The final week of the LCK regular season kicked off this Wednesday with two best-of-threes featuring very different stakes. The first match saw DN Freecs take on BNK FearX—two teams already out of playoff contention. It was another opportunity for FearX to give Yoo "Daystar" Ji-myeong a chance to prove himself, and it paid off: the young academy midlaner earned his first LCK MVP after just two best-of-threes.

The second match had far greater implications, as Hanwha Life Esports faced off against the team directly behind them in the standings—T1. HLE delivered a dominant 2-0 win, securing second place in the regular season behind Gen.G, who remain determined to complete the perfect split.

Star's day

The first game was fairly contested, with the Freecs even managing to gain the upper hand at one point, but FearX regained control around the 27-minute mark. Jeon "Raptor" Eo-jin and Nam "Diable" Dae-geun played a key role in the victory—these two youngest members of the roster continue to show promise and could very well represent the future of the team.

In the second game, the Freecs bounced back thanks in large part to a strong performance from Kim "Life" Jeong-min on Renata Glasc, who was involved in 19 of the team’s 20 kills. Overall, the team executed well and earned themselves a game three. The final game turned out to be a statement performance from rookie mid laner Daystar, who dominated on Annie with a 10/2/12 scoreline, leading the game in damage and posting an impressive 88% kill participation. Daystar fully earned his series MVP and looks likely to secure a spot on FearX’s main roster going forward.

Both in the first and second leg

T1 suffered a heavy 2-0 defeat against HLE. The reigning world champions held their ground in game one, boasting a gold lead of over 3.5K. However, a botside teamfight gone wrong and turned the tide, and Hanwha Life is not a team you can afford to make mistakes against, especially in the sololanes. Choi "Zeus" Woo-je and Kim "Zeka" Geon-woo were incredibly efficient. The second game was more one-sided, with T1 drafting a botlane of Senna-Alistar and Mun "Oner" Hyeon-jun on Kindred in the jungle, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the scaling of Park "Viper" Do-hyeon’s Smolder.

Tomorrow, for the second day of the week, DRX and OKSavingsbank BRION will face off at the bottom of the standings. However, all eyes will clearly be on the second match, as KT Rolster tries to take down Gen.G and deny them the perfect split, just as they did in both 2024 splits.