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2025 has been the year where esports legends continue to live up to their name.
Another season of exciting esports action comes to a close as we approach the end of 2025 and boy has it been a year of top tier dominance. Every year we see new faces and new challengers, ready to make a name for themselves. But if 2025 has taught us anything, it’s that there’re clear reasons why every esport has their kings.
So without further ado, from legendary milestones to bizarre crashouts, these are the five best esports moments of 2025.
HoK: Honor of Kings International Championship 2025 – Global Teams on the Rise
First on the list is the rather successful run of KIC 2025 here in the Philippines. While it may not be as big as the other events in the list, it’s still HoK’s capstone event for the year and part of their thrust to make HoK a global esport.
While the tournament ended with Malaysia once again taking the trophy, it was filled with twists and surprises. The other global teams have shown clear growth throughout the tournament and were even able to challenge Malaysia’s reign. None exemplified this better than the Philippines’ own Blacklist International, who got fourth despite being a relatively new team. It’ll be exciting to see how much more the global teams will improve next year.
League of Legends: Worlds 2025 – The Unkillable Demon King Continues His Reign
Of course, we can’t leave out one of the most prestigious esports tournaments in the world from this list. Worlds is always an event that any esports fan pays attention to, especially when you have the winningest team in the world gunning for their sixth title.
The story may be getting a little old but really, what can you’re against the League of Legends GOAT? Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok and T1 take their sixth and achieve the three-peat denied from them eight years ago. We watched living legends extend their legacy and it’s anyone’s guess when the era of Faker and T1 will end.
Fighting Games: Evo 2025 – Agony, Live Onstage
Keeping in the theme of legends dominating their esport, Evo 2025 was full of those moments. From Arslan “Arslan Ash” Siddique winning his sixth Evo in a row for Tekken, to Saul “MenaRD” Mena II taking his third for Street Fighter, these champs continue to prove why they’re built different.
But honestly, that’s not what people will remember Evo 2025 for. They’ll remember it for Kazuyuki “KoliKOG” Koji’s epic crashout after losing to Goichi “GO1” Kishida at the Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves upper bracket semifinals. While it turned out to be KojiKOG pranking GO1 for his dominant win, it was still hilarious seeing it happen on the big stage. ‘Like watching someone’s leg get sawed off,’ as one Daigo Umehara once put it. At least it was nice to see both players be good sports about it at the end of the day.
MLBB: Mid Season Cup 2025 – The GOAT Gets the Final Piece in His Collection
The Esports World Cup has really done a lot to glow up MSC as an event. From the inclusion of more international teams to the whole key-crushing gimmick, it’s made MSC 2025 a more entertaining experience. Plus, it makes winning the whole thing all the more sweeter.
That was the case for Karl “KarlTzy” Nepomuceno as he and Team Liquid raised the MSC 2025 trophy. His victory not only broke the Philippines’ second place curse – and got revenge against previous champions SRG.OG in the process – but also got him the final major MLBB tournament trophy missing from his collection. What other milestones are left for the most distinguished MLBB player in the world?
Dota 2: The International 2025 – The Falcons Finally Reach Their Peak
When you think about Dota 2 esports, you think about Team Falcons – the team literally built to win tournaments. For the most part, that’s what they’ve done. They’ve had multiple first place finishes last year and practically guaranteed a podium finish in whatever tournament they participated in.
It’s funny to think then that they only won their first International this year. They may be powerful in the world but they’re by no means unbeatable. They worked hard to carve their names on the Aegis of Champions and now that they’ve established themselves as the best Dota 2 team in the world, they’ll be looking to climb even greater heights.
Banner photos from Christina Oh / Riot Games, Robert Paul, HoK Philippines Esports, Esports World Cup, and Dota 2 The International.