LoL - Worlds 2025: Bdd vs Faker, Two emperors for one trophy

This Sunday marks the conclusion of the 2025 League of Legends Worlds with a historic final showcasing one of the greatest rivalries in esports history: the reigning two-time world champions T1 facing off against KT Rolster. Ahead of the most significant Telecom War ever played, Sheep Esports is publishing a daily spotlight on the upcoming matchups. This Friday, our series continues with a look at the midlane duel between Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok and Gwak "Bdd" Bo-seong.

Over ten years of competition, Faker and Bdd have faced each other 135 times — two legendary careers whose paths have constantly collided. One filled with glory and trophies, the other less so, yet both have ignited passion, thrilled crowds, and continue to stand as living legends in South Korea and across the entire world.

It’s now been ten years since Bdd began his career with CJ Entus. In 2017 came his first major success, winning the LCK Summer Split with Longzhu Gaming, and making his first Worlds appearance alongside his longtime jungler, Moon "Cuzz" Woo-chan. He repeated that success in the 2018 Spring Split, this time reaching the Mid-Season Invitational final, where they fell to Royal Never Give Up.

He then joined KT Rolster in 2019 for a difficult year, followed by a move to Gen.G, with whom he reached the Worlds quarterfinals in 2020 and the semifinals in 2021. After a tough season with Nongshim RedForce, he found new life in 2023 back at KT Rolster, reunited with Cuzz. The team delivered an outstanding Summer Split, qualified for Worlds, and once again reached the quarterfinals.

The past two years haven’t been easy either, as the team struggled to break into the league’s top four—until the end of 2025, when they transcended themselves in a best-of series against Gen.G, securing a hard-fought top 3 finish against the best team in the world. And Bdd was far from a bystander in that success—he was quite simply the team’s best player, the one who dictated the flow of the game from start to finish. Alongside Cuzz, the synergy was remarkable—arguably the best mid-jungle duo in the world.

Over the course of the year, Bdd played 23 different champions, while remaining iconic on a few of them—his Zoe, Syndra, and Lissandra stand out in particular. He continues to be a reference point for creativity and elegance in gameplay. At these Worlds, his champion pool was more limited compared to his opponents’, but that’s largely due to KT finishing the Swiss Stage 3-0, resulting in fewer games played. His Worlds stats are outstanding: nearly an 11 KDA, around 80% kill participation, a +400 gold difference at 15 minutes, and involvement in over 45% of his team’s First Bloods.

Faker in the Worlds final has become a habit: ten appearances, five titles, two lost finals, two semifinal exits, and now once again at least a finalist. An entire career at T1, a first golden period between 2013 and 2017, and a second youth rediscovered in 2021 that continues to this day. He missed out on the triple crown in the 2017 final against Samsung Galaxy; this time, he has the chance to achieve the feat, which doesn’t seem either very far off or all that surprising.

At these Worlds, Faker played 19 games, using 14 different champions, including surprises like the Mel pick against Anyone’s Legend in Game 5, which added a new flavor to that decisive moment. The Play-In stage also contributed to this high number of champions. In almost all statistical categories, Bdd stays ahead, and Faker isn’t really known as a laner who dominates with a 1000-gold lead by 15 minutes. But in the mid to late game, when clutch plays are needed, when a single move can turn the match, he is the player T1 can always rely on.

This is the eighth final disputed by the Unkillable Demon King, while it’s Bdd’s first. The difference in Worlds experience is immense, but this Sunday, on the biggest stage in the world, both teams will fight on equal footing. The five-time world champions had to navigate the LPL with wins against AL and Top Esports, while KT had to eliminate CTBC Flying Oyster first, and, most importantly, take down Gen.G, the tournament’s heavy favorites.

In terms of most-played champions, the two players are quite different. For Faker, Viktor was his most played champion throughout the year, but he was arguably most impressive on Orianna, whether at MSI or during the LCK Summer Split. For Bdd, it’s a completely different story: Ryze comes first, followed by Taliyah, with Ahri rounding out the top three—but Ahri saw far less play toward the end of the year compared to the beginning.