League of Legends First Stand 2025: Everything You Need to Know
The inaugural First Stand tournament is set to launch the 2025 League of Legends global competition schedule. This new week-long event will bring together champions from the five major regional leagues to compete for prestige, prize money, and important seeding advantages for the upcoming Mid-Season Invitational (MSI).
Event Details
Location: LoL Park in Seoul, South Korea
Dates: March 10-16, 2025
Prize Pool: $1 million total, with $300,000 going to the champion
Participating Teams
The tournament will feature regional champions from across the globe:
- Hanwha Life Esports (LCK Cup 2025 winner)
- Top Esports (LPL Split 1 2025 winner)
- Karmine Corp (LEC Winter 2025 winner)
- Team Liquid (LTA Cross-Conference champion)
- CTBC Flying Oyster (LCP Split 1 2025 winner)
Notable in their absence are the two-time defending world champions T1, who had a slower start to their 2025 campaign, allowing Hanwha Life Esports to secure Korea’s representative spot.
Tournament Format
The competition will begin with a five-day Round Robin Stage (March 10-14) featuring best-of-three matches between all participating teams. The top four teams will advance to the Knockout Stage, which follows a single-elimination bracket with best-of-five series on March 15-16.
First Stand will introduce the innovative Fearless Draft system, where champions can only be selected once per series, forcing teams to demonstrate greater champion diversity and strategic flexibility.
Viewing Options
Fans can watch the tournament through multiple official channels:
- LoL Esports website (lolesports.com)
- Official English broadcasts on Twitch and YouTube
- Regional language streams in Korean, French, Spanish, and Vietnamese
- Authorized co-streams from popular content creators like Caedrel and IWDominate
Viewers watching through official channels can earn rewards including esports capsules and emotes through the Drops system.
Tournament Stakes
Beyond the substantial prize pool, the First Stand carries additional competitive significance. The winning region will earn an additional bye into the bracket stage of MSI 2025, which will be held in Vancouver, Canada.
While T1’s absence may impact Korean viewership figures, Karmine Corp’s participation is expected to drive strong French audience numbers, given the team’s popularity and co-ownership by prominent French streamer Kamet0.
As the first international League of Legends competition of 2025, the First Stand tournament aims to establish itself as a meaningful addition to the global LoL esports calendar.