Mid-Season Invitational Survival Guide

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The Mid-Season Invitational will soon be upon us.

The stage is set as we have the top 12 teams from around the world that will touch down in Chengdu, China in a few days time for the Mid-Season Invitational 2024. This is the first MSI to be held in China after eight years as Shanghai was the last city to play host back in 2016, which T1 won back when they were known as SK Telekom T1.

However, this year's MSI in China will feature plenty of other storylines, given an all-new format and structure to the first international tournament from LoL Esports in the year. While last season feature 13 teams, this year's format saw two teams from the top four regions (LCK, LPL, LEC, LCS) and four of the best teams from the rest of the world (PCS, CBLOL, LLA, VCS).

And one of the biggest additions to the rule book of MSI to give its victory even more significance and importance is that the winner will now earn a direct qualification to Worlds 2024. This will also guarantee an extra slot to the winning team's region. However, the rule will only apply to the MSI 2024 winner, provided they reach the Playoffs of its region's Summer Split.

MSI 2024 — Format & Schedule

• Play-In Stage: May 1st — 5th
• Bracket Stage: May 7th — 12th; 14th — 19th

Unlike the previous editions of having a Group Stage followed by the Rumble Stage, last year saw the introduction of the Play-In Stage at MSI. This time, there is even more change with an all-new format and structure to the cross-regional tournament. The Play-In Stage this time round will be a GSL format, with two groups of four teams each.

This will be unlike the conventional group stage gameplay — instead, teams will start in the upper-bracket semifinals of its respective group and will need to win two best-of-three series in order to qualify to the next round. The teams that lose the first series will not have to worry just yet, as each group in the GSL format will have a double-elimination bracket.

The losing teams will play a best-of-three in the lower-bracket semifinals before moving on to the lower-bracket finals, where they will play the loser from the upper bracket final. This is to determine the second and final team from the respective groups to qualify for the next round. And the final two teams standing from each group will move on to join the others in the Bracket Stage.

There, they will join the winners from each of the respective top-four regions in a double-elimination bracket, which will likely be a best-of-five series all-around or a best-of-three series, bar the lower-bracket final and the grand finals. Those should usually be a best-of-five series, given Riot Games' track record with tournament structures.

MSI 2024 — Teams

Bracket Stage

• Gen.G (LCK)
• Bilibili Gaming (LPL)
• Team Liquid (LCS)
• G2 Esports (LEC)

Play-In Stage

• T1 (LCK)
• Top Esports (LPL)
• FlyQuest (LCS)
• Fnatic (LEC)
• PSG Talon (PCS)
• LOUD (CBLOL)
• GAM Esports (VCS)
• Estral ESports (LLA)

There will be a new victor to crown this year as the defending champions, JD Gaming are not part of MSI after they were eliminated early on in the LPL Spring Split.  And with Chengdu, China playing host for the tournament, the home crowd will be cheering on Bilibili Gaming, who won its first-ever LPL title just a few weeks ago. And joining BLG will be Top Esports, a team that is making its MSI debut this year alongside a roster filled with potential.

However, the LPL will have its hands full by next week as there are plenty of other teams who will be vying for success. One of them is T1, who have been plagued by various issues since the start of the year. But despite all that, they have still managed to qualify for MSI, albeit from a position they are not entirely used to. With two MSI titles to its name, no one can truly write T1 off, but if there's one team that can, it's Gen.G Esports.

They recently clinched four-straight regional titles, becoming only the third team in League of Legends history to do so, and will head into MSI with renewed confidence that this will be their year. Gen.G have been the LCK's most consistent team to date, putting aside anyone that comes in their way. However, their international performances have not lived up to expectations, as they have yet to taste what an international grand final feels like.

Aside from T1, the only other team to have won MSI is G2 Esports, who have also been on a tear in the LEC of late. Having won both the Winter and Spring Split titles with relative ease, G2 will now have to go up against the cream of the crop to prove that the EU region can stand toe-to-toe with the best. Joining them is Fnatic, another powerhouse in the LEC that have not been able to get back to its best yet. Hopefully, a strong showing in the Play-In Stage can see Fnatic move up to the next round.

As for the LCS, this will be Team Liquid's first MSI event after four years, with the last being in 2019 where they lost out to G2 in the grand finals. And the same toplaner and support are back with Liquid once again to hopefully make it to another grand finals where they can lift the trophy this time round.

This will also be FlyQuest's first-ever MSI, with its only other international appearance being Worlds 2020. But given that it has a roster filled with talent and international experience, FQ could possibly be one of the dark horses of the tournament when the time comes. 

And of all the teams from the minor region, only Estral ESports is making its MSI debut this year as we welcome back the likes of GAM Esports, PSG Talon, and LOUD once again. GAM has had to deal with plenty of controversy over the last few weeks after the major match-fixing scandal that occurred in the VCS.

MSI 2024 — Prize Pool

As mentioned earlier, the winner of MSI 2024 will have a significant advantage when Worlds rolls around later in the year. The MSI champion for this season will earn an automatic qualification to the world championship, whilst also giving its region an additional slot to the biggest tournament of the year. However, this will only happen if this year's MSI winner is able to qualify for its region's Summer Split playoffs first.

There is also a $250,000 USD total prize pool for MSI that will be split amongst all 12 teams that are participating. Here is how it will look like:

MSI 2024 — Empyrean Event Pass, Pass Bundle, and Esports Premium Bundle

Show off your support for your favourite team at MSI this year with the MSI 2024 Empyrean Event Pass (1650 RP), the Pass Bundle (2650 RP), or the Esports Premium Bundle (3650 RP). 30 per cent of the gross revenue that fans and players spent on the pass and bundles will be allocated to the teams that are competing at MSI. Another 30 per cent of the gross revenue from sales of the Empyrean Nocturne skin will also be going to the teams at MSI.

Riot has also shared an update that they will be replacing the usual icon and emote team bundles at both MSI and Worlds. In its place will be custom emotes designed by all the teams from the LCK, LPL, LEC, LCS, VCS, PCS, CBLOL, and LLA. The emotes are expected to go on sale during Worlds later this year.

The Mid-Season Invitational 2024 will start from May 1st — 19th; be sure to catch all the games on the main LoL Esports broadcast on Twitch and YouTube.