What MSI told us about the LoL leagues

For years, international League of Legends tournaments followed a familiar pattern: the East dominated and the West always had to fight for the crumbs, hoping a miracle would happen. The gap between LoL leagues felt like a canyon, but MSI 2025 has changed the tone. While the same regions continue to stay at the top, it feels like the difference is not as big as it used to be, and some of the greats can also falter against weaker squads.

LCK – The Legacy continued at MSI

Let’s get one thing straight—Korea is still the king in LoL Esports. From the start of the tournament until the end, no one expected anything other than a Korean team to win it all. We were treated to a full Korean final once again, and even though it was a great series, you just gotta wonder whether this kind of domination will make things boring if it drags on too much.

LCK teams are not only good at executing high-level gameplay, but they have incredible mental to manage all kinds of situations, even when they are at a disadvantage. They have clearer ideas on how to come back into the games, and they will be ready to punish you for the first mistake. Paired with incredible consistency, it becomes hard to take them down, especially when teams get a second life with the double-elimination bracket.

LPL – A one-team Illusion?

The LPL was so close to taking down Korea at Worlds 2024, but since then, the region has never looked in a position to contest the LCK. MSI 2025 exposed a harsh truth: China might be a one-team region right now. Anyone’s Legend was the only team able to force a Korean team to five games and BiliBili Gaming was nowhere to be seen when they faced T1 in their series.

Top Esports had a terrible showing at First Stand, which further questions the LPL’s ability to produce teams capable of competing against the Korean powerhouses. The other top squads in the LPL haven’t really shown much potential. If serious challengers don’t emerge domestically, this could be a major worrying sign, especially with Worlds taking place on home soil later in the year.

NA and LCP on equal footing?

One of the biggest surprises of the tournament came from the LCP‘s CTBC Flying Oyster (CFO) once again. Following the great showing at First Stand, the team continued to prove their level of play by going toe-to-toe with T1 and bowing out after an intense five-game series. Based on the gameplay shown, CFO is probably the fifth-best team in the world right now.

The main issue with the LCP is that it has looked like a one-team region, like the LPL. Even though GAM forced CFO to five games in playoffs, they had a positive but not outstanding performance at MSI. In terms of overall quality, the LTA North is looking much better, with both FLY and C9 looking strong. The EWC LoL tournament could potentially give us a clearer idea of which region is stronger, considering CFO hasn’t faced NA at MSI.

Europe – Things are looking rough

It was a tough journey for EU at MSI. Not only were G2 and MKOI eliminated early in the tournament but both of them struggled against teams that were expected to be close in terms of level (FLY and CFO). G2 looked like in a slump in Canada and MKOI wasn’t really able to lead EU as the first seed. With serious concerns about the gameplay quality at MSI, the hopes of seeing EU pulling off a strong run at Worlds are also slim.

Did Fearless Draft level the playing field for LoL Leagues?

The short answer is yes, it did. The inability to play the same team compositions throughout best-of-five series has helped close the gap between regions, as different drafts made games more volatile and some teams were able to capitalize on those better than others. That being said, the gap might not stay constant going forward, especially if the top teams find more consistency and confidence with more champions. The LoL esports scene is becoming more exciting given that the gap is shrinking, but it could also open up again if the regions do not put the work in to fix the core issues.