One of the biggest League of Legends events of the year is upon us: the Mid-Season Invitational, taking place in Shanghai this season. Every year, champions from six different regions meet between the Spring and Summer domestic seasons, playing for glory and a good chunk of prize money (this year, around $450,000 will be up for grabs).
Last season's MSI was the inaugural edition of the tournament, taking place in Tallahassee, Fla. China's Edward Gaming won the competition, beating Korean favorites SK Telecom T1 in the finals.
Only one team returns from last year's MSI: SKT. The rest of the 2015 field either fell in their respective domestic finals (Edward Gaming, ahq e-Sports, Team SoloMid) or semifinals (Fnatic) or no longer exists in its previous iteration (Beşiktaş e-Sports Club).
Below, you'll find the schedule and how to watch the tournament. If you're a newcomer to competitive League of Legends, we have a two-part guide (I, II) that will get you caught up to speed.
This post will be updated with results as the games happen, so stay tuned!
How it works:
The competition will start with a double round robin group stage from May 4 to May 8. Each team will play two games per day, eventually playing every other team in the field twice. At the end of the group stage, the top four teams will advance to the knockout stage. All knockout stage series will be best-of-five, single elimination, with the finals taking place May 15.
The four teams in the knockout round will also earn a No. 1 seed for their respective regions in the Worlds group stage later this year in North America.
The games will be played on Patch 6.8, with the recently reworked Taric disabled.
How to watch:
All games will be streamed live at Lolesports.com and on Twitch and YouTube.
The schedule:
(all times Eastern, results at the bottom of this post)
Group Stage:
Day 1 - Wednesday, May 4:
(For full schedule and VODs, click here)
Day 2 - Thursday, May 5:
(For full schedule and VODs, click here)
Day 3 - Friday, May 6:
(For full schedule and VODs, click here)
Day 4 - Saturday, May 7:
(For full schedule and VODs, click here)
Day 5 - Sunday, May 8:
(For full schedule and VODs, click here)
Knockout Stage:
Semifinal 1 - May 13:
(For VODs, click here)
Royal Never Give Up vs. SK Telecom T1, 1:30 a.m. (Best-of-5)
Semifinal 2 - May 14:
(For VODs, click here)
Counter Logic Gaming vs. Flash Wolves, 1:30 a.m. (Best-of-5)
Finals - May 15:
Counter Logic Gaming vs. SK Telecom T1, 1:30 a.m. (Best-of-5)
The standings:
Position | Team | Record |
1 | Royal Never Give Up | 8-2 |
2 | Counter Logic Gaming | 7-3 |
3 | Flash Wolves | 6-4 |
4 | SK Telecom T1 | 6-4 |
5 | G2 Esports | 2-8 |
6 | SuperMassive eSports | 1-9 |
The results:
Day 1 - Wednesday, May 4:
- Royal Never Give Up vs. Counter Logic Gaming - RNG win (22-21, 43:29)
- G2 Esports vs. Flash Wolves - FW win (26-12, 44:49)
- SK Telecom T1 vs. SuperMassive eSports - SKT win (22-1, 28:32)
- Counter Logic Gaming vs. Flash Wolves - CLG win (18-17, 48:53)
- G2 Esports vs. SK Telecom T1 - SKT win (23-3, 24:28)
- SuperMassive eSports vs. Royal Never Give Up - RNG win (26-11, 36:12)
Day 2 - Thursday, May 5:
- Counter Logic Gaming vs. G2 Esports - CLG win (18-4, 30:06)
- SK Telecom T1 vs. Royal Never Give Up - RNG win (23-7, 60:16)
- Flash Wolves vs. SuperMassive eSports - FW win (15-3, 30:26)
- Royal Never Give Up vs. G2 Esports - RNG win (16-5, 34:49)
- SuperMassive eSports vs. Counter Logic Gaming - SUP win (24-9, 33:10)
- SK Telecom T1 vs. Flash Wolves - FW win (12-5, 48:54)
Day 3 - Friday, May 6:
- Flash Wolves vs. Royal Never Give Up - RNG win (10-3, 33:42)
- Counter Logic Gaming vs. SK Telecom T1 - CLG win (16-19, 43:42)
- SuperMassive eSports vs. G2 Esports - G2 win (23-15, 39:24).
- Flash Wolves vs. SK Telecom T1 - FW win (13-3, 40:09)
- Counter Logic Gaming vs. SuperMassive eSports - CLG win (19-9, 30:32)
- G2 Esports vs. Royal Never Give Up - RNG win (12-5, 37:58)
Day 4 - Saturday, May 7:
- G2 Esports vs. SuperMassive eSports - G2 win (19-7, 31:16)
- Royal Never Give Up vs. Flash Wolves - RNG win (14-3, 29:10)
- SK Telecom T1 vs. Counter Logic Gaming - SKT win (12-7, 33:12)
- Flash Wolves vs. G2 Esports - FW win (17-5, 39:44)
- Counter Logic Gaming vs. Royal Never Give Up - CLG win (22-20, 42:15)
- SuperMassive eSports vs. SK Telecom T1 - SKT win (22-7, 28:26)
Day 5 - Sunday, May 8:
- Royal Never Give Up vs. SuperMassive eSports - RNG win (17-6, 23:17)
- Flash Wolves vs. Counter Logic Gaming - CLG win (13-9, 37:10)
- SK Telecom T1 vs. G2 Esports - SKT win (19-4, 29:13)
- SuperMassive eSports vs. Flash Wolves - FW win (10-3, 34:28)
- G2 Esports vs. Counter Logic Gaming - CLG win (15-8, 23:26)
- Royal Never Give Up vs. SK Telecom T1 - SKT win (24-17, 54:04)
Knockout Stage:
Semifinal 1 - Royal Never Give Up vs. SK Telecom T1:
Game 1: RNG win (11-12, 41:50)
Game 2: SKT win (19-3, 23:32)
Game 3: SKT win (22-10, 36:25)
Game 4: SKT win (9-0, 27:55)
Semifinal 2 - Counter Logic Gaming vs. Flash Wolves:
Game 1: CLG win (11-5, 31:25)
Game 2: FW win (14-5, 34:43)
Game 3: CLG win (16-12, 39:27)
Game 4: CLG win (17-7, 30:20)
Finals - May 15: SK Telecom T1 vs. Counter Logic Gaming
Game 1: SKT win (16-9, 34:53)
Game 2: SKT win (15-7, 34:27)
Game 3: SKT win (24-7, 34:23)