Featuring 10 LCK squads, as well as teams from overseas, including North American teams Team Liquid and Cloud9, the 2025 KeSPA Cup was more competitive than ever.
Many Korean players were looking to showcase their worth ahead of the new season, with the cup also opening up the opportunity to get selected for the 2026 Nagoya Asian Games.
Esports Insider looks at some of the key takeaways from the KeSPA Cup 2025 as the 2026 LCK season gets closer and closer.
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T1 Is Still T1
Despite falling to the lower bracket of the Knockout stage after losing to Hanwha Life Esports (HLE), T1 still managed to prove why it is the best team in the world.
The 2025 world champion was able to crawl its way back to the final after a full best-of-five series against Dplus KIA. Following that, the team defeated Hanwha Life Esports in the grand final rematch, adding yet another trophy to its tally.
The team already looks in strong form despite the recent roster change, with ADC Kim ‘Peyz‘ Su-hwan replacing Lee ‘Gumayusi‘ Min-hyeong. The former JD Gaming ADC stood out particularly at this tournament, picking up a pentakill and two additional quadrakills.
The LCK Could Be Much More Competitive
Although T1 came out on top, the KeSPA Cup offered a satisfying first taste of what the LCK could look like in 2026. More importantly, it showed that the season could be much more contested, with fewer clear gaps between the top teams and, potentially, the mid-pack of the league.
Hanwha Life Esports looked like the strongest team of the tournament at times. Even Dplus KIA, which struggled to keep up with the top squads in 2025, was able to push T1 with its new ADC — and former T1 Academy player — Shin ‘Smash‘ Geum-jae. Other teams, such as DN Freecs and Nongshim RedForce, could also unsettle the top teams if its rosters are able to raise the bar a little more.
2026 Will Be the Year of ADCs?
While the KeSPA Cup’s gameplay is not as polished as it was at the world championship, several ADC players shone at the tournament.
Aside from the previously mentioned Peyz and Smash, HLE’s new marksman Gumayusi and DN Freecs Challengers ADC Kwak ‘Enosh‘ Kyu-jun also picked up pentakills at the tournament and had outstanding performances in some of the games.
With the upcoming new season changes further increasing an ADC’s agency in the game, 2026 could be the year of marksmen players.
The LCS Teams Still Have a Lot To Catch Up On
Cloud9 and Team Liquid, the two invited LCS squads, came to the tournament to test its level against the Korean squads. Both teams made roster moves during the offseason, and it was a golden opportunity to test out the new dynamics.
Once again, however, the KeSPA Cup showed the gap between the Eastern and Western teams. Team Liquid was knocked out in the group stage after losing to both Nongshim RedForce and T1. C9 faired a bit better and got through groups, although it was knocked out by Nongshim RedForce in the Last Chance Qualifier.
Whilst a great opportunity for both organisations, the tournament did highlight that there is a lot to work on if LCS teams want to fight for international success.
More Exclusive Livestream Broadcaster Tournaments?
The KeSPA Cup saw Disney+ act as an exclusive livestream broadcaster for the competition, making this one of the first major signals that exclusive streaming rights could become a bigger battleground for tournaments outside of the usual Twitch and YouTube ecosystem.
This could be particularly more prominent in South Korea, where Twitch is not available. Meanwhile, streaming platforms such as SOOP and CHZZK are heavily competing with one another.
Crucially, this shift is taking place at a time when an increasing number of off-season events are no longer being directly operated by Riot Games itself. The KeSPA Cup’s Disney+ deal may therefore be less of a one-off and more of an early indicator of how future tournaments and off-season events could be managed, both competitively and commercially, going forward.
Source: https://esportsinsider.com/
