Hanwha Life Esports will contest the MSI 2026 Grand Final . They defeated LYON 3-2 in Saturday's Lower Bracket Final in Daejeon — but the scoreline undersells how close they came to losing. The LCS first seed led 2-1 before HLE steadied and ran away with a one-sided decider. LYON exit in third place, the best international finish for an LCS side since 2019. Here are our player ratings of the series.
MSI HLE 3 - 2 LYON
Your rating: — Across all five games, the steadiest player on HLE's half of the map. Zeus seldom fell behind in lane, even in rough match-ups, and his wave control and teleport timings ranked among the series' cleanest. Over the games he posted +13 CS diff@15, +632 Gold diff@15 and +939XP diff @ 15 over Dhokla. In fights he gave HLE precisely what they required — crisp positioning, tidy engages, dependable peel. His Aatrox teamfight in Game 5 was ridiculous: sitting at 1 HP on the bot side, he kept probing what his opponents could actually punish and flipped the fight in HLE's favour by himself. Whenever the rest of the lineup shook, Zeus was frequently the one keeping HLE afloat.
Your rating: — A Bo5 that summed up everything Kanavi is. Ahead — like in his Vi and Naafiri games — he was unstoppable, diving every lane and taking every 2v2. Behind, the whole thing fell apart: invades forced without lane priority, coin-flip drakes, fights thrown out with no setup. His Nocturne game was especially painful. From Game 4 on, HLE's draft adjustments handed him better conditions, and he delivered.
Your rating: — A series that opened in his opponent's shadow and closed in glory. Early in the Bo5, Saint out-impacted Zeka — his Orianna swamped by the Akali, his Yone overshadowed in fights. But the rise was steady, game by game, peaking in a decisive Game 5 Ahri that punished every LYON slip. When he's on, he does things almost no mid can — his laning stayed excellent throughout, pulling jungle attention without ever paying for it — and alongside Zeus and Kanavi, he's the one who swung the series.
Your rating: — A series far under his usual level. Time and again Gumayusi's positioning was shaky, his ultimates and Flashes wasted, and he gambled too much into LYON's engage threats. His Kog'Maw game marked the low point — pushed around in lane, he never got to the point where the pick takes over, ending 1/7/4. Yet, like his team, he closed the Bo5 on a much brighter note — Games 4 and 5 were far cleaner, exactly when HLE needed it.
Your rating: — A showing full of contrasts. Delight handed over several avoidable deaths that gave LYON tempo — and for stretches HLE's bot lane looked undisciplined as a unit. Still, his creativity never stopped: his roams held Game 1 together and his Game 5 Blitzcrank chained together game-deciding hooks — rescuing Zeus, snagging Saint and Isles at ideal moments. Massive playmaking, just short on stability.
Your rating: — Dhokla put up a very solid Bo5 — right up until he hit his ceiling. At times he provided strong teamfight utility on Gwen and Gragas. The exploitable weakness stayed: he died too readily once a jungler committed to his side lane, and Kanavi's top-side camping in Games 3 and 4 made it unsustainable. More enabler than carry — and in Game 5, flat-out outclassed by one of the best toplaner in the tournament.
Your rating: — The standout player of the series on LYON's side. Inspired's pathing and his read on Kanavi's jungle were outstanding, his objective control nearly perfect, and his mechanics decisive — the Lee Sin flash-kicks and flank angles were masterclass stuff. Even in LYON's defeats, he was the one conjuring the miracle fight — soul flips, sneaky elders — to keep his side alive in the series. His errors were so rare that a lone catch got noticed. He was the driving force behind LYON's run in this Bo5.
Your rating: — At his peak, Saint was spectacular: a fed Akali gapping Zeka, a genuinely clean Viktor game — a Game 3 that LYON largely won thanks to his dragon teamfights. His wave manipulation and lane pressure were excellent, his flank angles and fight tempo truly top-tier. But the inconsistency is real — games where he got caught for nothing, spells where he stopped respecting HLE's tempo, and a Game 5 in which Zeka punished his every mistake. Even so, he showed he can go toe-to-toe with international-calibre mids.
Your rating: — Berserker's 2v2 lane was monstrous on several maps — notably his Lucian/Nami and Ezreal games — and he turned slim leads into resources in a hurry; a fed Berserker was exactly the nightmare HLE spent the series trying to prevent. His fight management in Games 2 and 3 sat at the very highest level. But the dominance didn't hold — LYON's bot lane lost its grip in Games 4 and 5 and got shredded when it counted most. Sky-high highs, rock-bottom lows — a confirmed international-calibre ADC who couldn't keep it going across five games.
Your rating: — The most low-key member of LYON's roster, and the most obvious gap to bridge. Isles delivered genuine value in patches — clutch Poppy W's in Game 1, solid peel for Berserker, a few clean mid-series engages, and real synergy with Inspired. But the misses piled up: whiffed hooks, tentative or botched engages, uneven positioning around vision. The trend was clear — while Saint, Berserker and Inspired were at their peak, Isles kept pace; once HLE raised their level in the last two games, he was outclassed. Displaying original content Translate You need to be logged to leave a comment.
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HLE weather LYON's near-upset to reach the MSI final — Player Ratings | Trixcity 
