The LCK is back with a thunder, following the victory at the First Stand tournament by HLE, many fans and analysts are excited to see how the region has adapted to Fearless Draft, as well as the meta.
With MSI 2025 on the horizon, all of the LCK teams are looking to secure a spot at the next international tournament and defeat some of the strongest teams in the world. With that being said, let's take a look at the HLE vs T1 match from the 2025 LCK Round 1-2.
Table of Contents
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2025 LCK Round 1-2 Format
With Fearless Draft still in play, pro players will need to constantly adapt to an ever-shifting meta and draft their way to victory. Thankfully, there will be no best-of-one (Bo1) matches for this split so all of the teams will be able to give it their all.
Format
- 10 teams participate
- Double Round Robin
- All matches are best of three (Bo3)
- Top six teams qualify for Road to MSI
- Based on this rounds' results teams will be seeded into Rounds 3-5
- Top five teams will start in the Legend Group
- Bottom five teams will start in the Rise Group
HLE vs T1 Game 1
HLE vs T1 Bans
| HLE | T1 |
Varus  |
 Gwen |
Xin Zhao  |
 Vi |
Azir  |
 Kalista |
Poppy  |
 Kai'Sa |
Ezreal  |
 Alistar |
HLE vs T1 Picks
| HLE | T1 |
Zeus  |
 Doran |
Peanut  |
 Oner |
Zeka  |
 Faker |
Viper  |
 Smash |
Delight  |
 Keria |
Winner: HLE
Although T1 started off the game quite strong with Oner's Naafiri grabbing some crucial kills, HLE was able to strike back and equalize the game state. Both teams went neck and neck, with HLE getting a slight gold lead over T1. However, most of the fights and skirmishes during the mid-to-late game went in HLE's favor with Peanut, and Viper leading the way to the first win in the series, going 1-0.
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T1 vs HLE Game 2
T1 vs HLE Bans
| T1 | HLE |
| Varus |
Gwen |
Skarner  |
Vi |
Taliyah  |
Azir |
Akali  |
Poppy |
Xayah  |
 Nocturne |
T1 vs HLE Picks
| T1 | HLE |
Doran  |
 Zeus |
Oner  |
Peanut |
Faker  |
 Zeka |
| Smash |
 Viper |
Keria  |
 Delight |
Winner: HLE
HLE was able to punish T1 in the early game and gained significant advantages from the lane priority of their solo lanes, making it very suffocating for the T1 roster to fight back. The nonstop aggression from HLE prevented T1 to stabilize and gather enough resources for a major team fight, and instead got picked off on side lanes, crumbling before the First Stand victors. With the massive 10K gold lead at the 24-minute mark, everything seemed lost for T1 as HLE picked up a clean 2-0.
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