5 best League of Legends matches of 2025

The League of Legends 2025 esports season is over, with the off-season already surprising us with the leaving and signing of the world’s best players. This season has had some great matches, as expected of every season, having some of the highest-viewed matches in League of Legends history.

It’s been a rollercoaster with some extreme narratives, from major restructuring to T1 somehow managing to do the three-peat at League of Legends Worlds, despite a less-than-stellar domestic campaign. The year gave us plenty to talk about, and hopefully, 2026 can keep the narratives as compelling.

With that said, let’s look back at 2025 and select the best League of Legends matches throughout the season.

While deciding the best League of Legends matches is subjective, we will be looking at a few factors to help determine our best matches of 2025:

Played between two South Korean rivals for a place in the Grand Finals, almost everyone expected Gen.G to walk away with the win. Being at the top of the LoL Power Rankings prior to Worlds, Gen.G felt like the team to beat. Things did not go the way of the favourites, however, continuing KT’s fairytale run and being one of the greatest upsets in the tournament.

Despite playing four rounds, compared to the maximum of five, it was an intense bout that showed the best of KT, especially midlaner Bdd, who earned the first perfect 10 rating in the tournament. There was little room for error, but KT beat the odds and defeated the tournament favourites, leading to the Grand Finals against the defending champions, T1.

This match was a massive upset, and while KT was seeded third from the LCK league, it also showed how competitive the teams in South Korea are.

First Stand is a relatively new event to the League of Legends calendar, and the first international tournament of 2025. While its Grand Final attracted the most eyes, its semi-final bout between Karmine Corps and CTBC Flying Oyster proved to be its most competitive, being a five-match battle between two underdogs.

The bout was an emotional rollercoaster, with Karmine Corps looking dominant after taking the first two games, but things shifted when CTBC surged back to take the tie to two-all. This made the final decider that much more intense, but after Karmine Corps’ third ace, they were able to take the win and advance into the Grand Final.

While it didn’t have the biggest names behind it, this semi-final showed that the underdogs could make one of the best LoL matches in 2025.

The Mid-Season Invitational 2025 was record-breaking, being the most popular in MSI League of Legends history, and its final showed why everyone tuned in. The MSI finals had almost 3.5 million peak viewers, played between Korean rivals, Gen.G and T1, the top team in the Power Rankings (at the time), against the Worlds champions.

The match didn’t disappoint, being a five-game classic with momentum swing after momentum swing, and it was one of the best League of Legends matches not hosted at Worlds. The two teams’ contrasting playstyles of objective control vs team fighting made the match one of 2025’s most exciting, with Gen.G living up to its ranking and eking out a win.

It showed that, at the time, Gen.G were on top of the League of Legends esports Power Rankings, and even the Worlds champions couldn’t stop them.

While the Grand Finals of the League of Legends World Championship is the most impactful and most viewed match of 2025, it isn’t quite our top pick for the best LoL match of 2025. Still, there were plenty of narratives unfolding, from T1 being the first team in history to complete the three-peat at Worlds to KT reaching their first Worlds finals. Faker got his sixth Worlds title, while Gumayusi put on an MVP-winning performance that later added to the shock of his leaving T1.

With the match being played between two South Korean rivals, it ended up as one of the most electrifying matches of 2025, a fitting end for the season. It was closely contested, ending 3 – 2, and had 6.7 peak viewers, the second-highest in esports history, with Oner’s miracle Dragon steal being a major turning point in game 4.

Despite the team’s struggles throughout the season, not just the tournament, T1 still consolidated itself as world champions.

Despite the Grand Final living up to the hype, the best match of the year goes to the QF bout at Worlds between T1 and Anyone’s Legend. Anyone’s Legend was the home favourite in China, causing upsets as they blazed a path to the QF, going unbeaten. On the other hand, T1 struggled to reach the QF, leading to an intense and climactic match.

It ended 3 – 2 and was the most popular QF in Worlds history, with over three million peak viewers. While Anyone’s Legend continued its incredible form into this match and put up an amazing fight, this was where it felt like T1 had a date with destiny. They started down in the tie, but showed why they were the defending champions and surged back into the SF.

Still, this was Anyone’s Legend’s first appearance at LoL Worlds, and they certainly made a booming debut.

It has been a record-breaking League of Legends season in 2025, from MSI’s highest-ever peak viewership to the historic T1 three-peat. Next year has a tough act to follow, considering the quality of the matches we have been treated to, but LoL esports seems to constantly be growing and is showing no signs of slowing down.

There will be plenty of questions for the 2026 calendar, like can T1 continue their dominance at Worlds, can Gen.G have another brilliant season, and will there be more underdog stories to surprise us? If 2026 is anything like 2025, the matches will be well worth watching.