On Day 2 of the first week of the LCK Round 3–5, KT Rolster kicked off their Summer Split with a solid win over Nongshim RedForce — their third consecutive best-of victory against NS. In the Rise group, BNK FearX claimed a clean 2-0 sweep against the struggling DN Freecs, who now sit at 1–18 and are off to a rough start. Gwak "Bdd" Bo-sung and Jeon "Raptor" Eo-jin were named MVPs of the day.

Time and again this year, DN Freecs have managed to build early leads, but closing out games remains their biggest struggle. In Game 1, the Rise group’s bottom team held a 3.5k gold advantage but failed to break FearX’s Nexus. The turning point came when jungler Jeon "Raptor" Eo-jin stole the Baron, leading to a winning fight and the game for FearX. Game 2 followed a similar script: a strong early lead for the Freecs, a lost fight around midlane, and a secured Baron for FearX to wrap up the series in under 30 minutes.

KT keep dominating NS

KT Rolster are off to a flying start in the LCK, building on strong performances in Rounds 1-2 and the Road to MSI—where they already beat NS twice. They secured a third consecutive win over their rivals today. Game 1 lasted over 41 minutes, packed with solo kills and dives. NS controlled the early and mid game, but Seo "deokdam" Dae-gil’s Corki scaling eventually took over, dishing out more than 42,000 damage. Game 2 followed a more traditional scaling path, with KT closing it out cleanly in just 27 minutes.

On Friday, July 25, T1 will make their Summer Split debut—and it’s straight into the deep end. They’ll be facing Gen.G, who recently broke the all-time record for consecutive BO wins after their victory over Hanwha Life Esports. T1 will be aiming to hand the MSI and Esports World Cup champions their first loss of the split. As two-time world champion Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong put it: “We’ll face them three times in the remaining rounds, and I at least want to make sure they bleed once.” The second BO of the day will be in the Rise group, with OKSavingsbank BRION going up against DRX.