The LCK playoffs kick off this Wednesday, the 10th. Winners of the first round will punch their ticket to the round 3 winners' final, while the losers will face the long, arduous road through the losers' bracket.

The opening act is a clash between T1 and Dplus KIA. As the third seed from the Legends Group with the privilege of choosing their opponent, T1 has opted to lock horns with Dplus KIA.

In the recently concluded regular season, T1 finished with a 20-10 record, just one win ahead of Dplus KIA’s 19-11. Although they competed in different groups, the gap in raw form feels negligible. Dplus KIA may have stumbled against BNK FearX in the Fearless Draft play-ins, but they pushed that series to the limit and ultimately steamrolled Nongshim RedForce 3-0, suggesting their momentum is on the mend.

The two sides met twice during the first two rounds of the 2025 regular season, before the split into Legends and Rise groups, with T1 taking the spoils on both occasions. T1 enters this series with the clear edge in public perception. During their stint in the Legends Group, T1 posted a solid 9-3 record and even managed to put a stop to Gen.G’s monumental 19-match winning streak.

Given T1’s experience reaching the finals of the LCK MSI qualifiers and the Mid-Season Invitational—honing their expertise in the 5-game Fearless Draft format—they sit comfortably ahead of Dplus KIA, who had to grind through the play-in stages. History also looms large: since the 2023 Spring season, T1 has dominated Dplus KIA with a staggering 17-3 record across regular season and playoff encounters.

With T1 choosing Dplus KIA, the second opening bracket naturally pits BNK FearX against KT Rolster. KT Rolster holds the historical advantage here, having bested BNK FearX twice during the regular season and clinching a hard-fought series victory at the previous LCK Cup.

However, BNK FearX arrives at this high-stakes playoff stage looking like a transformed beast. They shed their regular-season skin during the play-ins, utilizing unpredictable pick-and-ban strategies and clinical execution to dismantle Dplus KIA and Nongshim RedForce, ultimately securing their spot as the top play-in team.

For KT Rolster, everything hinges on neutralizing the explosive play of BNK FearX, specifically by containing their mid-lane maestro, Gwak 'Bdd' Bo-seong. Gwak Bo-seong has been the team's anchor whenever things looked shaky. Since BNK FearX relies heavily on their top-jungle-mid synergy to snowball early leads, KT Rolster’s success depends entirely on Gwak Bo-seong’s ability to stifle this trio from the get-go.

Gen.G has simply been the boogeyman of the 2025 League of Legends esports scene. They suffered only one defeat from the opening of the first round through to the end of the regular season. They secured back-to-back titles at the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) in Vancouver and hoisted the trophy at the EWC in Riyadh. Excluding the LCK Cup, they have reigned supreme in every single tournament they have entered this year.

Hanwha Life Esports, the Legends Group second seed, also awaits in the second round. After a triumphant start to 2025 with victories in the LCK Cup and First Stand, they wobbled slightly during the regular season. However, they secured their standing after a fierce battle with T1 for that second-place spot. Despite occasional losses to Gen.G or T1, they have consistently dispatched other rivals, making them the favorites regardless of which team emerges from the first round.

As the top seed of the Legends Group, Gen.G gets to pick their opponent from the two winners of the first round. The entire flow of the playoffs could shift dramatically based on who advances and whom Gen.G decides to challenge.