Kespa Cup 2024 group draws confirmed; here’s who is playing

The 2024 Kespa Cup is coming and the group draws have been confirmed, leaving fans scratching their heads.

The Kespa Cup was long one of the biggest appetizers for the next League of Legends esports season. From 2015 to 2020, the event gave fans a first look at the top rosters in Korea. The event’s reputation and credibility took a hit over the years though, as organizations opted to send their academy rosters and others simply bowed out. 

2024 won’t mark a true return to form for the event, as multiple LCK organizations are fielding at least some of their academy teams. Regardless, fans can buckle in for some comparatively high-level League of Legends.

Kespa Cup 2024 groups, favorites

The Kespa Cup will have two groups of six teams, with each group having five LCK teams and one all-star squad from other regions.

Group A consists of the following teams:

• Brion
• DRX
• FearX
• KT Rolster
• Freecs
• Chinese Taipei All-Stars

The Kespa Cup’s Group B includes:

• D-plus
• Gen.G
• Hanwha Life Esports
• Nongshim RedForce
• T1
• Vietnam All-Stars

The Kespa Cup group stage will see a round-robin played across the six teams. The top four from each group will advance and will be seeded into a single-elimination tournament bracket.

Each team is taking its own approach to this event. KT Rolster is fielding its full academy team, Dplus is set to play its main roster, while Gen.G is reportedly using a mix of both its main roster and farm teams. Meanwhile, the Chinese Taipei All-Stars squad is predominantly made up of PSG Talon’s 2024 roster, while the Vietnamese team pulls from four different VCS squads.

On paper, group B is absolutely stacked, but that’s not entirely the case in practice. Because most teams aren’t fielding their full roster, and some teams are set to shuffle things on a match-to-match basis, it’s a bit of a jump ball.

Dplus and Gen.G are seemingly set to use their main roster, and will be the clear favorites to win the 2024 Kespa Cup if they follow through. Gen.G still boasts the core of its Worlds 2024 roster, which placed top four at the event. Dplus also retains much of its World 2024 roster, though it was eliminated from the group stage of the event. Though other teams such as Nongshim RedForce are also set to use their starters, their body of work isn’t conclusively proven.

Regardless, fans will have to wait and see which players actually end up in the booth before picking winners. Teams may approach the event casually, and might only leave their star players in for a few reps. Challenger rosters and LCK squads with something to prove may bring their all, and take surprising wins as a result.