Onto the Playoffs: Midseason Championship Playoff Bracket Draw
After three days of competitive group-stage play at the 2026 Midseason Championship of the Esports World Cup, the playing field has been cut in half, with only eight teams remaining.
A draw was held at the end of the group stage to figure out how these teams will clash in the playoffs.
The teams that finished in the upper bracket (TM, WBG, CR, & ZETA) would be randomly chosen for an order. The fate of these teams was in the hands of Félix "Féfé" Munch, the manager of Team Peps, and a local French Overwatch Celebrity. Once these teams are ordered, the names of teams that survived the lower bracket (T1, DAL, GK, SSG) were picked to match up against them. These teams placed their survival in the hands of Kyle "Rakattack" Rakauskas, Team Liquid’s content creator. There was one final caveat: no team could match up against another from its group, to avoid repeat matchups.
After the rules were all sorted and the crew was ready to go, Féfé reached his hand in and started the group draws. The first draw from the top-seeded teams was Twisted Minds, which had their name drop met with thunderous applause from the crowd. The second draw was their fellow Group A team Weibo Gaming, followed by the Korean superteam ZETA DIVISION, and finally the reigning LAN champions, Crazy Raccoon.
Now that we had the top four seeded teams given an order, it was up to Rakattack to draw their opponents. First, he drew Geekay Esports, placing them against Twisted Minds. This European derby was seen most recently in the EMEA playoffs, where GK reverse-swept TM twice, once in the Upper Bracket Semifinals, and then again in the Lower Bracket Finals.
The next draw was Dallas Fuel, but since they were coming from Group A, they were ineligible to play against Weibo Gaming and were then passed to their next viable matchup, against ZETA DIVISION. This matchup will be a great showcase of how the best talent in NA stacks up against the best of Korea.
The next draw was T1, but since they also couldn't play Weibo, they were put against Crazy Raccoon. This matchup has historically favored CR, but T1 has upset them multiple times before, although not with lights as bright as these.
That left Spacestation Gaming as the last team on the board, placing them against the sole Chinese representative, Weibo Gaming. With both of these teams fighting for a spot in the top four, it would be a great showcase of talent from China and North America.
With the group draw complete, here is the Bracket for the playoffs of the 2026 Midseason Championship of the Esports World Cup. With this playoff stage being single-elimination, every matchup matters as it will be one team's last appearance. Another interesting note: due to the bracket draw, a non-Korean team is guaranteed to make the grand finals. This happened for the first time in OWCS history at the last EWC, so the tradition continues.
Be sure to tune in over the next two days as these eight teams battle for their share of one million dollars and the glory of lifting the trophy!