No T1, No Viewers: LCK Cup Finals View Count Plummets by Half a Million

The LCK Cup came to a dramatic finish last Sunday as Hanwha Life Esports lifted the trophy over Gen.G in a thrilling Grand Finals, effectively sending HLE to First Stand.

Despite the high stakes, the series going to a game 5, or the fact that Hanwha Life and Gen.G have some of the best League of Legends players on the planet, the Grand Finals of the LCK Cup fell well short of T1's match in the first round of the playoffs in terms of viewership, and for good reason.

T1 vs Zeus: Grudge match of the season

Choi "Zeus" Woo-je's decision to leave the very teammates with which he had just won back-to-back World Championships during the latest off season was quick to spark controversy. Could the move, unexpected as it was, prove to have been the right one in the end?

Hanwha Life did end up winning LCK Cup after all. The real show, however, did not come in the Finals. T1 and HLE faced off in the very first round of playoffs, delivering a series that no one dared miss.

After a thrilling match that went distance as the teams went toe to toe, Hanwha Life, and more importantly Zeus, ended up eliminating Faker and T1 from the LCK Cup. In what was nothing short of heartbreaking for the team, the loss meant that T1, as well as the greatest player in League of Legends history, were forced to miss an international tournament for the first time in four years. And it all came at the hands of a former friend and ally.

Zeus was forced to eliminate T1 from First Stand contention just three months after winning Worlds 2024 with the team. (Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)

Despite the overwhelming dramatic weight behind the match, the match's peak viewership of 1.9 million is still surprising. This is especially true when taking into account that T1 vs Hanwha Life surpassed the LCK Cup Grand Finals in terms of viewership by a whopping half a million viewers. T1, it appears, continue to dominate the LCK even after being eliminated from the tournament.

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Featured image source: LCK

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