Image courtesy of Riot Games

Long-standing rivalries that had defined the league for over three years were shattered one after another during the third week of the 2026 LCK regular season, leading to a wave of overturned predictions.

Riot Games, the organizer of the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK)—the Korean professional league for League of Legends—announced that the third week of the 2026 LCK regular season took place from Wednesday the 15th to Sunday the 19th at the LCK Arena in LoL PARK, located in Jongno-gu, Seoul.

○ Dplus KIA and Hanwha Life Esports Overcome Head-to-Head Deficits

Dplus KIA and Hanwha Life Esports both defeated their long-time nemeses, T1 and Gen.G, respectively. For Dplus KIA, this marked their first regular-season victory over T1 in approximately three years, while Hanwha Life Esports snapped a five-year losing streak against Gen.G in best-of-three series.

Dplus KIA secured their third win of the season by defeating T1 2-1 on Friday the 17th. Although they had pulled off a thrilling reverse sweep against T1 in the 2026 LCK Cup playoffs, their last regular-season win against T1 dated back to July 2023. Furthermore, this was their first regular-season victory over a T1 roster featuring 'Faker' Lee Sang-hyeok in nearly five years, since June 11, 2021. The win was made even more special as mid-laner 'ShowMaker' Heo Su reached the milestone of 700 career LCK games.

Hanwha Life Esports also managed to flip a long-standing script. In the 'Saturday Showdown' on the 18th, they swept Gen.G 2-0. Since their 2-1 victory in the first round of the 2021 LCK Spring split on January 24, 2021, Hanwha Life Esports had lost all 20 of their best-of-three encounters against Gen.G over the past five years. With this win, they have finally put their long-standing struggle against Gen.G behind them.

○ kt Rolster’s 'Rollercoaster' Keeps Climbing: Matching the Team’s Best Start

kt Rolster, continuing their undefeated run since the season opener, added two more wins in Week 3 to maintain sole possession of first place with a 6-0 record.

kt Rolster bolstered their record by defeating Dplus KIA and DN Supers in Week 3. After taking down Dplus KIA 2-1 on Wednesday the 15th, they swept DN Supers on Saturday the 18th. Having already secured consecutive wins against Gen.G and T1 earlier in the season, their victory over Dplus KIA—a team with aspirations for the top tier—has allowed them to pull ahead in the fiercely competitive race for the top spot.

With their perfect record intact through Week 3, kt Rolster has now achieved a 6-game winning streak to start the 2026 LCK regular season. This ties the record for the longest winning streak to start a season in the team's history, previously set during the 2017 LCK Spring split.

○ Three Teams at 3-3: The Mid-Table Scramble Begins

While kt Rolster and Hanwha Life Esports have surged to first and second place with 6 and 5-game winning streaks respectively, a logjam has formed in the middle of the pack with three teams sitting at a 3-3 record.

Gen.G, T1, and Dplus KIA currently hold 3-3 records. These three teams, ranked 4th through 6th based on set differential, have coincidentally gone 1-1 each week. In Week 3, Dplus KIA lost 1-2 to kt Rolster before defeating T1 2-1, while Gen.G beat Hanwha Life Esports after a sweep of Hanwha Life's previous opponents. T1, having been tripped up by Dplus KIA, took out their frustrations on KDF DRX, leaving all three teams tied at 3-3.

As these three perennial playoff contenders occupy the middle of the standings, their future performance could significantly shift the landscape of the regular season.