It is the time of year when the top League of Legends divisions get up and running again and, in South Korea, the domestic season has begun with the start of the LCK Cup.
The inaugural edition of the LCK Cup began in South Korea last Wednesday and continues with another full schedule of matches this week.
As teams try to adjust to new rosters and personnel changes, it is a key event for season preparation but there is also plenty up for grabs.
The winning team in this year's LCK Cup will secure passage directly to the First Stand 2025, an offline international event taking place in March which will make use of Fearless Draft.
There is still a long way to go before the winners of the LCK Cup are crowned, though, with the ten teams involved still competing in the group stage.
At the end of the group stage, which sees the teams divided into two sections of five, the group with more series wins will be named the 'Winners Group' and the other the 'Losers Group'.
The top three from the Winners Group advance to the playoffs, while the bottom two in that section and the top four in the Losers Group go into the play-in stage.
After the first week of matches, things are looking good for Group Elder with Gen.G and Dplus KIA having already secured two wins, while the other three sides in the section have 1-1 records.
As for Group Baron, BNK FEARX and OKSavingsBank BRION have work to do after back-to-back losses last week.
At such an early stage in the season, it is hard to read too much into team performances and prices can be a bit off, so bettors may want to take a chance on DRX to beat DN Freecs.
Both teams began the LCK Cup with one win and one defeat in week one but DRX are a bigger price in the betting and it is hard to determine why.
Kwangdong Freecs finished higher than DRX in the LCK 2024 Summer standings but a lot has changed since then with the Freecs now playing under a different title.
Indeed, DN Freecs lacked cohesion and communication was weak in their defeat to Dplus KIA in week one and if they perform similarly in this one, DRX could seize the initiative and win the match.
Gen.G remain one of the hottest teams on the LCK circuit and that is reflected in this week's match prices as they are -3300 to defeat OKSavingsBank BRION.
Gen.G topped the LCK Summer standings with 17 wins from 18 matches last year and they made the top four at the League of Legends World Championship.
They have started the LCK Cup with two wins from two matches and the way to back them against strugglers OKSavingsBank BRION is on the kill handicap.
Indeed, Gen.G Esports have racked up more kills per game (20.3) than any other team in the tournament, so they should dominate that metric in this contest.
Dubbed the 'Telecom Wars', T1 take on KT Rolster in week two of the LCK Cup and it should be an intriguing matchup.
T1 are naturally favourites at -225 after their opening two victories but it was not all plain sailing in their matches last time out and they are still adjusting to life with new top laner "Doran" in the team.
KT Rolster started this competition with a 1-1 record in week one but drafting issues cost them in their match against Hanwha Life Esports and if they are better equipped this time around, they can make this competitive.
T1 dropped two games in their two matches in week one and a 2-1 win for T1 is worth a bet at +220.
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Dplus KIA (-800) vs. BNK FearX (+450)
DN Freecs (-250) vs. DRX (+175)
OKSavingsBank BRION (+900) vs. Gen.G (-3300)
Hanwha Life (-1600) vs. Nongshim RedForce (+700)
DRX (+100) vs. BNK FearX (-138)
T1 (-225) vs. KT Rolster (+162)
This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.