Gen.G enters the 2025 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) with the same label they’ve carried last year: title favourites. After dominating the LCK Spring Split with an undefeated regular season and taking the first LCK seed heading into MSI, this roster is seemingly coming with everything it needs to fight for glory.
The qualification series was the only match that saw them sweat, as they reverse-swept Hanwha Life Esports. Was that a sign of weakness, or was that further proof that the team also has the resilience needed when cornered into a dead end? Let’s break down what makes them contenders — and what could keep them from becoming two-time MSI champions.
Gen.G – Can’t Really Ask for Better players
For anyone following the LCK for a long time, you wonder how Gen.G was able to gather together some of the best players in each role over the past few years. You got Kiin, who used to be underrated on his Afreeca days; the king of the jungle Canyon; one of the best ADCs in the world in Ruler, and the most talented mid laners we’ve seen in recent years with Chovy.
Yes, some of them still haven’t reached the international results that would eventually establish them as LCK legends, but these guys have been fighting at the top of their league for several years running. The only exception would be Duro, who, however, has had incredible growth since the start of the season and is coming closer and closer to the top three supports in the league (which I think are currently Keria, Delight, and Lehends).
How Gen.G got to the top of the LCK
When the foundation of a team is so strong, it becomes natural to set high expectations for this team. Their perfect split, however, was probably not on people’s predictions, especially considering how Gen.G initially struggled in the LCK Cup.
The team, however, has seemingly fixed a lot of the issues, especially around its jungle. Even though I think Canyon’s ceiling is still among the best in the world, he struggled a lot more this season, and it became clear that Gen.G as a team is heavily reliant on his impact and agency to build leads early on.
The big advantage for the team, I think, was the removal of the lane swap changes. Given how Chovy, Kiin, and Ruler are known for being quite strong in terms of laning phase, the lane swap changes at the start of the year greatly reduced their ability to put the enemy laners under pressure, and Canyon was also a direct victim of that. In fact, Gen.G’s domination started as soon as First Stand finished, pushing early leads into favorable winning fights to close out the games.
Gen.G’s main strength lies in their ability to dictate the pace of the game and beat their enemies with superior teamfighting, led by their two carries Chovy and Ruler. In particular, the mid laner has been the team’s core player once again — consistent, clutch, and central to their playstyle, something that Ruler hasn’t been able to replicate to the same degree.
Does Gen.G have Flaws?
For all the praise Gen.G deserves, they aren’t without weaknesses. The two players who had more ups and downs this season have been Kiin and Canyon.
We already explained how Canyon was one of the reasons why Gen.G struggled in the first part of the year and that could well happen again if the jungler were to underperform again, thus messing up the team’s pace. I doubt this will happen, though, especially given how some of his jungle picks like Nidalee have been getting some buffs recently.
Kiin, on the other hand, is sometimes left out to try in the top lane, which can be troublesome if he’s not able to stabilize in the top lane. Opponents might be willing to put more focus on top lane matchups so they can look to get into the mid-game with a chance of winning fights, and eventually scale better. This is what happened in Game 2 against HLE, when HLE gave Zeus Camille against Kiin’s Sion, and he got demolished.
Anything less than a final would be unacceptable
Overall, the chances of both players underperforming in Gen.G’s current form would be quite unlikely. The team has been arguably the no. 1 team in the world in the past two months at least and unless something major happens, Gen.G are expected to make a deep run at MSI.
Winning the title might be a little bit of a stretch, especially with interesting teams like Anyone’s Legend and the resurging T1, but Gen.G should at least make it to the grand final, and there aren’t many counterarguments on why Gen.G can’t win it all. They’ve got clear strengths that are hard to match and the players’ quality to execute them accordingly.
