G2 Esports did what many League of Legends esports fans didn’t think was possible: they gave Western supporters hope.
The LEC champions went on a phenomenal run at LoL First Stand, where they defeated both of LCK’s representatives.
While it stung for European fans to see their team lose to a Chinese team yet again in an international final, it was difficult to be too disheartened considering the prior results.
In a matter of days, perceptions changed drastically.
First Stand went from being a ‘Mickey Mouse’ tournament without prestige, where every match seemed to be a guaranteed 3-0 stomp in favour of Eastern teams, to an entertaining international event where Western LoL was reborn with possibly the biggest upset in the esport’s history.
As G2’s Sergen ‘BrokenBlade’ Çelik said in the past: “as long as there’s delusion, there’s hope.” Thankfully, G2 were crazy enough to turn fantasy into reality.
Mind The Gap
It’s only the start of the year. It wasn’t during Worlds. G2 didn’t actually win the event. Yet, none of that matters because G2’s heroics are the best thing to happen to the LEC for years. G2’s accomplishment should not be diminished.
Yes, Karmine Corp got just as far last year and also reached the First Stand final, but context is important.
Last year, KCorp lost to CTBC Flying Oyster (CFO) and Team Liquid in best-of-ones and only barely made it past an admittedly very strong CFO again in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, G2 competed in a format of only best-of-fives and only lost to the tournament winners, BLG. After a heavy loss to the LPL champions, it was assumed G2 would be eliminated in the next match.
Some were calling for best-of-ones to be brought back, purely so that the West had a chance of fluking a win. The ‘gap’ between the East and West had seemingly become insurmountable.
Then, in a bizarre twist, G2 Esports defeated the LCK’s BNK FearX and did so in a shockingly dominant 3-0 sweep.
This was the first time an LEC team had won a best-of-five against a Korean team in almost six years. The last time was at LoL Worlds 2020 when G2 and its MSI 2019 winning roster beat a very different Gen.G line-up.
That result already had LEC fans feeling delirious, but what happened next is what will put this G2 roster in LoL esports history.
The Biggest Upset in LoL Esports History
Gen.G were blatant favourites; they are in every tournament they enter.
The star-studded roster has become defined as the team that falls short at LoL Worlds, but they usually win everything else, as they did at MSI last year.
Before the series, Gen.G had only lost two games in total the entire year. Yet, G2 miraculously swept them 3-0 in what many, myself included, are calling the biggest upset in LoL esports history.
Crazier than Taipei Assassins winning Worlds, crazier than G2 winning MSI 2019, or Team Liquid beating Invictus Gaming at that same tournament. I think, because of just how dominant Gen.G are, that it was even a bigger upset than Albus NoX Luna reaching the LoL Worlds quarter-finals after taking games off G2, CLG, and ROX Tigers.
The last time Gen.G lost 3-0 was to BLG at MSI 2023, and Jeong ‘Chovy’ Ji-hoon is the only remaining player from that series. This iteration of Gen.G had not been swept in a series since January 2025 when OK BRION beat them 2-0 in the LCK Cup.
Gen.G being swept in a best-of-five, especially by a Western team, was unthinkable.
G2 defeating the best team of the world in three straight games without ever falling behind in gold, after half a decade of the region struggling internationally, is one of the most special results in the esport’s 15-year history.
Fortune favours the bold
G2 deserve a lot of credit for sticking with last year’s roster.
Not picking up Kacper ‘Inspired’ Słoma, undoubtedly one of the best Western players today, after he made it no secret he wanted to join, was also a surprising choice.
Things had hit an all-time low at MSI last year. G2 barely squeaked through the Play-Ins, struggling against FURIA and GAM Esports, before being eliminated in an embarrassing 3-0 stomp by Inspired’s FlyQuest.
Yet, G2 kept faith in Rudy ‘SkewMond’ Semaan and Lampros ‘Labrov’ Papoutsakis, and it paid off.
Labrov was always mechanically impressive, but would get caught out easily. At First Stand, he repeatedly made plays which won G2 fights, and he exerted outstanding amounts of pressure with aggressive positioning.
Meanwhile, Skewmond went missing in big matches for the majority of 2025.
Yet, at First Stand, he was G2’s MVP, making the correct choices over and over again as the heartbeat of the team and finished with a KDA of 11/1/23 against Gen.G
Even in the final, the one game G2 won was because Skewmond decided to turn off the Baron and engage onto the Annie instead. That clarity and calmness under pressure is priceless.
G2’s vision has come to life, and Europe finally has a team that fans can feel comfortable rooting for again.
This roster may not win a Worlds title, and that’s ok. Having hope for the rest of this year is more than European LoL fans could possibly have asked for.
Is G2 3-0ing Gen.G LoL’s greatest upset? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord.
And look forward to the next internationals with big changes to LoL MSI and Worlds confirmed.
