First Stand 2025 is about to begin, marking the first iteration of the brand new international tournament. First Stand will bring together the winning teams from each of the five League of Legends’ opening splits for a rapid, seven-day event.
Here we’ll take a look at the sides due to compete, discuss who are the favourites to lift the trophy, and provide some predictions for the already-scheduled Group stage fixtures.
LoL First Stand 2025 Preview & Tournament Format
First Stand will run from Monday, March 10th until Sunday, March 16th, and will be split into two phases; the Group stage and Knockout stage.
- From Monday until Friday, the Groups will see the five teams play each other once in a best-of-three series, forming a league table from first to fifth. The top four will move on to the Knockouts while fifth place will be eliminated.
- Knockouts, the four remaining teams will be drawn into a single-elimination, best-of-five bracket. The semi-finals, to take place on Saturday, will decide the two teams that will compete for the title in Sunday’s grand final.
All series will employ Fearless Draft, in which champions picked during a given series are banned throughout said series. This means that, by game five, 50 champions will be banned; the usual 10 plus the 40 previously-picked.
Image credit: Riot Games
The Five First Stand Teams
As mentioned, the five winning teams from the game’s five regions have earned qualification to First Stand, though some regions are much stronger than others and will be sending fiercer competition.
- Hanwha Life Esports, the favourites to win First Stand. This year’s addition of top laner Zeus has taken them to another level. Though they will face tough competition, particularly from China’s Top Esports, First Stand is definitely HLE’s to lose.
- Top Esports have a star-studded roster and would easily come out as favourites in many international events were it not for Hanwha Life’s current level. Bot laner JackeyLove has been one of the best in his role in recent years, shedding his ‘inconsistent’ tag that followed him after his 2018 Worlds win with Invictus Gaming did not lead to an immediate stacking of titles.
- Karmine Corp are the most surprising entrant, that stunned the LEC by beating then six-time back-to-back winners G2. Their title signals a new age in the LEC with elite young talent like mid laner Vladi and bot laner Caliste giving the team a platform for sustained silverware.
- Team Liquid was hailed as one of the world’s best macro teams last year, however their individual skill does not match up to that seen on Korean and Chinese sides, halting their Worlds run last year. The roster has stayed together for 2025 and has hit the ground running regionally by winning the inaugural LTA.
- CTBC Flying Oyster became inaugural champions of a new league by winning the first-ever LCP; a combination of the PCS, VCS, and LJL. They beat a number of internationally-recognisable sides on their LCP run, including GAM, Vikings, and TALON.
Credit: Riot Games
My First Stand 2025 Predictions
A limited number of teams should, in theory, make predictions somewhat straightforward with regional strength providing clear favourites in most matchups.
First Stand Winner Prediction – Hanwha Life Esports
When it comes to choosing the overall winner, Hanwha Life and Top are the more realistic choices. No international tournament has been won by a non-Korean or Chinese team since G2’s MSI triumph in 2019, and that pattern is unlikely to end any time soon.
It’s difficult to gauge the difference between HLE and TES before matches have been played as a lack of inter-region competition so far in the season makes it tricky to figure out any difference in strength between Korea and China.
That said, I’d currently give the edge to Hanwha Life who — in my opinion — have the better stars of the two teams.
Image credit: Riot Games
First Stand Finalists – Hanwha Life Esports and Top Esports
Given that they’re representing the two strongest regions, it only makes sense that HLE and TES will be the two eventual finalists. The only way I see this not being the case would be if the pair were to be drawn together in the semi-finals, after which the single-elimination nature of the Knockouts would ensure that one of them drops out early.
First Stand Team to Be Eliminated in Groups – CTBC Flying Oyster
This one is a little trickier, as really any of CFO, TL, or KC could very well become the fifth-placed side with a poor Groups showing. EMEA has proven to be the stronger of these three regions in the past, while TL’s existing synergies have allowed them to find strength early in the season. I wouldn’t be surprised to see CFO make it to the Knockouts at the expense of either of the other two, however, having to pick one, they’d be my most likely to face early elimination.
I recommend you check out the betting odds for First Stand before we get into this next segment.
First Stand Groups Predictions
With the Group stage matches already drawn, we’re able to give some early predictions for the results of each of the first five days of the tournament.
- Day 1 – Monday, March 10th
- TL vs KC – KC 2-1 win
- HLE vs TES – HLE 2-1 win
- Day 2 – Tuesday, March 11th
- CFO vs KC – KC 2-0 win
- TL vs TES – TES 2-0 win
- Day 3 – Wednesday, March 12th
- CFO vs HLE – HLE 2-0 win
- KC vs TES – TES 2-1 win
- Day 4 – Thursday, March 13th
- TL vs CFO – TL 2-1 win
- KC vs HLE – HLE 2-0 win
- Day 5 – Friday, March 14th
- CFO vs TES – TES 2-0 win
- TL vs HLE – HLE 2-1 win
Where to watch LoL First Stand?
Like other international competitions, First Stand will be streamed live through LoLEsports official channels, covering a range of platforms including Twitch and YouTube.
Becoming an increasingly more popular way to watch broadcasts, co-streams will also be available to watch. Co-streamers with rights to show First Stand live include Caedrel, Doublelift, IWDominate, Jankos, Baiano, and Kameto. You can check our First Stand tickets guide as well.
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