{"id":14739,"date":"2026-03-16T13:13:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T13:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/?p=14739"},"modified":"2026-04-01T10:35:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T10:35:38","slug":"first-look-at-first-stand-lck-lcp-lpl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/first-look-at-first-stand-lck-lcp-lpl","title":{"rendered":"Tom Taylor: First Look at First Stand – LCK, LCP, LPL"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

With First Stand just around the corner this March, Thunderpick has all the info<\/a> you might need to get caught up with the teams competing at the first international tournament of the year as it starts in Sao Paulo. Part 1 of 2<\/a>, we’ll cover the teams that will be representing the star studded regions of Asia: the LCK (Korea), LCP (Asian Pacific Region aka APAC), and LPL (China). Let’s take a first look at the teams that might lift the trophy at First Stand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LCK: Korea’s Frontrunners<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The LCK <\/strong>is the strongest region in the whole of LOL Esports at the moment, and both of their contending teams could easily be considered favourites individually to win the entirety of First Stand 2026. Gen.G Esports<\/a> is the strongest team in the world today, and their unbeaten record across the highest rated region playing in First Stand leaves them with the highest expectations of any team in the tournament. Of note; Canyon is playing some of the best Jungle play of anywhere in the world across multiple metrics, and will likely be the engine powering the Gen.G war machine. The Church of Chovy are hoping to see the superstar Mid Laner take home the trophy and qualify Gen.G for their 3rd MSI in a row. The 2nd seed BNK FEARX aren\u2019t to be counted out just for finishing in 2nd place with their finals appearance coming off the back of defeating reigning world champions T1<\/a>. Their performance will help make certain whether it is that Gen.G are in a league of their own, or if the LCK has put the rest of the LOL Esports world on notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Gen.G
ft. LOL Esports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

LPL: China’s Top 2<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From the LPL <\/strong>are BLG and JDG who are both ranked in the top 10 teams of the LOL Esports power rankings. LPL champions BLG are contenders at this event thanks in many parts to the veteran experience from their Top Laner Bin, Mid Laner Knight and Bot Laner Viper. Between them is many years of domestic and international success, including in multiple regions in the case of Viper. The team\u2019s deep champion pool helped them progress down the LPL Playoffs bracket, including a region-first Anivia Support, and they\u2019re sure to have more exciting tools to bring with them to First Stand. Alongside them are JDG, and particularly Mid Laner hongQ who returns to First Stand after a top 4 finish in the 2025 event while playing for CTBC Flying Oyster from The LCP. With a veteran teammate and one of China\u2019s most decorated players in GALA, JDG stand to upset expectations placed upon them as second seed and assert the LPL\u2019s standing on the international stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bilibili
ft. LOL Esports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

LCP: The Number 1 from APAC<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Team Secret<\/a> Whales are the last team on the list today, but may end up being the most exciting team to watch at First Stand 2026. The LCP team play some of the most exciting and high tempo league of legends, and a number of these players are returning with something to prove on the international stage after first making an underwhelming showing at the 2025 World Championships. With some of the biggest players at First Stand 2026 being Junglers, Hizto is one of the most all-gas-no-breaks players in the tournament. Among champions like Jungle staples Vi, Xin Zhao and Patheon, Hizto is a fan of snowballing pressure building picks like Naafiri or Nocturne. The matchups in TSW\u2019s Group A include Junglers who were all in discussion for their home region\u2019s MVP<\/a> and the LCP\u2019s number 1 seed could very well upset the big dogs at the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Team
ft. LOL Esports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With First Stand just around the corner this March, Thunderpick has all the info you might need to get caught up with the teams competing at the first international tournament of the year as it starts in Sao Paulo. Part 1 of 2, we’ll cover the teams that will be representing the star studded regions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":14745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,57,116,103,53,91,101,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-esports","category-league-of-legends","category-lol-majors-worlds-and-msi","category-lol-teams","category-news","category-teams","category-tournaments","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14739"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14878,"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14739\/revisions\/14878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderpick.io\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}