League of Legends Esports has introduced the First Stand Tournament (FST), a new early-season international tournament to kick off the season with high stakes and fierce competition.
FST will have three stages: Round Robin Stage (March 10 to 14), Knockout Stage (March 15), and Finals Knockout Stage (March 16).
The Round Robin Stage is a best-of-three between all five teams. The top four will move to the best-of-five Knockout Stage that’s seeded and single-elimination. First place will face fourth place while second and third place go against each other to start.
There will be five teams there. Each region will send its top team (China/LPL, Korea/LCK, Europe/LEC, Americas/LTA, APAC/LCP). Not every region has a team decided yet — as regions are wrapping up their first tournaments of the season, the competitors will be set in stone.
So far, these are the teams competing:
- LCK: Manwha Life Esports
- LTA: Team Liquid Honda
- LCP: CTBC Flying Oyster
- LPL: qualifies March 1
- LEC: qualifies March 2
Riot Games Esports claims that the FST will be a stage for teams to show off in their own way, including creativity and strategy. Part of what helps this is the Fearless Ban system. During the FST, this will be combined with the Standard ban system. This has the potential to see 50 bans in just one game:
- Game One: 10 Standard Bans
- Game Two: 20 total bans, 10 Standard Bans and 10 Fearless Draft Bans
- Game Three: 30 total bans, 10 Standard Bans and 20 Fearless Draft Bans
- Game Four: 40 total bans, 10 Standard Bans and 30 Fearless Draft Bans
- Game Five: 50 total bans, 10 Standard Bans and 40 Fearless Draft Bans
The First Stand Tournament will take place in Seoul, Korea at the League of Legends Park from March 10 to March 16. This will be a live event that pulls in teams from around the world.
Fans can tune in to the games on the official League of Legends Esports page. There, they can log in and earn Drops throughout the event. These rewards have the chance to be pretty lucrative — for every Pentakill, Baron steal, and five-game matches on the Knockout Stage, viewers will get a 2025 Esports Capsule.
Plus, everyone who watches the Finals will get the First Stand Brand emote.
A new HUD will help fans see what’s going on at a look. A vertical scoreboard makes the score much clearer. Champion stats, like health, mana, and summoners will be pushed to the side to help fights be easier to see.
The League of Legends First Stand Tournament isn’t the only thing Riot is doing to bring in more viewers. The company is also trying to make the esport simpler to get into while also improving the accessibility of the esport. Part of this includes simplifying important information and letting fans into the ups and downs of each match.
Of course, in true League of Legends fashion, there’s merch for the First Stand Tournament. Apparel is available in NA/EU, Korea, and China.
Riot also released a First Stand Tournament 2025 format, which fans can view below:
For more League of Legends news, check out its inclusion in The Esports World Cup 2025, and the new LoL team from the Japanese esports organization Reject.
