Unorthodox plays and scary team coordination: Team WE will likely qualify for MSI

If there is any team you should be rooting for right now in League of Legends esports, it should be Team WE. This mid-pack team pulled off not one, but two of the greatest upsets of the season and are now one series away from qualifying for the Mid-Season Invitational.

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

At the start of the season, Team WE had formed a roster that didn’t really stand out from the pack. It kept its top side trio of Dai “Cube” Yi, Wang “Monki” Meng-Qi, and Kim “Karis” Hong-jo and brought in a new bot lane with Korean ADC Moon “About” Hyeong-seok and Chen “yaoyao” Si-Yuan, following the departure of Kim “Taeyoon” Tae-yoon and Zhao “Vampire” Zhe-can.

The first split of the 2026 season went by without many surprises, with Team WE constantly in the mid-pack. Their top-eight finish, however, allowed them to be placed with the big boys in Group Ascend for the second split.

While playing with strong teams can help weaker teams improve, Team WE struggled to find its footing in the LPL Split 2 regular season, winning only 1 of 14 matches. 

Even though the addition of support Shi “Erha” Xu-Ye didn’t yield much in results initially, Team WE was slowly improving and building all the necessary elements bit by bit, just in time for when it mattered the most.

This is proven by the team’s game record: after losing the first 8 series with 0-2 records, Team WE began winning games and taking maps from most teams, including JD Gaming. 

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

Team WE’s rise in form came exactly during this series. After being pushed to five games, Team WE came back from a 5,000-gold deficit through their teamfighting and kept their playoff hopes alive. The issue was that BLG picked WE in their first round: the best team in the league was facing the bottom team of Group Ascend.

Against all odds, Team WE took BLG down with a 3-1 record. The series wasn’t clean, but the victory wasn’t just down to pure luck or BLG having a bad day: Team WE fought back from losing positions and outplayed what was considered the best team in the world through stronger coordination and cohesion.

Team WE proved to everyone that the victory was not a fluke, proceeding to dismantle the #4 seed Anyone’s Legend with another clean 3-0. 

The scariest part of Team WE right now is their cohesion as a five-man unit. They have proven to be more coordinated than any other team in the league, with all five players making the same decision.

And at the heart of that cohesive decision-making is jungler Monki.

The guy has established himself as the main voice and shotcaller of the squad while also matching the best junglers in terms of individual performance. When Monki calls for a play, everyone on the team will follow his directives, even if they might not be perfect. 

Dplus Kia head coach Kim “cvMax” Dae-ho had explained this concept in the past: “If all five members come down to make the same decision in any given circumstance, they can turn a wrong answer right.”

By removing the need to question whether a play is correct in the moment, 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 scenarios despite having the gold lead. 

Top laner Cube himself shared in an interview that he’s now more prone to listening to Monki’s plays: “I just do whatever he tells me to do.”

According to Chinese esports analyst Lan Bao Shi (蓝宝石), Monki also has another strong tendency in his gameplay that has worked out in the recent victories: his willingness to change tempo. In a meta where most junglers tend to full clear before making plays, Monki often tries to disrupt the orthodox jungle clears through unexpected gank timers and pathings.

While it’s a high-risk strategy that can cause him to fall behind in gold and experience, Monki won out on many of those plays and built substantial leads for his team. 

That does not mean WE is flawless. The team still has some clear weaknesses; it’s just that the meta is helping hide some of them.

For example, top laner Cube has been thriving in recent weeks now that the meta has shifted towards a more weakside environment. At the start of the split, when it was still about lane dominance, he struggled to keep up with the best top laners.

Now, he’s able to absorb that pressure and consistently show up in the fights with enough resources.

Bot laner About also had initial struggles in adapting earlier this season. It’s not a coincidence that Team WE’s rise also aligned with About’s improved performance. All esports teams need to rely on their ADC in the late-game teamfights, so the Korean marksman must keep his form moving forward.

Additionally, Monki could also be targeted by other teams moving forward, knowing how vital his pathings are for the squad. 

Could Team WE make it to the Mid-Season Invitational? To put it simply, the chances are real. Not only did Team WE prove they can take down the top teams, but their gameplay is solid as well. 

The upper bracket final series against Top Esports will not only be crucial for determining which LPL team will be the first locked for MSI, but will also shed light on whether Team WE can be exploited for its weaknesses.

If Top Esports (TES) manages to win, it will become golden material for Team WE’s future opponents to review and study. If they can’t, then this Team WE roster can be a frightening opponent for MSI.

Regardless of how it goes, Monki and his teammates will have the momentum on their side. Caedrel said it best: “This team just feels like they’re on a run. They’ve got something behind them. They’ve got momentum. They’ve got belief. All the players are bought into this idea, this style they’ve adopted… It’s like lightning in a bottle.”

The question is: Will Team WE continue to evolve, or will the other LPL teams catch up first? The answer will directly dictate whether they are going to be a top dog for the rest of the season.