Day 1 of the Esports World Cup featured eight BO1s between top teams from the five major regions, excluding top two LCK teams and LPL squads who were seeded directly into the Knockout Stage thanks to their results at the 2025 Mid-Season Invitational, won by Gen.G. The teams were split into two GSL groups and we had the first qualified and eliminated teams.

G2 Esports secured qualification in Group A with two clean victories, first over FURIA and then FlyQuest. Cloud9, on the other hand, had a disappointing run—after losing to FlyQuest in their opener, they were knocked out by FURIA in the elimination match. In Group B, Hanwha Life Esports looked dominant, taking down CTBC Flying Oyster and Movistar KOI to advance. GAM Esports couldn’t find footing, falling to KOI in their opening game and then to CFO in the decider, ending their tournament run early.

Eight BO1s in one day

Felt like a throwback to the old LEC days with five BO1s in a row—only this time there were eight, and most results went as expected, except for the last one. HLE opened the day by returning to the stage exactly one month after their Road to MSI loss to T1 and took down CFO. KOI had a shaky start but secured the win against GAM, G2 stomped FURIA with ease, and to close out Round 1, FlyQuest took down C9, largely thanks to a standout Azir performance from Song "Quad" Su-hyeong.

In the next four BO1s, HLE punched their ticket to the Knockout Stage despite a solid effort from the LEC champions. G2 got their revenge on FlyQuest, who had clean swept them at MSI in Vancouver, and secured qualification as well. We also got a rematch of the LCP finals, with CFO eliminating GAM. The only real surprise of the day came in the last match, where FURIA knocked out Cloud9. Many had argued that LTA South stole a spot at MSI and that LTA North’s second seed deserved it more—but after proving their worth in the MSI Play-In and now eliminating C9 from the EWC, the Brazilian squad have put that debate to rest.