League of Legends 2019: What to expect with the start of the LCK

With the LCK finally starting tomorrow, on the 16th of January 2019, what does the upcoming competitive schedule look like and what should you expect from the upcoming split? Who will be shout-casting the games and what is the format of the whole LCK 2019 Spring Tournament? Keep reading to find out!

What is the LCK format?

There are ten teams participating in the LCK and each play two matches every week. Each match is a best of three, meaning there is a maximum of 6 games to watch a day, as there are two matches a day. The first match of each day will start at 5:00PM KST and the second will start at 8:00PM KST.

The games will be broadcasted every Wednesday through to Sunday, while Monday and Tuesdays are free days with no matches. At the end of the regular season, the top five teams will qualify for playoffs. The regular season winner will automatically receive a bye to the finals while second and third will receive byes to Round 3 and Round 2 respectively. As the LCK still has a relegation system in place, the bottom two teams of the regular season will have to compete in the promotion series.

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First Week Matches

In the first week of play, each team will be competing twice with the first match of the season being the newly rebuilt SKT versus Jin Air Green Wings. Big names such as Griffin, Gen.G, and Kingzone will be playing on the weekend (19th and 20th) so make sure to tune in for those hype matches!

Who’s casting?

As the western viewership for the LCK is unfortunately relatively small compared to NA LCS and LEC, there are only a few active shout casters working on the English broadcast. Currently, Christopher “Papasmithy” Smith is the only active color-caster for the LCK while Brendan “Valdes” Valdes is the play-by-play commentator.

These two casters, especially Papasmithy, are known to bring excitement and hype to the LCK, while also providing some in-game insight on Korean gameplay and the LCK teams and players themselves. With these two building even more synergy together in the upcoming split, and the unconventional team plays from the new generation LCK teams, 2019 is sure to be one of the most fun years to watch for the LCK.

Where can you watch?

All games will be streamed live on Twitch and YouTube and VODS will be uploaded following each match on YouTube at LoL Esports as well. These broadcasts will be in English so you don’t have to worry about the language barrier when watching the LCK!

Be sure to tune in from the links above to watch the 2019 LCK Spring Split tomorrow! What are your most hyped matches you’re looking forward to watching? Let us know down in the comment section below!