The 2025 First Stand Tournament was the first event of First Stand Tournament (FST) – a League of Legends tournament organized by publisher Riot Games at the conclusion of the first of three splits in the current competitive calendar of the game's professional esports scene. The inaugural tournament was held in South Korea from 10 to 16 March 2025.
Hanwha Life Esports of the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) won the tournament by defeating League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) representatives Karmine Corp with a score 3-1 in the final, marking the organization's first international title.
Qualification
Five teams from each of the five major professional regions, namely the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK), League of Legends Pro League (LPL), League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC), League of Legends Championship of The Americas (LTA), and the League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP), qualified through winning their respective splits.
Qualified teams
On 23 February 2025, Hanwha Life Esports of the LCK, CTBC Flying Oyster of the LCP, and Team Liquid of the LTA, all qualified on the same day after winning their respective splits. This was followed by Top Esports of the LPL, qualifying for the tournament on 1 March, with Karmine Corp of the LEC being the final team to advance to FST after winning the Winter Split over G2 Esports the day after, qualifying for a League of Legends international competition for the first time in the organization's history. Notably, this snaps G2 Esports' streak of qualifying for six consecutive international tournaments, dating back to the 2022 Mid-Season Invitational. Also, this has been the worst performance for LPL in cross-region tournaments.
Venue
The LoL Park in Seoul, which is the main studio of the LCK, was chosen to host the tournament's inaugural edition on 1 November 2024 during the media day for the 2024 League of Legends World Championship Final at The O2 Arena in London, United Kingdom.
Format
The tournament was the first international event to adapt the Fearless Draft format, where teams cannot pick a champion that they've already played in a series, even if the opposing team already picked that champion. The five qualified teams were placed in a single round-robin best of 3 group; teams could which side of Summoner's Rift they want to be on for two of their series, while their opposing teams had the choice during the other two series. The top four teams then advances to the knockout stage, which was a single-elimination best of 5 bracket. The winner of the Final is crowned FST champion and gives their region's two representatives automatic advancement or byes to the 2025 Mid-Season Invitational's Bracket Stage.
Group Stage
Tiebreakers
- Tiebreakers are based on the number of games won, but not necessarily series won.
- Karmine Corp was placed third by winning three games (1-2 vs Team Liquid; 2-0 vs Top Esports)
- Top Esports was placed fourth by winning two games (2-0) against Team Liquid.
- Team Liquid also won two games, but were eliminated due to three losses incurred (2-1 vs Karmine Corp, 0-2 vs Top Esports), and due to head-to-head matches against Top Esports and Karmine Corp.
Knockout Stage
- Date and time: 15–16 March, start time at 13:00 KST (UTC 9)
- All matches are best-of-five.
- The winning region will receive two automatic byes to the 2025 Mid-Season Invitational Bracket Stage
Semifinals
Final
Final standings
A base prize pool of US$1,000,000 was offered for the tournament.
Marketing
Slogan
The tournament's official slogan, Yours For the Taking, was unveiled on 9 January 2025 alongside a format explainer video on YouTube.
Sponsorship
Global Partners
Impact
Although Fearless Draft was initially intended for just the first split of the season and the First Stand Tournament, it was announced prior to the First Stand final on 16 March 2025 that it would be adopted for the rest of the 2025 competitive calendar, including the Mid-Season Invitational and World Championship.
References
