The esports world just witnessed its new top match of 2025 in terms of viewership. The intense showdown between T1 and Hanwha Life Esports (HLE) in the LCK Cup elimination series peaked at over 1.9 million viewers, making it the most-watched match of the year across all games.

The stars aligned for maximum entertainment

This record-breaking viewership milestone dethrones the previous leader, the IEM Katowice 2025 Grand Final between Team Spirit and Team Vitality, which took place just last Sunday. While CS:GO fans were treated to an electrifying finale at Katowice, the LCK Cup’s Fearless Draft format and elimination pressure brought even greater engagement to the League of Legends scene.

Although the LCK Cup format has faced heavy criticism, it delivered an intense BO5 today that went the full distance between T1, the reigning world champions and LCK’s biggest fanbase, and HLE, the reigning LCK champions who swapped toplaners—Choi "Zeus" Woo-je and Choi "Doran" Hyeon-joon—during the offseason. This marked their first meeting of the year, setting the perfect stage for 2025’s storylines to unfold. HLE emerged victorious in five games, eliminating T1 in a fearless draft format that featured no fewer than 50 different champions, making the series more entertaining than ever.