LCK Season 2025 preview: Gen.G’s tough road, T1’s roster dilemma

Following a well-received LCK Cup and a First Stand victory, the LCK 2025 Season officially kicks off on April 2nd with Rounds 1-2.

Over the next two months, the 10 franchised teams will compete to determine two representatives that will head to the second international tournament of the season, the Mid-Season Invitational, as well as joining T1 in the Esports World Cup in Riyadh later this summer.

So, what are the key storylines, expectations and talking points for the upcoming season? Esports Insider runs down everything you need to know ahead of the LCK 2025 Season.

Firstly, here’s a brief look at the format. All teams will have to first compete in a double round-robin of best-of-three matches featuring Fearless Draft. The top six teams will advance to a king-of-the-hill elimination bracket.

The competition will open up with a major series between two Korean powerhouses, as LCK Cup champions and First Stand winners Hanwha Life Esports will go head-to-head with last year’s domestic champions Gen.G.

Leading into the first talking paint, Gen.G is seeking revenge against HLE after the former lost in the final match of the LCK Cup. For the MSI 2024 champions, the first week will be tough but meaningful, given Gen.G will also face T1 in the last match of week one.

The results from these two matches will likely dictate the three teams’ strengths relative to one another, as all three are expected to be title contenders for the remainder of the season.

Once known for its strong top side trio, Gen.G hasn’t shown that level of dominance in the past year, especially from jungler Kim ‘Canyon‘ Geon-bu, who struggled as of late. Once considered the ‘Jungle King’, will he bounce back?

Speaking of T1, a lot of attention will go to the reigning world champions after controversy that occurred prior to the start of the season. With both Lee ‘Gumayusi‘ Min-hyung and Sin ‘Smash‘ Geum-jae in the starting lineup, there will be a lot of pressure on both to deliver.

On one hand, Smash comes off the back of a positive first experience in the LCK Cup, although he wasn’t able to be the difference-maker that fans had hoped to see. On the other hand, Gumayusi will make his return to the roster and prove T1 shouldn’t have benched him in the first place. Regardless of the result, there will be injustice on either side, so the only thing they can do is let the results speak for them — that first chance will be on April 4th, when T1 faces DRX.

Throughout the past years, the LCK was known for being a top-heavy league with bottom-tier teams often fighting for scraps. In the 2025 LCK Cup, however, we’ve seen the rise of Nongshim RedForce, which was able to take down KT Rolster in the playoffs and secure wins against DK and Gen.G.

Thanks to the addition of veterans such as Hwang ‘Kingen‘ Seong-hoon and Son ‘Lehends‘ Si-woo and the rise of youngsters like Kim ‘GIDEON‘ Min-seong, the team has solid potential to continue finishing in the top half of the league.

One further step might bring the team closer to the top four, although the gap might be a bit too big to fill. Luckily for Nongshim, the first week of the LCK 2025 season should be more of a warm-up: the team faces OK BRION and DN Freecs, both of which finished in the bottom of the standings last time out.