At the 2026 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) held at the Daejeon Convention Center on the 12th, Hanwha Life Esports (HLE) pulled off a dramatic victory against the heavy tournament favourites, China's Bilibili Gaming (BLG), with a 3-2 scoreline, clinching the championship.

Given that BLG looked formidable throughout the tournament and HLE had suffered a 1-3 defeat to the same opponents just before the final, most pundits leaned heavily toward a BLG win. Indeed, HLE looked to be on the brink of collapse after dropping the second and third sets following the opener.

The turning point was orchestrated by HLE's 'Zeus', Choi Woo-je. He carried the team in a desperate fourth set with a Top lane Swain pick and continued to dominate the skirmishes with Dr. Mundo in the final fifth set. Thanks to this performance, 'Zeus' was named the Finals MVP.

HLE also managed to shatter a few long-standing curses along the way. Most notably, the 'MSI host nation curse'—which had plagued teams for a full decade since the tournament’s inception in 2015—was finally broken on Korean soil. Furthermore, the haunting legacy of the 'KeSPA Cup runner-up curse', which left many teams in despair, was soundly put to rest with this MSI title.

Having ascended to the pinnacle of MSI, HLE now heads to the Esports World Cup starting on the 15th. It will be fascinating to see if they can maintain this blistering form through such a gruelling schedule.