Demacia Cup 2025: Coach comms and Blind Pick Draft?

Organized by streaming platform Huya, the Demacia Cup 2025 is an off-season tournament featuring teams from the LPL and a total prize pool of ¥1.2m (€145.627). Here’s everything you need to know about the competition, from its participants to its format.

Coach comms and Blind Pick to be featured in the Demacia Cup 2025

With the reduction of the participating teams in the LPL, the Demacia Cup will also have fewer squads taking part compared to previous editions.

Aside from the 14 squads, there will be two streamer teams joining the action: ZSM and FRK. The tournament will be divided between an online group stage phase and the Knockout stage.

The offseason tournament will also see the return of Blind Pick in the decisive game of both Bo3 and Bo5 series. The previous games will continue to use the Fearless Draft format introduced last season.

Additionally, the LPL will feature the long-anticipated Coach Comms, which allows one member of the coaching staff to interact with the team in-game. The designated coach will be able to talk with the team in each game for up to three times, each lasting a maximum of 45 seconds. This will be implemented in the offline phase, when the top four teams will compete for the title.

LPL Demacia Cup new format, blind pick+ Coach ingame voice
1. Game 3 of a BO3 and Game 5 of a BO5 will use the “No-Ban Blind Pick” mode!
No bans, no draft — pure mechanics, head-to-head.

2. Coach Voice-In Feature:
Starting from the semifinals, a new special feature will be… pic.twitter.com/GWBZxZNHQB

— LPL Fanclub (@LPLfanclub) December 8, 2025

Demacia Cup 2025 Format

Group Stage – Phase 1

The group stage will be further divided into two stages. The first one will see the two streamer teams being assigned to two different groups, alongside the six teams from group Nirvana (WE, LGD, LNG, TT, UP, and OMG), to make two groups of four teams.

Each group will be decided through a draw and will then have a single round-robin of Bo3 series. The top two teams from each group will then advance to the second phase.

Group Stage – Phase 2

The second phase will see Invictus Gaming and BiliBili Gaming, two of the four teams at Worlds, being assigned to two different groups of five teams.

Each will be joined by the top two teams from Phase 1, as well as four teams from Group Ascend (JDG, WBG, EDG, and NIP). Groups will be decided once again through a draw and will each have a single round-robin of Bo3 series. The top three teams in terms of points will advance to the Knockout stage.

Knockout Stage

In this stage, the eight teams will be split into two different brackets, with Top Esports and Anyone’s Legend, the best LPL teams at Worlds, being seeded into two different groups.

The six remaining teams will then be assigned through the draw, with each four-team bracket competing in a single-elimination with Bo5 series. The top four teams will then move to the offline stage to determine the Demacia Cup champions.

The prize pool will be distributed among the top four teams:

1. ¥500,000
2. ¥300,000
3. ¥200,000
4. ¥200,000

Demacia Cup 2025 Schedule

While match schedules are yet to be confirmed, the match days are as follows:

• Online Group Stage – Phase 1: December 15 – December 18
• Online Group Stage – Phase 2: December 19 – December 25
• Knockout Stage Online Phase: December 26 – December 29
• Offline Semifinals: January 1 – January 2
• Offline Finals: January 3

Where to Watch the Demacia Cup 2025?

The Demacia Cup 2025 can be watched and followed on the Chinese streaming platform Huya.

Where is the Demacia Cup taking place?

The majority of the competition will take place online, with the semifinals and finals of the knockout stage moving offline at the Xi’an Qujiang Esports Center.

What is the Demacia Cup?

The Demacia Cup is an off-season competition featuring LPL teams and a total prize pool of ¥1.2m. It’s usually considered a way for teams to train with the new rosters ahead of the new competitive season.