The LoL KeSPA Cup 2020 Ulsan was announced today with the list of participants, schedule and format.
LoL KeSPA Cup is an LCK preseason event for teams to start the next season off with before the Spring Split. This year’s LoL KeSPA Cup will be held in Ulsan but there are significant changes to the format. Here’s what we know of the details regarding the tournament.
Participants
In previous years, the KeSPA Cup usually had many teams from the LCK and the Challenger’s Series (CK). However this year, there will only be 10 participant all from the LCK. This is likely due to the new franchising of the LCK. The ten teams are as follows:
- DAMWON Gaming
- DRX
- Gen.G
- Afreeca Freecs
- T1
- KT Rolster
- SandBox Gaming
- Team Dynamics
- Hanwha Life Esports
- hyFresh Blade
These are the ten teams that will also be in LCK 2021. Most of the teams have fixed their roster but some of the teams do not have a full roster yet. We will put out an update when the rosters for all the teams have been confirmed.
Format
This year the format for the KeSPA Cup will be very different. The teams will be divided into two groups of five teams. Similar to international tournaments like Worlds or MSI, KeSPA cup will have a Group Stage. After that, they will have a Round of Six stage, followed by the Semifinals and Finals.
One thing to note is that the Group Stages will be held online, while the rest of the tournaments will be on stage.
Groups Stage
Group Stage will have two groups of five teams, Group A and Group B. The groups have not been announced yet and we will put up an article for it when it is finalized. The group stage will likely consist of a double round-robin much like international events.
From there, the first team in each group will qualify for the semifinals. However, the 4th and 5th teams of each group will be eliminated. The 2nd and 3rd placed team of each group will advance to the Round of 6.
Round of 6, Semifinals and Finals
In the Round of 6, the 2nd and 3rd placed teams of each group will play against each other. In the Semifinals, the winner of the 2nd vs 3rd placed teams in Group A will play against the 1st placed team in Group B.
Similarly, the 2nd vs 3rd placed teams of Group B will face against the 1st placed team of Group A. In the Finals, the winners of the Semifinals will face each other for the KeSPA Cup.
Schedule
Group Stages is set to start on December 21 and will continue till December 24th. Round of Six will be on December 25th and the Semifinals will be from December 26th-27th. Finally, the Finals of the KeSPA Cup will be on January 2nd.
In Conclusion
KeSPA Cup is the beginning of another season of League of Legends for Korea. It brings some excitement to build up to the LCK Spring Split in terms of expectations for each teams. With a more competitive format this time around, it should a be cracker to watch.
It is unclear as to the exact nature of the format given much of the details is still not available. Also, whether there will be English Casting or not is also an unknown.
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