2025 season to open with LCK Cup, what are the changes and games of the year?
Jan 12, 2025
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Unlike previous years, the LCK Cup, the first competition to mark the start of the season, will be held from the 15th amid the reorganization of a single season, the introduction of a new Banpic method, and changes in strategies and tactics due to changes in content in the game. The LCK Cup group competition will be held until February 2, the play-in will be held from the 7th to the 9th, and the playoffs, which will start from the 12th, will end with the final on the 23rd.
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The biggest change to note at the LCK Cup, the first ever LCK Cup, is the introduction of a new van-pick method called the `Pierice Draft.'
In the previous set, the two teams banned the champions of their choice from the next set, showing up in the lower league LCK Challengers last year and receiving great response from fans. For example, if a match is held in the best-of-three series and proceeds to the third set, the 20 champions used by both teams cannot be used in the first or second set, and the final 30 champions cannot be used because a separate anti-pick process is carried out.
If it goes to the 5th set, you won't be able to use 50 champions. By making changes to the Banpick system, it is expected that teams will use various champions and combinations, allowing fans to enjoy various patterns of games. As for teams, players with various championship utilization can stand out more, and surprise champions, who have rarely appeared in professional games, are expected to appear.
Another fun is different from league games. Ahead of the LCK Cup, Hanwha Life e-Sports and Gen.G., the first and second teams based on last year's summer season performance, selected a team that will be on the same side as representatives of the Baron Group and the Elder Group, respectively. Hanwha Life Insurance picked T1, the winner of last year's LOL World Cup, and Gen.G chose D-plus Kia. In addition, D+ chose KT Rollster and T1 chose BNK Pierx. BNK then chose DN Freaks and KT selected Nongshim Red Force, and lastly, Nongshim chose DRX, and OK Savings Bank Brion automatically belongs to Baron Group.
Five teams will be included in each group, and they will compete in a group competition for the next three weeks. They will face the opposing group's teams in a best-of-three single round robin method.
In particular, the performances of teams in the same group are added up, which has a profound impact on playoff and play-in advancement. The top three teams in the winning group will go straight to the playoffs, and a total of six teams, including the top four teams in the winner's group and the top four teams in the loser's group, will play in.
The play-in is seeded based on the wins won by individual teams, and two teams that won the second round through tournaments and double elimination methods and a total of three teams that won the final round will play in the playoffs. In the playoffs, where a total of six teams compete, the final winner will also participate as LCK representative in the first stand, an international competition newly established this year.
▶What is the game of the first competition?
At the Media Day held on the 8th, players and coaches of 10 teams predicted that traditional powerhouses such as T1 and Gen.G will also be strong in the Peerless Draft.
Hanwha Life Insurance's 'Peanut'Han Wang-ho said "Peerless Draft would of course benefit players with a wide range of available champions," while T1's 'Gumayushi'Lee Min-hyung said "We are training to use as many champions as possible in the practice process, although the number of champions available as long-distance dealers is limited."
Choi In-kyu, manager of Hanwha Life Insurance, said, `The Pieris draft will not affect the first or second set much, but it could be a burden as fewer champions are available in the second half of the five-game seriesChoi Woo-beom, head coach of OK Savings Bank, predicted that `You will see a lot of signature champions that the players have in the 4th to 5th sets,' and Bae Sung-woong, head coach of D-plus, also predicted that `When you go from the 5th set to the 5th set, there will be champions who have not been experienced in e-sports games.'
As for the LCK Cup-winning team, six out of 10 representatives chose T1, two picked Hanwha Life Insurance and two picked Gen.G. For the coaches of the 10 teams, five picked Gen.G. to win, while T14 and Hanwha Life each selected one.
As the LCK Cup was held under the theme of Knoxus, new elements were also applied to the battlefield 'Collusion's Gorge'. A new Epic Monster, 'Atacan', appears, and the boot item reinforcement effect is given through 'Exercise of Force'. In addition, the players predicted that the fight will continue to take place from the beginning due to significant changes in content, such as the team's experience level rising through the acquisition of 'Blood Rose' and the regeneration of the Nexus turret.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
