Caliste: Karmine Corp Should Have Gone Unbeaten at Worlds

Karmine Corp recovered from an early loss to Cloud9 and won its remaining Play-In matches to advance to the Swiss Stage at Worlds 2026. The team will begin the next phase against Anyone’s Legend.

Caliste Henry-Hennebert described Karmine Corp’s dominant performances after the Cloud9 series as the team’s true level.

“I think we should have gone through Play-Ins without really losing a game, to be really fair,” Caliste said.

He attributed the difficult Cloud9 series to pressure and a lack of recent official matches. The team became more confident and built momentum as it played more games.

“Against C9, we played pretty poorly, to be fair,” Caliste said. “But against the rest, we had more confidence. And the more we’re playing, the better we’re getting.”

Karmine Corp’s first goal in the Swiss Stage is to reach the playoff bracket. Caliste described Worlds as the most pressurized competition of the year because of its global audience and the different pressures facing players, including contract negotiations, title defenses and first appearances at the event.

For his first Worlds appearance, Caliste wants to perform at a level that leaves him satisfied with his play.

“I want to make sure that I have a good showing or at least I play in a way where I feel at ease and I’m happy with my performance,” he said.

Karmine Corp previously played several Eastern teams at the Esports World Cup and defeated some of them. Caliste believes that experience taught the team to focus on its own performance rather than the reputation of its opponents.

“For Eastern teams, the most important thing going into the series is being really confident,” he said. “We just have to make sure that we don’t put too much pressure for no reason, and just be confident in our own skill level.”

Karmine Corp has changed its preparation since it began scrimming teams from different regions at Worlds. Caliste identified three areas of adjustment: individual play, champion drafts and early-game aggression.

He described solo queue and scrims as the main ways players improve individually. Caliste said he practices taking calculated risks and learning how opponents punish mistakes, which can help him play aggressively without hesitation.

The Swiss Stage will feature best-of-one matches, limiting the number of champion choices teams can use compared with longer series. Caliste still expects the bot-lane meta to remain open, with teams able to use traditional pairings, utility champions and combinations that fit their overall compositions.

He also identified recent buffs to Draven and Aphelios as possible sources of new picks during the Swiss Stage.

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