2018 LCK Season

''League of Legends'' Champions Korea (LCK) is the primary competition for ''League of Legends'' esports in South Korea. Contested by ten teams, the league runs two seasons per year and serves as a direct route to qualification for the annual ''League of Legends'' World Championship. The LCK is administered in cooperation between Riot Games and KeSPA.

The league was formerly named ''League of Legends'' Champions before undergoing a major restructuring in late 2014, which saw a change in the competition's format and a rebranding to its current name. OGN reserved exclusive broadcasting rights of the league until 2016 when rights were split with SPOTV Games. In 2019, Riot Games took over the broadcasting of LCK. In 2021 the LCK franchised, and Challengers Korea (CK) and the LCK promotion tournament were discontinued.

Teams from the LCK have won the World Championship a record nine times, including five consecutive titles from 2013 to 2017.

History

Pre-LCK era (2012–2014)

Following the launch of South Korea's ''League of Legends'' server in December 2011, cable broadcaster OnGameNet launched the country's first major ''League of Legends'' tournament in March 2012. Named ''The Champions Spring 2012'', the tournament ran from March to May and was contested by a total of 16 teams. MiG Blaze was crowned the competition's inaugural champion after defeating their organizational sibling team MiG Frost in the finals. ''The Champions Summer 2012'' followed later that year, with a rebranded MiG Frost, now known as Azubu Frost, claiming the title themselves. Azubu Frost, along with NaJin Sword, went on to represent South Korea in their first appearance at the ''League of Legends'' World Championship in October.

A tri-tournament annual circuit was soon set as the norm for the league's calendar year, now consisting of three seasons held in the winter, spring, and summer. Azubu Frost and NaJin Sword clashed early in 2013 in the finals of ''Champions Winter 2012–13'', with the latter emerging victorious. ''Champions Spring 2013'' and ''Champions Summer 2013'' later followed, being won by MVP Ozone and SK Telecom T1 K respectively. SK Telecom T1 K went on to win the Season 3 World Championship later that year, becoming the first team from the league to do so.

SK Telecom T1 K became the first team to successfully defend their title the following year, sweeping Samsung Galaxy Ozone in the finals of ''Champions Winter 2013–14'' to cap off an undefeated tournament run. Ozone's sibling team, Samsung Galaxy Blue, went on to win ''Champions Spring 2014'' but were bested in the finals of ''Champions Summer 2014'' by KT Rolster Arrows.

In October 2014, plans were announced for a drastic overhaul of the league's structure. ''League of Legends'' Champions was rebranded to ''League of Legends'' Champions Korea (LCK), and the winter season was abolished in favor of an annual circuit consisting of the Spring Split and Summer Split. The competition's format, which consisted of a 16-team tournament with a group stage progressing into a knockout stage, was changed to a 10-team league operating on a round-robin basis, with the top 5 teams qualifying for a playoffs bracket. Furthermore, organizations were prohibited from owning more than one team - in particular, this change most heavily affected KeSPA-affiliated teams, all of which operated two squads as part of a sibling team system - forcing numerous organizations to merge or disband rosters.

LCK era (since 2015)

''LCK Spring 2015'' marked the debut of the league operating under its new format and identity. A newly minted SK Telecom T1, a product of the prior year's merger between SK Telecom T1 K and SK Telecom T1 S, swept the calendar year by winning both ''LCK Spring 2015'' and ''LCK Summer 2015''.

SK Telecom T1 retained their crown in ''LCK Spring 2016'', becoming the first team in competition history to win three consecutive titles. Their streak of dominance was ended in ''LCK Summer 2016'' by ROX Tigers (currently Hanwha Life Esports), who became only the second team to win the league since its restructuring.

SK Telecom T1 won their sixth title as an organization on 22 April 2017, by defeating KT Rolster in the finals of ''LCK Spring 2017''. In LCK Summer 2017 Finals, Longzhu Gaming won their first title on 26 August 2017 after defeating the spring winner SK Telecom T1.

Longzhu Gaming rebranded to Kingzone DragonX following the 2017 World Championship, and they defended their title in LCK 2018 Spring by defeating the Afreeca Freecs. kt Rolster won the LCK Summer 2018 championship, defeating Griffin in the finals.

SK Telecom T1 won the LCK Spring 2019 title after defeating Griffin in the finals with 3–0. This marked the seventh LCK title for SK Telecom T1. On 31 August 2019, SK Telecom T1 once again defeated Griffin in the finals with a score of 3–1. This was their eighth championship title, and also their back-to-back LCK title in 2019.

T1 also won the LCK Spring 2020 title after defeating Gen.G in the finals (3–0), taking the title for the third time in a row. The title also marked the organization's ninth championship title, and their first after rebranding from SK Telecom T1 to T1. In LCK Summer 2020, Damwon Gaming won their first championship title after defeating DRX in the finals.

DWG KIA (previously Damwon Gaming) won the title for both LCK Spring and Summer 2021, making them the champions for three consecutive splits. They defeated Gen.G in the Spring, and T1 in the Summer.

On 2 April 2022, T1 won the LCK Spring 2022 title after defeating Gen.G in the finals. This marked their tenth championship title. Gen.G would go on to win the LCK title for four consecutive splits (Summer 2022 to Spring 2024), before Hanwha Life Esports defeated them in the Summer 2024 final. It was Hanwha's first title under their current name and second if counting ROX Tigers' title in the Summer 2016.

On 29 October 2024, the LCK announced a new format to align itself with the rest of global ''League of Legends'' in 2025. To accommodate a new international tournament in March known as the First Stand, the league announced the LCK Cup, a "pre-season" tournament that sends the winner to the competition, as well as a merger of the two splits into one single season, with mid-season playoffs being held to determine Korea's MSI representatives and the end of season playoffs determining the LCK champion and Worlds representatives.

Format

LCK Cup

All series during the LCK Cup utilize ''Fearless Draft'', where champions selected during a game cannot be selected again for the remainder of the series.

Group stage

* Ten teams participate in two groups of five
* The winners and runners-up of LCK from the previous season are seeded in Group A and Group B respectively
** These teams choose their group opponents one at a time
* Single round robin against teams from opposing groups, all matches are best-of-three
* The group with the most wins sends their top three teams to the playoffs and fourth and fifth to the play-ins
* The group with the least wins sends their top four teams to the play-ins

Play-ins

* The fourth and fifth-place teams in the "winning group" and the top four teams in the "losing group" participate
** Teams are seeded based on wins
* Single-elimination first round, double-elimination afterwards
** First and second rounds (winners bracket) are best-of-three, third round (losers bracket) is best-of-five
* The winners of the second round (winners bracket) and the third round (losers bracket) advance to the playoffs

Playoffs

* The top three teams in the "winning group" and the three advancing teams from the play-ins participate in the playoffs
* Single-elimination first round, double-elimination afterwards
** All matches are best-of-five
* The winner of the LCK Cup qualifies for the First Stand

Regular season

First series

* Ten teams participate
* Double round robin, all matches are best-of-three
* The top six teams advance to Road to MSI
** The top two teams get byes
* If two teams have the same record, ties are broken by:
** Game record (teams get +1 point for a won game and –1 point for a lost game; the team with more points wins the tie)
** If points are tied, ties are broken by head-to-head record
** If still tied, teams play a tiebreaker match

Road to MSI

* The top six teams participate in Road to MSI
* All matches are best-of-five
** The top two teams in the first round play for the first seed in the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI)
** The loser of the above matchup is seeded first in a stepladder bracket with the four remaining seeds for the second round; winner gets the second seed in the MSI

Second series

* The top 5 teams in the first round are seeded in the Legends Group, and the bottom 5 teams are seeded in the Rise Group. All records from the first series are also carried over.
* Triple round robin, all matches are best-of-three
* The top four teams in the Legends Group advance to the playoffs in the upper bracket
** The top two teams get byes
* The fifth-place team in the Legends Group and top three teams in the Rise Group advance to the play-ins

Regional championship

Play-ins

* The fifth-place team in the Legends Group and top three teams in the Rise Group from the second series participate
* GSL-style group format
** All matches are best-of-five
* The winner and runner-up advance to the playoffs

Playoffs

* The winner and runner-up of the play-ins and top four teams in the Legends Group from the second series participate
* Double-elimination format, with third and fourth from Legends Group facing the play-ins winners in the winners' bracket first round
** The loser with the lower seed from the winners' bracket second round plays in losers' bracket round 2
** The loser with the higher seed from the winners' bracket second round plays in losers' bracket round 3
*** All matches are best-of-5
* The winner (seed 1), runner-up (seed 2), and third-place team (seed 3) qualify for the World Championship
** If the LCK earns an additional seed from the MSI, the fourth-place team would be seed 4

Teams

Results

By season

By team

Teams in ''italics'' indicate teams that have been disbanded or no longer participates in the league.

Notes

References

External links

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{{Professional sports in South Korea

2012 establishments in South Korea
Recurring sporting events established in 2012
Sports leagues in South Korea