TOP ESPORTS qualifies for Worlds 2026 after defeating Invictus Gaming

Top Esports punched their ticket to the League of Legends World Championship 2026 on September 17, taking down Invictus Gaming 3-1 in the upper bracket of the LPL Regional Finals. The win locks in TES as the third seed from China’s premier league, joining Bilibili Gaming and Anyone’s Legend, who already claimed the first and second seeds respectively.

A revenge match twelve days in the making

Just twelve days earlier, on September 5, Invictus Gaming had edged out TES in a grueling five-game series during the LPL Split 3 lower bracket final, winning 3-2. That result shaped the narrative heading into the Regional Finals matchup, with pre-match prediction markets and betting platforms favoring IG based on the recent head-to-head.

Invictus Gaming now drops to the lower bracket of the Regional Finals, where they’ll need to fight through an elimination match to secure their own Worlds berth.

The LPL’s Worlds picture takes shape

With TES locking in the third seed, the LPL’s representation at Worlds 2026 is becoming clearer. Bilibili Gaming sit atop the seeding as the region’s first seed, with Anyone’s Legend slotting in as the second. All four LPL teams that made the Regional Finals will qualify directly for the Worlds Swiss stage, meaning even the lower bracket finalists have a path to the main event.

What this means for esports competition and markets

The betting angle on this match was notable. Prediction markets had tilted toward an IG victory heading into September 17, a positioning largely driven by recency bias from the 3-2 win less than two weeks prior. Competitive gaming prediction markets, including activity on platforms like Polymarket and Robinhood, have grown significantly in recent years.

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