The 2022 Mid-Season Invitational is finally here. Throughout the month, 11 of the top teams from around the world will compete against each other in the first international League of Legends event of the year.
Due to issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, all games will be played on 35 ms ping, with the China representatives, Royal Never Give Up, participating remotely from their homeland.
Every other team will compete in Busan, South Korea in front of a live audience.
Here’s everything you need to know about MSI 2022.
Participants
- The 10 champions from the 2022 Spring Split playoffs of major leagues from across the globe will be flying to Busan. This includes teams from Europe, North America, PCS, Latin America, Vietnam, Turkey, Brazil, Japan, Oceania, and Korea.
- The champion of China’s LPL will compete remotely due to COVID-19-related issues.
- An LCL representative (CIS) won’t be attending the event due to the 2022 LCL Spring Split being canceled.
- The qualified teams are as follows: G2 Esports (Europe), T1 (Korea), PSG Talon (PCS), Team Aze (LLA), Istanbul Wildcats (Turkey), DetonatioN FocusMe (Japan), ORDER (Oceania), Saigon Buffalo (Vietnam), Royal Never Give Up (China), Evil Geniuses (North America), RED Canids (Brazil).
Format
- MSI 2022 is set to include three stages.
- In the first stage, the group stage, 11 teams will be divided into two groups of four, and one group of three. In their respective groups, the teams will play a double round-robin best-of-one series, which will determine the top two squads that qualify for the rumble stage.
- In the rumble stage, six teams are placed in one group. Similar to the previous stage of the event, teams will play each other twice in a best-of-one format. After the matches conclude, the top squads will advance to the knockout stage.
- In the knockout stage, the top four teams will compete in best-of-five series. The two winners will claim a spot in the grand final, which will also be a best-of-five.
Ping
Royal Never Give Up, the LPL representatives, are unable to attend MSI 2022 in person as a consequence of “pandemic challenges” and lockdowns in Shanghai, China. Instead, they will be competing remotely from home in accordance with local health and safety protocols. To “keep the competitive fair,” Riot will be using a network latency tool to main a ping “as close to 35ms as possible” for all teams throughout the event.
Update May 13 3:01am CT: Following “extensive technical evaluation” of the competitive and training environments, Riot discovered that there was a discrepancy in latency being reported in game logs for matches in the Busan venue. To address the issue, Riot made some changes on May 13 to reduce the overall latency to the “intended level.” The initial three matches involving RNG, who are playing remotely, will also be replayed for the “best interest of competitive integrity.” The three matches will be completed by Sunday, May 15, ahead of the rumble stage.
Schedule
Each of the three stages will be played on different days. Teams will have several days of rest between each stage.
- Group stage: May 10 to 15
- Rumble stage: May 18 to 22
- Knockout stage: May 27 to 29
How to watch
MSI 2022 will be the first edition of the event since 2019 to have a live audience. All three stages of the tournament will be held at Busan’s Exhibition and Convention Center (BEXCO).
Fans will naturally be able to follow the competition online. Like previous events, it should be streamed on lolesports.com, Twitch, and YouTube.
This article includes affiliate links, which may provide small compensation to Dot Esports.
