The unexpected lower bracket series between T1 and Gen.G saw the latter come out on top, clinching the victory and securing at least the LCK #3 seed at Worlds.

Gen.G survives Silver Scrapes against T1 to lock Worlds Swiss Stage

The great LCK rivalry ends in Gen.G’s favor

Once again, it was a five-game thriller between the two Korean powerhouses. Both entered the LCK playoffs as title favorites but early upsets by KT and HLE sent both T1 and Gen.G to the lower bracket, where their seasons were suddenly hanging by a thread. With only one chance left to strike, it was Gen.G who performed more consistently across the five games.

Game 1 – It’s never over until it’s over

Starting off with game 1, the team showed why they are one of the best late-game squads. Despite falling behind in gold at the 16-minute Rift Herald fight, Gen.G was able to turn it around at a crucial teamfight around the 32nd minute, punishing Faker’s missed ultimate to score an ace and get the first point in the series.

Game 2 & 3 – Oner and Faker lead T1 to match point

While it looked like a rough start for T1, the 2024 World Champions responded with authority in Game 2 and Game 3. Oner once again showed the world why teams shouldn’t allow him to play Jarvan IV, ending G2 with another impressive deathless game (6/0/9 KDA). With a fed Miss Fortune in the bottom lane, T1 destroyed Gen.G in less than 30 minutes.

The momentum kept on going in G3, this time with Faker finding great plays on Taliyah in the early game and the game-deciding pick on Chovy’s Ahri to bring the team to match point.

Game 4 – Duro’s Blitzcrank forces a decider

It looked like the series’ momentum was swinging towards T1, but Gen.G struck back in Game 4 with Duro and his Blitzcrank. The support kept on finding hooks on the map on T1’s squishy targets, slowly increasing the gold gap. By the time Gen.G destroyed T1’s nexus, the team had built an impressive 13k gold lead, with the support player ending with an impressive 1/0/21 KDA.

Game 5 – It was close until it wasn’t…

With Fearless Draft forcing teams to be creative with the drafts, the two teams went for two completely different directions. T1 drafted a poke comp with Jayce-Lillia-Ziggs, with strong pick potential from Yone and Maokai. Gen.G, on the other hand, went for a traditional pick comp with several engage options, drafting Ornn, Nocturne, Vex, and Rakan, with Lucian as the carry.

Despite a long pause due to a potential bug involving Rakan losing the experience from a cannon minion (which was ruled out later), Gen.G found the initial advantage on Doran’s Jayce to secure early kills on Chovy. T1 was able to keep the gold lead close until the 21-minute Atakhan fight, which saw T1 react slowly to Gen.G’s call, allowing the team to capture both the objective and the following dragon.

Faker and his teammates tried to contest the dragon soul, but Keria was caught early and Gumayusi was picked by Vex shortly after. With the dragon soul and Baron secured, Gen.G broke through T1’s base to turn the series around.

Gen.G’s LCK run continues, T1 will have to fight in Worlds play-ins

With the win, Gen.G will now go on to face KT in the lower bracket final for a rematch. The winning team from this series will then face HLE for the LCK championship. Regardless of the result, all three teams have been locked into the Worlds Swiss stage.

For T1, things are looking a lot rougher. Not only has the team not won any playoffs this season, but they have to face the LPL #4 seed to even have a chance to defend their world championship. On paper, it shouldn’t be that hard of a series, but with Worlds taking place in China and the potential shifts coming from the new patches, there is a chance we might witness one of the big upsets of the 2025 season.