Updated on October 29, 3:25 p.m. (GMT+8): Corrected typos.
Updated on October 29, 2:37 p.m. (GMT+8): Added more details from LoL Esports Korean website.
We already know that the LoL Esports 2025 roadmap is shaking up the competitive landscape in unprecedented ways. Today, it was announced that the LCK is also undergoing big changes next year.
There’s a brand new LCK format that removes LCK Spring and LCK Summer. Instead, the regular season is condensed into one, but split into two halves. Essentially, it’s similar, as players are still competing in round robins before and after MSI, but the duration and terminology are different.
Old LCK OG fans will remember OGN Winter. We’re getting another similar tournament in the newly introduced LCK Cup that runs from January to February 2025. The winner represents the region in the first international tournament of the year in March.
Read on as we provide more details on each LCK tournament.
What is LCK Cup? New LCK format explained
The LCK Cup, which begins on January 15, 2025, features two groups, Group A and Group B. Each group contains five teams each, dividing the 10 franchised teams into two.
The top two teams from the previous season — Gen.G and Hanwha Life — are placed in separate groups, A or B. They then select a team of their choice to compete in their group.
The chosen team then selects the next team they want to compete with in their group. This process continues until all five slots in each group are filled.
Each team plays against a team from the other group once in a best-of-three format and earn points for each win. The top team in each group that wins the most games, and therefore, accumulated the most points, automatically qualify for the LCK Cup playoffs.
The LCK Cup play-ins sees six teams seeded based on their number of wins. They compete in a partial double elimination format. The playoffs follow the same format as LCK Spring and Summer that fans are familiar with.
Only one team, the LCK Cup champion, will represent the region at the new, unnamed international tournament.
Riot Games announced earlier in the year that they’re adding a third international tournament in the first quarter which will use the Fearless Draft, which LCK Cup will also adopt. This means that champions picked cannot be selected again in subsequent games. Read our full Fearless Draft explainer here.
LCK 2025 regular season format sees a multitude of changes
The regular season is split into two halves. The first half features Round 1 and Round 2.
Round 1 and Round 2 follow a double round-robin format, which fans are accustomed to as this is the same format used in LCK Spring and LCK Summer.
The difference is that there’s now a regional MSI qualifier. The top six teams out of 10 qualify. The top two teams go on to represent the region at MSI 2025.
After MSI 2025, teams return to compete in the ongoing regular season. Round 3 to 5 sees teams divided into two equal groups of five based on their rankings in Round 1 and 2. They are termed “Legend Group” and “Rise Group.”
Each group competes separately from Round 3 to 5, meaning each team only competes against the other four teams in their respective groups.
At the end of Round 5, Legend Group’s first to fourth place teams automatically qualify for the playoffs. Rise Group’s fourth and fifth place teams are eliminated.
Legend Group’s 5th place team and the top three teams in Rise Group then compete in the play-ins for a chance to secure a LCK playoffs spot.
The LCK playoffs, which is now fully double elimination, replaces the Worlds regional qualifiers. The team that wins the playoffs is granted first seed. The second place team is second seed, while the team eliminated in the lower bracket final is awarded third seed.
The MSI winner and the second best performing region at MSI will be awarded an additional World Championship spot, so there’s a possibility of four spots available for the LCK based on MSI 2025’s results. If that’s the case, the top four playoff teams will qualify for the World Championship.
Overall, the total number of matches played is increased in 2025. In the group stage of the LCK Cup, each team will play at least five matches, up to a maximum of 13.
Factoring in the regular season’s five rounds, play-ins, and playoffs, teams could compete in as many as 11 additional matches compared to previous years.
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