If you’re a League of Legends fan that has been craving some live action on the Summoner’s Rift in the United Kingdom, you’re in luck. For the first time in the esports’ history, a major international tournament will be heading its way to the home of Big Ben.
Riot Games has confirmed the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational will be held in London, England, marking the first time the company will host an event in the country over the past decade. This is also the sixth major event that will be held in Europe, with the last tournament being the 2021 World Championship in Reykjavík, Iceland.
The U.K. is home to many LoL Esports supporters and is the birthplace of a handful of popular faces including former Team Vitality top laner Alphari, and casters like Marc Robert “Caedrel” Lamont, Aaron “Medic” Chamberlain, and Andrew “Vedius” Day. The region also had one of the top European Regional Leagues with the UKLC, before merging with the Nordic Championship League in 2020.
The location of MSI 2023 has yet to be announced, but there are plenty of different changes in store for the event when it kicks off later this year. The event, for example, will be expanding to include more teams than ever before, going from 11 to 13. There will also be two double-elimination stages with the play-in stage and the bracket stage.
Last year, China’s Royal Never Give Up was able to defend their title against Korea’s T1, who were fresh off of an undefeated 2022 Spring Split campaign. This coming year, however, they will be without their superstar mid laner Xiaohu, who jumped ship to Weibo Gaming at the end of the season. They still have multiple players of that championship-winning team on board for 2023, which gives them a good chance of defending their title again—if they manage to win the LPL trophy that season.
