2021 Mid-Season Invitational

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2021 Mid-Season Invitational
Tournament information
SportLeague of Legends
LocationIceland
Dates6 May–23 May
AdministratorRiot Games
Venue(s)Laugardalshöll (Reykjavík)
Teams11
Final positions
ChampionsRoyal Never Give Up
Runner-upDWG KIA
MVPChen "GALA" Wei
(Royal Never Give Up)
← 2019
2022 →

The 2021 Mid-Season Invitational was the sixth Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), a Riot Games-organised tournament for League of Legends, a multiplayer online battle arena video game. The tournament was the culmination of the 2021 Spring Split and the first international competition of Season 11.

Each of the 12 premier League of Legends leagues had a team representing them. This was the first edition in which all competitive regions began in the same stage of the tournament, unlike previous years where the winners of the minor leagues had to win play-in matches to face teams from the larger regions.[1][2]

"Starts Right Here" was the tournament's theme song, put together by Foreign Air, and Kenny Mason.[3]

The tournament was hosted in Iceland from 6 to 23 May 2021. All of the matches were held in the Laugardalshöll in Reykjavík due to restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic. Royal Never Give Up from China defeated the Worlds Champion DWG KIA from South Korea 3–2 in the final, winning their second MSI title.

Format[edit]

The format for 2021 replaces the play-in stage used from 2017 to 2019 with a group stage featuring all regions. The 12 teams were seeded into 3 groups from 4 seeding pools. This is the first time that teams from Europe (LEC), South Korea (LCK) and China (LPL) will not automatically qualify for the second stage (known as the rumble stage, formerly the group stage of the main event) but have to compete with all remaining teams.

The top two teams in each group in group stage qualify for the rumble stage, a six team double round robin. The top four teams of the rumble stage advance to the single elimination knockout stage.

The winning team earns their region an additional bid to the 2021 League of Legends World Championship.

Qualified teams[edit]

The number of regions decreased from 13 at MSI 2019 to 12, due to the merger of Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau (LMS) and Southeast Asian (LST) professional leagues into the PCS for 2020.

Pools of group stage are determined by the achievements of regions during the MSI and Worlds events from the two years prior.

Region League Teams ID Pool
China LPL Royal Never Give Up RNG 1
Europe LEC MAD Lions MAD
South Korea LCK DWG KIA DK
North America LCS Cloud9 C9 2
TW/HK/MO/SEA PCS PSG Talon PSG
Vietnam VCS GAM Esports[a] GAM
CIS LCL Unicorns of Love UOL 3
Latin America LLA Infinity Esports INF
Turkey TCL Istanbul Wildcats IW
Brazil CBLOL paiN Gaming PNG 4
Japan LJL DetonatioN FocusMe DFM
Oceania LCO Pentanet.GG PGG

Venue[edit]

Reykjavík was the city chosen to host the competition. All matches will be played at Laugardalshöll without spectators.

Reykjavík, Iceland
Laugardalshöll

Group stage[edit]

  • Date and time: 6–11 May, begins at 13:00 UTC
  • Twelve teams are drawn into three groups, with four teams in each group
  • Quadruple round robin for group A, double round robin for groups B and C; all matches are best-of-one
  • If two teams have the same win–loss record and head-to-head record then a tiebreaker match is played
  • Top two teams will advance to the rumble stage; bottom two teams are eliminated
Group A
Pos Team Pld W L PCT Qualification
1 Royal Never Give Up 8 8 0 1.000 Advance to Rumble stage
2 Pentanet.GG 9 3 6 0.333
3 Unicorns of Love 9 2 7 0.222
Source: LoL Esports
Group B
Pos Team Pld W L PCT Qualification
1 MAD Lions 6 5 1 0.833 Advance to Rumble stage
2 PSG Talon 6 4 2 0.667
3 paiN Gaming 6 2 4 0.333
4 İstanbul Wildcats 6 1 5 0.167
Source: LoL Esports
Group C
Pos Team Pld W L PCT Qualification
1 DWG KIA 6 5 1 0.833 Advance to Rumble stage
2 Cloud9 6 4 2 0.667
3 DetonatioN FocusMe 6 2 4 0.333
4 Infinity Esports 6 1 5 0.167
Source: LoL Esports

Rumble stage[edit]

  • Date and time: 14–18 May, begins at 13:00 UTC
  • Six teams will play in a double round robin; matches are best-of-one
  • If teams have the same win–loss record and head-to-head record, then tiebreaker matches are played for first, second, and fourth place
  • Top four teams will advance to the Knockout stage; bottom two teams are eliminated
Pos Team Pld W L PCT Qualification
1 DWG KIA 10 8 2 0.800 Advance to Knockout Stage
2 Royal Never Give Up 10 7 3 0.700
3 PSG Talon 10 6 4 0.600
4 MAD Lions 10 5 5 0.500
5 Cloud9 10 3 7 0.300
6 Pentanet.GG 10 1 9 0.100
Source: LoL Esports

Knockout stage[edit]

RNG won the 2021 MSI.
  • 1st place team from the rumble stage chooses between 3rd and 4th to be their semifinal opponent (DK chose MAD).
  • Single elimination, matches are best-of-five
SemifinalsFinal
2 Royal Never Give Up3
3 PSG Talon1
Royal Never Give Up3
DWG KIA2
1 DWG KIA3
4 MAD Lions2

Source: LoL Esports

Semifinals[edit]

Semifinals May 21 Royal Never Give Up 3 – 1 PSG Talon Reykjavík, Iceland
13:00 UTC    Source Laugardalshöll
1 Game 1 0
0 Game 2 1
1 Game 3 0
1 Game 4 0
Semifinals May 22 DWG KIA 3 – 2 MAD Lions Reykjavík, Iceland
13:00 UTC    Source Laugardalshöll
1 Game 1 0
0 Game 2 1
0 Game 3 1
1 Game 4 0
1 Game 5 0

Finals[edit]

Final May 23 Royal Never Give Up 3 – 2 DWG KIA Reykjavík, Iceland
13:00 UTC    Source Laugardalshöll
1 Game 1 0
0 Game 2 1
1 Game 3 0
0 Game 4 1
1 Game 5 0

Ranking[edit]

(*) Not including tie-break games.

Place Region League Teams GS RS SF Final
1st China LPL Royal Never Give Up 8–0 7–3 3–1 3–2
2nd South Korea LCK DWG KIA 5–1 8–2 3–2 2–3
3rd–4th Europe LEC MAD Lions 5–1 5–5 2–3
TW/HK/MO/SEA PCS PSG Talon 4–2 6–4 1–3
5th North America LCS Cloud9 4–2 3–7
6th Oceania LCO Pentanet.GG* 2–6 1–9
7th–8th Japan LJL DetonatioN FocusMe 2–4
Brazil CBLOL paiN Gaming 2–4
9th–11th CIS LCL Unicorns of Love* 2–6
Latin America LLA Infinity Esports 1–5
Turkey TCL Istanbul Wildcats 1–5

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Due to national travel restrictions related to COVID-19 in Vietnam, ⁠⁠GAM Esports was unable to participate.[4]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "MSI 2021 is Heading to Reykjavik, Iceland". lolesports.com. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  2. ^ Lim, Jang-won (20 April 2021). "MSI preview: 11 teams heading to Iceland; VCS unable to attend once again". Korea Herald. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  3. ^ "MSI 2021's anthem 'Starts Right Here' is a banger, but not quite". OneEsports. 3 May 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  4. ^ Jimoh, Rashidat (19 April 2021). "VCS champions GAM Esports unable to participate in MSI". Upcomer. Retrieved 24 November 2023.

External links[edit]

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