The penultimate day of action at the Esports World Cup has wrapped up, with 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #2 Cryocells Matthew Panganiban Asuna Peter Mazuryk vora Jordan Pulwer Timotino Timothée Lavigne Dupont bang Sean Bezerra and NRG NRG North America Rank #3 keiko Georgio Sanassy brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold securing their spots in the grand final for their shot at taking home a large chunk of the competition's two-million-dollar prize pool.

100 Thieves vs. Nongshim Redforce (2-1 100T)

In the first-ever meeting between the two sides, Nongshim RedForce Nongshim RedForce Korea Rank #1 WoohyuN Moon Woo-hyun (문우현) Xross Jeonghwan (정환) Rb Goo Sang-min (구상민) Francis Kim Mu-bin (김무빈) Dambi Lee Hyuk-kyu (이혁규) Ivy Park Sung-hyeon (박성현) and 100 Thieves went the distance, going three maps in a series that saw Pacific's last stand fall at long last.

The series opened with Nongshim's Sunset, which is characterized by a Fade-Breach comp, which could be classed as a more old-meta, comfort comp for Nongshim. 100T went with a comp that has all of the elements of its play under head coach Nbs , with Phoenix and Neon leading the Duelist charge, supported by Omen, Cypher, and Sova.

100T, on this occasion, appeared to simply be too much for NS. After wrapping up its attack half with a 7-5 lead, Cryocells and co. gave up just one round on defense, cruising to a 13-6 win.

On its own pick of Lotus, 100T looked poised to make the series a quick one, coming out to an early 4-0 lead. The team stayed with its recent changes on the map, which has seen it adopt an Omen-Viper double-Controller look with Asuna on Vyse as opposed to his usual Raze, while Nongshim went with a Neon-Raze double-Duelist with Omen the lone Controller. After going down early, NS bounced back, dropping just one more round on attack to enter halftime up 7-5. On defense, Nongshim stifled 100T, picking up a crucial pistol round win and then holding them to just two rounds to win 13-7.

After stealing each other's map picks, both teams entered Haven with mirror comps. With a Phoenix-Neon double-Duelist to lead the charge, both teams went with Omen, Cypher, and Sova to round out their comps. Unsurprisingly, the attack side was stronger for both teams on the three-site map. 100T entered its own attack side, facing a manageable 8-4 deficit, but gave up a thrifty round to NS pistols. Nongshim, despite the economic advantage following the thrifty, failed to capitalize. 100T recovered from the setback by claiming eight of the next nine rounds, reaching match point, and then converting it thanks to some ice in the veins of one of its longest-tenured players.

BBL Esports vs. NRG (2-1 NRG)

The second series of the semifinals saw BBL Esports BBL Esports Europe Rank #4 Crewen Ali Eren Sargin Lar0k Yusuf Kaan Kanber Loita Utku Kart Rosé Eren Erzan lovers rock Umut Pekdoğan and NRG meet for the second time since their first meeting at Masters Santiago earlier this year. This meeting followed a similar script, with both teams stealing each other's map picks in the opening two maps.

Play began with BBL running riot NRG's pick of Haven. Both teams ran a variation of the Phoenix-Neon Duelist pairing, with the American squad continuing with IGL Ethan on Neon. NRG's pick of Sentinel was keiko on Chamber, while BBL opted for Crewen on Cypher. NRG managed just four attack rounds on the map, managing just six plants on the side and winning four of them to enter halftime down 8-4. Once the teams switched sides, NRG had no answers for BBL's attack, being swept on that side en route to a 13-4 win for the Turkish squad.

BBL's pick of Breeze was tense. NRG's Viper-Harbor comp clashed with BBL's Jett-Neon double-Duelist, making for an interesting clash in ideas. After picking up just five rounds on attack, NRG seemed to have the edge over BBL. Six of the opening seven rounds in the second half went NRG's way, resulting in an 11-8 lead, but BBL did not go down with a fight. With just three chances to equalize, BBL forced overtime. Despite the momentum being on the opposite side of the stage, NRG held its ground to force a third map, winning 14-12.

The decider map was Lotus, which played heavily into NRG's hands. Since the start of its EWC run from the Americas Qualifiers, NRG was 6-0 on the map and continued with that same level of dominance.

Though never quite going on an extended run, NRG was solid in its opening defense half, letting up just four rounds. Match point was seized as soon as possible on attack, and while NRG once again seemed to slip a bit at the very end, a bonkar timeout very quickly got things in order, as NRG closed out the map 13-6 and the series 2-1.

Up next

With its win, 100T will compete in its first non-Qualifier Bo5 series since the Americas Stage 1 grand final in 2024. In the grand final, it goes up against the defending world champions in NRG. The two will face off for the 11th time since the beginning of the partnership era and the third time in EWC. NRG has won all four meetings in 2026. The two North American squads will fight it out for the largest share of the competition's prize pool, with the winner taking home $600,000 and the loser earning $340,000.

BBL and Nongshim will meet in the consolation final, a best-of-three series that sees the winning team seize third place and $220,000, while the loser will finish fourth and take home $140,000.

EWC 2026 will wrap up with the following matches:

• Nongshim Redforce vs. BBL Esports (Consolation Final)
• 100 Thieves vs. NRG (Grand Final)