The Bo5 between
Hanwha Life Esports and
T1 lasted over four hours, with
HLE emerging victorious in a nail-biting finish. The
Hard Fearless Draft made this BO5 even more intense, pushing players and coaches to their limits. With this defeat, the reigning world champions are eliminated from the LCK Cup and will not represent South Korea at the First Stand, set to take place on home soil.
Choi "Zeus" Woo-je earns the Man of the Match title, rewarding his great performance in the series.
The match started rather slow, with the first game being quite light on kills (only eleven kills across the entire game). However, HLE managed to gain the upper hand over T1, largely thanks to
Park "Viper" Do-hyeon’s double kill on his Ezreal early in the game. T1 struggled to find a crack in the calm and disciplined play of the reigning LCK champions.
The second game was dominated by T1, with
Sin "Smash" Geum-jae showcasing impressive play on his Jhin, demonstrating the depth of his champion pool and his ability to control games (finishing with a 7/0/10 score). However, overall, the BO began to tighten up, highlighted by a solo kill from
Kim "Zeka" Geon-woo on
Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok.
In Game Three, Faker picked the first Mel in LCK history. However, the pick didn’t quite work out, and the interactions with her W ability might need to be revisited for the Korean midlaner. The rest of the game saw Viper,
Han "Peanut" Wang-ho, and
Yoo "Delight" Hwan-joong relentlessly chasing T1's botlane through their jungle, striking with arrows, spears, and lances. This secured a second win for HLE and set up their first match point.
Game Four was undoubtedly the most intense and exciting to watch, as it was extremely tight between the two teams, with gold even at 22 minutes into the game. HLE initiated a risky Atakhan, which brought their HP bars dangerously low, allowing
Mun "Oner" Hyeon-jun to dive into the fray with a Viego ult and steal the objective. This enabled T1 to turn the fight around and seize the advantage. Despite this, HLE made a valiant effort to come back into the game, especially with a spectacular play initiated by Zeus’s Aatrox, which set up Peanut for a five-man Diana ultimate, followed by Zeka’s Yasuo ult on all five T1 players. As impressive as this play was, it wasn’t enough for HLE to secure the win in the BO5. Silver Scrapes echoed through LoL Park—game five was on the horizon.
The draft for the final game was a real puzzle for the players, coaches, casters, and spectators alike. With 46 champions banned by the time HLE locked in their first pick, the tension was at its peak. Rare picks emerged, such as Faker's Zoe, Peanut's Amumu, and Ryu "Keria" Min-seok's Soraka. The game was quite slow, and T1 were well aware of their win conditions, particularly Smash's Draven. With barely 5 kills over 32 minutes of play, T1 secured an Ace during a teamfight at the dragon, extending their lead to just under 6,000 gold. Despite their deficit, HLE found a great teamfight that allowed them to regain control in this thrilling BO5. A massive chunk of damage on Oner's Skarner, followed by a Renata Glasc ult that hit Faker and Smash, allowed Zeus's Olaf to wreak havoc in the T1 ranks. HLE won this Game Five and the BO, eliminating T1 from the LCK Cup. HLE will now face GEN.G, after
Dplus KIA, as expected, chose to face Nongshim RedForce for their first match in the LCK Cup playoffs.
