LEC Spring Playoffs 2026 Bracket Set: G2 vs Karmine Corp Headlines the Opening Round

The LEC Spring 2026 playoffs bracket dropped this weekend, and the opening round already feels like a final. Team Vitality picked MKOI as the other side. Karmine Corp face G2 Esports in the second upper bracket series. Action opens with Vitality vs MKOI on May 23 at 17:00 CEST, KC vs G2 follows on May 24, and the upper bracket final lands May 25.

If you’ve followed the LEC for any stretch of time, you know what KC vs G2 means in 2026. The two teams have spent the last 18 months running back the same rivalry with different endings. KC swept G2 3-0 in the Winter 2025 final, the result that announced Karmine Corp as a real LEC contender and Riot framed as a potential new era for League of Legends in EMEA. G2 hit back in the LEC Versus grand final earlier this year, taking a 3-2 series that felt closer than the scoreline read.

So this is the rubber match. Kind of. Except it isn’t the final. It’s round one.

The full bracket

The LEC kept the double-elimination format, which means the losers of these upper bracket series don’t go home. They drop into the lower bracket and have to grind back through it. For two title-chasing rosters, that’s a brutal landing pad.

NAVI face the first upper bracket loser on May 31. GIANTX get the other on June 1. The lower bracket semifinal lands June 2, the lower bracket final on June 6, and the grand final on June 7. Every round is best of five. There’s nowhere to hide a bad game.

Why Vitality picked MKOI

Vitality vs MKOI is the first upper bracket series and the cleaner pick if you’re plotting a path of least resistance. Movistar KOI clinched their top-four finish by beating G2 2-1 on the final day of the regular season, pushing them ahead of NAVI into the upper bracket. Decent run, but they’re the soft seed in this group of four and Vitality clearly think they can close out the series without spending much.

Whoever survives MKOI sits in the upper bracket final waiting for whoever survives KC vs G2. That’s the play.

What’s actually at stake

LEC Spring isn’t only about the trophy. MSI 2026 qualification rides on this bracket, which makes the gap between losing the upper bracket and losing the bracket outright much, much bigger than the format suggests. The team that wins this Spring split shows up at MSI with rotation room and momentum. The team that loses early goes home to start fixing a roster.

The next two weeks will tell us whether KC’s 2025 ascent was the start of something or the peak of it. Same question, slightly different framing, for G2.

Spicy bracket. Spicy stakes. The kind of LEC playoff opener that gets fans rearranging their schedule.