Gen.G took down
Hanwha Life Esports 3-1 in the quarterfinals of the
2025 World Championship this Tuesday, securing their spot in the semifinals where they will face the winner of the series between KT Rolster and CTBC Flying Oyster. This loss not only ends HLE’s Worlds run but also marks the end of the legendary LCK jungler Han “
Peanut” Wang-ho’s career, as he bows out of professional play
to begin his mandatory military service.
The Worlds will continue with
the remaining quarterfinals tomorrow with KT facing CFO. On Thursday, G2 Esports will take on Top Esports, followed by the final quarterfinal on Friday between T1 and Anyone’s Legend. The semifinals will take place over the weekend, leading up to the grand final on November 9.
Paving the way
Gen.G are on a royal path to winning Worlds, both thanks to the bracket ahead of them and their level of play, which seems far above the rest. Game 1 started right from the draft, with both teams well-prepared for the series. Yoo "
Delight" Hwan-joong picked an unexpected R5 Pantheon, while Kim "
Kiin" Gi-in picked Aatrox to counter Choi "
Zeus" Woo-je’s Rek’Sai, and it worked perfectly. HLE managed to play well on the side lanes and even secured a Baron Nashor in the mid game, but Gen.G always caught up. Park "
Ruler" Jae-hyuk had incredible fights on Ezreal, dominating the game to open the series.
In Game 2, Kiin put on another stellar performance on Gwen, solo-killing Zeus and gaining the upper hand. The game was extremely close, becoming the longest of the competition at almost 59 minutes, with Gen.G ultimately taking the win. Park "Viper" Do-hyeon deserves special mention as one of the main reasons HLE managed to display such resilience. Even in the loss on Ziggs, he carried over 40% of his team’s damage and only died once, right at the very end. Throughout the game, he consistently pushed waves, harassed opponents, disrupted enemy setups around objectives, and chipped away at the enemy health bars every time. He was close to be the main character of an insane game.
HLE managed to claim their first and only win in Game 3. Viper once more shown showcasing his skill with a 9/0/9 performance on Sivir in this third game, but this was really the full composition of HLE that stomped the game after the herald fight done at 15:40.
To close out the series, Kim "Canyon" Geon-bu played his signature Nidalee and Park "Ruler" Jae-hyuk delivered a massive performance on Yunara, completely shutting down HLE’s planned scaling. They answered the stomp by a stomp. Now, Gen.G advance to the semifinals, marking the end of Peanut’s illustrious career.
Header Photo Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
