LoL: T1 vs Gen.G – the highly anticipated showdown at the top of MSI

On July 9 at 5 PM PST, T1 and Gen.G will face off in a best-of-five Upper Bracket Final to decide who advances to the MSI grand final and who drops to the Lower Bracket to play the winner of the LPL rematch between Anyone's Legend and Bilibili Gaming. This showdown between the two South Korean giants is expected to be the biggest BO of the year so far, likely breaking viewership records. The level of play is anticipated to be extremely high, as both teams are currently considered the best in the world, especially after defeating AL and BLG in the previous round.

Since MSI began, T1 have played eight games: three convincing wins over BLG and a full five-game series against CTBC Flying Oyster. Gen.G remain undefeated since February 23 and haven’t lost a BO series since Spring Split. At MSI, they beat G2 3-1 and won a tough five-game series versus Anyone’s Legend. Their 21-series winning streak makes them slight favorites against longtime rivals T1. Despite a tough LCK regular season, T1 revived in playoffs and have shown stronger form in Vancouver, including a dominant win over BLG.

A look at the champion pools and drafts of both teams shows that T1 have had Twisted Fate banned against them 100% of the time and Azir in 63% of their games, reflecting the high priority CFO and BLG place on targeting Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok. They’ve also faced bans on Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong’s champions Varus, Lucian, and Xayah. T1, for their part, often ban Taliyah—a strong counter to Azir—as well as Gwen on Red Side and Yorick on Blue Side.

Gen.G receive bans less consistently, with the most feared picks being Jeong "Chovy" Ji-hoon’s Taliyah and Kim "Canyon" Geon-bu’s Nidalee, each banned about 33% of the time. Gen.G have banned Pantheon just under half the time, mostly when on Blue Side.

For toplane picks, Kim "Kiin" Gi-in is much more traditional, playing KSante twice, as well as Rumble and Ornn, while T1’s toplane has featured champions like Aatrox, Jax, and Gwen. The junglers differ significantly, with a strong priority on Xin Zhao. Still, beyond that, players have experimented with a variety of champions—Mun "Oner" Hyeon-jun played Zed, while Kim "Canyon" Geon-bu delivered an exceptional Lee Sin against G2.

In midlane, Faker couldn’t get his hands on Azir and instead opted twice for Ryze and Orianna. Chovy, meanwhile, played Azir twice, as well as Aurora and Taliyah. Botlane playstyles also vary: Ryu "Keria" Min-seok tends to focus on creating plays through champions like Neeko, Renata, and Thresh, whereas Joo "Duro" Min-kyu prefers classic peel and engage champions such as Alistar and Nautilus.

While LPL Split 2 delivered a grand final showdown between Anyone's Legend and Bilibili Gaming, the same wasn’t true for the LCK. Despite T1 and Gen.G securing victories over Hanwha Life Esports in both the Upper and Lower Brackets, they never faced each other in the LCK playoffs because there is no final or champion crowned in the Spring Split. Instead, teams keep their regular season records for the Summer Split, aiming to determine the overall LCK champion by the end of the year.

This BO is expected to be the most watched of 2025 so far. For reference, no MSI game has yet reached two million viewers, with the highest peak so far being 1.8 million during the T1 vs BLG match. The highest viewership peak this year remains the BO between T1 and HLE during the Road to MSI, which drew 1,965,776 viewers.