The nuclear storm butterfly effect caused by KT's victory shook the LCK and the LOL World Cup
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It was only one game, but the nuclear storm scale 'butterfly effect' appeared.
Not only the LCK season playoff structure, but also the qualification and seed for the League of Legends World Championship, shook everyone's expectations.
KT Rolster caused a controversy by winning a 3-2 comeback victory over Gen. G., the overwhelming No. 1 team in the regular season, in the second round of the playoffs of '2025 LCK' at LCK Arena in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 13th. KT met Gen.G five times in the regular league this season and never won. Even in four games, he was not an opponent to the extent that he was completely defeated 0-2.
While Gen.G dominated the regular league with a phenomenal winning rate of 29 wins and 1 loss and a winning rate of 97%, KT was only 4 wins and 8 losses in the third and fifth rounds where the top five teams fought in the Legend Group, so Gen.G's victory was expected in the second round of the day. However, KT caught the first set, which started somewhat unfavorably with the red camp, and showed tremendous backing by winning four to five sets with a set score of 1-2, producing a surprise show that not only won the game from behind, went straight to the fourth round, but also qualified for the LOL World Cup for the first time in two years. On top of that, he secured at least the third seed in LCK and even gained a bonus of going straight to the Swiss stage of the LOL World Cup (the round of 16). In the meantime, he has been nicknamed the `KT of Summer' because he was strong in the summer season, but this season, he continued this momentum until the playoffs and exploded at the most important moment.
Of course, Gen.G was in a somewhat relaxed position to secure a ticket to the LOL World Cup due to the MSI (Mid Season Invitational) win in the international competition and advancing to the LCK playoffs, but the shock was inevitable because he was racing toward his first LCK victory, which was reorganized into a single season.
As a result, the playoff structure has also been completely reversed. If Gen.G wins as expected, Hanwha Life e-Sports, the second-ranked team in the regular league, and T1, the third-ranked team in the second round, could secure a LOL World Cup ticket at the same time regardless of the result, and even if they lost in the second round, they could go to the third round of the loser group because they were ranked higher than KT, but both scenarios were blown away. The winning team will go straight to the fourth round and compete with KT to advance to the final at the same time as securing the qualification for the LOL World Cup, but the losing team will have to meet the winners of D+ Kia and BNK Pierx in the second round of the loser group, and even if they pass, they will have to clash with Gen.G in the third round and decide to advance to the final (fourth round).
If Gen.G loses in the third round, it will also fail to win the season, tarnishing the overwhelming performance of the regular league, as well as having to play the LOL World Cup as the fourth seed in LCK. Unlike in previous years, this season's LOL World Cup will only reach the round of 16 if the fourth seed meets the fourth seed of the LPL (China) at the play-in stage and wins through the best-of-five series. Since this year's LOL World Cup will be held in China, it is a tough match to face an LPL team that will receive unilateral support from home fans. It goes without saying that the result of just one game became a representative example of a huge aftermath.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
