LCK Sweeps 4-0 as Two Rounds Lock In Domestic Matchups; LPL Faces Elimination Pressure at Worlds

Korean teams start strong, Chinese teams stumble

All four LCK teams won their first-round matches. Gen.G beat Invictus Gaming (IG) after falling behind early, then came back with strong play from 'Canyon' Kim Geon-bu and 'Chovy' Jeong Ji-hoon. Hanwha Life Esports beat Top Esports (TES) easily. T1 beat LOS of Brazil with a dominant top side that did not die once. Dplus KIA (DK) came from behind in a close match with European team G2 Esports, winning a late team fight. The four LPL teams all lost: IG and TES to LCK teams, Anyone's Legend (AL) to Karmine Corp (KC), and Bilibili Gaming (BLG) to MOUZ KOI (MKOI).

Key facts

• LCK: 4 wins, 0 losses so far
• LPL: 0 wins, 4 losses so far
• Round 2 is a single match for each team, starting at 2 a.m. Korea time on the 25th
• The first-round matches were played on the 24th (Korea time) at the Allstate Credit Union Texas Event Center in Allen, Texas, USA

Round 2 pairings

The draw set up several matches between teams from the same region. In the 1-0 group, Dplus KIA will face T1, and Hanwha Life will face Gen.G, so these are two all-Korean matches. CTBC Flying Oyster (CFO) will face MKOI, and Lyon will face KC. In the 0-1 group, TES will face AL in an all-China match. IG will face Team Secret Whales (TSW), and BLG will face Team Liquid Alienware (TL). G2 will play LOS in a one-match final for its first win.

How the Swiss Stage works

In the Swiss Stage, teams play in rounds and are grouped by their win and loss records. Each match is one game, so a loss can be very costly. LCK teams will move to the 2-0 group or the 1-1 group. LPL teams that lose again may be knocked out early.

Why it matters

LCK is doing very well, and it is possible that two Korean teams will be in the same group after this round. For LPL, the situation is serious. At least one LPL team could lose two matches in a row and be eliminated early. This is a big moment for the whole Chinese region.