2021 Mid-Season Invitational

2021 Mid-Season Invitational
Tournament information
Sport	League of Legends
Location	Iceland
Dates	6 May–23 May
Administrator	Riot Games
Venue(s)	Laugardalshöll (Reykjavík)
Teams	11
Final positions
Champions	Royal Never Give Up; (2nd title)
Runner-up	DWG KIA
3rd place	MAD Lions; PSG Talon
MVP	Chen "GALA" Wei; (Royal Never Give Up)

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

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

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.

Due to national travel restrictions related to COVID-19 in Vietnam, the VCS champions ⁠⁠GAM Esports are unable to participate.

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~~	~~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

Roster

Players					Coach
Top	Jungle	Mid	ADC	Support	Coach
Europe (LEC) – MAD Lions
Armut (İrfan Berk Tükek)	Elyoya (Javier Prades Batalla)	Humanoid (Marek Brázda)	Carzzy (Matyáš Orság)	Kaiser (Norman Kaiser)	Mac (James MacCormack)
China (LPL) – Royal Never Give Up
Xiaohu (Li Yuanhao)	Wei (Yan Yangwei)	Cryin (Yuan Chengwei)	GALA (Chen Wei)	Ming (Shi Senming)	Tabe (Wong Pak-kan)
Xiaobai (sub.) (Yang Zhonghe)	Wei (Yan Yangwei)	Xiaohu (sub.) (Li Yuanhao)	GALA (Chen Wei)	Ming (Shi Senming)	Poppy (Chang Po-hao)
South Korea (LCK) – DWG KIA
Khan (Kim Dong-ha)	Canyon (Kim Geon-bu)	ShowMaker (Heo Su)	Ghost (Jang Yong-jun)	BeryL (Cho Geon-hee)	kkOma (Kim Jeong-gyun)
North America (LCS) – Cloud9
Fudge (Ibrahim Allami)	Blaber (Robert Huang)	Perkz (Luka Perković)	Zven (Jesper Svenningsen)	Vulcan (Philippe Laflamme)	Reignover (Kim Yeu-jin)
Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau/Southeast Asia (PCS) – PSG Talon
Hanabi (Su Chia-hsiang)	River (Kim Dong-woo)	Maple (Huang Yi-tang)	Doggo (loan)[lower-alpha 1] (Chiu Tzu-chuan)	Kaiwing (Ling Kai-wing)	Helper (Kwon Yeong-jae)
Hanabi (Su Chia-hsiang)	River (Kim Dong-woo)	Maple (Huang Yi-tang)	Doggo (loan)[lower-alpha 1] (Chiu Tzu-chuan)	Kaiwing (Ling Kai-wing)	Winged (Park Tae-jin)
Brazil (CBLOL) – paiN Gaming
Robo (Leonardo Souza)	Cariok (Marcos Santos)	tinowns (Thiago Sartori)	brTT (Felipe Gonçalves)	Luci (Han Chang-hoon)	Nova (Ahmet Yılmaz)
Robo (Leonardo Souza)	Cariok (Marcos Santos)	tinowns (Thiago Sartori)	brTT (Felipe Gonçalves)	Luci (Han Chang-hoon)	Dionrray (João Pedro Barbosa)
Commonwealth of Independent States (LCL) – Unicorns of Love
BOSS (Vladislav Fomin)	AHaHaCiK (Kirill Skvortsov)	Nomanz (Lev Yakshin)	Lodik (Stanislav Kornelyuk)	SaNTaS (Aleksandr Lifashin)	Sheepy (Fabian Mallant)
Japan (LJL) – DetonatioN FocusMe
Evi (Shunsuke Murase)	Steal (Moon Geon-yeong)	Aria (Lee Ga-eul)	Yutapon (Yuta Sugiura)	Kazu (Kazuta Suzuki)	Yang (Yang Gwang-pyo)
Latin America (LLA) – Infinity Esports
Buggax (Mateo Aroztegui)	SolidSnake (Diego Vallejo Trujillo)	cody (Cristian Quispe)	WhiteLotus (Matías Musso)	Ackerman (Gabriel Aparicio)	Von (Gabriel Barbosa)
Oceania (LCO) – Pentanet.GG
BioPanther (Brandon Alexander)	Pabu (Jackson Pavone)	Chazz (Jesse Mahoney)	Praedyth (Mark Lewis)	Decoy (Daniel Ealam)	Charlie (Charlie Wraith)
Turkey (TCL) – Istanbul Wildcats
StarScreen (Soner Kaya)	Ferret (Hakan Mert Çakmak)	Serin (Tolga Ölmez)	HolyPhoenix (Anıl Işık)	Farfetch (Berk Badur)	Robogod (Barış Mete Sevinç)
StarScreen (Soner Kaya)	Ferret (Hakan Mert Çakmak)	Serin (Tolga Ölmez)	HolyPhoenix (Anıl Işık)	Farfetch (Berk Badur)	Janus (Özcan Gürbüz)

Venue

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

Reykjavík, Iceland
Laugardalshöll
Reykjavík

Group stage

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

⁠⁠GAM Esports was drawn in this group but unable to participate.

#	Team	~	RNG	PGG	UOL	W	L	T-B
1	Royal Never Give Up	RNG	~	4–0	4–0	8	0
2	Pentanet.GG	PGG	0–4	~	2–2	2	6	W
3	Unicorns of Love	UOL	0–4	2–2	~	2	6	L

Date	Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
6 May	1	RNG	W	L	PGG
6 May	2	PGG	L	W	UOL
7 May	3	PGG	L	W	RNG
7 May	4	UOL	L	W	RNG
8 May	5	RNG	W	L	UOL
8 May	6	UOL	L	W	PGG
9 May	7	UOL	L	W	RNG
	8	UOL	W	L	PGG
	9	RNG	W	L	PGG
	10	RNG	W	L	UOL
	11	PGG	W	L	UOL
	12	PGG	L	W	RNG
	T-B	UOL	L	W	PGG

Group B

#	Team	~	MAD	PSG	PNG	IW	W	L
1	MAD Lions	MAD	~	2–0	2–0	1–1	5	1
2	PSG Talon	PSG	0–2	~	2–0	2–0	4	2
3	paiN Gaming	PNG	0–2	0–2	~	2–0	2	4
4	Istanbul Wildcats	IW	1–1	0–2	0–2	~	1	5

Date	Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
6 May	1	IW	L	W	PNG
6 May	2	MAD	W	L	PSG
7 May	3	IW	L	W	MAD
7 May	4	PNG	L	W	PSG
8 May	5	MAD	W	L	PNG
8 May	6	PSG	W	L	IW
10 May	7	MAD	L	W	IW
	8	PSG	W	L	PNG
	9	IW	L	W	PSG
	10	PNG	L	W	MAD
	11	PNG	W	L	IW
	12	PSG	L	W	MAD

Group C

#	Team	~	DK	C9	DFM	INF	W	L
1	DWG KIA	DK	~	1–1	2–0	2–0	5	1
2	Cloud9	C9	1–1	~	1–1	2–0	4	2
3	DetonatioN FocusMe	DFM	0–2	1–1	~	1–1	2	4
4	Infinity Esports	INF	0–2	0–2	1–1	~	1	5

Date	Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
6 May	1	DK	W	L	C9
6 May	2	INF	W	L	DFM
7 May	3	INF	L	W	DK
7 May	4	DFM	W	L	C9
8 May	5	DK	W	L	DFM
8 May	6	C9	W	L	INF
11 May	7	C9	W	L	DK
	8	DFM	W	L	INF
	9	DK	W	L	INF
	10	C9	W	L	DFM
	11	DFM	L	W	DK
	12	INF	L	W	C9

Rumble stage

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

#	Team	~	DK	RNG	PSG	MAD	C9	PGG	W	L
1	DWG KIA	DK	~	0–2	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	8	2
2	Royal Never Give Up	RNG	2–0	~	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	7	3
3	PSG Talon	PSG	0–2	1–1	~	1–1	2–0	2–0	6	4
4	MAD Lions	MAD	0–2	1–1	1–1	~	1–1	2–0	5	5
5	Cloud9	C9	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	~	1–1	3	7
6	Pentanet.GG	PGG	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–2	1–1	~	1	9

Date	Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
14 May	1	DK	L	W	RNG
	2	MAD	W	L	PGG
	3	PSG	L	W	DK
	4	RNG	W	L	C9
	5	PSG	W	L	PGG
	6	C9	L	W	MAD
15 May	7	PGG	L	W	RNG
	8	DK	W	L	C9
	9	MAD	L	W	RNG
	10	C9	L	W	PSG
	11	PGG	L	W	DK
	12	MAD	W	L	PSG
16 May	13	C9	W	L	PGG
	14	RNG	L	W	PSG
	15	DK	W	L	MAD
	16	RNG	W	L	PGG
	17	C9	L	W	DK
	18	PSG	W	L	MAD
17 May	19	PSG	L	W	RNG
	20	MAD	L	W	DK
	21	C9	W	L	RNG
	22	PGG	L	W	MAD
	23	DK	W	L	PSG
	24	PGG	W	L	C9
18 May	25	RNG	W	L	DK
	26	PGG	L	W	PSG
	27	RNG	L	W	MAD
	28	PSG	W	L	C9
	29	DK	W	L	PGG
	30	MAD	L	W	C9

Knockout stage

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

Semifinals			Finals

2	Royal Never Give Up	3

3	PSG Talon	1
			Royal Never Give Up	3

			DWG KIA	2
1	DWG KIA	3

4	MAD Lions	2

Match 1

Date and time: 21 May, 13:00 UTC.

Team		ID	Result
2	Royal Never Give Up	RNG	3
3	PSG Talon	PSG	1

Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
1	RNG	W	L	PSG
2	PSG	W	L	RNG
3	RNG	W	L	PSG
4	PSG	L	W	RNG
5	X	–	–	X

Match 2

Date and time: 22 May, 13:00 UTC.

Team		ID	Result
1	DWG KIA	DK	3
4	MAD Lions	MAD	2

Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
1	DK	W	L	MAD
2	MAD	W	L	DK
3	DK	L	W	MAD
4	DK	W	L	MAD
5	MAD	L	W	DK

Finals

Date and time: 23 May, 13:00 UTC
The members of the winning team will lift the MSI trophy, earning their title as the League of Legends 2021 Mid-Season Invitational Champions.

Team	ID	Result
Royal Never Give Up	RNG	3
DWG KIA	DK	2

Game	Blue side	Result		Red side
1	RNG	W	L	DK
2	DK	W	L	RNG
3	RNG	W	L	DK
4	DK	W	L	RNG
5	RNG	W	L	DK

Ranking

(*) 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
3rd–4th	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
7th–8th	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

Due to health complications, player "Unified" (Wong Chun-kit) was unable to participate. Beyond Gaming's bot laner "Doggo" was loaned to PSG Talon for the duration of the tournament.[4]

References

"MSI 2021 is Heading to Reykjavik, Iceland". lolesports.com. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
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.
"MSI 2021's anthem 'Starts Right Here' is a banger, but not quite". OneEsports. 3 May 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
O'Dwyer, Samuel (25 April 2021). "PSG Talon to attend MSI without their starting AD carry". Dot Esports. Retrieved 25 April 2021.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[5] Due to health complications, player "Unified" (Wong Chun-kit) was unable to participate. Beyond Gaming's bot laner "Doggo" was loaned to PSG Talon for the duration of the tournament.[4]

[riotmsi2021-1] "MSI 2021 is Heading to Reykjavik, Iceland". lolesports.com. Retrieved 2 March 2021.

[:0-2] 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] O'Dwyer, Samuel (25 April 2021). "PSG Talon to attend MSI without their starting AD carry". Dot Esports. Retrieved 25 April 2021.