Bilibili Gaming beat T1 3-2 in the Upper Bracket Round 1 of MSI 2026, sending the LCK giants tumbling into the lower bracket while BLG march on with their safety net intact.
The series went the full five games. T1 took a close Game 1 on the back of a big Peyz showing, BLG hit back in Games 2 and 3, then T1 clawed one back in Game 4 to force a decider. That was as good as it got for the Koreans.
Game 5 was Xun’s show from the first minute. T1 opened the draft with Trundle for Oner and left Kindred wide open, and BLG didn’t need a second invitation. Xun locked in one of his best-known picks and BLG built the rest of their comp around him, with pushing lanes, Ashe vision, and Knight’s mid pressure feeding the jungle.
The result was ugly for T1. Xun reportedly had four Kindred stacks by nine minutes and was sitting on nine by the 24-minute mark. Oner tried to fight back with an early flash over a wall to contest Kindred, but Xun still had ultimate up and teammates nearby. It cost T1 tempo they never got back.
Knight was in top form throughout the series. His Swain crushed lane in the decider and his Syndra earlier in the series helped BLG steal jungle camps to feed Xun’s stacks. ON also had one of his cleaner international showings, roaming aggressively, catching Faker out in mid, and hitting big teamfight ultimates.
The Baron fight that killed the arena
The final blow came at Baron. BLG picked apart T1’s setup, cleaned up the fight, and walked straight down mid. The Daejeon crowd went quiet as the Nexus finally cracked and BLG closed out the series.
For T1, Peyz was the standout. He was the main reason the series even reached a Game 5, and Faker held his own against Knight for most of the match. But the Game 5 draft was too much to overcome, especially with BLG’s composition built to kite Trundle into the ground.
BLG advance in the upper bracket. T1 drop into elimination territory, where any slip ends their MSI 2026 run. It also continues a familiar pattern for BLG, who have made a habit of beating T1 at MSI over the last few years, with wins in both 2023 and 2024.
