This match is heartbreaking for the European fans. One team from this region leaves the event for sure. Considering a not-too-smooth performance of EU teams, we can say differently: one for sure advances further.
Starting from Round 3, we have elimination matches in the Swiss Stage of LoL Worlds 2025. Two teams finished their runs with a disappointing 0:3. One of these tickets to the abyss was played between MKOI and Fnatic in a bloody EU clash.
To fall into this darkest of the tournament realms, KOI and FNC accumulated two losses each. Fnatic got defeated by CFO and BLG. Movistar KOI fell victim to KT Rolster and G2 Esports — yes, it’s true, the EU already experienced a regional battle at Worlds 2025.
With the stakes this high, the League of Legends esports show was spectacular! One team had prove to be worthy to represent Europe in the next round and potentially in the Playoffs.
How to watch KOI vs FNC at LoL Worlds 2025: Stream
The stream of the elimination match, MKOI vs FNC, at LoL World 2025 is embedded above. All the tournament VODs are on the official YouTube channel of LoL Esports.
The second elimination battle of Round 3 on Oct. 19 was between Vivo Keyd Stars versus PSG Talon.
MKOI versus Fnatic: Match details and results
All the advancement matches of the LoL Worlds 2025 Swiss Stage are under the best-of-three format. Fnatic and KOI aim to secure two games to keep competing in the League of Legends World Championship.
MKOI 2:1 FNC — MKOI won the series
Game | Winners |
|---|---|
| 1 | MKOI |
| 2 | FNC |
| 3 | MKOI |
Champion bans and picks
Game | MKOI bans | FNC bans |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wukong, Poppy, Azir, Ezreal, Nautilus | Orianna, Yunara, Taliyah, Neeko, Tristana |
| 2 | Orianna, Aurora, Azir, Nautilus, Rell | Neeko, Taliyah, Yunara, Braum, Karma |
| 3 | Neeko, Aurora, LeBlanc, Yorick, Karma | Orianna, Yunara, Vi, Tristana, Caitlyn |
MKOI Picks | MKOI | Position | Fnatic | FNC Picks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sion (G1) K'Sante (G2) Ornn (G3) | Myrwn | Top | Oscarinin | Ambessa (G1) Rumble (G2) Jax (G3) |
| Qiyana (G1) Wukong (G2) Xin Zhao (G3) | Elyoya | Jungle | Razork | Pantheon (G1) Jarvan IV (G2) Trundle (G3) |
| Ryze (G1) Kassadin (G2) Taliyah (G3) | Jojopyun | Mid | Poby | Cassiopeia (G1) Viktor (G2) Azir (G3) |
| Zeri (G1) Sivir (G2) Vayne (G3) | Supa | Bot | Upset | Xayah (G1) Kai'Sa (G2) Ezreal (G3) |
| Rakan (G1) Bard (G2) Braum (G3) | Alvaro | Support | Mikyx | Alistar (G1) Poppy (G2) Rell (G3) |
Match recap
The teams exchanged dominant games. Both these wins were possible thanks to earning early advantages and then smashing opponents.
Game 3 was closer. FNC and MKOI had good kills. At some point, bitter mistakes from the Fnatic players gave precious power to MKOI. FNC could not get out of this abyss, so MKOI won this match to keep competing at LoL Worlds 2025.
Game 1
Despite getting the First Blood after a good gank on Mid, Fnatic totally lost the early game. MKOI responded with a kill on Razork in his own jungle. A bit later, it was KOI players who dived mid and earned a kill to start accumulating Dragons.
After losing Voidgrubs, Fnatic started delivering good punishes. They pushed fights and earned crucial kills. Many of these small successes were sequences of KOI’s oversteps. At the same time, FNC made the same mistake, and they paid dearly for that.
Thanks to the early gold advantage, MKOI continued winning team fights. To make the situation worse, Razork whiffed his Pantheon ults when initiating clashes.
A fight to reflect MKOI’s domination happened after Fnatic secured the Rift Herald. Only Upset survived the following fight — and only because he used Herald as an escape taxi.
Eventually, MKOI took Atakhan, while Fnatic couldn’t challenge. Soon, they got Dragon Soul, secured Baron, and demolished the opponents’ Nexus. This was a confident start to the elimination match for MKOI against FNC at the LoL Worlds 2025 Swiss Stage.
Game 2
An early advantage of Fnatic came from brave, aggressive play on Bot. Mikyx used Flash offensively to take down Alvaro. Razork ganked cleverly to kill Supa.
These successes built up a gold lead for FNC and let them accumulate neutral objectives. MKOI contested Voidgrubs, got one creature and a kill. Still, FNC struck back and looked like the winners in that exchange. Poby helped his team not to waste their advantage, as he escaped death from seemingly unfavorable 1v1s and 1v2s.
Fnatic won a fight before taking the third Dragon. They also eliminated three turrets on each lane. Atakhan went to their pocket as well, with the kill score getting bigger. With Infernal Soul and Baron, FNC smashed MKOI’s Nexus.
With this win, Fnatic finally brought a win to Jarvan IV. This is his first win in this event after 10 games.
Game 3
For this game, Supa picked Vayne — picked for the first time professionally in 2025.
Razork tried to repeat his bot gank, but it’s not easy to kill Braum and the carry behind him. A fight on bot turned into a kill exchange, so no one could take a super early advantage.
Fnatic applied an overall good pressure. Poby earned a solo kill against Jojopyun. Still, a slight miscommunication led to losing Oscarinin on Top, so MKOI secured all three Voidgrubs.
The tight game ended with the fight for the second Dragon. MKOI won it and secured the objective. Misstep of Mikyx on Mid gave an extra kill to Vayne and let the opponents take Rift Harold.
Fnatic showed signs of life with a fight on Mid, messy for MKOI. Still, the opponents already had enough power to harass FNC all over the map, get random kills, and secure big objectives, such as Atakhan.
With a tangible advantage on their hands, MKOI still didn’t push offensive play. They waited patiently and collected even more pieces for their win. Baron was enough for this, and FNC could do nothing to stop MKOI and keep their LoL World 2025 life.
Head-to-head and international record
Moving into this LoL Worlds 2025 elimination match, MKOI and FNC have enough data on their opponents. Both compete in the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC). Both are the top regional teams that have been facing each other a lot.
The most recent matches in the LEC season 2025 were in the Summer split Playoffs.
- KOI defeated Fnatic in the upper semifinal to send the opponents to the lower brackets.
- Then, KOI won the lower final to eliminate Fnatic.
On the international scene, we used to have Fnatic representing Europe alongside G2. 2025 was very different.
- MKOI hit international events for the first time ever. The team reached the top 8 at the MSI and the LoL Esports World Cup 2025.
Fnatic had similar top 8 placements in 2024, but this year, it’s the first time we see this team at an international tournament.
Winning this match means moving to the next round and the necessity to secure two more wins. The Swiss stage goes on up to Oct. 25. The Playoffs start on Oct. 28.
Regardless of their LoL World 2025 performance, both MKOI and FNC return to the regional season pretty soon. LEC 2026 Winter kicks off in January.
