Bet On League of Legends MSI

The Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) is an annual tournament hosted by Riot Games, the publisher behind League of Legends and its respective competitive leagues around the globe. Since its inception in 2015, the tournament has gained a reputation for featuring the most formidable and beloved teams in the game.

The MSI is widely regarded as the second most important international tournament in the entirety of the League of Legends scene, falling behind only the World Championship.

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Mid-Season Invitational: A Brief History

While the exact date that the MSI is hosted on changes from year to year, its general placement has been the same throughout its lifespan. As the name of the tournament alludes to, it takes place in the middle of two seasons – more precisely, in between the first and second seasons of the year.

Of the four MSI events that have taken place so far, the early portion of May has typically been the time period in which teams compete for the largest prize pools.

MSI Event Location

The location of the Mid-Season Invitational changes every year. The first event took place in Tallahassee, United States, while following iterations of the MSI have been hosted in Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro and Paris.

MSI 2018 Contestants

The Mid-Season Invitational is an event between the first and second splits of all regions, with teams from Korea, China, Europe, and North America all receiving direct invitations with no need for qualification. Other regional teams, such as Vietnam, Brazil, CIS, Latin America and Oceania have to qualify through a play-in series.

Teams that participate in the invitational are picked based on their seeds from the most recently concluded season. So if Team Liquid win the NA LCS, for example, then they’d automatically qualify for the prestigious tournament.

Tournament Format

The tournament consists of three different phases: the play-ins, group stage and knockout stage. Let’s take a closer look at each stage and how teams can advance.

Play-Ins

The play-in is contested between 10 teams in total. Eight teams will participate in Stage 1 of the play-ins, fighting for qualification through a best-of-one double round robin. Only two can advance to the second stage of the play-ins, while the top two seeded teams in the play-ins automatically advance. These four teams face off in a best-of-five knockout series. In the current format, based on 2018’s MSI, this means that the qualifying teams from stage 1 will each face the top two seeded teams.

Group Stage

The group stage consists of two teams from the Play-In stage and six teams in total. The contestants compete in a best-of-one double round robin, which sees every team face off twice.

Knockout Stage

Four teams from the Group Stage advance to the knockout stage, where matches are decided in best-of-five ties. The #1 seed selects either the #3 or #4 seeded team to play against, with the #2 playing against the remaining team. The winner of each tie contests the final to decide the MSI Champion.

MSI 2018 Prize Pool

Of course, the title of MSI Champion, as well as the corresponding trophy and medals are significant rewards for the eventual winners, but for some, it’s all about the prize pool. As the Mid-Season Invitational has grown in stature, Riot Games has put up an increasing amount of money as a reward for top-performing teams. This amount has received an extra boost, with fans now able to contribute towards the prize pool.

In 2017, MSI had a minimum prize pool of $1,000,000 – actually ending up at $1,690,000 when all was said and done. Riot Games itself put up $250,000, and then offered 25% of all sales from specific skins and in-game items to be added to the overall figure. Digital sales was a big part of giving the winning team—SK Telecom T1—such a large payoff.

In 2018, this same method was used and the total figure reached up to $1,370,520 – the lion’s share ended up being claimed by Chinese side Royal Never Give Up. If this way of accruing to the prize pool is continued, and fans are continuously offered worthwhile in-game items, then you can expect a lot of money to be up for grabs every single year when MSI comes around. You too can win a fair share of cash, if you pick the right teams and outcomes!

Mid-Season Invitational: Who To Back?

Going into the event, all of the teams have had to perform relatively well to qualify. This makes picking out a winner before the event begins a tough task. The experts and of course, the bookies, are likely to have their favourites, while others simply wait for the bookies’ favourites to emerge. Of course, we’d always recommend doing your own research to help make the best betting decisions. Watching recent competitive gameplay on Youtube, streams on Twitch and checking out statistics are both great ways of guiding your betting decisions. If 2018’s edition of the MSI is any indicator of your best bet next time round, then ‘Royal Never Give Up’, ‘Flash Wolves’ and ‘Kingzone DragonX’ figure to be among the favourites. These three teams finished in the final four.

MSI Betting Markets

With MSI being such a coveted tournament amongst teams and a huge hit with fans, it’s no surprise that it’s a tournament covered by a plethora of esports bookies. What you might not know, however, is that there are more betting options available beyond the usual head to head markets. Let’s take a closer look at a few of the Mid-Season Invitational betting markets you can expect to find at top esports bookies.