T1 lose to Gen.G but will still go to Worlds as LCK fourth seed

T1 and Gen.G went the distance in a wild best-of-five, with Gen.G edging the series 3-2 after several hard-fought games. The defeat locks T1 into the LCK’s fourth seed for Worlds 2025. Instead of starting in the Swiss Stage, they will enter the play-ins against the LPL’s fourth seed, which will be decided this coming weekend.

Rough season for T1

The back-to-back world champions opened the year below expectations. Across LCK Rounds 1–2 they went 11-7 in series, finishing third, far behind Gen.G at 18-0 and HLE at 14-4.

T1 placed second in LCK Road to MSI, earning the league’s second MSI slot alongside Gen.G. MSI went reasonably well for T1, but they fell 3-2 to their Korean rivals in the final, which meant Gen.G had already secured at least Play-Ins for Worlds 2025.

Because LCK records carry over, T1 spent Rounds 3–5 chasing HLE to secure a Round 2 playoff start, which would have put them one series win from Worlds. In their final series before playoffs, with T1 neck and neck with HLE, T1 lost 2-1 to Gen.G. That left both T1 and HLE at 20-10 in series, but HLE held a superior game score of +22 to T1’s +19, placing T1 in Round 1 instead of Round 2.

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Playoffs dissapointment

T1 opened playoffs against LCK Play-In qualifier Dplus and narrowly advanced 3-2. Next came HLE with a direct Worlds spot on the line, and HLE swept 3-0, sending T1 to the lower bracket. T1 then defeated Dplus again to lock at least the fourth seed for Worlds.

Their final hurdle to the Swiss Stage was a rematch with Gen.G. After another long, tense series, Gen.G prevailed 3-2, which sends T1 to the Worlds 2025 Play-Ins. Which team from the LPL they will play is yet to be decided.

How the LPL fourth seed will be decided

The LPL will finalize its remaining two Worlds spots this weekend, with four teams still in contention: Top Esports, Invictus Gaming, JD Gaming, and Weibo Gaming. The winner of TES vs IG will qualify directly for the Swiss Stage. The loser will face the winner of JDG vs WBG for the final LPL berth, a Play-Ins spot that would set up a meeting with T1.