The tournament treats us to amazing League of Legends esports battles. Despite being the favorites, the Korean teams win only with a lot of difficulty.
The upper semis of Mid-Season Invitational 2025 (MSI 2025) turned into an interregional League of Legends (LoL) clash between China and Korea. Gen.G and Anyone's Legend played to determine the first team heading to the tournament final. The result of this match is not surprising, but the action itself was unexpectedly intense.
Gen.G is hands down the favorite of the entire event. Not only did the team win MSI 2024, but they also dominated the Korean regional split, to the point of having no losses at all in a pretty long season.
Anyone's Legend was strengthened at the end of 2024 with new players, including Tarzan from Weibo Gaming. Perhaps, these roster changes helped the team be on top of the Chinese splits in 2025. AL were second at the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) Split 1, and they won Split 2. MSI 2025 is the first-ever international event for the org: reaching the upper semi already feels like an achievement.
GEN vs Al was a match for advancing to the upper final. The losers fall into the elimination zone. In the parallel brackets, T1 faces BLG after a tough five-game win over CFO.
Gen.G vs Anyone's Legend at LoL MSI 2025: The upper semifinal
Most games of this match were spectacularly close, with both teams having their short periods of dominance. It looked like anyone could win, and GEN with AL took their Ws in turns.
Still, Gen.G was first to reach the match point. They recovered effectively after a pretty disastrous game 1 and performed a brilliant comeback after 31 minutes of game 3.
With a portion of competitive stability and emotional resistance, Gen.G survived a difficult mid-period of game 5 and won the match.
Gen.G advances to the MSI upper final. Anyone's Legend should make it through the lower brackets to hope for the grand final spot. Their first opponent is the winner of CFO vs KOI.
GEN 3:2 AL — Gen.G wins the series
Game | Winner |
|---|---|
| 1 | Anyone's Legend |
| 2 | Gen.G |
| 3 | Gen.G |
| 4 | Anyone's Legend |
| 5 | Gen.G |
Champion bans and picks
Game | Gen.G bans | AL bans |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vi, Taliyah, Poppy, Sylas, Corki | Varus, Twisted Fate, Azir, Lucian, Ezreal |
| 2 | Ryze, Trundle, Vi, Lucian, Renata Glasc | Taliyah, Skarner, Varus, Miss Fortune, Rakan |
| 3 | Ryze, Yorick, Maokai, Neeko, Renata Glasc | Galio, Xayah, Miss Fortune, Lucian, Zeri |
| 4 | Ryze, Yorick, Wukong, Camille, Zed | Skarner, Renekton, Jayce, Nidalee, Lee Sin |
| 5 | Yorick, Kalista, Lucian, Leona, Elise | Renekton, Jayce, Jinx, Zeri, Renata Glasc |
Gen.G picks | Gen.G | Position | Anyone's Legend | AL picks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ornn (G1) Gwen (G2) Ambessa (G3) K'Sante (G4) Camille (G5) | Kiin | Top | Flandre | Rumble (G1) Jax (G2) Sion (G3) Smolder (G4) Gragas (G5) |
| Xin Zhao (G1) Nocturne (G2) Vi (G3) Naafiri (G4) Sejuani (G5) | Canyon | Jungle | Tarzan | Pantheon (G1) Poppy (G2) Trundle (G3) Jarvan IV (G4) Skarner (G5) |
| Aurora (G1) Azir (G2) Taliyah (G3) Sylas (G4) Ryze (G5) | Chovy | Mid | Shanks | Annie (G1) Twisted Fate (G2) Akali (G3) Galio (G4) Cassiopeia (G5) |
| Jhin (G1) Senna (G2) Rakan (G3) Caitlyn (G4) Xayah (G5) | Ruler | Bot | Hope | Kai'Sa (G1) Ezreal (G2) Varus (G3) Miss Fortune (G4) Corki (G5) |
| Alistar (G1) Nautilus (G2) Bard (G3) Karma (G4) Blitzcrank (G5) | Duro | Support | Kael | Rell (G1) Braum (G2) Bard (G3) Neeko (G4) Shen (G5) |
Game-to-game recaps and stats
Here is our brief recap of each game in the MSI 2025 upper semifinal between GEN and AL.
Game 1
In game 1, the situation was uncertain till around minute 10. Then, Anyone's Legend built their small but stable gold advantage after a messy fight around Voidgrubs, which became deadly for Gen.G.
AL were more successful in team fights throughout this game, so they accumulated a lot more kills. After another dominating battle, Anyone's Legend destroyed Gen.G’s base.
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Game 2
The start of game 2 was slow. Till around minute 20, no team could earn a substantial advantage. A fight around a Dragon let Gen.G achieve an ace and begin their march to victory.
Anyone's Legend had a chance to recover with the Atakhan buff. But when the monster was low on health, Gen.G just went ahead and stole it. With four Dragons, the Korean team seemingly easily slayed the Baron and opponents, to eventually win the game.
Game 3
This time, the MSI 2025 battle between GEN and Al was close up to around minute 31. For some periods, Anyone's Legend looked just stronger, and it felt like they could win this one.
Thanks to a great positioning, Gen.G won a crucial fight, with four AL players being dead. After that, the power of Gen.G inevitably grew, so they destroyed the Nexus and reached the match point.
Game 4
Another somewhat slow start led Anyone's Legend to a stable advantage. Gen.G managed to earn good kills, but a fight around a Dragon ruined their plans.
AL started winning smaller fights after that. They pressured till the final siege, where Gen.G just couldn’t do anything.
Game 5
From the First Blood and through successful objective fights — Gen.G pretty much dominated game 5.
Anyone's Legend had their moment of glory at around minute 15, when they killed four opponents. Still, that allowed AL to only decrease the gold gap. Soon after that, Gen.G secured their third Dragon and earned an ace. There was no return to this series for AL, even if they managed to ambush individual Gen.G players.
Gen.G did not need the fourth Dragon. With all the opponents dead, they advanced to the Nexus and won the MSI 2025 upper semi.
It’s the 21-match win streak for Gen.G!
The upper bracket final is on July 10. The MSI 2025 winners are determined in the grand final on July 13. After that, the teams return to their regional championships. The next big international event is Worlds 2025, which happens from Oct. 1 to Nov. 1.
Soon, we can see more sponsors coming to the pro scene, as recently Riot Games allowed LoL teams to partner with betting platforms.
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