Movistar KOI defeats Team Secret Whales to keep Worlds 2025 run alive

Movistar KOI (MKOI) has avoided elimination by winning 2-1 against Team Secret Whales at the 2025 League of Legends World Championship Swiss Stage.

As a result, the LCP team has been eliminated from the competition, while MKOI has to win one more BO3 to qualify for the Worlds 2025 Knockout Stage.

MKOI battled through all three games, recovering from early losses to dominate key fights and objectives. The team’s coordinated plays and clutch objective steals ultimately secured a 2-1 series win over Team Secret Whales.

In game one, MKOI struck first through Javier ‘Elyoya‘ Prades Batalla’s early double kill and a 2v2 win bot, but the momentum did not last long.

Team Secret Whales chased down the LEC representative and, after a fight in front of the dragon pit, punished risky recalls and repeatedly caught David ‘Supa‘ Martínez García to swing the map in the LCP second seed’s favour. By constantly winning skirmishes, Team Secret Whales steadily built a strong lead in gold and objectives.

MKOI refused to fade quietly, and Joseph Joon ‘Jojopyun‘ Pyun landed a critical four-man Orianna ultimate to keep the EMEA hopes alive. Yet Team Secret Whales tightened its control across the Rift even further as the team reached Soul point, got Atakhan, and then secured both Cloud Soul and Baron. The LCP representative marched towards its opponent’s Nexus and, after one final fight, claimed the win within 34 minutes.

However, Movistar KOI was not ready to be eliminated from Worlds without a fight. 

Despite the LEC team striking early in the second game, Team Secret Whales continued to find flashless targets to punish and pressured the side lanes for towers and Herald, keeping control of the Rift despite MKOI stacking dragons. The LCP representative constantly traded advantages, even as Jojopyun and Elyoya pressed hard for picks around the map.

Nevertheless, it was MKOI that finally found the game’s first crucial fight to secure Atakhan and two towers. Even after MKOI swung momentum in its favour and shattered all three inhibitors, Team Secret Whales clung to life. A second Baron finally gave the LEC representative enough power to close the game and force a decisive final game for Worlds survival.

The third game was highly contested, with both teams trading objectives and kills, keeping the match almost perfectly even through the first 20 minutes. A huge fight near the mid lane swung the momentum in MKOI’s favour, and a crucial Atakhan steal gave the LEC representative the final push to secure the lead in the match’s final game.

Elyoya dominated the jungle with Naafiri and finished 10/0, leading Movistar KOI to a decisive victory that kept its Worlds 2025 run alive.

MKOI are now 2-2 in the League of Legends World Championship 2025, meaning the team faces one final best-of-three to qualify for the Knockout Stage. A win will send the European representative through, where G2 Esports is already waiting. MKOI will need to bring its A-game once again if the team want to keep its tournament hopes alive.

Potential opponents for MKOI include LCP’s CTBC Flying Oyster and FlyQuest, along with other teams currently sitting at either 2-1 or 1-2. The matchups will depend on how the rest of the Swiss Stage plays out, and MKOI may have to navigate another challenging series to secure a spot in the Quarterfinals of Worlds 2025.

For Team Secret Whales, the Worlds 2025 journey ends here. The LCP second seed showed great moves — in and out of the game — throughout the Swiss Stage, but three consecutive losses mean it exits the tournament without a chance to reach the knockout stage.