LoL Worlds Playoff Preview: Can T1 do it again?
League of Legends Worlds 2025 returns for the playoffs on Tuesday morning, with the LCK derby of Gen.G and HLE kicking off the action.
All contests will be Bo5 fearless, as the League of Legends World Championship heads towards its exciting conclusion.
In contrast to previous editions of Worlds, the tournament resumes after only a few short days of break. Additionally, the quarter-finals will run straight into the semi-finals.
Therefore, teams will not have as much time as usual to work out how to counter and neutralise their opposition.
The benefit is that the quarters and semis will be non-stop action, before the Grand Final on November 9.
Gen.G vs Hanwha Life Esports
Worlds 2025’s first quarterfinal may be its most consequential.
Despite both teams taking a Bo1 loss to Anyone’s Legend, many consider Gen.G and HLE the strongest teams in the bracket.
The LCK teams had no problems sweeping aside their later opposition, with Gen.G’s dismantlings of T1 and TES especially standing out as commanding.
Gen.G’s 2025 has been nothing short of spectacular, with their MSI victory being backed up by a record-breaking domestic season, which saw them win 19 LCK series in a row.
That domestic dominance, of course, included multiple victories over HLE, whom they defeated in eight series across the year, most notably in the recent LCK Finals
HLE’s only two series victories came at First Stand at the beginning of the year, both 3-2 wins, but the contests seem vanishingly long ago after Gen.G’s period of first place results.
Despite HLE’s roster being extremely talented, perhaps their biggest advantage against Gen.G is the sheer weight of pressure Gen.G are under.
After crushing their enemies for most of 2025, the MSI champions are expected to win but history shows the crown has not sat on their heads comfortably.
Nobody knows that better than HLE’s Choi ‘Zeus’ Woo-je, whose T1 denied Gen.G from a very similar position in the Grand Final of Worlds 2024.
For Jeong ‘Chovy’ Ji-hoon, a win showing the same form they have shown all year would be a decisive step towards his first Summoner’s Cup.
KT Rolster vs CTBC Flying Oyster
KT Rolster emerged from the Swiss Stage with an unlikely 3-0 record. The LCK third-seed were regarded as the weakest of the LCK, due to their seeding in conjunction with fourth seed, T1’s, history at Worlds.
Despite their 3-0 record, many have maintained their misgivings about KT Rolster, pointing to an easy draw which saw them face MKOI, TSW, and TES.
Yet they made it through unscathed, not dropping a game in the Bo3 against their LPL opposition.
Gwak ‘bdd’ Bo-seong and Seo ‘deokdam’ Dae-gil have starred in the LCK’s progression through the tournament, as they now face LCP opposition in CFO.
CFO have been, without a doubt, the most entertaining team at the tournament thus far. Their explosive and unrelenting playstyle has made them a captivating watch.
Victories against Fnatic and T1 gave them a 2-0 record in the Bo1s, but as the Bo3s progressed the roster found it harder to simply roll over the best opposition.
Anyone’s Legend and HLE found a way to put a muzzle on Chiu ‘Doggo’ Tzu-Chuan, reducing CFO to a 2-2 record before they qualiified over FlyQuest.
The qualification for playoffs was a historic moment for the Pacific region, who got their first team to the top 8 in a decade, causing emotional scenes in the commentary booth.
Yet, if they want to go further they will struggle to overcome teams who do their homework.
Everyone knows how CFO want to play, they know Doggo wants to pick Draven. They know what heroes can come out of the draft based on which of Shen ‘Driver’ Tsung-hua or Hsu ‘Rest’ Shih-chieh are playing.
Regardless of the draft, CFO will continue to play that wrecking ball style that has endeared them to fans.
G2 vs Top Esports
As the LEC teams lost their opening Swiss matches at Worlds, it felt like MSI 2025 was happening all over again, but what if it is actually MSI 2024?
G2 defeated TES 3-0 at that event, in one of the team’s more recent highwater marks, albeit without Rudy ‘SkewMond’ Semaan.
The last hope of the LEC, as they so often are, G2’s playoff berth was an unexpected bright moment after years of suffering for EU.
Yet, if that light is to not vanish, they must overcome a team they have already lost to at this very event.
TES’s Bo1 victory over G2 was a repetition of the worst aspects of what G2 have shown throughout their period of struggles.
It was passive, limp, and hopeless. Seo ‘Kanavi’ Jin-hyeok felt like the perfect counter to a G2 who didn’t want to get involved in early brawls.
The Korean has had some of the most opening success in the tournament, drawing first blood frequently.
Therefore, the key for G2 is to have the belief and bravery that has characterised their recovery at this event, most notably in their wins agains BLG and FlyQuest.
TES have by no means looked unbeatable. Their 2-2 bracket victory over BLG was an overall low-quality contest, so G2 fans will be happy with the draw but the key is whether they are happy with the result after the quarter-final.
Anyone’s Legend vs T1
They say ‘save the best for last,’ and that is certainly the case at Worlds quarterfinals.
The contest between AL, who qualified 3-0 through Swiss, and the back-to-back Worlds champions is highly-anticipated and intriguing.
T1 have long been understood to have ‘T1 Magic’ at Worlds which resists all reason. So far, the T1 script is holding despite the Koreans barely making it out of Swiss with a 3-2 record, surviving a competition Bo3 against 100T.
Additionally, T1 have traditionally been the LPL killers, dashing the hopes of Chinese LoL over and over. That being said, there are plenty of reasons to believe that AL may be a huge test for the LCK team.
Anyone’s Legend coach, Wong ‘Tabe’ Pak Kan, has been highly praised throughout his career for promoting teamwork, and providing his teams with workable plans and drafts.
Certainly, AL seemed to come into Worlds with a strong understanding of the meta, when many teams lagged behind in their understanding of the strength of certain champions.
With that in mind, it seems obvious that T1 will not benefit from the same mistakes that Western teams made against T1 in the draft.
FlyQuest infamously gave Ryu ‘Keria’ Min-seok Bard after the T1 support had specifically warned against it, while MKOI gave Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok two of his favourite picks in Azir and Ryze.
Those decisions proved to be disastrous in both instances, with Faker putting on a vintage display to drag T1 to playoffs.
Yet the legendary T1 roster needed Faker to dig them out of a whole, as the team in general was uncharacteristically ineffective. Additionally, Choi ‘Doran’ Hyeon-joon made some misplays that are indicative of his worst instincts as a player.
Overall, T1 don’t look to be in that famous T1 Worlds form, but it’s hard to say they won’t turn it on when they’re on the big stage. Can they evoke the T1 Magic again?
Stay Updated with the Latest News
Get the most important stories delivered straight to your Google News feed — timely and reliable
From breaking news and in-depth match analysis to exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes content, we bring you the stories that shape the esports scene.
Monthly Visitors
User Satisfaction
Years experience
Latest League of Legends Worlds
Trending Stories
More to explore
