Team Liquid and Karmine Corp will meet on the big stage on the first day of League of Legends’ debut First Stand tournament. Although KC is the favorite to win the upcoming match, smart betters may look to Team Liquid for upset potential.
Announced as a new international event in mid-2024, First Stand 2025 is slated to be the first cross-regional competition of the 2025 LoL Esports calendar. Team Liquid and Karmine Corp will kick off the tournament’s round robin stage by duking it out on the first day. It’s guaranteed to be an exciting match for fans as both teams are heralded as two of the strongest in the tournament.
Team Liquid won the LTA 2025 Cross-Conference tournament near the end of February while Karmine Corp kicked off March by winning the LEC Winter 2025 playoff. With five teams in the tournament, the team that performs the worst in this stage will face elimination while the other four will move on to the knockout stage, making each match an important one for the competing teams.
Although Team Liquid and Karmine Corp have showcased their abilities by qualifying for First Stand, the cards may be stacked against Liquid in this match. Karmine’s LEC performance was exceptional and the team dominated each team it faced, including G2 Esports, which is at times considered one of the best teams in the world. While Liquid also played well in the LTA, it had some close calls against squads like Isurus Estral and Cloud9.
In particular, Karmine’s mid laner Vladimiros “Vladi” Kourtidis showcased great skill during the LEC final against G2, and was fully backed by his team. With First Stand’s fearless draft being a major factor, KC’s ability to ensure every member performs well in their role may be crucial in the upcoming match. On the other hand, Liquid’s Jeong “Impact” Eon-young’s performance in the upcoming match may be at issue considering the lane swap changes. Since the top laner usually relies on playing through his team to get an advantage, and he and the rest of Liquid may struggle because of the recent change as the squad can no longer take advantage of lane swap mechanics to outmaneuver opponents across the map.
Below are the rosters for both teams in the upcoming match:
Karmine Corp
Team Liquid
The fearless draft system ensures both teams can’t utilize the same sets of champions every game. However, there are a couple of picks viewers will likely see from both teams. Karmine Corp’s top picks include Ambessa, Jayce, and Gnar for top, Sejuani and Xin Zhao for jungler, Varus and Ezreal for bot, and Leona and Rell for support. Viktor is by far KC’s mid laner Vladi’s most common champion, having an impressive 85.7% win-rate and 11.8 KDA this year so far. His other picks include Corki and Azir.
On the other hand, Team Liquid has a more spread out champion roster. While it has picks like Rumble for top, Xin Zhao for jungler, Azir and Taliyah for mid, and Nautilus for support, every member of the team has played at least nine different champions competitively this year. The issue with this is that Liquid hasn’t played as many games as Karmine recently and hasn’t been made to go very deep with the new fearless draft rules, which means its members may not be able to play as many champions at these high levels of play.
Karmine Corp is the favorite to win the upcoming match by a large margin. Coming up at 1.60 compared to Team Liquid’s odds of 2.30, the general consensus that Europe’s teams may be stronger than those in North America likely plays a role in this margin being what it is. However, NA teams have performed better in multiple recent international events than have their European counterparts, showing this performance gap isn’t necessarily set in stone.
Team Liquid may have performed well during the LTA, but Karmine Corp won its matches more convincingly. With an impressive 91.7% win rate for Karmine Corp when ahead at 15 minutes, the team’s slow but calculated playing style may overwhelm Liquid’s early aggression. Although early objectives like the first tower and even the Feats of Strength may go to Liquid thanks to the team’s recent streak of success there, Karmine Corp has already proven the team doesn’t require the Feats of Strength to win.
Arguably the biggest factor in the upcoming match is the fearless draft system. While Karmine Corp has more champions the team tends to gravitate toward, the higher number of recent matches ensures its members have showcased excellent champion versatility. Karmine banning some of Liquid’s most-played champions may effectively shut Liquid down early, and the chances of Liquid doing the same to Karmine are lower. This could result in Karmine going undefeated against Liquid, potentially making KC the smarter betting pick.
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