BLG vs MKOI at Worlds 2026: Friday, Oct. 23, at 3 p.m. ET, with the First Stand champion in a best-of-one

A team that played five finals in 2026 opens Worlds against a European side playing its first international game of the season. Here’s when BLG vs MKOI starts in every time zone, who plays and how both teams got to Texas.

What time is BLG vs MKOI?

Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, at 3 p.m. ET, which is noon PT and 2 p.m. local time in Allen, Texas. Riot’s official schedule lists it as the third of eight Round 1 games in the Worlds 2026 Swiss Stage. Play starts at 1 p.m. ET with Gen.G vs. Invictus Gaming, Hanwha Life Esports vs. Top Esports follows at 2 p.m., and Anyone’s Legend vs. Karmine Corp comes right after BLG vs MKOI at 4 p.m. ET.

Each game starts when the previous one ends, so the 3 p.m. slot shifts later if the first two games run long. All eight games are at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen, north of Dallas, which hosts the Swiss Stage, the quarterfinals and the semifinals before the final moves to Brooklyn on Nov. 14.

BLG vs MKOI time around the world

Movistar KOI’s fans in Spain get a Friday night game at 9 p.m. in Madrid and Barcelona, the same as in Paris and Berlin, and London watches at 8 p.m. In China, home of Bilibili Gaming, the game starts at 3 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24, and in Korea, home of BLG’s Viper, at 4 a.m. Saturday.

In the Americas, Brazil watches at 4 p.m. Friday and Mexico City at 1 p.m. Clocks in Europe change on Oct. 25 and in the US on Nov. 1, so these times hold only for this game.

Bilibili Gaming: First Stand champion, MSI finalist

Bilibili Gaming played five finals in 2026 and won three of them. BLG won the LPL final 3-1 over JDG on March 8, then flew to First Stand and beat BNK FEARX 3-2, G2 Esports 3-0, JDG 3-0 in the semifinals and G2 again 3-1 in the final on March 22. In June, BLG won a second LPL title with a 3-0 sweep of Top Esports on June 14.

At MSI 2026 in Daejeon, South Korea, BLG beat T1 3-2 on July 4, LYON 3-0 on July 6 and Hanwha Life Esports 3-1 on July 9, then lost the final 3-2 to the same Hanwha Life on July 12. September brought a 3-1 win over Xi’an Team WE and a 3-0 sweep of Anyone’s Legend, before Anyone’s Legend won the rematch 3-1 in the LPL final on Sept. 13. That left BLG as the LPL’s second seed and put it in Tier 2 of the draw. The lineup is Bin in the top lane, Xun in the jungle, Knight in the mid lane, Viper as the bot laner and ON as the support. Viper won Worlds in 2021 with EDward Gaming.

Movistar KOI: second in the LEC

Movistar KOI, the Spanish organization, spent most of 2026 behind G2 Esports and Karmine Corp. In the first LEC playoffs, MKOI beat Team Vitality and Natus Vincere 2-0 before losses to G2 Esports (3-0) and Karmine Corp (3-2 on Feb. 28). In the spring playoffs, MKOI swept Team Vitality 3-0, lost 3-2 to G2 and went out with a 3-0 loss to Karmine Corp on June 6.

The September playoffs were its best run. MKOI beat Team Vitality 3-2 on Sept. 12, Natus Vincere 3-1 on Sept. 18 and Karmine Corp 3-0 on Sept. 19, then lost the final 3-0 to G2 on Sept. 20 and qualified as the LEC’s second seed. The lineup in that final was Myrwn in the top lane, Elyoya in the jungle, Jojopyun in the mid lane, Supa as the bot laner and Alvaro as the support. MKOI played neither First Stand nor MSI, so Round 1 is its first game at a Riot international event in 2026.

Who wins BLG vs MKOI? Our pick

Our pick is BLG. The common opponent settles it on paper: Bilibili Gaming beat G2 Esports 3-0 and 3-1 at First Stand, while Movistar KOI lost all three of its 2026 series against G2, two of them 3-0. BLG has also played eight best-of-fives at First Stand and MSI and won seven of them, with the First Stand trophy to show for it.

MKOI’s case rests on the format and its September form. A best-of-one rewards a team with a prepared draft, and MKOI’s 3-0 over Karmine Corp, the Play-In winner, showed how sharp the roster gets when the plan works. BLG’s own history at the top shows it can slip, too, with losses in the MSI final and the last LPL final. Both teams play on Patch 26.20, the Worlds patch, so the patch 26.21 changes stay off the stage.

The pairing comes from the draw tiers: BLG was in Tier 2 and MKOI in Tier 3. Our Worlds 2026 Swiss Stage page has all eight matchups and the tiers.

How to watch BLG vs MKOI

Riot’s official LoL Esports broadcast carries every Worlds game on Twitch, YouTube and the LoL Esports site, and official co-streams pick up the same feed. Swiss Stage Pick’Ems lock before the first game at 1 p.m. ET on Oct. 23, two hours before BLG vs MKOI, as our Worlds 2026 Pick’Ems page explains.

The winner goes 1-0 and plays another 1-0 team in Round 2 on Saturday, Oct. 24, also a best-of-one, while the loser drops into the 0-1 pool. Three match wins sends a team to the quarterfinals, and three losses sends it home. Later the same day, G2 Esports plays Dplus Kia at 5 p.m. ET and T1 plays LOS at 7 p.m. ET. For every match and result, see our Worlds 2026 schedule.

This page is updated as soon as BLG vs MKOI ends, with the result and the winner’s Round 2 opponent.