Hanwha Life Insurance, the first LCK Cup winner, will win its first championship in the first stand?
Mar 09, 2025
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Five teams that won the first league of the 'League of Legends' in five regions around the world will participate this season, and the first international competition 'First Stand' to compete with 'Peerless Draft' will open at LCK Arena in Seoul on the 10th and compete in a week-long 'Short and Bold' battle until the 16th.
Hanwha Life Insurance, which won the LCK Cup in LCK (Korea), LPL (China) in TES (Top Esports), Carmine Cope in LEC (Europe), Team Liquid in LTA (America), and CFO (CTBC Flying Oyster) in LCP (Asia-Pacific).
The First Stand is a competition to determine the global final winner of the so-called pre-season for the first time in practice with a new van-pick method 'Pearless Draft' for each region ahead of the opening of the regular season. It is a stage that can predict the regional and global game of the regular season, and for Hanwha Life, which has only advanced to the quarterfinals of the LOL World Cup twice in history, it is a great opportunity to lift the first international championship cup in front of domestic fans.
▶ Hanwha Life Insurance Co., Ltd. has a golden opportunity
Hanwha Life Insurance won the LCK summer season for the first time last year, breaking the two mountain strongholds built by Gen.G and T1 for nearly three years, throwing a fresh shock.
However, despite the good momentum in the second League of Legends World Championship, he showed his lack of experience in international competitions and stopped his move in the quarterfinals again following 2021. Ahead of this season, Choi Woo-je, who led T1 to its second consecutive LOL World Cup, was recruited as a FA and upgraded to a 'complete body' with no weaknesses in all positions, winning the LCK Cup.
In particular, the group stage was a little out of sync with 3 wins and 2 losses at the beginning of the LCK Cup, but in the playoffs, which switched to the best-of-five series, he showed tremendous support by defeating all of this season's winning rivals, including T1, Gen.G., and D-Plus Kia, with 3 wins and 2 losses from the first round to the final, reaching the top of LCK for 2 consecutive years and qualifying for the first stand.
In particular, since the 「Pierice Draft」 introduced in the first international competition cannot utilize the champions who appeared in the previous set afterwards, the players' use of the champ and the composition and strategy of Banpick have become much more important. Hanwha Life's capture of the first set and the final fifth set in the winning game is the result of the best preparation of the anti-pick strategy along with the camp's choice, so the possibility of winning the first stand is high.
▶Competition team with many variables
Of course, the opponent is not easy. In addition, after the introduction of the new Banpick method, emerging teams with poor power analysis, such as Carmine Cope and CTBC, who defeated the existing regional strongest and went to the first stand, have emerged, and there are considerable variables to consider. On top of that, the remaining three teams, excluding the CFO, have at least one to three Korean players, just like past international competitions.
TES represented China in this tournament, recording a 3-1 victory in all five games from the first round of the playoffs to the final. In particular, it has defeated all IG and AL, which have risen sharply by reinforcing two Korean players by reinforcing Billy Gaming and Jingdong Gaming, which are regular teams in international competitions for several years, so it is a similar move and momentum to Hanwha Life.
Team Liquid has been working together for two years since last year with three veteran players in LCK, including Jeong Eon-young, Um Sung-hyun, and Cho Yong-in, and one-dealer Sung Yeon-ho is also an ethnic Korean in the U.S., so it can be said that he is actually a Korean team.
Carmine Cope, who played in LCK and Kim Chang-dong, has been active since last year's summer season, entered the international competition for the first time by beating both traditional powerhouses such as Fnatic and G2 in the playoffs. CFO also visited Korea by defeating Talon, the strongest player in the region.
▶ Introduction of the first international competition 'Peerless Draft'
The five teams will compete once in a best-of-three manner, and the top four teams will advance to the semifinals and then face off in a best-of-five series until the final.
Two matches will be held every day from the 10th to the 14th, with the semifinals on the 15th and the final on the 16th. Hanwha Life Insurance will play its first game against TES on the 10th, followed by CFO on the 12th, Carmine Cope on the 13th, and Team Liquid on the 14th, respectively.
With various combinations of sets coming out due to the Peerless draft, it is expected that champions who have rarely appeared in international competitions will emerge. In addition, it is clear that more diverse tactics and strategies will come out as the 25.05 patch version of the attack is applied to prevent replacement.
The total prize money is $1 million (about 1.45 billion won), and the winning team will be given $300,000 (about 436 million won). In addition, regions that have produced the winning team will be given the privilege of direct tickets to the finals at the MSI (Midseason Invitational) in July.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
