G2 Esports pulled off a stunning 3–2 reverse sweep over Top Esports at MSI 2026, and the entire series shifted on a single Scuttle Crab.
TES were rolling. Up 2–0 in the best-of-five, they looked one game away from sending G2 home. Jungler Gao “Tian” Tian-Liang and mid laner Creme had been carrying the early games, and Game 3 opened with TES once again in control. Then Tian went for the crab.
View on Threads
Deep in the river, on G2’s side of the map, Tian dove in to contest a Scuttle Crab with multiple G2 members nearby. G2 support Labrov, on Rakan, was already waiting to punish the overextension. Tian got caught, chunked, and killed before he could escape. He didn’t even take the crab with him.
The timing made it worse. Moments earlier, caster Drakos had been hyping Tian up on the broadcast, calling him “the reason there are so many disappointed TES fans” and “the man who can take over the map so early on.” The praise was still ringing as Tian’s health bar hit zero.
The kill itself didn’t hand G2 a massive gold lead. What it handed them was oxygen. TES stopped looking like the team that had steamrolled Games 1 and 2. G2 stabilized, took Game 3, then closed out Games 4 and 5 to complete the reverse sweep.
TES aren’t out of MSI thanks to the tournament’s double-elimination format, but their path just got a lot uglier.
