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In League of Legends esports, we remember the teams that win the LoL World Championship. The teams that win the big events. However, there are also those who do well consistently, except when it matters. Here are the five League of Legends teams that choke the most!
Team Liquid is one of North America’s most famous teams. Starting in season 1 under the name Team Curse, they’re still a big name in the League Championship Series (LCS) in 2025.
TL reached Worlds six times. Four times between 2018 and 2021, and another two in 2023-2024. Of these six times, they never reached the quarterfinals, even when the team was dominating domestically.
What’s most interesting, though, is that between 2018 and 2021, they finished 3-3 in the Group stage every single time. Each time, they were one single win away from advancing, but they never managed to push it past the finish line.
NA generally struggles with international performance, even when NA teams should, by all metrics, be strong. Notable incidents include:
TSM vs SSG – Worlds 2016 W2D3 Group D | LoL S6 World Championship Week 2 Day 3 TSM vs Samsung G2
In general, the LCS is 2 to 19 in Best of 5s against LPL or LCK teams. Outside of Worlds 2018 and MSI 2019, they’re winless against the East.
Team Liquid getting eliminated by FlyQuest at LoL Worlds 2024. Image Source: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games
The hope of Europe, G2 has been dominating the LEC since they joined the league, with the sole exception of 2018. However, their international performance is a mixed bag, and a whole other story.
G2’s first international was MSI 2016, where they only won against the Wildcard team, creating the infamous G2-8 meme. Worlds 2016 was no better, as G2 went 1-5 and gave birth to yet another meme, the vacation meme of 2016. In 2017, they also failed to reach the Worlds playoffs despite being a supposed excellent team in Bo5s.
The following years were amazing. 2018, 2019, 2020, they were top 4 at Worlds three times in a row and won MSI 2019.
However, it’s been right back into the bin since then. G2’s only Worlds playoffs appearance since 2020 was this year. Every year before, they either fell short when it mattered or failed to accomplish anything. Even in 2025, their quarterfinals performance against Top Esports was uninspiring.
G2 always shows up to dominate Europe, but rarely makes it count internationally.
Top Esports is a wonder of consistency. The LPL representative always shows up with very high hopes, and then collapses in high-pressure matches. The striking part when compared to teams from Europe or North America is the level they otherwise reach.
At Worlds 2025, the TES that showed up in rounds 1 and 2 of the Swiss stage was a fearsome team that could rival the best. Afterwards, high-stakes matches happened, and it was as if they weren’t playing the game anymore.
The worst part is that this was not a surprise to anyone. TES was a tournament favorite at Worlds 2020, and they lost to Suning in the semifinals. At their next Worlds two years later, they couldn’t reach the playoffs. Top Esports then went on to be eliminated in a 3-0 at their other three internationals.
As of today, Top Esports is known as both a great team and a ticking time bomb. At every event, the question isn’t whether they’ll choke; it’s when they will crash and burn.
TES after losing to T1 at the 2025 LoL World Championship. Image Source: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games
In Europe, everyone beats everyone, and in the end, Fnatic wins!
A timeless statement that stopped being true ten years ago. In 2016, G2 joined the league, and that was the end of Fnatic’s reign. FNC got one more year of brilliance in 2018 with Caps, but that was it.
Otherwise, FNC has most of the time done great in the regular season. Sometimes, they’re only good, and they’re rarely bad, but the expectation is that they end up top 3.
| Year | Regular season record (All splits combined) |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 39-19 |
| 2014 | 36-20 |
| 2015 | 31-5 |
| 2016 | 16-14 (and 6 ties) |
| 2017 | 17-9 |
| 2018 | 27-9 |
| 2019 | 25-11 |
| 2020 | 22-14 |
| 2021 | 20-16 |
| 2022 | 23-13 |
| 2023 | 13-14 |
| 2024 | 17-10 |
| 2025 | 18-4 |
| Total combined | 304-158 (65.9% win rate) |
However, they can never win the playoffs. The same story repeats year after year. It doesn’t matter how strong they looked in the regular season; they will plummet in the knockout stage. Most of all, Fnatic can never, ever win in the finals.
FNC most of the time reaches the top 3, beating opponents of all calibers along the way. MAD Lions, G2 Esports, and Karmine Corp, they can beat any of them. Unless they’re in the finals, at which point they become literally incapable of winning.
This only worsens as the years go on. By now, the Fnatic fans know that they cannot believe in them, no matter how good they looked in the regular season.
In 2024, Fnatic improved as the year went on, only to lose to G2 in the finals three times in a row. In 2025, their level of play was significantly higher. FNC fixed their mistakes, sharpened their mechanics, and played cautiously and patiently. The boys in orange went 8-1 in Winter, 7-2 in Spring, and 3-1 in Summer.
Even then, none of that mattered, and Fnatic was unable to reach the finals of any of the splits.
FNC has also qualified for the LoL World Championship every single year besides 2016, and is the team with the most Worlds appearances. In recent years, though, appearing is all they have done. The last time Fnatic was able to reach the Knockout stage of LoL Worlds was in 2020. At the time, Fnatic had only ever missed the playoffs in 2014, finishing in the top 8 each of the other 7 times. FNC is even the Season One World Champion – yet that success has all but faded now.
Times have changed, and it is now always safe to bet against Fnatic in the matches that matter.
Gen.G is a case to study. This team is the best in the world at all times, except when it’s time to prove it.
Gen.G beats everyone in the best region in the world. However, this team has yet to reach the finals of the LoL World Championship. Gen.G’s past finishes at Worlds were top 4, top 4, top 8, top 4, top 4. Always excellent, never excellent enough.
This phenomenon is too great to be contained in one section of an article. Head over there to read all about Gen.G’s legacy of choking!
Featured Image Source: Riot Games
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