LoL - Worlds 2025: Gen.G-HLE, a final before the final

The Swiss Stage of Worlds 2025 has delivered its verdict, with eight teams advancing. Liu "Zz1tai" Zhi-Hao stepped onto the stage to conduct the draw, the arena holding its breath as the former Royal Never Give Up toplaner pulled the balls containing the names Gen.G and Hanwha Life Esports. What could easily have been a Worlds final will instead be a quarterfinal: a rematch of the LCK grand final between the two best teams in the world.

Both teams qualified for the knockout stage with a 3-1 record, but neither had an easy path. HLE stumbled in their opener against Anyone’s Legend before facing relatively manageable draws in the following rounds: LCP’s third seed PSG Talon, LTA’s third seed 100 Thieves, and finally the LCP champions CTBC Flying Oyster. On the other side, Gen.G also faced PSG and AL, but afterward had to overcome T1 and Top Esports to secure their spot.

In 2025, Gen.G and HLE faced each other in ten best-of series, with eight going to the LCK and MSI champions and only two to the First Stand champions. In terms of individual games, Gen.G holds a 22–12 advantage over HLE. Kim "Kiin" Gi-in and his teammates enter as favorites, based on both their current form at Worlds and the annual head-to-head record, with HLE’s two victories coming early in the year during the LCK Cup.

The most recent best-of series between the two teams was also the final one in the LCK career of Han "Peanut" Wang-ho, who will enter mandatory military service right after Worlds. The match on Tuesday could therefore very well be the last for one of League of Legends’ most iconic junglers, who would be bowing out without ever winning a Worlds title.

Yet HLE are far from out of contention in this series. Worlds is a completely different stage, and as Gen.G has shown year after year, they have a mental hurdle that HLE could exploit—someone has even done it before: Choi "Zeus" Woo-je. This best-of series feels like an early final, with no doubt the two best teams in the world at the moment going head-to-head before our eyes next Tuesday.

While jungle matchups are usually the ones highlighted at Worlds, this time it could be different, given the toplane monsters on both teams. Chen "Bin" Ze-Bin had a standout Jax game a few days ago, but his year and Worlds performance have been underwhelming. Li "Flandre" Xuan-Jun and Bai "369" Jia-Hao have had solid years, but they aren’t the central figures of their teams.

When it comes to Gen.G and HLE, however, Kiin and Zeus represent the very best in toplane play in 2025: a two-time world champion and three-time finalist on one side, a player who has experienced every standing in the LCK before reaching the top and becoming one of the best in his role on the other.

While the meta limited their expression in BO1 and BO3 matches during the Swiss Stage, the situation could shift in a BO5, where fearless drafting and tanky picks are likely to be rarer. In terms of Worlds stats, Zeus appears to have the edge, but given the opponents he faced, it wouldn’t make much sense to draw a direct comparison.

Across the entire year—including LCK, MSI, EWC, and Worlds—the two players are evenly matched: Kiin holds a slight advantage in KDA, but in Kill Participation, damage per minute, and gold generated, they are nearly identical. Zeus’s laning phase shows a slight edge in CS and XP. Both players are performing at a stratospheric level, and it will be a pleasure to watch them—perhaps a bit of a shame that this matchup comes so early in the tournament.