Team SI may qualify for MSI

If there is a team you should focus on right now League of Legends esports, it should be Team WE. This middle-of-the-pack team has pulled off not one, but two of the biggest upsets of the season and is now one series away from going into the Mid-Season Invitational.

While everyone loves an underdog story, Team WE’s success feels different. Once considered one of the faces of Chinese sports, the team is far from its glory days. Could this be the beginning of a new chapter? And is it one of the most dangerous teams to face in the world, right now?

At the beginning of the season, Team WE made a lineup that didn’t stand out from the pack. It kept its top side trio Dai “Cube” Yi, Wang “Monk” Meng-Qiagain Kim “Karis” Hong-jo and introduced a new bot lane with a Korean ADC The month “About” Hyeong-seok again Chen “yaoyao” Si-Yuanfollowing the departure of Kim “Taeyoon” Tae-yoon and Zhao “Vampire” Zhe-can.

The first division of the 2026 season passed without many surprises, the WE team remains in the middle. However, their Top 8 finish, allowed them to be placed with the big boys in Group Ascend for the second time.

While playing against stronger teams can help weaker teams improve, Team WE struggled to find their place in the LPL Split 2 regular season, winning just one of 14 games.

Although the addition of support from Shi “Erha” Xu-Ye did not bring much to the results at first, the WE Team has been developing slowly and building all the necessary features gradually, at the right time when it was most important.

This is proven by the team’s game record: after losing the first 8 series with 0-2 records, Team WE started to win games and take maps from many teams, including JD Gaming.

Despite a few wins, the team still finished last in Group Ascend, forcing them to play LNG Esports in the playoffs.

The rising WE team arrived during this series. After being pushed to five games, Team WE came back from losing 5,000 gold with a team fight and kept their hopes of qualifying alive. The problem was that BLG picked WE in their first round: the best team in the league was facing the bottom team in Group Ascend.

Against all odds, Team WE took down BLG with a 3-1 record. The series wasn’t clean, but the win wasn’t just luck or BLG having a bad day: The team HAS fought back from losing positions and outclassed what is considered the best team in the world with strong teamwork and cohesion.

Team WE showed everyone that the win was no fluke, we went on to dismantle Anyone’s Myth #4 with another clean 3-0.

The scariest part of Team WE right now is their coming together as a five-man unit. They showed more coordination than all the teams in the league as all five players made the same decision.

And at the heart of that unified decision-making is the Monk forest.

The boy has established himself as the main voice and gunslinger of the team while matching the best junglers in individual performance. If Monki wants a game, everyone in the group will follow his instructions, even if they are not perfect.

Dplus Kia Coach Kim “cvMax” Dae-ho he had explained this idea in the past: “If all five members come down to make the same decision in any situation, they can give the wrong answer.”

By removing the need to ask if the game is right now, Team WE can always be the first to move, putting pressure on opponents to fight back. This is what happened in the series against both BiliBili Gaming (BLG) and Anyone’s Legend (AL). In particular, BLG was often caught off guard in teamfight situations despite having a gold lead.

The lead singer Cube himself shared in an interview that he is now used to listening to Monki’s performances: “I do whatever he tells me to do.”

According to Chinese sports analyst Lan Bao Shi (蓝宝宝), Monki also has another strong tendency in his game that has worked in recent victories: his willingness to change the tempo. In a meta where most junglers tend to clear before making plays, Monki often tries to disrupt the normal jungler by using unexpected timers and routes.

Although it’s a very risky strategy that could leave him behind in gold and experience, Monki won many of those games and built huge leads for his team.

That doesn’t mean WE are flawless. The team still has clear weaknesses; it’s just that the meta helps hide some of them.

For example, top laner Cube has been thriving in recent weeks as the meta has shifted to a weaker position. When the split started, it was still about dominating the lane, and he struggled to keep up with the leading players.

Now, he can absorb that pressure and show up regularly in battles with enough resources.

Bot laner About also had a hard time adjusting early this season. It’s no coincidence that Team WE’s rise has also coincided with About’s improved performance. All esports teams need to rely on their ADC in the team’s latest games, so the Korean tag must maintain his form going forward.

In addition, Monk can also be guided by other teams going forward, knowing how important his approach is to the team.

Can The Team Make It To The Mid-Season Invitational? To put it simply, the possibilities are real. Not only did Team WE prove that they can take down the top teams, but their game is strong as well.

The final top bracket series against Top Esports will not only be crucial in determining which LPL team will be the first to be locked into MSI, but it will also determine whether Team WE can be exploited due to their weaknesses.

If Top Esports (TES) can win, it will be something of gold for Team WE’s future rivals to review and study. If they can, then this Team WE program could be a formidable opponent for MSI.

No matter how it goes, Monki and his teammates will have momentum on their side. Caedrel said it best: “This team feels like they’re on a run. They’ve got something behind them. They’ve got momentum. They’ve got faith. All the players have bought into this idea, this style they’ve adopted… It’s like lightning in a bottle.”

The question is: Will Team WE continue to emerge, or will other LPL teams catch up first? The answer will definitely mean that they will be the top dog until the end of the season.