Kuaishou Gaming lost just three games, all in the grand finals, en route to claiming the Honor of Kings World Cup 2026 title.
Kuaishou Gaming (KSG) have claimed the championship of the Honor of Kings World Cup (KWC) 2026 after they outlasted defending champions AG.AL, 4-3, in a best-of-seven thriller in the tournament's grand finals on Monday (9 August).
With their victory, KSG will be going home with the grand prize of US$600,000 out of the KWC 2026's US$3.025 million prize pool. Meanwhile, AG.AL fall short of becoming the first-ever back-to-back KWC champions and instead settle for second place and US$360,000 in consolation.
KSG and AG.AL rampage through KWC 2026 ahead of grand finals showdown
KSG and AG.AL were by far the two biggest favourites to claim the title at KWC 2026, with KSG earning their spot in the tournament as the winners of King Pro League (KPL) Spring 2026 while AG.AL were directly invited as the defending champions. Given how far ahead the Chinese scene was compared to the rest of the world, many expected its representatives to be the ones eventually facing off in the grand finals.
KSG and AG.AL were quick to cement their positions as the biggest title favourites as they both cruised through the four-group, GSL-style double-elimination Group Stage.
AG.AL were seeded into Group A, where they made short work of Indonesia's Team Vitality and the Philippines' Blacklist International to secure their spot in the Playoffs. Meanwhile, KSG cruised through Group C with sweeps over India's Revenant XSpark and Europe's Virtus.pro to advance to the next stage.
The Chinese juggernauts then continued their perfect runs in the Playoffs, eventually resulting in an all-Chinese affair in the grand finals.
KSG stomped Virtus.pro in their rematch in the quarterfinals before knocking out Malaysia's Geekay Esports in the semifinals to advance to the grand finals. Meanwhile, AG.AL sent two Malaysian squads packing en route to the championship round, first routing Aurora Gaming in the quarterfinals and then ROC Esports in the semifinals.
While the grand finals did feature the two teams almost everyone expected to see, the question of which one of them would be the more likely to claim the title did not have as clear-cut an answer. While AG.AL were the defending champions, KSG bested them on their way to claim the KPL Spring 2026 title.
Fittingly, it would take the tournament's only full best-of-seven series and an Ultimate Battle in the decider for KSG to prove themselves superior over the defending champions.
KSG outlast AG.AL in seven-game thriller to claim KWC 2026 championship
KSG drew first blood in the grand finals, winning the series opener in 19 minutes and handing the defending champions their first loss of the tournament. However, AG.AL struck back in the 22-minute game two to tie the series up at 1-1.
Game three then saw KSG rout AG.AL in 13 minutes to take the series lead back at 2-1. The defending champions then proved their mettle in the next two games, grinding down KSG in 15 minutes in game four and 20 minutes in game five to take a commanding 3-2 series lead.
With their backs agains the wall in game six, KSG defeated AG.AL in 20 minutes to regain their momentum and send the grand finals to an Ultimate Battle in game seven for the KWC 2026 championship. While many expected the decider would be another closely-contested affair, KSG stomped the defending champions in just 12 minutes of action–by far the most one-sided game of the entire grand finals–to deny AG.AL a repeat title and claim the KWC 2026 championship for themselves.
KSG jungler He "JuHao" Weijia notably earned the Finals MVP nod and a US$25,000 bonus for leading his team past AG.AL in the championship round.
