Gen.G secures back-to-back MSI titles and first spot at Worlds 2025

T1 might have been the team to beat at the League of Legends World Championship, but MSI is Gen.G territory.

The undefeated LCK team secured its second consecutive MSI title after edging out T1 3-2 in the most-watched match of the tournament.

The 2025 MSI Grand Final carved its place in history with unforgettable action-packed games and a record that raised the bar for future League of Legends esports events. With over 3.4m peak viewers, according to Esports Chart, this match broke all previous MSI viewership records and further cemented the growing legacy of Gen.G as a team to fear on the international stage.

Since lifting the LCK Cup in January 2025, the reigning MSI champions have strung together 23 consecutive series wins without a single loss. The pressure of staying undefeated could have broken lesser teams, but Gen.G met T1’s fierce resistance head-on and came out stronger for it.

While T1 pushed Gen.G to its limit, the reigning champion held its ground. Jeong ‘Chovy Ji-hoon rose to the occasion when it mattered most, delivering consistently outstanding performances that earned him the Finals MVP title. Meanwhile, Park ‘Ruler’ Jae-hyuk made history by becoming the first player to win the Mid-Season Invitational with two different teams from two separate regions. 

The rest of the Gen.G roster showed remarkable resilience and synergy throughout the series. Kim ‘Canyon‘ Geon-bu’s relentless jungle control, Kim ‘Kiin‘ Gi-in’s solid top-lane presence, and Joo ‘Duro‘ Min-kyu’s fearless support play—especially on Pyke in game five—all contributed crucially to the team’s success.

Together, the roster’s combined efforts forged an unstoppable force to maintain Gen.G’s undefeated streak and claim back-to-back MSI titles.

The Grand Final opened with both teams trading blows cautiously. Understandably, every player was tense, trying not to be the one to break first. 

Gen.G looked to dictate the pace early on, but T1 absorbed the pressure and slowly turned the game in its favour. A chaotic team fight around the Athakan gave T1 the breakthrough it needed. Despite Gen.G’s efforts to claw back, T1’s gold lead and Lee ‘Faker‘ Sang-hyeok’s perfect 7-0-10 Orianna were too much to handle. T1 were the first on the board, closing in 34 minutes and handing Gen.G its first taste of real danger in months.

Gen.G responded with the calm of a champion in the following game. Learning from its mistakes, the team focused on tightening its coordination and Ruler and Duro’s bot lane became the focus point of the game. However, it was Chovy’s Ryze that stole the spotlight, dismantling T1’s plans piece by piece and closing the game with an 11-1-9 KDA. Gen.G closed the match in 31 minutes, levelling the series and igniting fans’ hope for the eight five-game series of MSI.

Momentum swung yet again in the third game. Any illusions that this would be easy for Gen.G vanished when T1 unleashed relentless pressure across the map. In every skirmish, T1 came out ahead, its movements crisp and its teamfights clinical. The decisive moment came with Gumayusi’s quadra kill, sending the crowd into a frenzy and putting Gen.G behind once more. T1 had the advantage and the momentum heading into what could have been the final game.

But champions do not fold so easily. Game four saw Gen.G reclaim the stage with a textbook early gank from Canyon’s Trundle that gave them a foothold. T1’s strategy to stall with tanky frontliners could not contain Ruler and Chovy, whose raw damage ripped through T1’s lines. A huge Baron fight sealed the deal, forcing a deciding Game 5 and yet another Silver Scrapes moment to MSI 2025.

All eyes turned to the final game, where every draft choice could make or break the series. Duro’s choice to play Pyke initially stunned fans, but it was exactly this gamble that helped Gen.G maintain relentless pressure. By 22 minutes, the team dictated the tempo, winning every crucial fight and denying T1 any way back. With Mountain Soul secured and every lane pushed, Gen.G closed out the game with calm precision. Unlike the earlier frantic games, this was a steady, controlled snowball where Gen.G shut down every T1 attempt to fight back. When T1’s base fell, so too did any doubts that this was Gen.G’s era.

In lifting the MSI 2025 trophy undefeated, Gen.G not only extended its perfect record but also punched a ticket to Worlds as the first team to qualify.