T1 and Hanwha Life battle to qualify for the LCK Cup 2025 Playoffs

The format of the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) Cup 2025 event is interesting but arguably somewhat unfair. A team that won most group matches still falls into the losers side and has to battle in the Play-In Stage. That happens because other teams in that group lose and drag everyone down. 

In a nutshell, it’s a situation with T1 and Hanwha Life Esports. They found themselves in a losers group, and now they have Play-In matches to qualify for the LCK Cup 2025 Playoffs and not miss the chance to be in First Stand 2025. At the same time, these League of Legends esports teams finished the Group Stage with better scores than most competitors from the winners set.

The format aside, it’s time for T1, who are basically the best League of Legends esports team in the world, and Hanwha Life Esports, who won the LCK Summer 2024 event, to prove their true power. They face opponents in the LCK Cup 2025 Play-In parallel brackets. One win guarantees a spot in the Playoffs.

This competitive show is definitely wonderful! All of the details of these matches are here.

You can watch the Play-In matches T1 vs NS and HLE vs DRX right here, as the stream is embedded below. The teams played on Feb. 7. The match of T1 was first.

The winners of this match advance directly to the LCK Cup 2025 Playoffs. The losers have another chance in the Play-In final. T1 played against Nongshim RedForce in the Group Stage, and the World Champions won 2-0.

However, it would be unwise to underestimate the current Nongshim RedForce roster. It has been strengthened by Hwang "Kingen" Seong-hoon who played for Dplus in 2024 and Son "Lehends" Si-woo from Gen.G Esports.

T1 outplayed their opponents in this match. It was not the level of complete annihilation, though, as NS RedForce had some pretty good moments. However, their opponents are the LoL World Champions 2024, and their class shined through — even without Gumayusi as Smash took his place in T1 for this match.

Game 1 was strongly one-sided. T1 players were at the peak of their power, and NS couldn’t even gather themselves together at the beginning. Game 2 started with a glimpse of a chance for NS RedForce. That impression evaporated when T1 managed to accumulate enough might.

T1 play against the winner of the next match of this day: Hanwha Life Esports. NS RedForce have another chance to qualify for the Playoffs — in the LCK Cup 2025 Play-in final, they face the DRX, who lost to HLE.

The match T1 vs NS was a record-breaking one for the LCK Cup 2025: 54 kills.

It’s a point when Keria has been playing League of Legends professionally for more than five years: around four of them in T1.

Total and full domination — it’s the name of the game here. T1 destroyed their opponents mercilessly, with no real chances to resist. The World Champions got objectives, and they developed their advantage to the point of no return. 

There were some good moments for Nongshim RedForce too, like killing three T1 players when they were on the Baron buff or stealing Atakhan in a seemingly desperate fight. Still, that couldn’t help with such a disastrous start to the game.

T1 were one point away from the LCK Cup 2025 Playoffs.

The start of game 2 was so much different! Nongshim RedForce fought back quite successfully, and T1 did not have any meaningful advantage. However, NS also couldn’t go ahead with gold and kills.

This relatively even situation continued for a while, and then, the slow and notorious approach of T1 paid off. They started winning team fights rather easily, and their generally better state became obvious.

Once again, NS had a brilliant moment when T1 secured Baron but ended up with a negative gold gain and a few deaths. Still, T1 recovered quickly and continued pressuring. They won this game and this match. 

Hanwha Life Esports confidently defeated DRX during the LCK Cup 2025 Group Stage. This should give the players a nice boost — to win and advance to the Playoffs.

Even if Hanwha Life Esports won this match, it doesn’t mean they can be happy with themselves. The team has super strong opponents ahead, and their play vs DRX was rather shaky.

In Game 1, HLE had to recover from an early disadvantage. They did that well, but it were DRX who made a mistake and lost their chance. In Game 2, HLE were ahead almost all the time, but they made too brave and too risky moves in the end. 

Hanwha Life Esports play T1 in their first match of the LCK Cup 2025 Playoffs, on Feb. 13. The League of Legends World Champions 2024 do not forgive any shakiness, so HLE should get properly prepared.

DRX have another Play-in match: the final is against Nongshim RedForce. One Playoff spot is the reward.

The LCK Cup 2025 Play-in match between Hanwha Life Esports and DRX started with a wonderfully chaotic game. DRX had a slight advantage, but the gold was mainly on Elise, so HLE still had good kills and growth potential.

At some point, it was Teddy who grew up his Kai'Sa to become dreadfully dangerous for the opponents. Teddy delivered damage in team fights and let his teammates keep the initial advantage.

Then, Hanwha Life Esports just returned to the game. After a brilliant win around a Dragon, they started dominating on Summoner’s Rift, taking objectives and building their power. DRX just lost their chance.

This time, the early advantage was on HLE’s side, while DRX had to try and catch their opponents. Good team fights allowed DRX players to keep the pace for a while. Around a Herald fight, DRX made the gold accounts even and proved their ambitions.

The teams settled with a slow and cautious game for a while. Both looked for a proper opportunity. It appeared around Dragon — for HLE. They won that fight and secured the objective. The snowball effect took Hanwha Life Esports to an Ace and a destroyed Inhibitor.

On the edge of overstepping, HLE took Baron, pushed to the base, and destroyed another Inhibitor with both Nexus turrets. Even if the following fights had a glimpse of hope for DRX, Hanwha Life Esports killed another Dragon, earned one more Ace, and went for the Nexus.

The new League of Legends international has a limited number of participants: five. Only one team can advance to First Strike 2025 from the LCK — the winner of the LCK Cup 2025.

Sure, the main battles start in the Playoffs Stage, but some teams lose their chance even in the Play-In matches.

T1 lost to Dplus in the Group Stage. These opponents are already in the LCK Cup 2025 Playoff brackets, alongside Gen.G Esports and KT Rolster.

Hanwha Life Esports experienced defeats from Gen.G and Dplus during the Group Stage. Facing these teams again is a tough challenge.

Nongshim RedForce did not have much success in the Group Stage. The team lost three matches out of five, including to T1, HLE, and Freecs.

DRX lost to T1 and Hanwha Life Esports. The LCK Cup 2025 Play-In final is a chance for one of the losers to still earn their Play-In spot. Advancing further will be really difficult for them.

Playoff matches for earning the First Strike 2025 spot happen in all major regions throughout February. The offline tournament is from March 10 to March 16. Stick around on esports.gg for all League of Legends news and updates!