Hanwha Life Esports are the First Stand champions after defeating Karmine Corp 3-1 in the final, securing the organization’s first-ever international title. A well-controlled final caps off a flawless run throughout the week, as they remained undefeated in every BO of the competition. After winning LCK Summer 2024 and the LCK Cup earlier in 2025, HLE have been tasting nothing but victory for a while now. With a pleasant League of Legends to watch, they are undoubtedly the best team in the world right now and are already the only team in contention for the potential "Golden Road" this year. Kim "Zeka" Geon-woo has been crowned as the First Stand Grand Finals MVP.

Logic prevailed, but hope remains

Karmine Corp's players walk away with their heads held high. After a rough start with losses to Team Liquid and CTBC Flying Oyster, they managed to bounce back by taking down Top Esports and barely securing a spot in the playoffs. Following an intense semifinal against CFO, they reached the final against HLE, marking the first time a Western team has made it to an international final since G2 Esports at Worlds 2019.

Karmine Corp took Game 1 after a close early game and a gold lead that kept shifting between both teams. They managed to find repeated picks on HLE’s players, and after 36 minutes of a chaotic game, the Blue Wall took down the nexus of the LCK Cup champions. HLE dominated the second game with an 11-2 scoreline and a well-executed draft, featuring Han "Peanut" Wang-ho on Skarner and Zeka on Aurora. The Korean squad dismantled the Blue Wall, tying up the series in this BO5.

Game 3 was a bloodbath, with around 40 kills in total and a high-paced tempo set by HLE. Yoo "Delight" Hwan-joong even expanded his champion pool for the year by picking Sett support. Zeka’s Sylas was unstoppable, while Peanut’s Xin Zhao was everywhere on the map, relentlessly hunting down KC and pushing them back to their base, securing HLE’s first match point.

The final game of the series was unfortunately decided in the very first minute. A questionable bush face check from Caliste "Caliste" Henry-Hennebert handed HLE two free kills on Draven and Martin "Yike" Sundelin's Pantheon, it was one of the biggest stomps of the tournament. Delight locked in his 20th different champion of the season with Gragas, while Choi "Zeus" Woo-je’s Camille completely took over the game. HLE closed out Game 4 and lifted the trophy, the first international trophy in HLE's history.

HLE are undeniably the most dominant team in the world right now, and they proved it at First Stand, dropping only two nexus and never losing a single BO5. For Karmine Corp, this tournament was a true baptism by fire. Despite a rough start, they managed to bounce back and put Europe back in the spotlight on the international stage. The whole World has now its eyes on the next international event this year, MSI 2025 which will be played in Canada.