Tensions ran high as two LCK titans collided on the MSI stage, with Gen.G coming out on top.
A most anticipated match between two reigning champions occurred in the Upper Bracket Finals of the 2025 League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational.
In what seemed like the lengthiest five-game series in the whole tournament, 2024 MSI Champions 
Gen.G edged out 2024 LoL World Champions 
T1 3-2 at the upper bracket finals
Both teams had a dominant showing throughout the tournament, with Gen.G knocking down
G2 Esports 3-1, before outplaying on LPL’s 
Anyone's Legend 3-2 to make it to the Upper Bracket Finals. Meanwhile, T1 survived the five-game onslaught brought about by LCP’s 
CTBC Flying Oyster 3-2, then dominated the LPL’s 
Bilibili Gaming in a 3-0 sweep in Round 2 to make it to the Upper Bracket Finals.
Here’s how the matches went:
In the first game, both Gen.G and T1 took equal trades across the map and kept the gold nearly even. However, the late game, Gen.G were able to find an advantage against T1, after a team fight erupted in the bottom lane that went in their favour. Despite T1 trying to find picks throughout, Gen.G held on and kept their lead. And after cleaning up T1 in the Baron pit, Gen.G marched down the mid lane and took down T1’s Nexus, taking the first game in 35 minutes.
In the second game, it initially looked like Gen.G was going to have an advantage after taking first blood. But it was T1 that sped up the pace and cornered Gen.G in team fights they didn’t want. T1 also contested and sometimes stole every objective on the map, pushing their gold lead forward. And after a 29-minute bloodbath, T1 destroyed Gen.G’s Nexus to win the second game.
The third game was an absolute slugfest, with both teams happy to trade objectives with no bloodshed for the first 23 minutes of the game. However, Gen.G were finally able to find a pick in the sidelanes, and pushed their advantage from there, making T1 play on Gen.G’s terms. 
Jae-Hyuk “Ruler” Park’s Senna eventually scaled and became unkillable, making it difficult for T1 to mount a comeback. And although they fought back, T1’s Nexus eventually fell to their LCK rivals, with the game ending in 36 minutes.
In the fourth game, both teams kept equal footing once again until the late game. All the crucial team fights happened in the Baron pit, with Gen.G pulling ahead in the first Baron fight, but T1 turning things around in a final team fight that gave the Baron over to Gen.G, but allowed the reigning World Champions to sweep them in a clean ace, with Hyeon-joon “Doran” Choi's Gragas being instrumental setting up Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong and Sang-hyeok “Faker” Lee in team fights. After a lengthy, 45-minute showdown, T1 took down Gen.G’s Nexus to win the fourth game.
Game five was another slow burner, with the focus on trading objectives once again until the late game. However, a fight in the mid lane erupted with Gen.G finding a way to punish T1’s aggression. It was Ruler’s Jinx who sealed the deal, wiping out T1 in their own base and allowing them to destroy T1’s Nexus to win the fifth game and the series 3-2.
With their win, Gen.G are the first team to make it to the Grand Finals on 13 July, 2025 8:00 AM SGT/12 July, 2025 5:00 PM PST.
Meanwhile, T1 drop to the lower bracket, where they would need to face Anyone’s Legend at the Lower Bracket Finals on 12 July, 2025 8:00 AM SGT/11 July 5:00 PM PST.
