Everything known about League of Legends MSI 2021: Qualified teams, format, and schedule

League of Legends' first international event of 2021, the Mid-Season Invitational is finally around the corner. The prestigious inter-region event is scheduled to begin on 6 May, at Reykjavík, Iceland.

The winners from each of the 12 regional leagues will compete in the MSI for awards, glory, and an additional spot in the League of Legends Worlds. The 12 participating leagues and their respective regions are as follows:

• LCK - South Korea
• LEC - Europe
• LCS - North America
• LPL - China
• LCL - Commonwealth of Independent States
• LCO - Oceania
• VCS - Vietnam
• PCS - Pacific
• CBLOL - Brazil
• TCL - Turkey
• LJL - Japan
• LLA - Latin America

According to the new format, Riot has eliminated the play-in stage and split the 12 participating regions into 4 different tiers. This segregation is based on the previous two international tournaments.

The new structure of the Mid-Season Invitational will provide all the teams with a better opportunity to showcase themselves on the international stage, especially with an extra slot for the Worlds 2021.

G2 Esports to officially remain the defending champions of the League of Legends MSI (Image via Riot Games)

The organizers have also confirmed that G2 Esports of LEC will remain the official defending champions of the MSI, as the 2020 season got waived off due to the coronavirus pandemic.

---

League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational 2021 details

League of Legends MSI 2021 Groups (Image via Riot Games)

The Mid-Season Invitational 2021 is scheduled to start on 6 May, Thursday and will end on 22 May.

MSI 2021: Changed Format

The League of Legends MSI 2021 will see all 12 regional winners battle for international glory. Riot has brought certain changes to this year's format. To date, developing regions like Oceania, Brazil, and Turkey have played a “Play-In” qualifier stage to progress to the next round, while China, Korea, Europe, and North America are seeded directly into the final stage.

But from the 2021 season, all the 12 participating League of Legends teams will play from the same level of the group stage, that is, Stage 1. There are three groups of four teams each and the top two teams from each group advance to Stage 2. The final six teams will play in the playoffs (Stage 3) in a best-of-five knockout bracket and eventually, the winners will be crowned the MSI 2021 Champions.

---

Event details

Location: Laugardalshöll Sport Center, Reykjavik, Iceland

Prize Pool: TBD

1st Stage (Groups)

• Teams are drawn into three groups based on seeding
• Double Round Robin format
• Matches will be Best-Of-One
• Top two teams from each group advance to the 2nd Stage

2nd Stage (Rumble)

• Double Round Robin format
• Matches will be Best-Of-One
• The top four teams advance to the 3rd Stage

Stage 3 (Knockout)

• Single elimination bracket
• Matches will be Best-Of-Five

---

Qualified teams and Group Divisions

Group A

• Royal Never Give Up (LPL)
• GAM Esports (VCS)
• Unicorns of Love (LCL)
• Pentanet.GG (LCO)

Group B

• MAD Lions (LEC)
• PSG Talon (PCS)
• İstanbul Wildcats (TCL)
• PaiN Gaming (CBLOL)

Group C

• DWG Kia (LCK)
• Cloud9 (LCS)
• DetonatioN FocusMe (LJL)
• Infinity Esports (LLA)

---

Extra Worlds Spot for the League of Legends MSI winner

The most attractive aspect of the MSI 2021 is an official Worlds spot confirmation for the league with the highest global power rankings. Riot officially announced:

“This year, the MSI champion’s league will receive an additional regional team spot at Worlds. After MSI concludes, the final global power rankings will be calculated. The highest-ranking league will get an additional slot unless that region also won MSI. In that case, the slot would pass down to the second-ranked league.”

If the winner of MSI falls in the highest-ranking league, the second-ranking league will be brought into consideration for the additional League of Legends World Championship Spot.