Welcome to Worlds Swiss Stage! Play-Ins Recap and Swiss Bracket Breakdown | The Dive Driven by Kia

Dearly beloved Divers,

Azael, Kobe, and Meteos invite us here today with heavy hearts to mourn Cloud9 Kia exiting the race to Worlds. Our hosts hold a post mortem for Worlds Play-Ins and discuss C9’s tragic loss, the issues that may have caused this fate, and the disappointment of losing in your own region. All are welcome to join us - although we did forget snacks, sorry.

HOWEVER! Fear not, there is still hope for NA in the Swiss Stage! The draw show happened, matches have been scheduled, and now the stakes have been set. Azael explains the 2026 Worlds format, Meteos talks about how the meta may be more helpful to some teams over others, and Kobe wants to know which team has the most aura. Are the odds in favor of NA? Who DOES have the most aura from HLE? Did winning Play-Ins give KC a leg up? Do you miss Jojopyun in NA as much as we do?

Don’t miss the action in Allen, Texas where the Swiss Stage begins on Friday, October 23rd! Tickets to see the matches in-person are available here: https://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/1906735

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro and Cloud9 Kia Breakdown

28:20 - Swiss Stage Draw

38:42 - GEN.G vs IG

47:42 - HLE vs TES

56:32 - BLG vs MKOI

1:05:06 - AL vs KC

1:12:03 - G2 vs DK

1:18:37 - TLAW vs CFO

1:24:25 - LOS vs T1

1:29:00 - LYON vs TSW