LCK Cup 2026 ended with Gen.G as the champions, but runners-up BNK FEARX achieved an organization-wide milestone heading into First Stand.
LCK Cup 2026 has concluded, and we now have the first regional champions of South Korea: Gen.G Esports! The runners-up of BNK FEARX will join them in this year’s first international LoL Esports event, First Stand.
Gen.G Esports are your LCK Cup 2026 champions!
Gen.G Esports ended the LCK Cup 2026 as the champions after not dropping a single series throughout the event. They led Group Baron 5-0 in matches and 11-0 in games — this meant that they didn’t even see the Defeat screen a single time! T1 was a close second as they were also 5-0 in matches, but they had an 11W-3L record in games.
Meanwhile, BNK FEARX led their Group Elder at 3-2 in matches and 8W-6L in games. Their closest competitor was Dplus who shared their match record but had a slightly lower score with 6W-6L in games.
GEN had a clear path to the trophy: they beat Dplus 3-1 in the upper bracket semi, FEARX (3-1) in the upper bracket final, then FEARX again in the Grand Final that took place in Hong Kong.
We were also treated to the fourth pentakill of the season, and the third pentakill on Yunara, courtesy of Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk. The Finals MVP was handed to Gen.G jungler Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu.
BNK FEARX make their first international
Even though they failed to lift the LCK Cup this year, BNK FEARX still has plenty to celebrate.
Since they joined the LCK in 2019 and after various rebrands (they were previously known as SANDBOX Gaming and Liiv Sandbox), this is the first time they qualified for their first international League of Legends tournament.
The same can be said for the team’s mostly-rookie lineup, too. Out of the six-man lineup, only support Kim “Kellin” Hyeong-gyu has been to an international event before.
BNK FEARX’s lineup includes 18-year old AD Carry Nam “Diable” Dae-geun, who had an impressive debut year in 2025, earning him the Rookie of the Year award.
Seeing as they beat both T1 and Dplus on their path to the LCK Cup 2026 Grand Final, their performance in First Stand against the best teams from the other regions is something to look forward to.
First Stand 2026 begins March 16 in São Paulo, Brazil.