TheShy's Kled. However, 'Wei's Nocturne ganked top at Level 2 to shut down Olaf, quickly avenging Kled's first death.
IG heavily committed players to the Void Grubs and secured four additional kills in a 4v4 fight. Hanwha Life Esports held their ground through map macro, preventing the gold deficit from continually widening while steadily building up three Dragon stacks. Thanks to Hanwha Life Esports' sharp macro play, the gold gap remained negligible. However, IG had a trick up their sleeve. At the 20-minute mark, they executed a sneaky Baron play to secure the buff for free, then won the subsequent Dragon teamfight to claim the Dragon Soul, causing the gold lead to widen significantly.
IG went on to win the following major teamfight in the top lane as well, with 'Rookie's Annie scoring a quadra kill. When the next Baron spawned, IG baited Hanwha Life Esports by starting the objective. Winning yet another teamfight, IG pushed all the way to destroy Hanwha Life Esports' Nexus. With this result, IG moved to 2-1, while Hanwha Life Esports fell to 1-2. Under the Swiss Stage format where three wins guarantee a spot in the Quarterfinals and three losses mean elimination, a defeat in their next match would officially eliminate Hanwha Life Esports.
