The LCK Cup, the semifinal round, will be held on the 23rd
Feb 16, 2025
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With D-plus Kia continuing its strength by being the first to reach the third round of the playoffs after the group stage, Gen.G, Hanwha Life e-Sports, and Nongshim Red Force also joined the ranks. Above all, Nongshim took over the place where T1, the traditional powerhouse, was eliminated, which is a different structure from last year.
First of all, D-Plus, the only team out of the 10 teams to win all five games in the group stage, beat Nongshim 3-1 in the second round of the playoffs on the 15th and was the first to be named in the third round winner group. This is due to the clear dominance of `Lucid' Choi Yong-hyuk and franchise star"Showmaker" Huh Soo in the jungle and mid-position fight. In addition to Kim Ha-ram, who was in charge of the team last year, five players, including 'Beril'Kon Hyun-hee, who returned to his former team after four years, and a scary 18-year-old rookie 'Siu' Jeon Si-woo, who grew up directly from the academy, are showing off their perfect teamwork, so expectations are high on whether they will be able to enjoy the heyday of D-Plus again in four years since 2021.
Prior to this, Hanwha Life Insurance won 3-2 in the first round of the playoffs on the 13th after a great battle with T1 to the 5th set, continuing its strength as the winning team in last year's summer season. In particular, this game drew more attention as Choi Hyun-joon and Choi Woo-je, who played the top positions in T1 and Hanwha Life Insurance last year, exchanged their affiliation for the second time this season, and Choi Woo-je returned his home team with the biggest performance. T1 was eliminated after failing to reach the semifinals for the first time in a long time, waiting for the opening of the regular season in April.
Although Nongshim lost to D-Plus and went down to the second round of the playoffs, she still had a chance to beat KT Rolster 3-0 in the first round, showing off her strength to overcome last year's slump and compete with the top-ranked team in the regular league this season.
Gen.G and Hanwha Life Insurance will decide which team will compete with D-Plus in the third round of the playoffs through the best-of-five game on the 16th. If they lose this match, they will fall into the loser group and compete once again with Nongshim in the third round on the 20th. On the 22nd, the third-round loser group finals will be held, and the final will be held on the 23rd. The first LCK Cup winners will participate as LCK representatives in this year's newly established international competition 'First Stand' at Roll Park in Seoul from March 10-16.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
