Day one of First Stand is in the books after a slate of grudge matches, with NA taking on EU while HLE and TES competed in a battle of the giants. These games were not only pivotal to the teams’ chances in the tournament, but also for League of Legends regional pride.
Every win is vital in the first stage of First Stand with the teams playing only a single round robin, meaning the first win in the books will go a long way towards securing their ticket in the playoffs. Let’s take a look at some of the bigger takeaways from the first day of games at First Stand 2025
NA reigns supreme over Europe
“NA > EU” is becoming a more frequent term in the LoL esports world. Team Liquid continued that trend, as the team put on an impressive display to beat Western counterparts Karmine Corp 2-1 to kickstart their First Stand campaign. With KC slaughtering their domestic opponents, many had them as the favorites over the NA squad—but those hopes were ultimately misguided, as Liquid took care of business. While Yeon received player of the series, umTi and Corejj showed up big when their team needed them most. The pair were pulling the strings, especially in game one.
UmTi performed so well that multi-time LCK champion Peanut acknowledged it during his interview with Dot Esports. Outside of a G2 win at the controversial EWC over FlyQuest, NA has started to get the better of Europe at recent international events, whether directly or in overall tournament results, and now it’s likely Europe will have to wait until the Mid-Season Invitational to get its revenge.
An LCK stomp rounds out day one
After the battle of the Atlantic was over, fans were treated to a solid 2-0 win by Korea’s own Hanwha Life Esports. Playing on home soil, the LCK Cup champions showcased why they’re the tournament favorites, putting the brakes on any hope of a Top Esports victory.
In both games, there was a huge turning point that completely tilted the games in HLE’s favor, as the gold was dead even during the respective mid-games, both teams standing firm as it should be when the LCK and LPL face off.
But on both occasions, Hanwha Life aced Top Esports to secure Baron, and virtually ended both games with those fights. Delight had a field day in this series, first on Alistar, where the LCK champion went 0/1/15 making pick after pick, especially in the aforementioned fight that completely changed the game in HLE’s favor. In game two, he continued his momentum with a 1/0/15 performance on his best champion this year, Poppy, who he’s played six times so far in 2025, the most of any champion.
TES will have the chance to bounce back against Liquid when this group plays again, while KC is most likely looking at a must-win matchup against Taiwan’s CTBC Flying Oyster next.
Published: Mar 10, 2025 12:24 pm