T1 strikes back at the LPL, IG falls in LoL Worlds 2025 Play-Ins

A classic will open the League of Legends Worlds 2025 (LoL Worlds 2025) tournament as Invictus Gaming (IG) and T1 battle for the final spot in the Swiss Stage. As the fourth seeds of their respective major regions, the two former world champions will clash in a best-of-five (Bo5) series to secure the last remaining place.

Having these two legendary organizations face off, with only one advancing, sets the stage for what could be one of the most iconic matches of the entire event. This is one of those matches you can't miss at all.

As always, fans can catch all the action live on the official Riot Games broadcast across Twitch and YouTube. Those who prefer a more personal touch can tune in to one of the official co-streams.

Otherwise, we’ll be here to bring you live recaps. You can also read a deep analysis of the best moments, standout players, and highlight plays from the match.

You can find all the match schedules on the official esports.gg LoL Worlds 2025 hub. You'll also be able to check out the results, locations, and more.

These two are no ordinary teams. T1 stands as the most successful organization in League of Legends history. They claimed five LoL Worlds titles, the only team ever to do so. Their legendary captain, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, has been part of every single championship run.

Alongside him, three of his current teammates, Mun “Oner” Hyeon-jun, Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong, and Ryu “Keria” Min-seok, have each lifted the trophy twice. Choi “Doran” Hyeon-joon joined the team at the end of 2024, and he’s determined to help T1 conquer the event and claim his first Worlds title.

On the other side stands the 2018 LoL Worlds champion, IG. With two members of that historic roster, Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok and Song “Rookie” Eui-jin, IG is chasing a title that has eluded them ever since. The team hasn’t qualified for Worlds since 2019, but in 2025, they return with a revitalized and talented lineup ready to reclaim their place among the best.

Alongside Yan “Wei” Yang-Wei, Chen “GALA” Wei, and Tian “Meiko” Ye, IG now faces the ultimate challenge: to rewrite their history and take down the reigning champions. It's not going to be an easy game for both teams, but it's certainly going to be a clash you can't miss to open the biggest event of the year.

The match between T1 and IG at the LoL Worlds 2025 starts at 1 p.m. PT / 10 a.m. CEST / 4 p.m. CST. It's going to be held in the Beijing Smart Esports Center in Beijing, China.

Return to this section for highlights and analysis of the game after the end of the series.

TheShy choice to play Rek'Sai into Ambessa could, in theory, be a good choice. But it wasn't. Even though Rek'Sai has strong mobility, Ambessa's early power could be very hard for TheShy to take care of. However, it was there that experience talked louder, and TheShy 1v1 Doran, winning the fight and losing right after to Gumayusi, who was just going to the lane to support his top laner.

His choice was an unusual one, as Rek’Sai isn’t a typical champion for TheShy. In fact, he had only played her twice since Season 7, with this match being one of those rare occasions.

Gumayusi managed to get two early kills, but that was not enough for the individual kills IG was picking up. The game didn't have much team fighting in the early game, but when they did, IG was stronger and slowly started to build their gold advantage.

However, when the game seemed pretty good for the Chinese team, with Rookie standing out, the game completely changed in a team fight in Atakhan. In one of those T1 moments, the team coordination ended up winning, giving them the leverage they needed to regain control of the match.

And just like that, the game was over. After T1 secured the Baron, they marched straight down the lane and destroyed IG’s nexus. Everyone was left stunned, asking, “How?” “What happened?” “How did IG lose this?” The turning point came when T1 seized control of a crucial team fight, showcasing flawless coordination. With Sivir’s overwhelming damage, Trundle’s relentless disruption, and Taliyah’s precision control, IG’s defenses crumbled in an instant.

In the second match, IG came in much more confident, clearly having reset after the tough loss. They secured the first kill, but their real victory came during the draft phase. With a tanky yet high-damage Sion, the recently buffed Wukong, and a strong bot lane duo, IG looked poised for success even before the game began.

However, their coordination still couldn’t match T1’s. The Korean side was simply built differently in this series. T1’s near-perfect positioning made life difficult for IG, as Faker quickly gained an early lead with three kills on Akali. Yet, amidst T1’s dominance, GALA stood out, playing in his own world of brilliance.

But it was Rookie who truly popped off on Orianna, delivering massive damage and playing a crucial role in disrupting T1’s team fights. The growing gold advantage allowed IG to secure key objectives and ultimately lock in their victory in the second match.

The game was intriguing right from the draft. Faker locked in his signature Galio, only to be met with an unexpected counter, Smolder, creating a nearly unplayable matchup. That clever response from IG forced T1 to adapt, shifting Galio to the top lane and drafting Annie mid to push Smolder back to the bot side. As a result, Rookie took up Hwei in the mid lane.

After a brief technical pause, the game resumed with T1 securing the first kill. The real problem, however, was IG’s draft. TheShy was left in a difficult position, unable to play effectively against Galio. Things went from bad to worse once Oner started snowballing, quickly building a 5/0 scoreline. On top of that, Smolder’s slow scaling left IG without enough firepower to challenge Oner’s fed Xin Zhao, further diminishing their chances to turn the game around.

Both Wei and TheShy struggled with their decision-making, failing to prevent T1 from reaching match point. Now, T1 stands just one game away from victory. Still, there’s plenty of League of Legends left to play, and the series remains in IG’s hands.

You know the game is not going to be ordinary the moment you see TheShy pick Varus top. One map away from losing the series, at least they would deliver a different match. The game was short and was pretty much fight after fight.

Even though IG, like the majority of the matches above, had some initial leverage, they couldn't take the best out of it. T1 kept nailing their team fights, and there was nothing IG could do to stop them from buying their ticket to the Swiss Stage. IG was engaging in constant team fights and, when everyone thought they were winning, they ended up losing them.

T1 has now reached the LoL Worlds 2025 Swiss Stage, while IG was eliminated. The Korean team will be playing against FlyQuest on Oct. 15.

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