Team [spoiler] is the first ever team to make an international finals despite a negative map differential

It's always a big achievement when a western team makes an international final (last happened with G2 at 2019 Worlds), so I wanted to see if KC's First Stand run is an outlier compared to previous finalists. Here's a quick data dump of international tournament finalist records (not including the actual games in the finals). Would you say this shows how KC have ramped into the tournament, or is it just a product of the format?

 

Data was manually recorded from the wiki, so it's possible there are errors here and there.

Event Team Pre-Finals W-L Games Played Pre-Finals WR
Season 1 Worlds FNC 7-3 10 70%
Season 1 Worlds aAa 8-4 12 67%
Season 2 Worlds TPA 4-1 5 80%
Season 2 Worlds AZF 7-1 8 88%
2013 Worlds SKT 12-3 15 80%
2013 Worlds RYL 5-1 6 83%
2014 Worlds SSW 12-1 13 92%
2014 Worlds SHR 11-5 16 69%
2015 MSI EDG 7-1 8 88%
2015 MSI SKT 8-2 10 80%
2015 Worlds SKT 12-0 12 100%
2015 Worlds KOO 10-3 13 77%
2016 MSI SKT 9-5 14 64%
2016 MSI CLG 10-4 14 71%
2016 Worlds SKT 11-4 15 73%
2016 Worlds SSG 11-1 12 92%
2017 MSI SKT 11-2 13 85%
2017 MSI G2 7-6 13 54%
2017 Worlds SSG 10-3 13 77%
2017 Worlds SKT 11-5 16 69%
2018 MSI RNG 10-3 13 77%
2018 MSI KZ 9-5 14 64%
2018 Worlds iG 11-3 14 79%
2018 Worlds FNC 11-2 13 85%
2019 MSI G2 8-7 15 53%
2019 MSI TL 7-7 14 50%
2019 Worlds FPX 10-4 14 71%
2019 Worlds G2 11-3 14 79%
2020 Worlds DWG 11-2 13 85%
2020 Worlds SN 10-4 14 71%
2021 MSI RNG 10-4 14 71%
2021 MSI DK 11-4 15 73%
2021 Worlds EDG 10-6 16 63%
2021 Worlds DK 12-2 14 86%
2022 MSI RNG 17-2 19 89%
2022 MSI T1 16-3 19 84%
2022 Worlds DRX 10-5 15 67%
2022 Worlds T1 11-2 13 85%
2023 MSI JDG 9-2 11 82%
2023 MSI BLG 16-6 22 73%
2023 Worlds T1 10-2 12 83%
2023 Worlds WBG 11-5 16 69%
2024 MSI GEN 9-3 12 75%
2024 MSI BLG 10-8 18 56%
2024 Worlds T1 10-2 12 83%
2024 Worlds BLG 11-4 15 73%
2025 First Stand HLE 11-2 13 85%
2025 First Stand KC 7-8 15 47%
Average (MSI) 10.2-4.1 14.3 78%​
Average (Worlds) 10.0-3.4 12.9 72%​
Average (Total) 10.0-3.4 13.5 75%​

 

Some interesting notes:

  • Historically it has only been slightly easier to make finals in MSI vs Worlds (78% vs 72% average win rate).

  • The only team to get to finals without dropping a map is SKT at 2015 worlds. They would finally drop a map while winning the finals 3-1 against KOO.

  • The best win rate by a western team making it to a final is FNC at 2018 Worlds, going 11-2 (85%).

  • The bottom five international finalists by win rate are:

  1. KC | 2025 First Stand | 7-8 | 47%
  2. TL | 2019 MSI | 7-7 | 50%
  3. G2 | 2019 MSI | 8-7 | 53%
  4. G2 | 2017 MSI | 7-6 | 54%
  5. BLG | 2024 MSI | 10-8 | 56%