Refer Report
‘2024 LoL KeSPA CUP’, Korea’s only League of Legends (LoL) short-term cup competition, opens today (30th) with a match between DRX and BNK PeerX. The 2024 LoL KeSPA CUP, hosted by the Korea e-Sports Association (KeSPA), has been designated as a national team selection index review competition starting this year, and competition data will be used to select national team players. The association stated the reason for the designation, saying, “We want to proactively respond to the gradually expanding number of national team participation competitions and contribute to the fair selection of the national team.” The Vietnamese All-Star team and the Chinese Taipei All-Star team are also participating in this competition, attracting attention.
Unlike before, this tournament will feature many first-team players active in LCK, the domestic LoL e-sports professional league. Representatively, in Gen.G e-Sports, all four main players except ‘Ruler’ Jae-hyuk Park will participate, including Kim ‘Giin’ Ki-in, Kim ‘Canyon’ Geon-bu, ‘Chovy’ Jeong Ji-hoon, and ‘Duro’ Joo Min-gyu. In addition, ‘Owner’ Hyun-jun Moon, ‘Kumayushi’ Min-hyeong (T1), ‘Jeka’ Kim Geon-woo, ‘Viper’ Do-hyeon Park, ‘Delight’ Hwan-jung Yoo (Hanwha Life Esports), ‘Showmaker’ Su Heo, ‘Lucid’ Yong-hyeok Choi, ‘A. ‘Ming’ Kim Ha-ram, ‘Beryl’ Jo Geon-hee (D Plus Kia), ‘Kingen’ Hwang Seong-hoon, ‘Lehends’ Son Si-woo (Nongshim Red Force), etc. Many well-known players were listed on the list.
As first- and second-team players compete, fans’ attention is focused on whether a ‘second-team supernova’ will emerge. Although the LCK is operated with an integrated roster with the second division league, the LCK CL (Challengers League), most teams have often operated separate first and second divisions. From the perspective of second-team players, a stage has been set for them to prove their skills against first-team players.
The competition will begin with the opening match at 1pm on the 30th, and the group stage will be held for 4 days. Group A features ▲OK Savings Bank Brion ▲DRX ▲BNK PeerX ▲Guangdong Freecs ▲KT Rolster ▲Chinese Taipei All-Stars, while Group B features ▲D Plus Kia ▲Gen.G ▲Hanwha Life Esports ▲Nongshim Red Force ▲T1 ▲Vietnam All-Stars play every other day. The group preliminaries will be held in a single-game format, and the top four teams from each group will advance to the finals.
A total of eight teams will advance to the top Swiss/Inter stage, which will be held from the 4th of next month. The opponent is determined according to the group league rankings, and the team that wins the match between first place will advance directly to the semifinals, and the team that loses the match between fourth place will be eliminated. After four matches are played, the teams that advance to the semifinals will be finalized. The semifinals and finals will be held at V Space in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 7th and 8th of next month. The winning team will be awarded a trophy and a prize of 40 million won. The total prize money is 80 million won.
Casters Jeon Yong-jun, Kim “Dangun” Eui-jung, Shim Ji-soo, and Lee Seong-hoon will participate as broadcasters, while commentary will include Jeong “Nope” No-cheol, “Kkokogot” Go Soo-jin, “Pony” Ju-wan Lim, “Lindarang” Heo Man-heung, “Lila” Tae-yu Nam, ‘Nuclear’ Shin Jeong-hyeon will be interviewed, and announcer Yoon Soo-bin will be the interviewer.
The Korean broadcast of this competition will be broadcast exclusively on Naver Chijijik. All matches can be viewed through official broadcasting and streamer co-streaming through Naver Czizyk’s LCK and KeSPA official channels. The English broadcast will be conducted on Naver Chizik’s KeSPA English channel (KeSPAen) and the Korea e-Sports Association YouTube channel.
Reporter Juhyun Lee 2JuHyun@hankyung.com
Source: Korean