The League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) officially revealed the schedule and format for the LCK Cup 2025, announced on January 7 via their social media. With an entirely reworked format and the pool already being revealed a few days ago, we now have a more precise view on when the hostlity shall start.

The LCK Cup starts soon

The tournament will kick off on January 15 with a match between OK SavingsBank BRION and DRX. T1 will enter the competition against Dplus KIA on the 16th, and Gen.G against Hanwha Life Esports for an extremely exciting match that will see Choi "Zeus" Woo-je directly facing a tough opponent wearing his new color on the 17th. It is important to note that the competition will take a brief pause after two weeks for the Lunar New Year, allowing it to resume on January 31.

As a reminder, the stakes are high, as the tournament's winner will secure a spot in the international First Stand event, scheduled to take place in South Korea this March. Teams have been divided into two groups for the pre-tournament draw: the Baron Group, featuring HLE, T1, BNK FEARX, BRO, and DN Freecs, and the Elder Group, comprising Gen.G, Dplus KIA, KT Rolster, Nongshim RedForce, and DRX.

The top two teams from the 2024 season — HLE and Gen.G — have been assigned to Groups Baron and Elder, and each selected an additional team from the remaining pool of eight. The selected teams then chose the next team to join their group until each group had five teams.

Instead of battling teams within their groups, participants will compete against teams from the opposite group, striving to secure as many points as possible for their side. The group with the most wins will be declared the "Winners Group," earning better seeding for the next two phases of the tournament. Meanwhile, the last-placed team from the "Losers Group" will face direct elimination.