The strongest teams join forces! HLE snatched the group stage of the new season from T1 against GenG

★ Game Horseshoe Original

LCK2025 the first stage of the event is grouped

The LCK region also launched a new format this year, with the champions and runners-up of last year's summer tournament, HLE and GenG, each divided into two groups, and the group stage adopted a team confrontation mode. The group with the most wins is considered the winner's bracket, while the other group is the loser's bracket. The top two teams in the upper bracket will advance directly to the playoffs, while the bottom two teams in the lower bracket will be eliminated. The remaining teams will compete in play-in tournaments to determine the other four playoff spots. The last 6 teams play a double-loss Bo5 in the playoffs, and the champion will represent the LCK in the First Stand.

Final grouping

The champion HLE grabbed T1 first, and GenG could choose 2 teams, DK and KT, and finally this is such a group.

Big Dragons: HLE, T1, BFX, DNF, BRO

Ancient Dragons: GenG, DK, KT, NS, DRX

Each team plays the team from the other group once, with the team with the most games winning in the upper bracket and the lower bracket in the lower bracket. Therefore, it is useless to only look at the strong teams, first, to see who has a higher probability of winning in the strong dialogue, and secondly, to see who is relatively stronger in each group of the weakest team. Now on paper, the two are similar, but T1, the team with 5 World Championship titles, is still generally considered the strongest team even though it has been almost 3 years since the league has won a championship.

HLE joins forces with T1

In the group stage, there will be no HLE against T1 after Zeus joins, because they are in the same group and will join forces against the other group of 5 teams. HLE's roster for the new season is strong, but only if Zeus, who leaves T1, can quickly and perfectly integrate into the new environment. Last year, Doran was able to get HLE to win the LCK, and fans of this level of reinforcement naturally thought that Zeus could do the same.

T1 has an advantage against GenG/KT/DK

T1 defeated GenG 3-1 in the World Finals last year, and it can be said that it has basically broken the curse of GenG's Bo5 winless record. HLE grabbed T1 in order to get more wins and turn the group into the winner's bracket. T1 lost Zeus, but Doran, who was in the spot, has been the winner in the LCK key Bo5 for the past few years. The impact of this top-order substitution may not be as great as imagined. T1 still has a big advantage against the other group of 5 teams.

DK that BRO can't beat

Another point to watch out for is BRO and DK, who met several times at Kespa at the end of last year, and the result was that BRO won all of them. Even with Beryl's return and a 17-year-old new laner, there is still a Showmaker, but this all-starting DK just can't beat the weak-looking BRO. It just so happens that they are opponents again in this grouping, and if the strength of the two teams remains the same in the new version, then there is no doubt that HLE and T1 have a greater group advantage.

Can GenG still capture the king?

If GenG wants their group to be the upper bracket, they will have to win against the two strong teams HLE and T1. The bottom lane duo has all changed, and Ruler has returned without familiar support, can this GenG really be able to do it? I have to say that the grouping of the new season of the LCK is still very level, and there are some uncertainties in both groups. Coupled with the new version and the global BP, it is difficult to decide which side is stronger. But just looking at the strength on paper, this HLE+T1 is indeed the strongest combination of LCK in 2025. If they make the upper bracket, HLE and T1 will also advance to the playoffs as the top two.

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★ The game Horseshoe is original, and commercial reproduction is prohibited without permission

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