There's no one left we can't beat.
ShowMaker said it to Trixcity after Dplus KIA knocked out Bilibili Gaming, with Gen.G's unbeaten run still waiting in the semifinals. Three days later, those words had become reality. In an interview before the final, he went further — promising to turn the arena into a "Bibliothèque de Paris". He kept his word on both counts. DK swept Karmine Corp 3-0 in the Grand Final to win EWC 2026.
A final statement
The way it happened made the moment. From the very first game, DK looked a tier above — mechanically crisper, and better organised as a unit of five. Karmine Corp never got to play their tournament. Caliste, talking to Trixcity after the loss, didn't sugar-coat it:
We didn't really expect to lose 3-0 like that, and especially not in that manner. [Damwon] were very confident, very sharp — individually and in the way they took fights and positioned. It's a very good team, and I think their title is deserved.
𝑬𝑾𝑪 𝟐𝟔 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑴𝑷𝑰𝑶𝑵𝑺🏆 EWC 2026 League of Legends 왕좌의 주인공. 첫 EWC 진출에 이어 Dplus Kia가 또 하나의 별을 만들어 내었습니다. 어려운 환경에서 한마음 한뜻으로 우승을 이루어낸 선수단에 많은 축하 부탁드리며, 다가오는 LCK에서도 좋은 모습 보여드리겠습니다. Making Show more
The gap was widest in the jungle. Lucid was the engine of the series, ahead of Yike in every phase of the game and smothering him from his first pathing decisions to his last. In the bot lane, Smash offered none of the openings Peyz had conceded against Karmine Corp earlier in the tournament — he stayed dominant across all three games, solo-killed Caliste, and turned his Caitlyn game into a statement of his own.
Three first seeds in four days
Nobody handed DK anything on the way there. They got their playoffs qualification against G2 Esports, EMEA's first seed, in front of the region's own crowd. Bilibili Gaming came next — LPL champions and tournament favourites, eliminated 1-3. Gen.G followed in the semifinal, the last unbeaten team in Paris. Three first seeds from three major regions, cleared in four days by a roster most had picked to go out in the opening round. Behind the bracket run sat a team that had read the meta better than anyone at the event, something ShowMaker had already broken down for Trixcity during the tournament:
A lot of our players are very confident in small skirmishes and five-on-five teamfights, so I think it suits our team well.
ShowMaker, six years later
For Heo "ShowMaker" Su, the trophy is a first international title since Worlds 2020 — six years between the two summits, and a very different way of reaching this one. In 2020 he was the prodigy of a superteam; in Paris he was the lone veteran of a rookie-heavy lineup, the reference point his teammates played around all week. Asked during the tournament whether this was the most promising DK roster he had ever played with, he answered that he hoped it would become that. It did.
The title also lands at a strange moment for the organisation, which confirmed earlier this month that player salaries had gone unpaid, pointing to a delayed sale of the club. On Sunday night, none of that was visible on stage.
Karmine Corp's week still counts
The scoreline should not erase the road. Karmine Corp fought past Sentinels, Anyone's Legend and T1 to hand France a home Grand Final nobody had promised them. The run confirmed what their supporters have argued for years — that this team belongs at the top table of international League of Legends. On Sunday they met a better side. It happens to everyone who gets far enough. Caliste, for his part, refused to let the final rewrite the week:
Le trophée nous échappe cette fois, mais la fierté reste immense !! Nos joueurs ont tout donné et ont prouvé qu’ils avaient leur place parmi les meilleures équipes du monde en les affrontant et en les faisant tomber sur leur chemin Merci pour votre soutien sans faille 💙 Show more
We just can't lose that confidence — we have to keep snowballing it, keep this momentum going. I think we can be a good team, and we can't let it get us down.
What's next
DK fly home to the KESPA Cup, with a trophy in the luggage and a club sale still to resolve. Karmine Corp stay in Paris a little longer — the Roadtrip at the Adidas Arena comes first, a home date in front of the same public that carried them all week, before the LEC Summer Split resumes in Berlin.
