**G2 Esports and Team Liquid anchor Western hopes entering the 2026 League of Legends World Championship, while three LEC and three LCS representatives (including Movistar KOI, Karmine Corp, LYON, and Cloud9) navigate Play-In and Swiss Stage formats that demand three wins to reach the single-elimination knockout bracket.** Eastern LCK and LPL squads dominate seeding and historical results, creating a narrow path where Western teams must avoid early elimination series against stronger opponents and potential intra-Western matchups. Recent regional playoffs confirmed the field, with LCS finals still resolving final seeds as of early October, but no major roster or form shifts have altered the consensus that one or two Western sides advancing represents a realistic but uncertain outcome driven by matchup variance and Swiss bracket luck.