T1 vs TES – Is T1 the ultimate LPL slayer? – Worlds 2025 Preview

The Unkillable Demon King has now become a full squad: T1 survives their quarterfinal match against Anyone’s Legend in a thrilling five-game series and will now face the other LPL squad left in the tournament: Top Esports (TES). Can TES avenge their domestic rivals or will T1 punch yet another Worlds Final for the fourth consecutive year? Let’s break it down in our preview.

Worlds 2025 Semifinals – T1 vs TES – Who has more cards up their sleeves?

T1’s making the impossible happen. After a Swiss stage full of ups and downs, the current world champions came into the quarterfinal series against Anyone’s Legend as the underdogs.

The LPL team showed a much more consistent performance at Worlds up until that point and many regarded AL as the strongest Chinese team this year. Unfortunately for them, it wasn’t enough to climb the mountain that is T1. And now, the champions have the ultimate opportunity to put LPL’s hopes of a title this year once again to the end.

TES – Three keys for success

Top Esports comes from a strong series against G2 Esports, who was only able to get one game off of the LPL team.

In that series, we saw Top Esports go for a much different approach in the drafting phase. Instead of slowly showing their cards, TES went for the super comfort picks straight in the first few games, without overly relying on finding the best meta team compositions. In other words, comfort was what allowed TES to strong success in the series.

In previous best-of-five series this season, TES was often out of gas in the last two decisive games, as some of the players’ champion pool were not big enough to maintain the same level of play as more picks were removed from play.

When Top Esports are the last hope of the LPL #Worlds2025 pic.twitter.com/GSdGtAwzML

— Dan Harrison (@AuxCasts) October 31, 2025

Even though TES has definitely improved compared to back then, it’s still clear that the team has some level of volatility in this aspect. This will likely be a key decisive factor against T1, especially if we get a Silver Scrapes series once again like in quarterfinals.

The other two keys for success are jungler Kanavi and top laner 369. The latter has been showing up as one of the best tops in the tournament, despite the initial question marks around his potential compared to the best players in his role. Yet, he has been finding incredible success as a weakside player and his ability to absorb the pressure in the teamfights was remarkable.

Kanavi has been notoriously regarded as the engine for TES. When he’s on form, the guy can raise the team’s level by a few notches. Facing Oner, who was a key player in the victory AL, he will have to shut him down and lead his own team with composed aggression.

T1 –  Still not at maximum potential

Even though T1 showed up in much better form compared to Swiss stage, this is probably still far from the team’s max potential. In an interview with Gumayusi, the ADC mentioned how the team still has a few things to work on, including early game plan execution and overall positioning in teamfights.

10th Worlds Semifinal, 5th in a row.

T1. pic.twitter.com/fQ2Hd1xeOX

— LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 31, 2025

Additionally, judging by the gameplay in the series against AL, T1 is still reliant on stacking dragons as their main strategy to force favorable situations. They’ve also shown some poor coordination in the skirmishes, which is usually one of TES’ forte.

That said, the players are known for having incredible champion pools and we saw more picks from the team, with Anivia and Dr. Mundo also popping up.

Prediction – it might come down to picks

At this point, the series could go either way, as form will likely determine the outcome of the series.

If TES can take advantage of their comfort picks, they will likely be able to close out the series with a 3-1 record. If T1 can resist and force a Game 5 once again, that is likely going to be the champions’ comfort zone. Based on how things stand, T1 is slightly favored, although by the slightest of margins…

Regardless of how the series goes, we’re bound for yet another banger match in the Worlds 2025 semifinals. Fearless Draft has proved once again to make games a lot more dynamic and with teams drafting skirmish-heavy comps, entertainment will be guaranteed.