Gen.G and BLG Play for $1 Million in LoL Worlds Final Saturday in Brooklyn

Gen.G and Bilibili Gaming (BLG) play for the League of Legends World Championship on Saturday, Nov. 14, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The best-of-five series starts at 2 p.m. ET, according to GameTrader.SG, and the first team to win three games lifts the Summoner’s Cup.

EsportNow lists the prize pool at $5 million, with $1 million going to the champion and $800,000 to the runner-up. Insider Gaming reported that Gen.G are slight favorites.

How Gen.G and BLG reached the final

Gen.G, from South Korea’s LCK league, swept LYON 3-0 in the quarterfinals and Invictus Gaming 3-0 in the semifinals, according to EsportNow. GGRecon, citing Hotspawn, reported that the team has dropped only one game across the entire tournament.

BLG, from China’s LPL, had a harder route. GosuGamers reported that the team eliminated Hanwha Life Esports in the Swiss Stage. BLG then swept Dplus KIA 3-0 in the quarterfinals and beat T1 3-1 in the semifinals. GGRecon described Game 4 of that series as the turning point: Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok’s Akali wiped out all five BLG players, shrinking a 6,000-gold deficit to roughly 1,000, but BLG regrouped, won the next mid-lane fight and closed out the series. The result ended T1’s run of four straight Worlds finals, per GGRecon. Insider Gaming noted that T1 and Faker had won the previous three Worlds titles.

What each team is chasing

According to EsportNow, a Gen.G win would give the LCK a fifth consecutive world title. It would also be Gen.G’s first championship since 2017, when the organization won as Samsung Galaxy. Chovy, Kiin and Duro are each playing in their first Worlds final, EsportNow said, while GGRecon noted that Gen.G’s Canyon is heading to his third.

For BLG, a victory would be the organization’s first Worlds trophy and the LPL’s first since EDward Gaming won in 2021. BLG lost the 2024 final to T1. Viper, who won Worlds 2021 with EDward Gaming, could add a second title, and BLG’s Knight, like Chovy, is chasing a first world championship.

What the finalists said

All 10 players spoke to the media before the final, Insider Gaming reported. Asked whether this is the year of Chovy, the Gen.G midlaner said he would rather make it a team achievement, adding: “I want to make this the Year of Gen.G even more.” He said he has learned to enjoy playing on stage and has fewer moments when stress hurts his performance.

Gen.G ADC Ruler, who won Worlds in 2017 and is back in a final for the first time since, rejected a journalist’s suggestion that he rarely makes mistakes, saying he errs often in the late game.

On BLG’s side, Viper, the team’s only Korean player, answered some questions in Chinese and said he has worked hard to learn Mandarin so communication in games runs smoothly. Head coach Yang “Daeny” Dae-in credited Viper with raising tensions inside the team directly, which he said helped the group address its problems together.

What this means for fans watching

The final is free to watch on the LoL Esports Twitch and YouTube channels and on lolesports.com, according to GameTrader.SG. A best-of-five can run for several hours, and the start time is subject to the opening ceremony and any broadcast adjustments announced by LoL Esports on the day.

Reports differ slightly on the date: one outlet, Esports.gg, gave Nov. 13, but GameTrader.SG said the organizer’s own page and every other source it checked point to Nov. 14 in New York.

Beyond the trophy and prize money, the outcome decides whether South Korea’s LCK extends its streak of world titles or China’s LPL ends a drought dating to 2021.

Around Prague, based on reporting by Insider Gaming, GameTrader.SG

Cover photo: Bf0325 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, cropped

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