The long 2025 LCK regular season concluded on Sunday, August 31, after five months of competition spanning Round 1-2, the Road to MSI, and Rounds 3-5. The four teams directly qualified for the playoffs are Gen.G, Hanwha Life Esports, T1, and KT Rolster. The four Play-In teams are Nongshim RedForce, who finished the Summer winless after losing to KT today, Dplus KIA as Rise group leaders, BNK FearX, and OKSavingsBank BRION, who secured their spot by defeating DRX.

The Play-In phase begins on September 3, with Nongshim facing BRO, followed the next day by DK versus BFX. All matches in this phase are best-of-five. The Play-In uses a double-elimination bracket, with only two teams advancing to the playoffs. In the playoffs, T1, as the third seed, will choose their Round 1 opponent, while KT will face the remaining team.

Gen.G will then pick one of the two Round 1 winners, with the other team set to face HLE. This LCK split concludes on September 28, crowning South Korea’s sole 2025 champion and determining the four LCK representatives at Worlds. Gen.G have already secured their Worlds spot after winning MSI and reaching the playoffs after just one day of the Summer regular season.

A brutal BO to close the year

The BO between the two teams was fierce. In Game 1, the shortest of the three, BRO dominated the Rift. Kim "Croco" Dong-beom’s Jarvan IV was everywhere, making decisive plays across the map, while, as usual, Corki’s scaling proved crucial. Park "Morgan" Ru-han absorbed massive side-lane pressure and delivered standout plays on Ambessa. Game 2 was a DRX stomp, with Park "Teddy" Jin-seong hitting 2,500 LCK kills and playing his 700th match in the league.

DRX amassed over 6,000 gold advantage, taking all of BRO’s T2, but a final Elder Drake fight at 44 minutes swung in BRO’s favor. In a chaotic team fight involving all ten players, DRX fell, allowing BRO to finish the game despite being over 3,000 gold behind at Nexus explosion. The win secured BRO’s Play-In spot, closing their season at 11-19, two wins ahead of DRX, whose year ends here alongside the DN Freecs.