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The new LCK format in 2025 is huge – all changes explained

Posted on by Larry
The new LCK format in 2025 is huge – all changes explained

LoL Esports 2025 is a game-changer.

Updated October 29, 3:25 PM (GMT+8): Typos corrected.

Updated October 29, 2:37 PM (GMT+8): Added more details from the Korean LoL Esports website.

We already know that the LoL Esports 2025 Roadmap is shaking up the competitive landscape in an unprecedented way. Today it was announced that the LCK will also undergo major changes next year.

There is 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 is similar, as players still compete in round robins before and after MSI, but the duration and terminology are different.

New image in LCK format 2025
Credit: LCK

Longtime LCK OG fans will remember OGN Winter. We’ll get another similar tournament in the newly introduced LCK Cup, which runs from January to February 2025. The winner will represent the region in the first international tournament of the year in March.

Read on as we provide more details about each LCK tournament.

What is LCK Cup? New LCK format explained

LCK Cup 2025 format explanation
Credit: LCK

The LCK Cup, which starts on January 15, 2025consists of two groups, Group A and Group B. Each group contains five teams each, dividing the 10 franchise teams in half.

The top two teams from the previous season – Gen.G and Hanwha Life – are placed into 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.

T1 Faker poses with thumbs up next to Ahri silhouette in ONE Esports image for article "The 9 most expensive League of Legends skins that will drain your wallet"
Credit: ONE Esports

Each team plays once against a team from the other group in a best-of-three format and earns points for each win. The best team in each group that wins the most matches and therefore accumulates the most points automatically qualifies for the LCK Cup play-offs.

The LCK Cup play-ins will see six teams seeded based on their number of wins. They compete in a partial double elimination format. The playoffs will follow the same format as LCK Spring and Summer that fans are familiar with.

Only one team, the LCK Cup champions, will represent the region at the new, unnamed international tournament.

Riot Games announced earlier this year that they were adding a third international tournament in the first quarter, which will use the Fearless Draft, which will also be adopted by the LCK Cup. This means that the chosen champions cannot be selected again in subsequent games. Read our full Fearless Draft explanation here.

The regular season format of LCK 2025 has a large number of changes

LCK 2025 regular season format explained
Credit: LCK

The regular season is split into two halves. The first half consists of round 1 and round 2.

Round 1 and Round 2 will follow a double round-robin format, which fans are used to as this is the same format used in LCK Spring and LCK Summer.

The difference is that there is now a regional MSI qualification. The six best teams of the ten qualify. The top two teams will represent the region at MSI 2025.

After MSI 2025, teams will return to compete in the current regular season. In rounds 3 to 5, teams are divided into two equal groups of five based on their rankings in rounds 1 and 2. They are called ‘Legend Group’ and ‘Rise Group’.

Gen.G wins MSI 2024, a featured image for ONE Esports article "LoL Esports 2025 is unlike anything you've seen before: the biggest, most unprecedented changes"
Credit: ONE Esports, Riot Games

Each group competes separately from rounds 3 through 5, meaning each team competes alone against the other four teams in their respective groups.

At the end of Round 5, the first through fourth place teams of Legend Group will automatically qualify for the playoffs. The fourth and fifth place teams from Rise Group will be eliminated.

The 5th place Legend Group team and the top three teams in Rise Group will then compete in the play-ins for a chance to earn a spot in the LCK Playoffs.

T1 Keria, Oner and Gumayusi pose during the final photo shoot of LCK Spring 2024
Credit: LCK

The LCK Playoffs, now fully double-elimination, replace the World Cup regional qualifiers. The team that wins the playoffs gets the first seed. The team in second place will be the second seed, while the team eliminated in the lower bracket final will be awarded the third seed.

The MSI winner and the second best performing region at MSI will be awarded an additional World Cup spot, so there is a possibility of four spots available for the LCK based on the results of MSI 2025. If so, qualify the four best play-off teams qualify for the World Championship.

In total, the total number of matches played will be increased in 2025. In the group stage of the LCK Cup, each team plays a minimum of five matches, with a maximum of thirteen.

Including the five regular season rounds, play-ins and playoffs, teams were able to compete in as many as eleven additional matches compared to previous years.

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