LEC is the first region eliminated from MSI 2025

At the Mid-Season Invitational 2025, G2 Esports and Movistar KOI carried Europe’s pride onto the stage — but both ultimately found it daunting to keep up.

For years, EMEA has been the West’s only region to reach international finals and the only one with both a Worlds and an MSI title to its name, a legacy built by teams like Fnatic and G2 Esports over the years. But this year’s Mid-Season Invitational showed just how quickly that title and those narratives can slip when the rest of the world keeps moving forward while EMEA focuses on legacies.

G2 once embodied its region’s belief that it could prevail against the best. KOI, fresh off an LEC title, arrived as a promise that EMEA’s next generation could push even further. Yet when it mattered most, neither could deliver. Their eliminations at MSI one day apart from eachother weren’t just losses, they are proof that the old guard and the new are facing the same cold reality.

While G2 were swept aside by FlyQuest, MKOI fell to CTBC Flying Oyster in a historic defeat that marked the first time since 2012 that an LCP team has beaten a major region team in a best-of-five. For the LEC representatives, this MSI has been a clear message that trophies of the past don’t win games in the present.

For years, G2 stood at the forefront of EMEA’s push against the dominant Asian regions, carrying the banner for the West when few others could. However, even that legacy could not save them against FLY, and in an old-fashioned NA vs EU match it was the North American team that come out victorious after a dominating 3–0.

The series opened with a tense game one, but FLY quickly set the tone for how punishing it could be whenever G2 slipped. The biggest difference came from Kacper ‘Inspired’ Słoma, who showed exactly why he is currently considered the best Western jungler as he outplayed G2’s rookie Rudy ‘SkewMond’ Semaan, who was making his international debut under immense pressure.

Even when G2 found small openings as when Labrov Papoutsakis caught Fahad ‘Massu’ Abdulmalek mid lane or Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther secured three dragons, FLY shut them down with disciplined team play which kept its gold lead steady before Massu stole Baron and closed the door for good.

Game two gave G2 an early spark as it found quick solo kills and looked more coordinated around skirmishes. But FLY remained calm, using Inspired’s Wukong and Busio’s Bard to punish every mistake. Despite G2’s aggression, FLY’s superior vision and objective control turned risky dives into costly losses, slowly suffocating any chance of a comeback.

In game three, FLY maintained relentless pressure with strong lanes and precise rotations, as Inspired’s Trundle and Massu’s Kai’Sa anchored the team’s dominance. Systematically breaking down G2’s defenses, FLY’s control of the map and objectives left G2 struggling to respond, closing out the series without much difficulty.

Once the kings of Europe and the West’s best took a shot at global glory, G2 fell without taking a single game as FLY’s macro, mechanics and raw team synergy proved too much for the LEC second seed to handle. For G2, it was not just a series loss but a harsh reminder that the legacy their fans look fondly of is a thing of the past, now they must rebuild their reputation, hoping to show off at Worlds later this year.

Despite evolving its roster and name over the years, MKOI has yet to fully prove themselves on the international stage. After landing at MSI 2025 as the LEC first seed, MKOI had all the cards to reach those new heights. Yet the team was stopped by CFO, a team everyone had considered an underdog of the tournament — until it pushed T1 to its limit.

The series began with CFO establishing control early in Game one, using a superior macro strategy and sharp laning to build a steady gold lead. Tsai ‘HongQ’ Ming-hong’s Azir — which closed the game with a flawless 6-0-3 KDA — led the charge as CFO pressured MKOI’s weaknesses, punishing greedy plays and seizing key objectives. CFO’s ability to convert picks into map control allowed them to maintain their advantage and close the game cleanly.

Game two saw CFO build on its momentum, with Chiu ‘Doggo’ Tzu-Chuan’s Jhin shining at 10-0-8, dominating team fights and opening space for his teammates. Although MKOI fought back fiercely, securing few crucial objective fights, CFO’s vision control and coordinated plays kept the pressure relentless. Its clean execution of plays around Baron and Drakes turned fights in its favor, steadily wearing MKOI down and reaching match point.

But MKOI were not going to go down that easily. The European squad rallied through precise team fighting and aggressive map control in game three, slowly dismantling CFO’s defenses and taking important objectives. With a point finally on its side of the board MKOI reignited LEC fans hopes — only to have them crushed the game after.

In game four, CFO returned to a methodical pace, controlling the map with steady objective control and decisive team fights that shut down MKOI and sealed the series. As the LCP first seed, CFO delivered a phenomenal performance combining disciplined team play with sharp execution that consistently outmatched MKOI’s efforts.

This MSI has shown how the power dynamics on the international League of Legends stage are changing as new teams rise to challenge the old guard. MSI 2025 could mark the start of a new era where every region must find new ways to stay in charge of their own narratives.