Mid-Season Invitational

The Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) is an annual League of Legends tournament hosted by publisher Riot Games since 2015. It is the second most important international League of Legends tournament aside from the World Championship.[1][2]

Mid-Season Invitational
SportLeague of Legends
Founded2015 (2015)
Inaugural season2015
Owner(s)Riot Games
No. of teams12
Venue(s)Rotating locations
Most recent
champion(s)		 Royal Never Give Up
(2nd title)
Most titles Royal Never Give Up
T1
(2 titles each)
QualificationWinners of regional leagues in Spring split
TV partner(s)Twitch, YouTube
Sponsor(s)Riot Games
Related
competitions		World Championship

In 2015 and 2016, the event featured the Spring Split champions of the five major competitive League of Legends regional leagues (LEC, LCS, LCK, LMS, LPL), as well as a wildcard team from a less region determined by the International Wildcard Invitational, held a few weeks beforehand.[3] In its inaugural tournament, Chinese team Edward Gaming emerged victorious by defeating South Korean team SK Telecom T1 3–2 in the final.[4]

Since 2017, Spring Split champions from all regions have been participating in the event. The International Wildcard Invitational was replaced by the Play-in Stage. The best Wildcard region receives a direct spot in the World Championship's Group Stage for that year for their Summer Split champion. The top four regions gets the pool 1 spot in the World Championship's Group Stage.

Royal Never Give Up from China and T1 from South Korea are the most successful teams with two MSI titles each.

Overview

Results
Year Location Final Semifinalists
Champion Score Runner-up
2015 Tallahassee Edward Gaming 3 2 SK Telecom T1 ahq e-Sports Club Fnatic
2016 Shanghai SK Telecom T1 3 0 Counter Logic Gaming Royal Never Give Up Flash Wolves
2017 São Paulo
Rio de Janeiro		 SK Telecom T1 3 1 G2 Esports Flash Wolves Team WE
2018 Berlin
Paris		 Royal Never Give Up 3 1 Kingzone DragonX Fnatic Flash Wolves
2019 Ho Chi Minh City
Hanoi
Taipei		 G2 Esports 3 0 Team Liquid SK Telecom T1 Invictus Gaming
2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic[5] and replaced with the Mid-Season Streamathon
2021 Reykjavík Royal Never Give Up 3 2 DWG KIA PSG Talon MAD Lions

Teams reaching top four
Team Titles Runner-up Semifinalists
T1[lower-alpha 1] 2 (2016, 2017) 1 (2015) 1 (2019)
Royal Never Give Up 2 (2018, 2021) 1 (2016)
G2 Esports 1 (2019) 1 (2017)
Edward Gaming 1 (2015)
Counter Logic Gaming 1 (2016)
DRX[lower-alpha 2] 1 (2018)
Team Liquid 1 (2019)
DWG KIA 1 (2021)
Flash Wolves 3 (2016, 2017, 2018)
Fnatic 2 (2015, 2018)
ahq e-Sports Club 1 (2015)
Team WE 1 (2017)
Invictus Gaming 1 (2019)
MAD Lions 1 (2021)
PSG Talon 1 (2021)

Note: Italics indicate that the team no longer exists.

Regions reaching top four
Region Titles Runner-up Semifinalists
China (LPL) 3 (2015, 2018, 2021) 3 (2016, 2017, 2019)
South Korea (LCK) 2 (2016, 2017) 3 (2015, 2018, 2021) 1 (2019)
Europe (LEC) 1 (2019) 1 (2017) 3 (2015, 2018, 2021)
North America (LCS) 2 (2016, 2019)
TW/HK/MO/SEA (PCS) 5 (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021)

Notes
  1. Rebranded from SK Telecom T1 in 2019.
  2. Rebranded from Kingzone DragonX to DragonX in 2019, and then to DRX in 2020.

References
  1. Erzberger, Tyler (May 2, 2016). "The Mid-Season Invitational Power Rankings". ESPN. ESPN Inc. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
  2. Lingle, Samuel (May 4, 2016). "League Midseason Invitational day one recap". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on October 10, 2016. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
  3. Johnson, Michael (May 3, 2016). "League Of Legends Mid-Season Invitational – What You Need To Know!". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
  4. Scott, Jake (May 1, 2015). "MSI recap: Edward Gaming defeat SKT 3-2, become MSI 2015 champions". theScore eSports. Score Media Ventures. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
  5. Stavropoulos, Andreas (23 April 2020). "Riot officially cancels 2020 Mid-Season Invitational". Dot Esports. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
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