T1 overcame an early deficit and staged a perfect comeback in a mid-game team fight to take the first game of the Worlds final. It was a match where team-fight focus, centered on the play of "Faker" Lee Sang-hyeok, shone.
On Nov. 9 at Dong'anhu Sports Park in Chengdu, China, in the first game of the 2025 League of Legends World Championship (Worlds) final, T1 reversed an early unfavorable flow against kt Rolster to claim the opening win.
KT, on blue side, drafted Rumble–Wukong–Ryze–Ashe–Braum, while T1, on red side, chose Ambessa–Xin Zhao–Taliyah–Varus–Poppy. From the early game, the initiative was with KT. Around 3 minutes, "Bdd" Gwak Bo-seong's Ryze took down "Oner" Moon Hyeon-jun's Xin Zhao for first blood, and then in the ensuing bottom skirmish, they also subdued "Gumayusi" Lee Min-hyeong to widen the early kill gap.
KT seized full control of the early flow by taking the dragon, Rift Herald, and first turret in succession. In particular, during a fight in the top lane, as "Doran" Choi Hyun-joon's Ambessa came under focused pressure and T1 gave up two kills, KT pushed the gold lead into the thousands.
But the momentum swung sharply in the mid game. In the fight around the third dragon, T1 scored a perfect team-fight win. Following "Oner"'s engage, "Faker" Lee Sang-hyeok's Taliyah landed a precise "Seismic Shove," instantly collapsing KT's core forces. T1 picked up four kills in the battle to pull the game back to even in one swoop.
Riding the momentum, T1 also held the upper hand in the Atakan (neutral boss monster) fight. KT tried to turn the tide with Atakan, but with a bold initiation by "Keria" Ryu Min-seok and a perfectly timed follow-up engage by "Oner," KT failed to hold formation. T1 secured Atakan and stretched the gold gap to more than 5,000, taking full control.
Afterward, KT did manage to stop Baron (a boss monster that grants an attack and minion-empowering buff), but even as T1 retreated, they found kills and ended up taking Baron anyway. With Baron buff, T1 fully seized lane pressure and objective control, and finished the first game by breaking KT's nexus at 36 minutes.
Overcoming the early deficit and riding flawless focus in the mid-game fights, T1 took the first game of the final to seize the initiative. "Faker" Lee Sang-hyeok repeatedly flipped the flow at decisive moments from the heart of the fights, leading the team to victory.
With this, T1 went up 1-0 in the series, taking a favorable first step toward a fourth Worlds title.