Bilibili Gaming reaches MSI 2026 grand final

Bilibili Gaming is through to the Mid-Season Invitational grand final after a 3-1 win over Hanwha Life Esports on Wednesday in the tournament’s upper-bracket final, according to Riot Games’ official bracket and schedule pages. The Chinese team reached the title match without dropping into the lower bracket, extending a run that already included a 3-2 series win over T1 on July 4 and a 3-0 win over LYON on July 6. The result sends Hanwha Life Esports into the lower bracket, where it will have another path back to the final. Riot’s MSI pages list the grand final for July 12 in Daejeon, South Korea. ### How did BLG get to the final? Riot’s official MSI bracket shows Bilibili Gaming opening its knockout run with a 3-2 win over T1 in upper-bracket round one. The same bracket shows BLG then beating LYON 3-0 in upper-bracket round two before defeating Hanwha Life Esports 3-1 in round three. (lolesports.com) LoL Esports’ tournament overview says MSI’s knockout stage is a best-of-five double-elimination bracket. That format means BLG’s upper-bracket run clinched a direct place in the championship series, while Hanwha Life Esports drops into the lower bracket instead of being eliminated. (lolesports.com) ### What do the official match records show from the HLE series? Match trackers published on July 9 by LoL Esports partners and esports results sites recorded the series as a 3-1 BLG victory. An Escorenews match page listed BLG as winning games one, two and four, while Hanwha Life Esports took game three. (lolesports.com) GosuGamers also listed the July 9 meeting as an MSI 2026 bracket-stage best-of-five between Bilibili Gaming and Hanwha Life Esports. Riot’s own knockout bracket later reflected the completed 3-1 result. ### What is still left to decide before the final? (escorenews.com) Riot’s public schedule shows the lower bracket continuing on July 10 and July 11 before the July 12 final. The schedule page lists LYON versus G2 Esports on July 10, with a later lower-bracket match on July 11 still shown as TBD versus TBD on the official site at the time of writing. (gosugamers.net) Riot’s MSI primer says the event runs from June 28 through July 12 at the Daejeon Convention Center II in Daejeon. The primer also says MSI carries two competitive stakes beyond the trophy: the winner qualifies directly for Worlds, and the second-place region earns a fourth seed for its domestic league at Worlds. (lolesports.com) ### Where does Hanwha Life Esports go from here? Hanwha Life Esports remains alive because MSI uses double elimination in the bracket stage, Riot’s tournament overview says. The official bracket shows HLE now slotted into the lower bracket, where it awaits the survivor of the remaining elimination matches. (lolesports.com) The official LoL Esports schedule lists the next two MSI dates as July 10 for LYON against G2 Esports and July 11 for the lower-final slot that will decide BLG’s opponent. The grand final is scheduled for July 12 at 6:00 a.m. on the U.S. schedule page, with the finalist opposite Bilibili Gaming still listed as TBD. (lolesports.com 1) (lolesports.com 2)