Worlds 2025 Swiss Stage Bracket draws some bad luck from the top Western representatives

The 2025 League of Legends World Championships kicked off with one banger of a play-ins match, with a single Best of 5 between LCK’s T1 and LPL’s Invictus Gaming decided which team claimed the final spot on the Swiss Stage. With a 3-1 victory for T1, all 16 teams have locked their spots in for the next stage of Worlds 2025. Following the match, Shi “Ming” Sen-Ming, former LPL support, took the stage for the Swiss Stage draw.

The LoL Esports Community Reacts to the Swiss Stage Draw

The community was quick to point out the hilarious disparity between LTA’s top two representatives’ respective round 1 matchups, as FlyQuest, despite being the #1 seed, were drawn against the defending World Champions, T1, while Vivo Keyd Stars, despite being the LTA #2 seed, drew a much easier opponent in comparison, Team Secret Whales.

However, due to the nature of the format, some fans were quick to point out how it’s better to face tougher opponents in the earlier stages of the tournament.

Congratulations FLYQUEST!

You have worked hard all year long and as a result are the #1 seed from the LCS!

As a result, your reward in the first round of the World Championship is the back to back World Champions with the 5x World Champion mid laner!#Worlds2025

— Isaac CB (@AzaelOfficial) October 14, 2025

Swiss Stage Format Explained

The first two rounds of Swiss Stage will feature best-of-one matches, while the elimination rounds will all be best-of-three.

Teams must win three matches in order to qualify for the knockout stage. Three losses, on the other hand, will lead to elimination. Teams will always play another team that have the same win/loss record. In round 1, the matchups are set so that no teams from the same region can play each other.

This rule will be lifted starting from round 2 onwards. That being said, no teams are allowed to play each other more than once during the swiss stage. In case this occurs, a new team will be drawn into the matchup until all teams are seeded.