League of Legends fans are outraged that T1 will miss the first international tournament of 2025 due to changes in the LCK Cup 2025 format. The new format was supposed to speed up the regular season but resulted in T1's early exit despite their excellent results in the group stage.

After the defeat to Hanwha Life Esports, T1 was immediately eliminated from the tournament. Thus, the reigning Worlds champions, due to the specifics of the new format, could not continue the battle for a spot in the historic first First Stand series tournament. This result caused a storm of criticism from the community towards Fearless Draft.

T1 fans (and indeed all fans) would be justified in using Trucks to protest this LCK format.
T1 are eliminated because BRION, Freecs & FearX are bad...

Worst format ever. Least competitive integrity ever. Huge asterisk next to the result of this tournament.

Rich, founder of H2K, on social network X

Fans feel the format is unfair as weaker teams were given an easier path in the tournament.

T1 or HLE had to be eliminated before playoffs because OTHER teams in their group suck?
This is the worst and most unfair format I have seen in the history of esports.

Honestly, a complete disgrace, denying us more epic series with T1, who are clearly a top 3 team

Rich, founder of H2K, on social network X

League of Legends analyst Zoraion agrees with feviknight's opinion. He also noted that missing First Stand is a great opportunity for T1 to have a good rest before future tournaments. 

The LCK Cup format is horrible. T1 were legitimately looking like the second best team during groups after DK. It sucks that they’re out after losing one bo5, but at least the T1 team finally has time to some rest since they haven’t had a decently lengthy break in forever.

Zoraion, Analyst and Drafting Coach in League of Legends 

An additional factor of disappointment in the events was Zeus, who left for Hanwha Life Esports precisely from T1. He played a decisive role in the victory over his former team. Thus, T1's next official match will be in April as part of the regular LCK season.