Who’s making the first stand in League of Legends (LoL) esports this March 2025? The first major and international event in the LoL calendar, First Stand 2025 is setting the stage for a fresh and fierce esports competition. On March 15, 2025, four teams from different regions battled in the semifinal bracket, determining the ultimate contenders for the title. Let’s find out who made it through the First Stand 2025 Semifinals.

What is First Stand (FST) 2025?

After LoL’s 2024 season, they did an overall “revamp” of their previous esports roadmap. With these changes, they introduced the First Stand Tournament (FST) as the new major esports tournament in its calendar going forward. It joined the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) and LoL World Championship (Worlds) as international tournaments considered to honor the best of the best in competitive League of Legends.

First Stand 2025 is the inaugural FST, featuring only the top team per region for a total of five. It is held at the LoL Park in Seoul, South Korea running from March 10 to 16, 2025. Contenders will battle in two stages: Group and Knockout, both featuring the Fearless Draft rule. In Fearless Draft, a champion may only be picked once by either team during the whole series.

The Group Stage was in a Single Round-Robin format with best of three matches. At the end of the stage, one team was eliminated and four advanced toward the Knockout Stage. It’s in this stage that we finally got to the Single-Elimination format Semifinals this Saturday, March 15.

FST 2025 Semifinal Bracket

Team Liquid from the LTA (Americas) has said goodbye as the 5th placer after their elimination from the Group Stage. The FST 2025 Semifinal Bracket saw these four teams instead as they advanced:

  • LCK (South Korea) – Hanwha Life Esports (HLE)
  • LCP (Asia-Pacific) – CTBC Flying Oyster (CFO)
  • LEC (EMEA) – Karmine Corps (KC)
  • LPL (China) – Top Esports (TES)

In the Semifinals, teams played in best-of-five (Bo5) series to qualify for the Grand Finals on March 16. Here are the match-ups and schedule in the First Stand 2025 Semifinals:

  • KC vs. CFO – 1:00 PM KST (05:00 AM CET)
  • HLE vs. TES – 7:00 PM KST (11:00 AM CET)

Results of the First Stand 2025 Semifinals

KC vs. CFO

Result: KC wins 3-2

While they suffered a loss to CFO in the Group Stage, Karmine Corps got a satisfying revenge on their LCP opponents by winning 3-2 in their Semifinal match. The team opened the series with two dominant wins, later balanced by CFO’s surprising comeback that brought them to Silver Scrapes. However, KC proved that they deserved to go to the FST 2025 Finals, closing the Bo5 with their final and decisive victory.

Meanwhile, CFO who entered the tournament as an underdog, got to make a statement at the First Stand 2025 Semifinals. Their impressive Group Stage run and defiant performance in the Semifinals has brought attention to not only their own potential, but that of LCP as a region.

HLE vs. TES

Result: HLE wins 3-0

While KC vs. CFO had its exciting back-and-forth, it was not the case for the second Final Stand 2025 Semifinals match. Hanwha was simply relentless in their series against TES. Emerging as champions in the LCK Cup 2025, they ran through the FST 2025 Group Stage with a perfect 4-0 record, proving that they are the team to beat. Then, they followed it up with another clean sweep, beating TES 3-0 in the Semifinals. 

TES had their chances to turn the game around at some points across the best-of-five. There were also moments when it seemed like they could steer massive teamfights into their favor. However, HLE was blocking off every path to a possible comeback, ensuring win after win after win.

Conclusion

HLE will now face KC in the First Stand 2025 Finals on Sunday, March 16 at 5:00 PM KST (9:00 AM CET). This ultimate Bo5 showdown will decide who gets the championship title for the inaugural First Stand Tournament. Whoever wins will secure a second guaranteed spot to their region at the MSI 2025 Bracket Stage, shaping the future of international LoL esports this year.

What do you think about the First Stand 2025 Semifinals results? Competitive League of Legends have surely become more interesting with this additional tournament. After an exciting week of FST 2025, we’ll be tuning in to the start of regional regular seasons promising even more action.