After an exciting spring to kick of the 2022 League of Legends season, it is time for this year’s Mid-Season Invitational. Eleven regional champions will clash in Busan, South Korea for a three-week tournament to see which region is the best, with the action kicking off on May 10. Here is all the information needed to follow along at MSI 2022.
MSI 2022 format
The format for MSI 2022 seems to be very similar to the format of MSI 2021. The 11 teams are split into three groups and will play against each other in a double round-robin. This means each team will play every other team in their group twice.
This is Stage 1, also known as the group stage. The top two teams with the best records after the conclusion of the double round-robin will move onto the Rumble stage.
Stage 2 will feature the six teams that qualified through the group stage. The Rumble stage will also be a double round-robin and, like the group stage, all matches are best of one. Since there are six teams in this stage, every team will play a total of 10 games. The top four teams after the 10-game Rumble stage will move onto the knockout stage.
The third and final stage of MSI 2022 will feature a standard tournament bracket with the four remaining teams. The teams will be seeded based on their standings in the rumble stage. This tournament bracket will be single elimination but feature best of five matches throughout. The team that comes out on top in the final stage will be crowned the winners of MSI 2022.
Teams
Just like last year, 12 teams were invited but only 11 will make it to the event. Because of that, the groups are a little uneven, with two groups of four and one group of three. The teams invited include the spring season winners of every single major and minor region throughout the world of League of Legends.
There are a couple of exceptions, however. Due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Russia’s representatives will not be participating at their year’s MSI tournament. And while Vietnam is competing for the first time since 2019, the region’s spring champion will not be playing at MSI. GAM Esports pulled off an undefeated season in the Vietnam Championship Series, but they have a prior obligation to play in the SEA Games. The VCS 2022 spring runner-ups will be taking their place instead.
And finally, the League of Legends Pro League representatives, Royal Never Give Up will not be making it to Korea for the trip due to the ongoing pandemic but instead will be playing remotely from China.
Where to Watch
Every day of the MSI 2022 tournament will be broadcast live on Riot Games’ official broadcast channels on both Twitch and YouTube. Each live broadcast will have a roster of talent bringing spectators the play-by-play and analysis.
After the tournament begins on May 10, it will run through May 29. Times and talent have not been announced at the time of publication.
Published: Apr 26, 2022 07:35 pm