LPL's TES crashes out of MSI 2026 after historic BO5 loss to Vietnam's TSW

In a result that stunned the League of Legends esports world, China’s LPL representative TES fell 1:3 to LCP’s TSW in the MSI 2026 elimination round on Sunday — the first time an LPL team has lost a best-of-five series to a Vietnamese squad on the international stage.

TES issued a public apology shortly after the match. “There are no excuses for this defeat,” the organization wrote. “The root cause is our own lack of strength. Our team synergy, on-the-fly decision-making, and mental composure all fell short of what the international stage demands.”

The statement acknowledged clear gaps in communication and teamfight execution, with shot-calling crumbling under pressure. TES promised a thorough review and structural fixes before its next tournament.

The 2026 Mid-Season Invitational kicked off on June 28 in Daejeon, South Korea. Eight teams advanced to the knockout stage, which runs from July 3 through July 12 under a Fearless Draft double-elimination BO5 format. That system forces teams to dig deep into their champion pools as series go long, and TSW exploited the format well.

In Sunday’s other elimination match, LCK’s HLE swept Europe’s G2 in three straight games to lock in a spot in the winner’s bracket final. LPL’s other representative, BLG, faces LYON on Monday.

TES’s early exit raises questions about the LPL’s readiness for the current international meta. TSW — a team from the newly formed League of Legends Championship Pacific — exploited TES’s predictable laning patterns and grabbed decisive leads in mid-to-late game transitions. The Vietnamese squad’s aggressive jungle-invasion strategy caught TES off guard in Games 1 and 3, setting a tempo TES never recovered from.

For TSW, the win is a career-defining achievement. For TES and the LPL, it is a wake-up call with Worlds still on the horizon.