Korean powerhouse outlasts KT Rolster in a full five-game marathon to claim its sixth Worlds title
T1 captured the 2025 League of Legends World Championship title Sunday night, securing an unprecedented third consecutive Worlds victory.
The tightly contested finals stretched to a full five-game series, with T1 edging out fellow Koreans KT Rolster 3-2 after some five hours of play.
KT struck first, capitalizing on early-game pressure in the opening match, but T1 regained control after jungler Moon “Oner” Hyun-joon stole the dragon — a neutral objective that grants a teamwide buff. In the second set, KT’s middle laner Kwak “BDD” Bo-seong took over on Mel, a champion Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok had won with earlier in this year’s tournament, racking up 12 of KT’s 24 kills to even the series.
During the third match, T1 fell behind 1-2 after KT’s Moon “Cuzz” Woo-chan dictated the set, but the reigning champions rallied. Faker’s Anivia performance in set 4 proved decisive, with the character cutting off KT’s movement and isolating players during team fights.
For the final set, T1 opted for a composition loaded with crowd-control champions — Camille, Pantheon, Galio, Miss Fortune and Leona — overwhelming KT with coordinated execution to ultimately clinch the title. After the matches, T1's bottom laner Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyung was picked for the OPPO MVP of the finals.
With the win, T1 notched its sixth League of Legends World Championship — the most in the sport's history. The team, founded in 2013, claimed its debut Worlds title that same year and became the first team in LoL esports history to win back-to-back championships in 2015 and 2016. After a runner-up finish in 2022, T1 reclaimed dominance with titles in 2023 (Korea), 2024 (Europe) and now 2025 (China).
T1 endured a demanding journey throughout this year’s Worlds, entering the tournament as the League of Legends Champions Korea's fourth seed and opening its campaign with a 3-1 win over China's Invictus Gaming in the play-in stage. Despite facing elimination with a 1-2 record in the Swiss stage, the team advanced by sweeping the US' 100 Thieves and Spain's Movistar KOI.
From there, T1 narrowly defeated China's Anyone’s Legend 3-2 in the quarterfinals and swept China's Top Esports 3-0 in the semifinals to outlast KT Rolster in the finals. The team finished the event with 17 wins and 7 losses in individual games — the second-highest total ever recorded by a Worlds champion, behind Korea's DRX in 2022.
The 2026 League of Legends World Championship is slated to take place in the US, with Texas hosting the early rounds and New York City to stage the grand finals.
yoonseo.3348@heraldcorp.com
