Korean League of Legends season approaches

Gen.G tipped as the team to beat in South Korea’s premier LoL competition

South Korea's professional LoL circuit is set to return in April, kicking off a nine-week regular season while continuing the sweeping format changes introduced last year.

The League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) stands as one of five major regional competitions on the global stage, alongside China's League of Legends Pro League (LPL) and North America's League of Legends Champion Series (LCS). Widely regarded as one of the most premier leagues in the scene, the LCK holds the record for producing 10 of the 14 LoL World Championship winners as of 2026.

The gaming format for the league underwent a significant structural overhaul in 2025, transitioning to a single continuous season in place of the traditional spring and summer splits. It also introduced the LCK Cup for the first time, a short-format opening tournament staged ahead of regular season play.

This year's competition will carry on under that same revised structure, featuring 10 teams including LoL powerhouses Gen.G and T1.

At a media event held in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on Thursday, 9 of the 10 participating teams identified Gen.G as the most likely champion, the winner of last year's LCK league games.

The defending titleholder has built a formidable track record in recent years, winning four consecutive titles from the summer split of 2022 through the spring split of 2024. Although the team briefly relinquished the crown to Hanwha Life Esports during the summer split of 2024, it reclaimed the top spot in 2025 under the unified single-season format.

Asked to explain their picks, rival teams pointed to Gen.G's consistency across the board, highlighting the uniform high level of all five players.

Nongshim RedForce head coach Choi In-kyu said, “Gen.G has shown very few weaknesses,” while KT Rolster head coach Go Dong-bin echoed the sentiment, describing them as “the team that makes the fewest mistakes.”

Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok (right) speaks during a media event held in Seoul, Thursday. (Yonhap)

Meanwhile, as the Korean LoL season approaches, attention was also focused on changes within T1, one of the league's most storied teams, led by the legendary Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok.

Questions were asked about how the team will perform following a major leadership shift. Head coach Kim Jeong-gyun, who had led the team since 2023 and guided it to multiple World Championship titles, stepped away in March for personal reasons after expressing a desire to rest. The organization has since appointed Lim Jae-hyun as interim head coach.

Team captain Lee, more popularly known by his gaming moniker "Faker," addressed the change directly. He acknowledged uncertainty over whether Kim would return but emphasized that the remaining players and staff would do their best to deliver strong performances.

"Winning the regular season is a goal the team is eager to pursue," he added.

The 2026 LCK regular season will open on April 1 at the LCK Arena in Seoul, with the first match of the year between Hanwha Life Esports and OKSavingsBank Brion. Matches will run Wednesday through Sunday each week, with two series per day, and will be streamed live on platforms including Chzzk and Soop.