The first international tournament of the 2025 League of Legends season has come to a close, as the First Stand Tournament wrapped up last night and saw the Winter Season champions from around the world facing off for a slice of a $1 million prize pool.
The finale saw Korea’s Hanwha Life Esports taking on EMEA’s Karmine Corp, with this match being somewhat competitive but ultimately controlled by the LCK representative. This means that following a 3-1 result, Hanwha Life has been dubbed the first-ever First Stand Tournament victor, and is heading home with $300,000 in prize money.
It should be said that even though Karmine Corp made it to the final, the team did struggle and posted a 1-3 record in the group stage, the same as China’s Top Esports and North America’s Team Liquid, the latter of whom was eliminated before the playoffs for having the worst map differential record.
As for what’s next for competitive League of Legends, the Spring Season will kick off soon, with the LEC returning before the end of the month.