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Mid-Season Invitational Main Bracket to Begin

The main bracket of MSI is about to begin. We break down the teams participating while providing odds and this week’s schedule.

13 teams journeyed to the United Kingdom to compete in the first major International League of Legends event of the year. With the conclusion of the Play-Ins stage behind us, we know the eight teams that will be competing in the 2nd stage, which consists of the teams being seeded into a double-elimination bracket. With all matches being best-of-five, you can expect some fierce competition as the teams move closer to the title of Mid-Season Invitational Champions. 

The Competitors

Bilibili Gaming, G2 Esports, and Golden Guardians all qualified for the Stage 2 Bracket by way of the Play-In Stage last week. Bilibili and G2 both won their brackets while Golden Guardians battled their way through the last-chance qualifier. Each will be going up against their hardest opponent yet. 

Gen.G Esports is coming into the Mid-Season Invitational as the 1st Seed from the LCK. Gen.G Esports pulled off an upset in the finals of the LCK Spring Split Finals when they took down T1 3-1. Gen.G entered the playoffs as the 3rd seed and took down Hanwha Life Esports and kt Rolster on their run through the playoffs. 

T1 may have finished the Spring Split in 2nd, but they had a very dominant season, so much so that in many people’s eyes, they’re the better of the two LCK teams despite seeding. T1 finished the season 17-1 and was the 1st seed going into the LCK playoffs. They were able to defeat Gen.G Esports 3-1 in the winner’s bracket. However, Gen.G won the loser’s bracket and beat T1 in the finals. Expect T1 to come into this tournament very motivated to salvage their spring split. 

MAD Lions qualified for the Bracket Stage by winning the LEC Spring Split. Their playoffs got off to a rocky start, quickly being thrown into the loser’s bracket after an immediate loss to Team Vitality. However, they were able to right their wrongs and play the rest of the tournament perfectly as they took down Fnatic, Astralis, G2 Esports, and Team Vitality to qualify for the finals, where they took down Team BDS 3-2. 

Cloud9 had a really good spring split entering the playoffs as the 1st seed after beating out FlyQuest for it. They then took down CLG and FlyQuest in the winner’s bracket to make it to the finals, where they beat Golden Guardians 3-1. Though they’re coming in as underdogs, Cloud9 traditionally overperforms at international League of Legends events. 

JDG Intel Esports Club had a dominant run in the LPL, never leaving the top of the standings. They ended the regular season with a 13-3 record and entered the playoffs as the 1st seed. JDG took down Bilibili and EDG to make it to the finals, where they once again beat Bilibili Gaming to win the split and qualify for the bracket stage here at MSI. 

MSI Bracket Round 1 Schedule 

All times listed are in Eastern Time.

Tuesday, May 9th – 8 AM

Gen.G Esports (-385) vs G2 Esports (+280)

Wednesday, May 10th – 8 AM

MAD Lions (+1000) vs T1 (-3300)

Thursday, May 11th – 8 AM 

Cloud9 (+250) vs Bilibili Gaming (-350)

Friday, May 12th – 8 AM

JDG Intel Esports Club (-5000) vs Golden Guardians (+1100)