In Round 4 of the 2026 LoL World Championship (Worlds), held at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas on October 29 (KST), IG defeated LYON 2-1 to secure their spot in the quarterfinals. Although they entered Worlds as the 4th seed after many twists and turns, they are continuing their miracle run by becoming the first LPL team to advance to the quarterfinals. It is their first time reaching the quarterfinal stage in seven years since 2019.
Game 1 demonstrated the momentum of a red-hot IG. LYON seemed to play comfortably based on the laning strength of their Ezreal-Karma duo, but IG rattled LYON by scoring in every objective teamfight. Starting with a skirmish in the top lane, the scaling of IG's carry dealers—who were already well-farmed—accelerated, and following consecutive teamfight victories, IG closed out Game 1 in just 27 minutes.
The early game of Game 2 remained tightly balanced. IG maintained a delicate balance by pulling ahead in the bottom lane while LYON led in top. When IG took a kill in mid lane following a Dragon steal by 'Wei' on Lee Sin, LYON answered back by shutting down 'TheShy''s Zaahen in the side lane. LYON scored through ambush plays and took down Lee Sin once more, beginning to pull ahead.
IG also executed a clever play by taking position in the enemy jungle first instead of conceding the Dragon for free, scoring two kills and securing Baron. However, LYON minimized their Baron losses by taking down 'Meiko''s Nautilus, then secured a decisive victory in a Dragon teamfight powered by 'Dhokla''s Olaf. From Jhin's perspective, there was no stopping a well-scaled Olaf's charge, and LYON capitalized on that momentum to take Game 2.
In the decisive final Game 3, IG's bottom duo created a highlight play by trading 2-for-2 in a 2-v-3 situation. Although 'Inspired''s Xin Zhao ambushed bottom once more to take down 'Meiko''s Lux, they could not stop 'JiaQi''s Caitlyn from scaling. IG also widened the CS gap through lane pressure in top and mid according to matchup advantages, naturally taking control of the game.
LYON repeatedly caught 'Rookie' Song Eui-jin's Orianna in the side lanes. However, IG built a gap of nearly 4,000 gold on laning strength and macro management alone, dismantling the bottom inhibitor turret. After shutting down 'Dhokla''s K'Sante and securing the Mountain Soul, IG swept four kills without suffering a single death in a teamfight in front of Baron. Marching straight into the enemy base, IG destroyed the Nexus.
