The League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) is set to undergo major format changes for its 2025 season, as confirmed by Riot Games in a recent statement.
As per the official announcement, the LCL 2025 season will see a single LCK season taking place with five rounds alongside a newly introduced cup competition. There’s also a new international event where the best teams from each region will have to play under a Fearless Draft format.
New LCK Cup & International Event
The LCK Cup, scheduled to begin on January 15, 2025, will start with two groups, Group A and Group B, consisting of five teams each as drafted by the finalists from the 2024 Summer Split (Gen.G and Hanwha Life).
The tournament will then proceed with play-ins, and culminate in the playoffs bracket to crown the champion, who will gain direct qualification to the new international LoL event.
The aforementioned event will include five top teams, each the number one seed from their respective regional leagues, battle it out in a Fearless Draft format. For the uninitiated, the Fearless Draft prevents any champion banned during a best-of-series from being played again for the remainder of that series.
New LCK Format Explained
The first two rounds of the LCK season will take place in April and May using a single round-robin, best-of-three format.
The next three rounds will split the teams into two groups: Legend and Rise. The former will consist of the top five teams from the first two rounds, while the latter will comprise the bottom five. The results of the LCK cup will not be counted in the placements.
The top four teams from the Legend group will advance to the playoffs, while the fifth-placed team will have to join the top three from the Rise group in a play-in stage.
The play-ins will feature a best-of-five, double-elimination format, with two teams earning the final spots in the playoffs.
The playoffs will also use a best-of-five, double-elimination bracket to decide the LCK season champions.
The top three teams from the playoffs will secure their spots at the prestigious League of Legends World Championship 2025, the largest LoL event of the year.
