Hanwha Life Esports win LCK Cup and become first team at First Stand
In what was almost a perfect repeat of last year's finals, Hanwha Life Esports defeated Gen.G Esports in a thrilling 5-game series to win the LCK Cup 2025 in the end. With the trophy in their hands, HLE also became the first team to be locked in for the newest League of Legends international tournament, First Stand.
Hanwha Life do it again
The LCK is home to the highest level of League of Legends in the world; that much we know. Apparently, though, it is also the most exciting, as Hanwha Life and Gen.G put on a spectacle to close out the LCK Cup with a nail-biter of a series that saw HLE walk away with the 3-2 victory in the end.
If you're thinking the finals looked familiar, then you're probably right. HLE shocked the world last year when they won the 2024 LCK Summer Playoffs by defeating a Gen.G team that looked nigh on unbeatable at the time after clutching the series 3-2. Now, Hanwha Life proves that history does repeat itself after all.
Despite seeing the return of the prodigal son Park "Ruler" Jae-hyuk in what was one of the best roster moves of the off season, Gen.G fell just short of the mark yet again. Now, a grueling series of matches come to an end with little to show for the team's efforts, as Gen.G will miss the chance to add another international title to the tally when First Stand comes around in March of this year.
Whoever, else does end up attending the tournament, however, will certainly need to watch out for Hanwha Life.
Though Gen.G's improvement over the course of the playoffs have been commendable to watch, Hanwha Life's star-power simply proved too much to match in the end. That, and the team's unbelievable capacity for performing in the clutch shining through once more, of course.
A World Champion MVP
Despite all of the controversy that surrounded the move at the time, Choi "Zeus" Woo-je's move to Hanwha Life straight after winning Worlds with T1 has been quick to pay dividends. If Hanwha Life are attending First Stand, in fact, that is largely thanks to Zeus' contributions in the Grand Finals of the LCK Cup.
The God of Thunder's mechanical prowess and, perhaps more importantly considering the use of Fearless Draft, his ability to play just about any champion in the game effectively, proved vital for HLE across the 5-game series against a Gen.G squad that is not prone to making mistakes on the rift. For the role he played in the three games his team was able to win, Zeus was awarded Finals MVP at the LCK Cup.
Now, however, the top lane star will have to set his sights on the next stage of competition if he wants to be able to lift his first international trophy with Hanwha Life at First Stand.
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Featured image source: LCK
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