T1 vs KT and HLE — Two must-win matches for T1 to qualify for MSI

At this point, T1 already have a history of playing with the hearts of their fans. They barely qualified for the League of Legends (LoL) World Championship 2024 — T1 used literally the last chance to be at that event. In 2025, T1 actually skipped the Fist Stand, due to the event format and their extremely shaky performance.

In the 2025 League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) Road to the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) season, T1 are neither at the bottom nor at the top. The team is two matches away from MSI qualification. Following them is a great LoL esports experience itself, as we are talking about the defending World Champions!

The first opponent for T1 to overcome is KT Rolster. Whoever wins this LCK 2025 T1 vs KT Rolster match must then face Hanwha Life Esports, who proved themselves on the international stage, but couldn’t defeat Gen.G in the upper final.

Everything about these matches is here: the streams, champion picks, brief recaps, and final results.

The official YouTube channel of LCK Global broadcasts every LoL match from the Korean league. You can watch the final Road to MSI battles by T1 right here. The T1 vs KT LCK 2025 stream in the recap section below.

The teams know each other well, and these LoL esports battles do not always go T1's way. The stakes of this T1 vs HLE match are extremely high!

The match started as a pretty even battle, and it really looked like HLE could perform a comeback. However, the final game destroyed that illusion. 

T1 proved to be a squad that hits especially hard when it matters the most. They demolished their opponents to win the Road to MSI qualification.

Sure, T1 have the second LCK seed only. However, it means we’ll witness more matches with this legendary LoL team!

The game was rather even in the first half. HLE earned a slight gold advantage at some point — despite some shaky moments, like Oner stealing the first Dragon.

Hanwha Life Esports earned the first blood in this series after killing Faker. After a weird decision of Peanut to go solo against three opponents in T1's jungle, HLE remained with one-man disadvantage and lost the second Dragon.

T1 postponed their Soul point but won a big fight around that Dragon. After that, they started delivering kills across Summoner's Rift. Atakhan, Baron, and a Hextech Soul were added to the list of objectives secured by T1.

Taking this game to the victorious end was just a technical detail for T1.

It looked like T1 were successfully working on their early advantage, but then HLE went aggressive and performed a couple of great collapses. That was converted into a kill and gold advantage. 

In a team fight around a Dragon, T1 returned to the game’s rails: four HLE players were dead. T1 focused on key objectives and secured them—this seems to be their strategy for this entire match.

When it looked like the game slowly fell apart for HLE, they won a crucial team fight to secure a Dragon and Atakhan.

After a few epic fights, T1 still secured a Dragon Soul and Baron. They were suddenly back to business, and HLE were absolutely powerless in front of this might.

It’s a match point for T1 against HLE in the LCK 2025 Road to MSI final round.

A wonderful collapse on the top lane let T1 go ahead with four kills. The Lol World Champions delivered three more just moments later.

At minute 13, it already looked like there was no way for HLE to recover. T1 continued accumulating kills and objectives. As a cherry on top, Gumayusi went solo for Atakhan and killed the monster.

When it was 26 to 3 in the kill score, T1 started their final siege, killed three HLE players one more time, and destroyed their Nexus.

These League of Legends esports teams battle in an intense best-of-five (Bo5) match. Both T1 and KT Rolster are eager to win, and big titles may mean nothing in this competition.

The match started promisingly for KT Rolster, but it did not go beyond that. T1 woke up in game 2, and till the very end, we certainly could see the World Champions playing League of Legends.

KT Rolster did not make it easy for their opponents, sure. However, the final blows were always by T1.

KT Rolster are out of the LCK 2025 Road to MSI, and T1 have to face Hanwha Life Esports in the final qualification match.

In a way, T1 had an early advantage, and they kept it for a very long time. That first blood felt nice for the fans, but that was an illusion of safety.

KT Rolster responded quickly and proved they are willing to take risks and trade kills. This approach let them be close to T1 — and then spike with successful fights around key objectives.

KT secured the Dragon Soul and Baron. They eliminated the entire T1 to start a siege and win this rollercoaster of the LoL esports game.

KT Rolster chose the path of early aggression, and it did not really go their way. T1 stood their ground well, and no one took an advantage at the start of game 2.

KT were still better at securing objectives. T1 responded with random kills here and there.

At some point, T1’s draft just clicked, and KT Rolster started losing team fights quite desperately. T1 accumulated kills and the power level — to secure Baron, harass the opponents a little bit, and then win game 2 vs KT in this LCK 2025 Round to MSI match.

Doran’s Renekton looked like a key power in T1’s draft, especially vs Yorick of PerfecT. Even if KT Rolster were a couple of kills ahead in the beginning, they lost a long-run game.

T1 secured three Dragons and began winning team fights pretty confidently. However, that caused a disastrous overstep from T1: they all died and lost their well-earned advantage. In the end, it still went T1’s way: they secured Baron.

After a few super chaotic team fights, T1 got a player advantage, secured the Dragon Soul, delivered an Ace, and won game 3.

It’s a match point for T1 in this elimination LCK 2025 match vs KT Rolster.

T1 started with a great early team fight that helped the team receive a crucial boost for their draft. KT responded with a few very good kills to keep the game relatively even.

KT continued their redemption attempt in game 4 with great positioning to win fights and secure objectives. T1 did not believe in that — and Doran just stole Atakhan when it was almost in the hands of KT Rolster.

And a bit later, T1 repeated the steal trick, with Keria taking Baron. Despite an extremely messy fight around KT’s base, T1 still destroyed the Nexus to advance to their final LCK 2025 Road to MSI match.

T1 had a generally good run in this LCK season. In Rounds 1 and 2, the team lost only two matches: to Gen.G and to Hanwha Life Esports.

This doesn't boost the confidence of T1’s fans, as one of these teams is the final guardian of the MSI 2025 qualification for Faker and his team. However, T1 know how to recover in tense LoL esports situations.

On the other hand, T1 defeated KT Rolster with a confident 2:0.

KT Rolster struggled against a few teams in the regular season. They lost to T1, Dplus KIA, Gen.G, and NS RedForce.

In the Road to MSI Playoffs, we could see a totally different version of KT Rolster. They defeated two of their demons, Dplus KIA and NS RedForce, with impressive 3:0s.

T1 can’t be carefree before facing even KT in their elimination match.

For Hanwha Life Esports, the run in LCK 2025 Road to MSI regular season was almost as successful as for T1. The First Stand 2025 Champions lost to Dplus KIA and Gen.G.

HLE still qualified for the upper final and needed one more win to be at the MSI event. That did not happen, however. Gen.G won that match, and Hanwha Life Esports players are certainly eager to defeat their final opponents.

The top 2 teams at the LCK Road to MSI 2025 also qualify for the League of Legends Esports World Cup 2025 (EWC 2025) event. As last year’s winner, T1 already have their spot. The LoL EWC 2025 event goes from July 16 to July 20 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The LoL Mid-Season Invitational 2025 takes place in Vancouver, Canada from June 27 to July 12.

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