The 2025 League of Legends World Championship will see T1 face off against one of its biggest rivals, KT Rolster, in an event that has defied all predictions.
The unpredictable competition sees LCK’s fourth and third seeds battle it out in Chengdu, China, on November 9th to be crowned the best League of Legends team in the world.
Whilst T1 will be looking for its third consecutive Worlds trophy, KT Rolster has made it to a Worlds final for the first time in its long history.
What is the Telecom War?
T1 and KT Rolster have a deep-seated rivalry, known as the ‘Telecom War’, that spans from both teams representing major telecommunications companies in South Korea.
Both SK Telecom and KT Corporation have been major players in the esports scene since the industry started to grow within South Korea. Whilst in modern history the rivalry is known within League of Legends, it was actually Starcraft where the esports Telecom War began.
Entering the Starcraft esports scene, SK Telecom T1 (created in 2004) and KTF MagicNs (2001) would regularly face off in tier one events across the next decade. This included KT beating T1 in the 2009-2010 and 2010–11 Shinhan Bank Proleague. Meanwhile, T1 toppled KT in the 2011–2012 Proleague Season 1.
In 2014, both T1 and KT expanded into League of Legends. T1 has since gone on to become one of the most successful League of Legends organisations ever, claiming five world championships. However, KT, on the other hand, has failed to achieve such great heights.
Nevertheless, KT has still had some notable accolades in League of Legends. This includes winning LCK 2018 Summer and reaching the Worlds quarterfinals four times (2015, 2018, 2023 and 2025).
Tale of the Tape
Both KT Rolster and T1 have defied all expectations coming into the World Championship. In fact, nobody was able to perfectly predict this year’s Worlds 2025 pick’ems.
After starting off with a 3-0 Swiss Stage record, albeit with some early game worries, KT Rolster recorded an emphatic series win against fellow underdogs CTBC Flying Oyster. In the semifinals, however, stood KT’s toughest opponent yet, the favourites Gen.G.
Despite Gen.G being the LCK first seed, Esports World Cup 2025 champion and MSI winner, it was surprisingly KT Rolster that walked away victorious with a 3-1 win.
KT Rolster’s veteran mid laner Gwak ‘Bdd’ Bo-sung was rightfully the player of the series, recording a total KDA of 24/9/24. For the midlaner, this is his first-ever Worlds finals appearance and only his second major international finals appearance since being crowned runner-up at MSI in 2018.
On the other side, T1 has also surprised many with its run at this year’s world championship. Despite being back-to-back champions, the team just barely qualified for the event, entering as the LCK’s fourth seed.
However, as many have realised time and time again, it is always hard to count T1 out. After a rocky Swiss Stage performance, T1 managed to make it to the knockout stage at the latest opportunity, beating KOI 2-0 in round five to progress.
In the quarterfinals, the South Korean side went toe-to-toe with one of China’s surprising performers, Anyone’s Legend, resulting in a thrilling five-game series that went the way of T1.
In the semifinals, T1 yet again faced another Chinese team, this time wiping Top Esports 3-0 in dominant fashion. T1’s record against LPL sides and Worlds in BO5 series is truly unbelievable, with the South Korean side holding a 13-0 record.
Moving on to the Worlds 2025 finals, in terms of previous meetings, it is advantage KT Rolster. The LCK third seed recently won its last series against T1 2-0 during the LCK 2025 season. However, in the past five match-ups, T1 has walked away victorious on four occasions.
Both KT and T1 will be looking to make history on November 9th. T1 will look to become back-to-back-to-back world champions, while KT will be looking to immortalise itself as a world champion. This is undoubtedly the biggest Telecom War yet.
