The League of Legends Champions Korea is one of the best regional tournaments in the world. It has been the home of the LoL World Champions for many years. In 2024, T1 took its fifth Worlds trophy to become the most decorated LoL team.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the LCK’s format and how the competition is set up, as the Korean league has one of the most extensive match-packed schedules.
While the LCK format has stayed somewhat similar over the past few years, there are going to be major changes at the start of the 2025 season. The LCK season will have three different regional tournaments instead of the traditional two, with new formats for each individual split.
The first split, also known as the LCK Cup, will see teams split into two groups and play against all the teams from the opposite group, followed by play-ins and playoffs stage. The following two splits, on the other hand, will see a double round-robin to determine which teams head to playoffs. The championship points system will no longer be used and the seeding in the Summer split (Rounds 3-5) will be based on the performance in Spring (Rounds 1-2)
With the new format, you can expect LCK odds to change weekly as the league moves forward. To this end, we will update our power rankings and predictions in our Esports News, as each competitive week commences.
For the first time ever, the LCK will see the implementation of the Fearless Draft mode, with the goal of making matches more challenging for players and the coaching staff. Only one team will be able to represent the region at First Stand, the new international LoL tournament.
Road to MSI
Rounds 3-5
Playoffs
If you want to know which are the strongest players, we also created a top-five list for each role:
Follow the LCK Rounds 1-2 on the following English LCK Twitch channel when it kicks off on April 2.
The LCK hasn’t always been the fully franchised superleague we know and love. Before the LCK, champions in Korea were decided in the OGN Champions series as the top sixteen seeded Korean teams fought in a four group round robin to decide the quarter finals bracket in the second half of the season.
After the group stage, every top two team faced off in the playoffs and every series was decided in a Bo5 setting. The winner of the grand finals would accumulate circuit points that would decide their fate at the end of the year as top teams placed through points for the World Championship.
In 2016, Korea adapted some changes that fit in line with their LCS counterparts in the West, and the LCK was created. In this new league format, every team in the tournament would eventually face each other as all 10 rosters got acquainted with one another over the course of the season. Two splits in Spring and Summer decided the best Korean teams who moved on into a final tournament to decide who gets to represent Korea at Worlds.
While the format was similar to LCS, the way the games are played differ from Europe and North America. Every series played between teams is a best of three series instead of a best of one. This staggering of games enables much more substitute control amongst teams as stacked rosters like SKT, Samsung and kT all used their strength in numbers to take their opponents off balance.
Starting with the 2021 season, LCK adopted a franchising method similar to their western counterparts (LCS, LEC). 10 permanent franchise slots were assigned to esports teams fitting very specific league requirements.
While some fans would prefer the bracket style playoffs of the LCS with only a first round bye, the 1st place pay off for the top teams in Korea is undoubtedly a position of grandeur. Beating a six team gauntlet in Playoffs and being the top team in Korea is worth way more then the prize funds.
With such a high level of importance put on being first, Korea has seen more than a few super teams start to develop as the level of talent increases each year. Many teams believed that 2015 would be the end of dominance for Korea as a vast amount of their best players looked for greener pastures and nicer paychecks in China, North America and Europe. Instead of taking a back seat, LCK once again became the frontrunner for excellency in players and coaching within the scene as a slew of new talent was developed, and Championships were raised.
2016 became the year of the dynasty in Korea as mega rivals SKT and kT Rolster seemed at the peak of their abilities.
Looming over their heads was the eventual first place roster of ROX Tigers as an unlikely pairing of above average players rocketed them into LCK fame as one of the most dominant rosters ever assembled. The dynamic trio made lots of noise throughout the season but the biggest surprise was Samsung Galaxy as they snuck their way into the World Championships that year through the gauntlet, upsetting kT Rolster en route to victory.
This rebirth of Samsung Galaxy was considered unthinkable after their past greatness as Samsung White and Blue in 2014. But a team of aspiring young talent anchored by Ambition in the jungle became the core of their success in 2016, and the continuation of their efforts was awarded the following year at the 2017 World Championship Finals as they beat their archrivals SK Telecom in a dominant 3-0 sweep.
Following their 2017 success, the LCK entered a two year transitional period of re-organization and talent reshuffling. The former SKT T1 dynasty was challenged by new talent from DragonX and Afreeca Freecs. KT Rolster and SKT started falling off grace and Samsung traded away their spot to KSV (Gen.G).
KSV made history as the first World Championship winning roster to keep all their players for a consecutive year. The show of faith in their players hasn’t come without its troubles as KSV suffered growing pains in 2018. The star-studded roster of year’s past, lost a step since raising their trophy in 2017. Uncharacteristic mistakes from Ambition and CuVee cost the team multiple showdowns. The most notable dip in form is undoubtedly with Crown as his play with KSV has been less than optimal.
SK Telecom suffered similar setbacks as the most winningest team in LoL history entered a rebuilding phase. Even in a rebuild with a focus centered on youth development rather than big name acquisitions, SKT found their way into the playoffs as they scraped to a 9-9 record at the end of Spring Split. Their summer performance was even worse as they missed playoffs for the first time in years.
The 2018 season was the worst Worlds showing for the LCK in recent history. Neither of their teams got even close to semifinals prompting a debate on why this “debacle” came to be. Conversely, China and Europe gained huge momentum, and went into the following season even more motivated to keep Korea down.
Coming into 2019, the LCK had a lot to prove and SKT took up the mantle for the entire region once again. After a massive roster overhaul within many organizations, it was T1 and Faker that led the region into Worlds after winning both Splits and going into Worlds on a serious high. However, the monsters they created in Europe and China came back with a bite as Korea had to fight for every single win during the event.
Ultimately, China took their back2back trophy at Worlds, sending the LCK in a deeper re-structuring period then the year before.
Years of slow build up finally paid off for an unexpected organization in the LCK. In a very challenging season, DAMWON Gaming took the Worlds stage by storm as they dominated their opponents and returned Korea to their World Championship glory. Domestically, the organization that only joined the LCK from the challenger series in 2019. They went on to get better with each consecutive split they played. After dominating the LCK Summer Split the team went on to drop only 3 games in their entire Worlds 2020 run and hoisted the 6th Korean trophy.
It was Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu and Cho “BeryL” Geon-hee who brought the trophy “home” with their insane Jungle/Support synergy, making plays that baffled even the most seasoned analysts.
© LoL Esports
After Worlds 2020, fans started questioning whether Korea was still the best region in the world. China won two of the last three World Championship, and DK was the only Korean team to fight against the LPL teams. It looked like the doubts were right, as DWG Kia dominated the Spring Split, but lost to RNG at the MSI Finals when representing the region.
When Worlds 2021 came around, however, it seemed like that was not the case. LCK qualified all four teams to the Groups Stage, and all four teams managed to reach the Knockout Stage. During the semifinals, three out of the four teams were from the LCK. Korean teams showcased their worth at the biggest tournament of the year, and many were expecting the LCK to come home with a second title in a row. Unfortunately, the Chinese team EDward Gaming took the crown and brought the trophy back to the LPL for the 3rd time in four years.
The 2022 season started off with T1 looking the number one in the world. After an undefeated Spring Split, they entered MSI 2022 as the absolute favorites. Unfortunately, they were defeated by the LPL yet again in the finals.
While everyone expected them to continue their domination on domestic soil, Gen.G ended up winning the LCK 2022 Summer Split and heading to Worlds as the first seed. T1 was second and DK third. The fourth and last seed was taken by DRX, who barely made it to the Regional Finals. They had the toughest run out of all teams, having to go through the play-in stage.
Image Credits | Riot Games
By defying all odds, however, DRX made the miracle run. They dominated play-ins, went first in group stage and then went on to beat 2021 world champion EDG in the Knockout stages and Gen.G in the semifinals. From play-ins to the finals, DRX achieved the unthinkable. In what was likely the greatest finals in recent Worlds history, underdogs DRX went on to beat T1 in a thrilling 5-game series.
With three teams qualifying in the top four at Worlds, there is no question that Korea is back at the top and stronger than ever. Will we see them defending the trophy once again? There are good enough premises to see that happening…
It wasn’t a good start to the 2023 season for the Korean region, as both T1 and Gen.G were eliminated during the Mid-Season Invitational before reaching the finals.
Even though both teams looked strong during Spring, the two LCK teams weren’t able to transition that level of performance in London. Paired with a few questionable meta reads, the Korean region ended up being dominated by the LPL’s JDG and BLG.
Image Credit: Christian Betancourt/Riot Games
While most thought that the LPL would be favored to win Worlds in 2023, T1 decided they had to defend their legacy. After a tricky Summer Split, T1 crawled their way back to Worlds as the second seed and beat all LPL teams throughout the tournament. While all other LCK teams fell apart, they stood high, as they took down Weibo Gaming in the finals in one of the most one-sided series. Seven years after their last championship, T1 won their fourth title, cementing themselves as the most decorated org in LoL esports.
Gen.G has been one of the best teams in the Korean League ever since they entered the league, but their international results have never been that great, especially compared to the number of domestic titles won.
In the first part of the year, it looked like things were different: with the pickup of Kiin and Canyon, Gen.G put together one of the strongest lineups ever, dominating the Spring Split and winning the MSI tournament.
While many expected Gen.G to continue their dominance, things started crumbling apart: Gen.G lost to HLE in an unexpected Summer Final and it dropped the ball to T1 at the 2024 LoL World Championship semifinals. The team only finished in the top four, and with T1’s victory over BLG, Faker’s team won back-to-back championships.
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