Invictus Gaming will join Anyone's Legend, Bilibili Gaming, and Top Esports in representing the LPL in this year's League of Legends world championship event.
Invictus Gaming (IG) have secured the fourth and final spot for the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) in Worlds 2026 after they defeated 
JD Gaming (JDG), 3-1, in the lower bracket finals of the LPL 2026 Regional Finals on Saturday (19 September).
IG now join Anyone's Legend, Bilibili Gaming, and 
Top Esports (TES) in representing the LPL in this year's League of Legends World Championship tournament. All four LPL representatives will start Worlds 2026 in the Swiss Stage, which will take place in Allen, Texas from 23 to 31 October.
Meanwhile, JDG miss out on Worlds for the third straight year, having placed third in the LPL Regional Finals for a third consecutive year as well. They settle for a spot in 2026 Demacia Cup Global Invitational alongside LPL 2026 Regional Finals fourth place finisher 
Team WE.
How Invictus Gaming qualified for Worlds 2026
IG had a tumultuous year following after they finished dead last in Worlds 2025. While they started 2026 by winning the Demacia Cup, they only managed a 5th-6th place finish in the LPL 2026 Split 1 in March. IG then failed to qualify for the League of Legends Esports World Cup 2026 in April then crumbled the next month in the LPL 2026 Split 2, where they finished in 9th-12th place.
IG went through multiple roster changes throughout that period, eventually settling with a lineup featuring 
Kang “TheShy” Seung-Iok, Eui-jin “Rookie” Song, 
Tian “meiko” Ye, Jia-Qi “JiaQi” Zi, and Yan “Wei” Yang-Wei by July. The roster then showed its worth in the LPL 2026 Split 3 with a commendable third place finish, earning them a spot in the LPL 2026 Regional Finals as the third seed in the Championship Point standings.
IG's first opportunity to qualify for Worlds 2026 in the LPL 2026 Regional Finals saw them matched up against TES in the upper bracket finals. However, TES routed IG in four games, with the latter getting knocked down to the lower bracket finals. IG's opponent in the do-or-die match for a spot in Worlds 2026 were JDG, who defeated Team WE in the lower bracket semifinals.
IG came out swinging to start the lower bracket finals, taking the series opener in 33 minutes behind standout performances from JiaQi on Tristana and Rookie on Syndra. JiaQi paced his team's 11-3 kill lead with a clean six kills and two assists while Rookie added four kills and five assists on one death.
IG continued rolling in game three, dominating JDG in 32 minutes to take a commanding 2-0 series lead. JiaQi once again topped the kill board for IG, racking up nine kills and five assists on four deaths as Ezreal. Wei on Qiyana earned the game MVP nod with five kills and 10 assists on one death with Qiyana, while Rookie on Aurora pitched in with five kills and 11 assists against two deaths.
With their backs against the wall in game three, JDG fended off a comeback from IG in a 34-minute slugfest to extend the series to a fourth game. 
Chun-chia “Junjia” Yu on Trundle put up 11 kills and assists apiece on just one death to keep JDG's hopes for a spot in Worlds 2026 alive for one more game.
But despite JDG's best efforts to force a decider, IG simply could not be denied in game four as they methodically dismantled their opponents to punch their tickets to this year's world championship tournament.
