Gen.G Esports has secured their spot in the finals. Sweeping IG with fierce momentum, they moved one step closer to the Summoner's Cup.
Gen.G Esports defeated IG 3-0 in the semifinals of the 2026 LoL World Championship (Worlds) held at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas, on the 8th (KST) to advance to the finals. This marks their return to the World Championship finals stage for the first time in nine years since their era as Samsung Galaxy, making it the first career attempt at winning the Worlds title for Kiin, Chovy, and Duro.
Game 3 had a somewhat shaky start compared to the previous games. Meiko's aggressive level 1 play on Alistar heavily chunked the health of Gen.G's bottom duo, giving up lane priority, which led to counter-jungling by Wei's Naafiri. IG also secured the first Dragon. With Alistar unshackled, a top-lane roam forced Kiin (Kim Gi-in)'s Camille to recall, empowering TheShy (Kang Seung-lok)'s Gnar.
IG cleanly took two kills through a four-man dive in the top lane, opening up a meaningful gap. Securing a double kill for Rookie (Song Eui-jin)'s Locke was also a huge boon. Holding the initiative, IG relentlessly pressed Gen.G. Whenever a Gen.G champion overextended even slightly, IG seized the opportunity for a kill. The kill score reached 6-0, and the global gold lead surpassed 4,000.
Gen.G caught Gnar at the cost of Duro (Ju Min-gyu)'s Nautilus to catch a breath. Although they lost the trade 2-3 in kills, they managed to deny an IG Dragon stack. Later near Baron, Gen.G precisely exploited a split in the enemy formation to eliminate Gnar and Alistar. Although Ruler (Park Jae-hyuk)'s Yunara was taken down by Locke's burst damage, the gap was noticeably narrowed.
IG seemed to face a crisis once again as JiaQi's Ezreal was isolated and caught out by Chovy (Jeong Ji-hoon)'s Taliyah ultimate, but IG fought back well behind Locke, turning it around to claim two kills in return. Still holding the initiative, IG struck the Dragon for the Mountain Soul first. However, Gen.G's resilience shined here. Gen.G dove in at the exact right moment to steal the Dragon, cleaned up the scrambling IG champions, and secured Baron.
Though IG took a heavy blow, they did not crumble easily. They caught Yunara, who was clearing the mid lane alone with Guardian Angel, as well as Nautilus and Wukong, who tried to save Yunara. IG then secured the Mountain Soul after an intense battle of nerves. However, Gen.G was Gen.G. Nautilus dragged Ezreal in to open a teamfight under overwhelmingly favorable conditions, and Gen.G swept up the kills before marching down mid to put an end to the match.
