T1 qualify for Mid-Season Invitational, Esports World Cup

T1 — the defending League of Legends world champions — qualified for the 2025 Mid-Season Invitational on Sunday with a dominant victory over Hanwha Life Esports.

By winning 3-0 in the fifth round of the LoL Champions Korea (LCK) Road to MSI, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok and co. have booked their tickets for MSI 2025 alongside Gen.G, who secured their spot in the international event on Friday.

This marks the fourth consecutive year in which T1 will compete at the international event, which they have won twice before — in 2016 and 2017.

Mid-Season Invitational 2025 will be T1’s first international tournament of the year, as they missed out on the inaugural edition of the First Stand Tournament after finishing LCK Cup 2025 in fifth-sixth place.

The Korean juggernauts managed to secure their MSI tickets with a dominant showing in the LCK 2025 Road to MSI, where they received a direct bye to Round 4 after finishing LCK Rounds 1-2 in third place.

Faker and his crew kicked off the campaign with a 3-1 victory against the surging KT Rolster and were just as impressive in Sunday’s win against Hanwha Life Esports.

It marked T1’s first victory against HLE since April 2024, when they defeated their rivals in the lower bracket of the LCK 2024 Spring Playoffs.

Later the same day, the final two qualification games for MSI 2025 — in LoL Championship of the Americas (LTA) North and South — played out, completing the final list of participating teams.

MSI 2025 will kick off on June 27 and conclude on July 12, four days before the start of the 2025 Esports World Cup.

MSI 2025 teams

• Gen.G – LCK
• T1 – LCK
• Anyone’s Legend – LPL
• Bilibili Gaming – LPL
• Movistar KOI – LEC
• G2 Esports – LEC
• CTBC Flying Oyster – LCP
• GAM Esports – LCP
• FURIA – LTA South
• FlyQuest – LTA North