G2 Esports just did something only five teams in competitive League of Legends history have managed at the international level: come back from an 0-2 deficit to win a best-of-five series. The European org reverse swept Movistar KOI 3-2 in the LEC Spring Playoffs Upper Final, becoming the first team from the League of Legends European Championship to punch their ticket to the 2026 Mid-Season Invitational.

The comeback that shouldn’t have worked

G2 looked dead after dropping the first two games to Movistar KOI. Then Caps happened. The veteran mid-laner turned the series on its head, with G2 rattling off three consecutive wins to complete the reverse sweep.

The win secures G2’s spot at MSI 2026, the premier mid-year international tournament that pits the best teams from every major region against each other. Being the first LEC team to qualify gives G2 a significant head start in preparation.

G2’s other winning bet: Solana

Back in 2023, G2 invested approximately 3.2 million euros in Solana. That bet has reportedly yielded substantial profits.

G2 also maintains an active sponsorship partnership with Betpanda, a crypto betting platform. The Solana investment was a direct treasury allocation into a digital asset, rather than the kind of arms-length crypto partnerships that defined the 2021-2022 era.

The shrinking crypto footprint in esports

Cryptocurrency sponsorship visibility has been declining across major esports events. Recent tournaments like the Valorant Masters London 2026 showed noticeably fewer crypto brand integrations compared to events from two or three years ago. The post-FTX hangover cleaned out a lot of the casual crypto sponsors who were writing checks during the bull market.

G2’s Betpanda partnership fits within the category of sponsorships that have survived this contraction, aligning a betting platform with an esports audience already comfortable with digital assets.