The 2021 Mid-Season Invitational is just around the corner. 12 teams qualified for the event from every League of Legends region around the world. Who is going to be crowned the best team halfway through the year and which region is the best?
This year, all teams competing at MSI will have a chance to make it out of groups, since there is no play-in stage as there was in previous years. This means any team has the chance to be crowned the MSI 2021 champion and any region has a chance to gain an extra spot at the 2021 League of Legends World Championship which will be held in China later on this year.
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What is MSI?
The Mid-Season Invitational is a yearly event that takes place halfway through the year. The teams which won their regional championships get invited to the event to compete for a chance to bring home the MSI trophy. The last champions were the LEC’s G2 back in 2019 when they beat NA's Team Liquid in a Bo5.
When is MSI 2021?
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The Mid-Season Invitational is going to take place from May 6th to May 22nd. The event is going to be held in Iceland. No fans are going to be at the venue, but all teams will play against one another on-stage in an offline setting.
What Teams Are Competing at the Mid-Season Invitational?
As mentioned above, 12 teams from 12 regions managed to qualify for the event. Unfortunately, only 11 will be able to compete. Due to strict travel restrictions from the Vietnamese government and lack of flights, GAM esports, the VCS Champions, won’t be able to make it to Iceland.
In a tweet, it was explained that Riot had even offered to fly the Vietnamese team to and from Iceland via a private jet, but the government did not approve. This meant that the VCS champions had no choice, but to pull out of the competition. Group A will therefore be a group of 3 with the top 2 teams moving onto the next round.
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Here is a complete List of Teams which qualified for MSI 2021:
- LCS SPRING: Cloud9
- LCK SPRING: DAMWON KIA
- LJL SPING: DetonatioN FocusMe
- LLA SPRING: Infinity Esports
- TCL WINTER: Istanbul Wild Cats
- LEC SPRING: MAD Lions
- CBLOL SPLIT 1: paiN Gaming
- LCO SPLIT 1: Pentanet.GG
- PCS SPRING: PSG Talon
- LPL SPRING: Royal Never Give Up
- LCL SPRING: Unicorns of Love
- VCS SPRING: GAM Esports (Not able to compete)
What are the Prizes for This Year's MSI?
The winning team will gain an extra slot for their region at the 2021 World Championship. This is a great incentive for each team to show off their best and try to win an extra slot in China for their region.
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Not only will the winning team gain an extra slot at the 2021 LoL World Championship, but also the region which is going to be ranked as the best region overall. After MSI 2021, a power ranking will be released with the top regions and the region which is first overall – but didn’t win MSI 2021 – will gain an extra slot at the 2021 LoL Worlds as well.
Who is Going to be at The Top of the Power Rankings?
Even though DAMWON KIA has looked dominant, we do believe that the LPL is going to be the most dominant region and gain an extra slot at the 2021 League of Legends World Championship through the power rankings.
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RNG is the representative of the Chinese region, but it could have been any team ranging from FPX to EDG to even TES. Even teams which might have looked their best this Spring Split such as iG and Suning are highly competitive and some of the best in the world.
Hence, by looking at the sheer talent and range of teams that could be competitive on the international stage, we believe that the LPL is going to take the extra 2021 LoL Worlds spot after the regional power rankings.
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