T1 stumble but still eliminate KOI from the League of Legends EWC 2025

It feels like the main theme of the playoffs at the League of Legends (LoL) Esports World Cup 2025 (EWC 2025) is a battle between Eastern and Western regions. Surprisingly, European and American teams are doing decently — at least up to quarterfinals and semis.

G2 Esports won over BLG to reach the semifinal. Their opponents are decided in another East versus West clash: Gen.G versus FlyQuest.

In the parallel brackets, T1 played against KOI. Sure, T1 fans expected this to be one more showcase of the Korean LoL power. However, there still was some hope for the EU League of Legends community: T1 has had a weird tendency of shaky performance in the early stages. It was the case in their recent regional splits.

It’s the first match of the tournament day at the League of Legends Esports World Cup 2025. The official stream is on the EWC YouTube channel, and it’s embedded right here.

To win this quarterfinal, T1 and KOI need to succeed in two games, as the format is best-of-three (Bo3). The losers are out: the tournament features single-elimination brackets. The winners advance to the semifinal and play against AG.AL — Anyone's Legend defeated Hanwha Life Esports.

T1 demonstrated exceptional patience and skills to defeat MKOI. Patience was the key factor in game 1, when the Korean players waited for a proper moment to snowball their advantage and smash their opponents. Skills turned out to be crucial in game 3, when Movistar KOI managed to deliver a lot of mid-game kills, but T1 focused on scaling their gold advantage — to defeat KOI in the LoL EWC 2025 quarterfinal.

MKOI had a great game 2: a lot thanks to their effort to power up Jinx of Supa. T1 underestimated that strategy and stumbled in this match. That wasn't enough for the EU team in this match.

Eventually, T1 advance to the semifinal. Movistar KOI end their Esports World Cup 2025 journey.

Faker struggled on the Mid lane at the start of this game, but a great gank by Oner and Keria still let T1 earn the First Kill on Jojopyun. Faker died soon in the following fights, but T1 was slightly ahead with kills and gold. They were winning mass fights and individual duels to take all the objectives T1 wanted.

The map control led T1 to a systematic destruction of KOI’s turrets. Oner was especially powerful: the Jungler battled all over Summoner’s Rift, and his advantage felt very tangible.

With Atakhan, T1 attacked the base of Movistar KOI. They overstepped a bit and got some deaths, including Oner. Still, KOI’s turret defense was pretty much ruined. After getting the Hextech Soul and Baron, T1 killed everyone in MKOI and destroyed their Nexus.

T1 earned two first kills early: on the Mid and Top lanes. When it looked like MKOI could respond with more kills for Supa, Keria went ahead to kill Jinx. That was a clever move to not let KOI’s carry build any advantage. Still, KOI found a few great kills right after that and really managed to direct gold to Jinx.

T1 had good moments, including killing Supa and nullifying KOI’s gold advantage. But that did not go too far.

Movistar KOI won big by stealing Atakhan. T1 decided to contest a Dragon and died in that fight. Even securing Baron on reviving did not save the game for T1.

Keria, who was ganked a lot, made a desperate move to initiate a team fight. It ended up being a disaster for T1. MKOI delivered big kills and destroyed T1’s Nexus to remain alive in the quarterfinal T1 vs KOI at the LoL EWC 2025.

After a weird interaction on the Mid lane, both Faker and Jojopyun found themselves with low health and no flash. Soon, Oner joined the party and ganked the KOI player. That got repeated soon with Elyoya, so T1 increased their advantage. 

KOI responded with kills on Bot and eventually Mid. T1 received Voidgrubs, a Dragon, and an early gold lead in those trades.

With a crazy series of interactions, KOI could follow the pace in terms of kills, but they were quite behind with their money.

When Movistar KOI decided to contest Atakhan, they lost the objective and a few lives. That allowed T1 to open up the base — and even without battling for Baron, they started the next siege and won the match.

It’s never easy to play against T1! The team is a true legend of the competitive scene, and the recent titles speak clearly about this.

We sure can expect Faker and company to reach the top at this tournament as well. According to LoL betting odds, their main opponents are Gen.G, and the other teams should perform a miracle to lift the trophy.

The EWC 2025 League of Legends Champions will be determined in the grand final on July 20. After that, the teams will proceed to their next regional splits — to battle for the LoL Worlds 2025 spots.

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