Gen.G defeats Top Esports to reach Worlds 2025 Knockout Stage

Reigning MSI champion Gen.G Esports has defeated Top Esports 2-0 to advance to the quarterfinals at the 2025 League of Legends World Championship.

The series also saw Top Esports’ Bai ‘369‘ Jiahao and Seo ‘Kanavi‘ Jin-hyeok face off against their former JD Gaming teammate Park ‘Ruler‘ Jae-hyuk, who played two near-flawless games at the Beijing JD Esports Center.

In the first game of the series, Top Esports (TES) struggled against the suppressing map presence of Gen.G’s Kim ‘Canyon‘ Geon-bu. Moreover, the jungler concluded the series with an incredible 9/3/27 KDA.

While the enemy jungler helped Top Esports secure first blood, the Korean team managed to retaliate with picks of its own.

Similarly, TES claimed the first dragon of the series in minute six, just to be punished for forcing a teamfight around the grubs shortly after. This solidified a 10,000 gold lead for Gen.G by the ten-minute mark, which the team methodically exploited.

Top Esports was swiftly overwhelmed across all areas of the rift, suffering team aces and losing the two next drakes as well as the Atakhan. Suffocated for comeback opportunities, the LPL roster had to concede more and more of its lanes until Gen.G took its nexus in under 25 minutes.

For the second encounter, both teams drafted more scaling-focused compositions, leading to a slower early game where Top Esports looked more comfortable compared to game one.

However, it was Gen.G’s Jeong ‘Chovy‘ Ji-hoon who scored first blood this time around despite a rough mid-lane match-up. After its first dragon, the LCK squad slowed its pace even further in anticipation of Chovy’s first crucial item spike on Yone. TES could have leveraged this time window to secure its own first drake for free, but instead, was slaughtered in a delayed teamfight around the dragon pit.

From minute 18 onward, the pace of the game increased massively as both competitors looked primed and ready for teamfights. At first, a mistake from Gen.G’s toplaner, Kim ‘Kiin‘ Ki-in, delivered TES a shutdown on Chovy. The LPL’s own bot-lane scaling efforts also began showing promise.

Yet, when it mattered most, Gen.G outclassed its opponent to win skirmishes for the Atakhan and Baron. Top Esports was conquered again soon after.

Due to today’s loss, Top Esports must prove itself in the last round of Swiss Stage matches on October 25th to secure a Knockout Stage slot.

The draw for these match-ups will take place after tomorrow’s matches. Bilibili Gaming and Keyd Stars will kick off the day at 9 AM BST, followed by 100 Thieves versus reigning Worlds champion T1.