MSI 2024: One player from each team to look out for (Part 1)

One player from each team to look out for at the Mid-Season Invitational 2024.

The Mid-Season Invitational is just a few short days away from starting in Chengdu, China from May 1st — 19th that will see the top 12 teams from around the world compete in the first LoL Esports international tournament of the year. MSI has been held in high regard over the years as being the first real test for teams to prove themselves on the international stage.

And for MSI this year, we will be having a look at one player from each team and what they can bring to the table once the tournament starts. As it stands, we are expected to have a new champion this year after last year's winners, JD Gaming failed to qualify during the LPL Spring Split. Of the 12 teams in the tournament, only two teams have won it previously: T1 and G2 Esports.

This will be a two-part series based on the 12 players to look out for, starting with the first six from the Eastern regions like the LCK, LPL, VCS, and PCS.

LCK

Gen.G — Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon

Heading into MSI, Gen.G will be seen as one of the favourites once more after its recent dominance in the LCK where they won four straight regional titles. They are the first LCK team to do so and will be looking to secure its first-ever international trophy. And at the helm of Gen.G's reign is its midlaner, Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon. Now in his third season with the org, Chovy has been one of the team's most consistent players and he proved it during the recent LCK Spring Split.

Chovy walked away with two individual awards — the Regular Season MVP as well as the Player of the Split. He was also part of the All-LCK First Team along with three other teammates. According to gol.gg, Chovy had the highest average KDA during the LCK Spring Split group stage at 6.4 and was the second-highest in the playoffs with 5.2. However, he more than makes up for it with his gold per minute (GPM) at 458 during the playoffs as well as having a 79.7 per cent kill participation; the highest of any midlaner.

T1 — Ryu “Keria” Min-seok

The defending world champions will have another shot at securing a third MSI title. However, the team is far from where it would like to be after going through a number of adversities to get here. During the LCK Spring Split, T1 has had to deal with DDoS attacks that meant that they can't train or even play as much as they would have liked. However, they are still one of the best teams from the LCK and this time, we decided to put the focus on its support player, Ryu “Keria” Min-seok instead.

While T1 has great players in virtually every position, Keria has been one of the more consistent players on the roster this season so far. He was also the only T1 player to be picked in the All-LCK First Team, which was dominated by Gen.G. His stats during the LCK Summer Split as shown by gol.gg displayed a consistent semi-farming support player that was still able to dish out plenty of damage to help out his bottom lane duo. Keria's performances on LAN have also been a major factor for the team and hopefully it will prove fruitful at MSI.

LPL

Bilibili Gaming — Zhuo “Knight” Ding

MSI will be a battleground in a few days time and Bilibili Gaming will be heading into the tournament as the LPL's number one seed. BLG have been in superb form since the start of the season after they won its first-ever LPL regional title. And they did so in such style with only one loss during the entire Spring Split, which occurred during the group stage. They will be looking to put last year's grand final defeat in the rearview mirror as they brought in the midlaner who defeated them last season, Zhuo “Knight” Ding.

Knight has been instrumental for the team since he joined in the off-season last year when he came close to sealing ‘The Golden Road’ with JD Gaming. However, his former team has since failed to qualify for MSI and the title is primed for Knight to be a two-time champion. And his numbers on gol.gg don't lie as he is the only midlaner from the LPL to average a KDA of 6 throughout the playoffs alongside getting the highest number of average kills and assists while also being a great farmer as well as damage dealer.

Top Esports — Tian “meiko” Ye

With this being Top Esports' first-ever MSI appearance, it's hard to expect what the team is truly capable of on the big stage. However, after making three changes to its starting line-up, Top has since looked highly formidable since the start of the 2024 season. Aside from bringing in a former JDG toplaner, one of Top's more underrated signings was the Worlds 2021 champion formerly of EDward Gaming, Tian “meiko” Ye.

Having spent much of his career with EDG, meiko has managed to still be a top-tier support player despite the recent org change. He had the third-highest average in both KDA and strictly assists amongst supports in the LPL Spring Split playoffs without letting his GPM get too low. His kill participation percentage is also fairly decent as he was ranked fourth-highest. However, it is worth noting that meiko had played the second-most games out of any support player during the playoffs.

PCS

PSG Talon — Yi-Tang “Maple” Huang

Our third and final midlaner on the first part of this list is Yi-Tang “Maple” Huang of PSG Talon. The seasoned veteran is in his second stint with the seven-time PCS champions where this will be the org's fourth MSI showing in a row. PSG Talon have been the PCS' best team as of late after a second-place finish during the PCS Spring regular season, followed only by winning the PCS Spring playoffs.

And Maple has been at the forefront of PSG's dominance in the playoffs as he was the only midlaner to average over 10 KDA in just 15 games. He also had the second-highest in average kills, the highest in average assists, and the lowest when it came to average deaths. Having already played in the LPL as well as the LCS, PSG have managed to utilise Maple's experience in multiple regions to great effect.

VCS

GAM Esports — Duy Khánh “Levi” Đỗ

Even after all the drama that encapsulated the VCS in the last few weeks, GAM Esports was still able to win the spring split. This makes it its fifth straight VCS title in a row, which only further showcases its superiority over the region. While GAM have not had the best of showings on the international stage, they have always managed to upset at least one major region team and hopefully it'll be a similar storyline this year.

Despite losing his midlaner and AD carry due to the match-fixing scandal, Duy Khánh “Levi” Đỗ was still able to lead his team to victory in the VCS playoffs. While GAM did falter during the opening series, their lower-bracket run was immensely huge after they defeated both Team Whales and Team Secret before setting a rematch against Viking Esports, who they demolished in the end. And during that run, Levi averaged the second-highest KDA alongside the highest average kills and assists for a jungler.