A new year of League of Legends Esports is on the horizon and things are looking even more exciting than before. With drastic changes to competitive seasons to even a brand-new tournament to accommodate the new 3-split system, Riot Games is trying to push onto the scene both for Esports and casual League of Legends.
Having that in mind, we will take a look at everything you need to know about the upcoming First Stand tournament in 2025 which will take place in Seoul, South Korea.
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League of Legends First Stand Format
For the first time ever, this major international tournament will feature a Fearless Draft. Basically, once a champion is picked or banned in a best-of-match, you can no longer play it in subsequent games. That means after game 2, a total of 20 champions will be unavailable to both teams so that means that by game 5, we can expect a total of 50 champions to be banned from the series.
This will force teams to adapt and use different strategies by either locking in unusual champions or downright inventing a new meta on the spot. FST will consist of three separate stages- Round Robin, Knockouts, and the Grand Final.
Round Robin (March 10-14, 2025)
Best-of-three (Bo3) stage where each team will play once against all other teams. Each team will have the option to select either Blue or Red side for their first two matches, and then they will be randomly picked for their other two matches. At the end of the Round Robin, the last team standing will be eliminated from the tournament.
Knockouts (March 15, 2025)
The remaining 4 teams will fight in a single elimination best-of-five (Bo5) match with the 1st seed fighting the 4th seed, and the 2nd seed fighting the 3rd seed.
Grand Final (March 16, 2025)
The remaining two teams will compete in a Bo5 and the winner will be crowned the first-ever First Stand Tournament Champion. The winning team will also secure a second spot for their respective for MSI 2025, bypassing Play-Ins and advancing directly to the Bracket Stage.
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First Stand Competing Regions
The First Stand tournament will feature the winners of the Winter Split from the LCK, LPL, LCP, LTA, and LEC. Given the new format, we can expect some incredible upsets and plays, given how versatile the LEC and LTA have shown to be in the past years.
Despite the rather silly format, the stakes are high as winning this tournament will automatically qualify you for the next major international event- the Mid-Season Invitational. Regardless, we can expect a lot of fun League of Legends games, full of surprises and champions we might have never seen played competitively before. You can also check out the official video from Riot Games, here:
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