Busio: Karmine Corp Is Peaking Before Worlds Swiss Stage

Karmine Corp support Alan “Busio” Cwalina believes the team has reached its best form of the year before its Worlds 2026 Swiss Stage opener against Anyone’s Legend. KC advanced through the Play-In Stage and will begin Swiss with a best-of-one match.

Karmine Corp reached two domestic finals this year but lost both in Game 5. The results raised questions about the team’s performance in decisive matches. Busio believes the roster’s confidence comes from its level of play, rather than its results alone.

“I truly believe we’re strong and I hope we show it on stage,” Busio said. “I really think we’re at our peak so far, our all-year peak, and yeah, it’s the perfect time to peak.”

Anyone’s Legend, the LPL’s top seed, will be KC’s first opponent in the Swiss Stage. Karmine Corp beat AL 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Esports World Cup. Busio believes the previous series gives KC confidence, although he does not expect another one-sided result.

Busio described AL as one of the world’s top teams and believes KC must play comfortably and avoid overthinking the match. The Play-In Stage also gave the team more match experience before facing AL. He noted that Karmine Corp has sometimes struggled in its first series at an event.

“I’m very glad we had the Play-Ins experience because I’d be worried right now if it was our first game against AL,” Busio said. “We beat them at EWC 2-0. That doesn’t mean we’re going to dominate them again, but it does mean we can compete with them.”

Busio prefers best-of-three and best-of-five series because a single game does not decide the entire result. He added that a best-of-one format can give teams considered weaker a greater chance of an upset. For KC, a strong opening game could settle the match immediately.

Karmine Corp’s Play-In run included a difficult series against Cloud9 and a comeback that Busio partly attributed to individual skill and favorable circumstances. The team’s main lesson from the series was to remain calm on stage after putting heavy pressure on itself during practice.

“We really care about the results. We practice super hard in Korea. We really have high expectations of ourselves, but when you go on stage, you still need to chill out,” Busio said.

He described KC’s two matches against MVK as more composed than the Cloud9 series. The players made better decisions after stopping themselves from forcing plays and allowing their plans to develop.

Busio also addressed Karmine Corp’s consistency. The team has regularly performed well in domestic regular seasons and reached deep playoff rounds, but has not won a domestic title. He attributed some of the difference between winning and losing to individual moments in deciding games.

He added that poor performances can result from a lack of match rhythm or an early-game problem. Before facing AL, Busio plans to lower his expectations, stay calm and “go with the flow.”

Busio does not believe KC’s aggressive players, including Caliste and Yike, need to be restrained often. He believes the roster has become more calculated during the year and is making fewer unnecessary plays.

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