The 'First Stand Tournament' (FST), which concluded with its final on March 22, gave us a proper shock. The LCK representatives, Gen.G and BNK FearX, were dismantled by European powerhouse G2, failing to even reach the final. Consequently, the championship bout boiled down to a clash between China's LPL Bilibili Gaming and EMEA LEC's G2. It is the first time in three years that an international League of Legends final has been held without an LCK team in sight.

The FST final ended with a victory for Bilibili Gaming. Chen 'Bin' Ze-bin, who was in peak form throughout the tournament, dominated the top lane once again to control the tempo. This performance secured the team their first-ever international trophy. Furthermore, this victory grants the LPL the privilege of sending their second-seed team directly to the bracket stage for the upcoming Mid-Season Invitational (MSI).

While it is a bitter pill to swallow for LCK fans to see them miss the final, both the LPL and LEC were desperate for an international win. With the LPL suffering from the dissolution of major teams like RNG and internal match-fixing scandals, and the LEC facing league contraction due to financial woes, both regions were looking quite bleak. Seeing these regions find a spark of resurgence through this FST is, in the grander scheme of things, a positive development for the League of Legends esports ecosystem.