By securing their ticket for League of Legends Worlds on Saturday, CTBC Flying Oyster accomplished a feat. CFO is now officially the only team to have qualified at every international competition of the year, in the first season featuring three global events. Earlier this season, the team captured worldwide attention. Entering the First Stand as underdogs, the Pacific team claimed victories over three major regions in the Group Stage by defeating Karmine Corp (LEC), Team Liquid (LTA North), and Top Esports (LPL). They did so while popularizing the use of a six-man roster, rotating between Hsu "Rest" Shih-chieh and Shen "Driver" Tsung-hua in the toplane.

CFO helped legitimize the Pacific league and carried that momentum into the Mid-Season Invitational. Tsai "hongQ" Ming-hong and his teammates pushed reigning back-to-back world champions T1 to a full five-game series in the first round of the upper bracket. Although they fell short, the Flying Oysters demonstrated their resilience before eliminating KOI in the opening round of the lower bracket, further illustrating how long-standing competitive hierarchies are beginning to shift.

After a loss to Anyone’s Legend in the following round, CFO returned just days later for the Esports World Cup — contested by the same field of teams as MSI. In a condensed format, CFO were eliminated by KOI in a best-of-one match in the lower bracket of Group B. Nonetheless, CFO now head into Worlds at the peak of their form. Having already won the first two splits of the Pacific league, the team has remained flawless in the third, advancing to the upper bracket final of the Season Finals against PSG Talon without dropping a single match.

Shifting balances across the globe

While CFO’s season is remarkable in its own right, the fact that the Pacific representative stands as the only team to compete in all international events this year is also tied to the shifting power dynamics in other regions. Between Winter and Spring, balance of power shifted considerably, leaving already CFO as the only First Stand participant to qualify for MSI.

In EMEA, Movistar KOI and G2 Esports surpassed Karmine Corp. In LTA, FlyQuest reclaimed its crown and secured the MSI slot. In the LCK, Hanwha Life Esports were overtaken by T1 and, above all by Gen.G, who outrageously dominated the league. In the LPL, TES stumbled in Spring, with the two MSI spots going instead to Anyone’s Legend and Bilibili Gaming.

In previous years — when there was one fewer international event — it was common to see teams qualify for both tournaments in a single season (three, including the EWC since last year). As recently as 2024, G2, Fnatic, FlyQuest, Team Liquid, BLG, TES, Gen.G, T1, PSG Talon, and GAM Esports all qualified for both major events. This year, however, only CFO will have attended all three, though most of the MSI representatives will once again return for Worlds.