On Friday, 12 July, at the Esports World Cup League of Legends tournament, Gen.G fell to Top Esports in their opening game of the competition (2-0). This came as something of a surprise, as the defeat ended the Koreans' run of 24 consecutive wins in best-of matches (BO3 or BO5). This impressive record was broken by Generation Gaming on 23 June when the MSI 2024 champions dominated BRION in the LCK. In doing so, Gen.G erased the mark set in Spring 2022 by its rival T1, with 21 series won in a row.

Astonishing Statistics

Gen.G's winning streak began on 17 February against Hanwha Life Esports, right in the middle of the Korean championship's spring regular season. The team had just suffered its only defeat of the entire split against KT Rolster. Indeed, the roster that Kim 'Canyon' Geon-bu joined this year lost its second BO of 2024 out of the 32 it played last Friday. The result is indisputable: 67-16, this is the game-per-game record for the Koreans so far this year.

Moreover, Jeong 'Chovy' Ji-hoon and his team are off to a good start this summer, having yet to lose a single LCK game since the start of the split (12-0). The record for consecutive games won in the major leagues is held by Flash Wolves (28) thanks to their impressive domination over the Taiwanese region in 2017. It will take at least sixteen more wins for the Korean champions to match them domestically.

This clear-cut defeat by Top Esports is also reminiscent of the difficulties Gen.G encountered against them at the MSI. In fact, the Chinese team was the only one to push the future winners to five rounds during the mid-season tournament even though Chovy seemed to have broken his curse against LPL teams there, as he had not won a single match against any of them since 2022.

While this setback officially shatters the club's invincibility, many agree that this new tournament, which is not organized by Riot Games and was ultimately won by T1, is not part of the Golden Road. As a result, this defeat would not invalidate it in the event of triumphs this summer in the LCK and then, at Worlds. Gen.G must therefore first refocus on its home league to set its sights on a fifth consecutive title and, why not, continue its unbeaten run there.