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The four LCK teams and their final Worlds seeds are set
Gen.G, Hanwha Life Esports, T1, and Dplus KIA will represent League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) at the 2026 League of Legends World Championship. Known as Worlds, the tournament brings together the top teams from regional leagues around the world to decide the season’s champion. All four LCK teams will skip the Play-ins and go straight into the Swiss Stage.
The final seeding came down to the LCK Finals on September 13. Gen.G took the first seed by beating Hanwha Life Esports 3-1 at KSPO Dome in Seoul’s Olympic Park. Runner-up Hanwha Life took the second seed, while third-place T1 and fourth-place Dplus KIA took the third and fourth seeds. The four teams heading to Worlds were already known before the finals, but the order they’d go in wasn’t settled until the season’s last match.
Hanwha Life qualified first by winning MSI
Of the four, Hanwha Life Esports locked in its Worlds spot first, earning an automatic qualification by winning the 2026 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), the international tournament held midway through the year between top teams from major regions. An MSI title guarantees a Worlds spot as long as the team also reaches its regional playoffs, and Hanwha Life cleared that bar by making the LCK Playoffs.
Their trip to Worlds became official in mid-August, before the domestic season had even finished. They carried that into the playoff finals, where they met Gen.G for the LCK title. They lost 3-1, but an MSI win plus an LCK runner-up finish is enough to send them to Worlds as the second seed, back on the international stage after already proving themselves there once this year.
Gen.G’s September 1 win also decided T1’s fate
The next turning point was Gen.G’s playoff match against KT Rolster on September 1. Gen.G swept KT 3-0, guaranteeing at least third place for the season. That win locked in Gen.G’s Worlds spot and let them skip the Play-ins straight into the Swiss Stage, the payoff for a strong regular season carried into the playoffs.
The same match also decided T1’s spot. Given what was left of the playoff bracket, that result mathematically guaranteed T1 at least fourth place. T1’s qualification came down to a match they weren’t even playing in, a quirk of the double-elimination playoff format. T1 also heads straight to the Swiss Stage as an LCK representative.
Dplus KIA took the last ticket in an elimination match
With Hanwha Life, Gen.G, and T1 already in, only one slot remained. Dplus KIA and KT Rolster met in the second round of the lower bracket on September 4 to decide it, a match where the loser’s season and Worlds hopes would end at once. Dplus KIA beat KT 3-1, locking in at least fourth place.
That result made Dplus KIA the LCK’s last Worlds team, completing the four-team roster. Dplus KIA then lost to T1 in the third round of the lower bracket on September 6 and finished the season in fourth place, which puts them into Worlds as the LCK’s fourth seed. Since even the fourth seed skips the Play-ins this year, Dplus KIA starts the tournament in the Swiss Stage alongside the rest of the LCK.
The lower bracket final and grand final set the seeding order
After eliminating Dplus KIA, T1 kept going and reached the lower bracket final. On September 12, Hanwha Life beat T1 3-1 to reach the grand final. That confirmed T1 as third place and the LCK’s third seed. Their Worlds spot was already locked in either way, but the extra round moved them from fourth seed to third.
Hanwha Life, having already secured its Worlds spot through MSI, made it all the way to the final round of the domestic playoffs. Gen.G was waiting there, having already reached the finals. The last match of the LCK season came down to MSI champion Hanwha Life against a Gen.G team chasing the domestic title, winner takes first seed, loser takes second.
In the grand final on September 13, Gen.G beat Hanwha Life 3-1. Gen.G dropped the first game, then won three straight to complete the comeback and take the title. That win gave Gen.G the first seed and left Hanwha Life with the second. With T1 and Dplus KIA already settled, the LCK’s Worlds order was set: Gen.G, Hanwha Life, T1, Dplus KIA.
Seeding shows where a team finished at home before it heads into the global bracket. The first seed carries the weight of being LCK champion, while seeds two through four reflect how each team did in the playoffs. But this year, all four LCK teams start in the Swiss Stage regardless of seed, so their opening matchups and results there, not the Play-ins, will be the first real test of their Worlds run.
Four different paths, one tough season
Hanwha Life got there first through MSI, Gen.G capped off the domestic season with an LCK Finals win, T1 climbed to third by eliminating Dplus KIA in the lower bracket, and Dplus KIA grabbed the last spot by beating KT in an elimination match. They’re all headed to the same tournament, but each team got there a different way.
That says something about how deep the LCK’s top tier is this year. Even the international champion had to grind through the domestic playoffs to reach the finals, and teams with past Worlds titles came close to being eliminated in the lower bracket. Playing multiple best-of series and having to bounce back from a loss gave these teams a preview of the pressure they’ll face internationally.
All four LCK teams skipping straight to the Swiss Stage says something about how strong the league was this season, but it doesn’t guarantee a Korean team lifts the trophy. Teams from other regions, China’s LPL especially, went through their own tough seasons to get here, and in the Swiss format, early matchups and win-loss records can reshape the whole bracket fast.
The question now is whether the LCK seeding holds up once Worlds actually starts. Can Gen.G carry its LCK win into the international stage? Does Hanwha Life pick up a second trophy this year after MSI? Can T1 and Dplus KIA turn their playoff runs into results on the world stage? Four different roads now meet at the same starting line in the Swiss Stage.
Source: Official LCK Announcements & Yonhap News, September 2026.
