Hanwha Life Esports and FEARX will face off on the final day of the LCK 2025 rounds 1-2 tournament, and while HLE is already qualified for the Road to MSI playoff, winning would give FEARX fresh confidence the team critically needs.
The ongoing LEC second round is nearing its conclusion with the last week about to wrap up. Teams like Gen.G and Hanwha Life Esports have established themselves as the strongest in the tournament and were rewarded with a spot in the Road to MSI tournament’s upper bracket, but the nine weeks also made it clear which teams are the weak links.
FEARX may have performed better than teams like bottom-dwelling Freecs, but it still fell short and found itself in the league’s bottom four. Now, HLE and FEARX will battle it out on round 2’s last day, and the overwhelming odds are in HLE’s favor.
Hanwha Life Esports continues to impress fans with its performance. Coming off a trophy win in the First Stand tournament, the team may have stumbled a couple of times in the ongoing LCK split but still managed to finish ranked second, beating out T1 by a close margin.
HLE may have some of the most individually skilled players of any Korean League of Legends team, with Zeus, Zeka, and Viper being the standout stars. While Peanut occasionally leaves room for improvement, the jungler is consistent enough to rely on, especially against a team like FEARX.
Speaking of FEARX, the squad hasn’t been able to recapture the flashes it showcased against T1 in the current LCK’s third week. FEARX was on a losing streak of five consecutive matches until it eventually won against Freecs, which had only one win in the entire split. Diable and Clear have potential, but the players lack patience and synergy, and sometimes go all in when they don’t have a reason to. While this sometimes works out in their favor, repeating this plan against an experienced team like HLE would be an easy way for FEARX to lose.
Below are the roles and rosters for both teams.
Hanwha Life Esports:
FEARX:
Hanwha Life Esports is guaranteed a spot in Road to MSI and is facing a team that failed to achieve just that. It wouldn’t be a stretch to assume HLE may go for some experimental picks against FEARX instead of its usual champions, which include Jayce, Xin Zhao, Sylas, and Renata Glasc.
FEARX saw its biggest win against T1 in the ongoing split, so it may be safe to assume the team will want to go for the same picks that helped FEARX do that. These picks include Jayce, Skarner, Ryze, Miss Fortune, Rell, Sion, Virgo, Ahri, Zeri, Naafiri, and Alistar.
Hanwha Life Esports had a poor week eight, but the side came back stronger in week nine and won against T1 with a convincing score of 2-0.
While FEARX is also coming off a win, it was against last-place Freecs. Before that, the team was going on a painful losing streak against multiple teams.
FEARX and HLE have met on the big stage five times, and Hanwha Life Esports emerged the victor each and every time. FEARX has only won one game won against HLE, and no matches won.
It’s no surprise that Hanwha Life Esports is the clear favorite to win the match with a betting line of 1.08. By contrast, FEARX has a line of 7.50.
While FEARX won against T1 in this split, in retrospect that had more to do with T1 not performing as well as it should have at the time, rather than FEARX playing exceptionally well. T1 went on to defeat FEARX with a 2-0 score in a rematch in this same split.
FEARX tends to rely a lot on its top laner Clear, but he may not be able to stack up against the more experienced Zeus, especially when considering that Peanut has played consistently better than Raptor and could influence the battle from the jungle.
HLE primarily shines in team fights, which works out in its favor since FEARX tends to take unnecessarily risky fights, especially for objectives like Dragons and the Baron. Much of the match will likely be determined by the top and bottom lanes. FEARX’s VicLa has a rather passive playing style that may further allow HLE to build an early lead it can carry through to the late-game stages. Based on pure individual skill, HLE may have an overwhelming advantage over FEARX.
Do you think you know which team to side with? Then place your bet now!
21+ and present in VA. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
