2023 Mid-Season Invitational

2023 Mid-Season Invitational
Tournament information
SportLeague of Legends
LocationLondon, England
Dates2 May–21 May
AdministratorRiot Games
Venue(s)Copper Box Arena
Teams13
Final positions
ChampionsJD Gaming
Runner-upBilibili Gaming
MVPZhuo "knight" Ding
(JD Gaming)
← 2022
2024 →

The 2023 Mid-Season Invitational was the eighth 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 2023 Spring Split[a] and the first interregional competition of Season 13.

The event marked the first time a double elimination format would be applied to a League of Legends esports event, as the event was split into two stages, that being the play-in stage and the bracket stage.[2][3]

The tournament was hosted in London, England, from 2 to 21 May 2023. All stages of the tournament were played in the Copper Box Arena.[4]

"Rules (Are Meant to Break)" was the tournament's theme song, put together by Che Lingo.[5]

Royal Never Give Up from China were the two-time defending champions, but failed to qualify for the event after losing to Bilibili Gaming in the 2023 LPL Spring Playoffs.[6]

JD Gaming and Bilibili Gaming, both from China, faced off in the finals, with JD Gaming defeating Bilibili Gaming 3–1 and winning their first MSI title.[7][8]

Format

8 of the 13 teams started from the play-in stage. Three final surviving teams from the play-in stage then proceeded to the bracket stage, where they would meet with the other five teams.[9] For the event, the teams were unable to use champions Yuumi and Milio as both were deemed unsuitable by Riot Games for competitive play at the time.[10]

Play-in stage

All teams were drawn into two groups, with all groups having four teams. Excluding the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) match that was a best-of five match, all the other matches of the stage had a best-of-three double elimination format.[9]

Bracket stage

The three surviving teams from previous stage joined the other five teams to compete in the bracket stage. All matches of the bracket stage had a best-of-five double elimination format.[9]

Qualified teams

Four of the nine premier League of Legends leagues had two teams representing them, including the LCK, LPL, LEC and LCS,[11] with both LCK teams will start in the bracket stage due to a team from the region winning the 2022 World Championship. Team from LCL (CIS), TCL (Turkey), LCO (Oceania) have been no longer qualified directly for MSI since 2023. The number of teams taking part in this tournament would be increased from eleven to thirteen.

Region League Path Team ID Pool
Starting in the bracket stage
South Korea LCK Spring champion Gen.G GEN 1
Spring runner-up T1 T1 3
China LPL Spring champion JD Gaming JDG 1
EMEA LEC Spring champion MAD Lions MAD 2
North America LCS Spring champion Cloud9 C9 2
Starting in the play-in stage
China LPL Spring runner-up Bilibili Gaming BLG 1
EMEA LEC Winter champion G2 Esports G2
North America LCS Spring runner-up Golden Guardians GG 2
Asia-Pacific PCS Spring champion PSG Talon PSG
Vietnam VCS Spring champion GAM Esports GAM 3
Japan LJL Spring champion DetonatioN FocusMe DFM
Latin America LLA Spring champion Movistar R7 R7 4
Brazil CBLOL Spring champion LOUD LLL

Venue

London was the city chosen to host the competition. Both Play-In Stage and Bracket Stage would be held at the Copper Box Arena.

London, England
Copper Box Arena

Play-in stage

  • Date and time: 2–7 May, begins at 13:00 GMT on weekdays and 12:00 GMT on weekends
  • Eight teams would be drawn into two groups
  • Pool 1 team would play with pool 4 team, while pool 2 team would play with pool 3 team in upper bracket round 1
  • Double elimination; all matches are best-of-three, excluding match between two group runners-up is best-of-five
  • The three teams consisting of the winners of each group and winner of match between two group runners-up advanced to the Bracket Stage as pool 3; five teams would be eliminated[12]

Bracket

Round 1Round 2
Match 1 – 2 May
A3DetonatioN FocusMe0
Match 7 – 4 May
A2PSG Talon2
W1PSG Talon0
Match 2 – 2 May
W2G2 Esports2
A1G2 Esports2
A4LOUD0
Match 3 – 3 May
B1Bilibili Gaming2
Match 8 – 4 May
B4Movistar R70
W3Bilibili Gaming2
Match 4 – 3 May
W4Golden Guardians1
B3GAM Esports0
B2Golden Guardians2
Lower round 1Lower round 2Lower Final
Match 9 – 6 May
Match 5 – 5 MayL7PSG Talon2
L1DetonatioN FocusMe0W5LOUD0Match 11 – 7 May
L2LOUD2W9PSG Talon0
Match 10 – 6 MayW10Golden Guardians3
Match 6 – 5 MayL8Golden Guardians2
L3Movistar R72W6Movistar R70
L4GAM Esports1

Bracket stage

  • Date and time: 9–21 May, begins at 13:00 GMT on weekdays and 12:00 GMT on weekends
  • Teams of same pool 1 or same pool 2 would be on opposite sides of the upper bracket. All four teams could not face each other in upper bracket round 1.
  • Teams of the same region could not face each other in upper bracket round 1 too.
  • Double elimination; matches are best-of-five[12]
  • The members of the winning team will lift the MSI trophy, earning their title as the League of Legends 2023 Mid-Season Invitational Champions.
Round 1Round 2Round 3Finals
Match 1 – 9 May
Gen.G3
Match 7 – 13 May
G2 Esports1
W1Gen.G2
Match 2 – 10 May
W2T13
MAD Lions0
Match 11 – 18 May
T13
W7T12
Match 3 – 11 May
W8JD Gaming3
Cloud90
Match 8 – 14 May
Bilibili Gaming3
W3Bilibili Gaming0
Match 4 – 12 May
W4JD Gaming3
JD Gaming3Match 14 – 21 May
Golden Guardians0W11JD Gaming3
W13Bilibili Gaming1
Lower round 1Lower round 2Lower round 3Lower round 4
Match 9 – 16 May
Match 5 – 13 MayL8Bilibili Gaming3Match 13 – 20 May
L1G2 Esports3W5G2 Esports1Match 12 – 19 MayL11T11
L2MAD Lions0W9Bilibili Gaming3W12Bilibili Gaming3
Match 10 – 17 MayW10Gen.G0
Match 6 – 14 MayL7Gen.G3
L3Cloud93W6Cloud90
L4Golden Guardians1

Ranking

Team ranking

Place Region Team Prize (%) Prize (USD)
1st LPL JD Gaming 20% $50,000
2nd LPL Bilibili Gaming 15% $37,500
3rd LCK T1 12% $30,000
4th LCK Gen.G 10% $25,000
5th–6th LCS Cloud9 8% $20,000
LEC G2 Esports
7th–8th LCS Golden Guardians 6% $15,000
LEC MAD Lions
9th PCS PSG Talon 5% $12,500
10th–11th CBLOL LOUD 3% $7,500
LLA Movistar R7
12th–13th VCS GAM Esports 2% $5,000
LJL DetonatioN FocusMe
Place Region Team Prize (%) Prize (USD)

Notes

  1. ^ For the 2023 season, the Winter and Spring champion from EMEA (LEC) qualified for the event, as a result of the introduction of three splits to the LEC season.[1]

References

  1. ^ Miter, Mateusz (3–20 January 2023). "This is how LEC teams will qualify for MSI and Worlds following 2023 changes". Dot Esports. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
  2. ^ "Save-the-Date: MSI 2023 is Coming to London!". lolesports.com. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  3. ^ "State of the Game: LoL Esports in 2023". lolesports.com. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  4. ^ Ciocchetti, Cecilia (8 February 2023). "Riot confirms MSI 2023 location, dates, and more". Dot Esports. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  5. ^ "Riot is 'ready to defy your expectations' with shadow-dropped MSI 2023 anthem". Dot Esports. 21 April 2023. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  6. ^ Younger, Warren (29 May 2022). "RNG defeat T1 to win MSI 2022". Upcomer. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  7. ^ Stubbs, Mike (21 May 2023). "JD Gaming Wins The 'League Of Legends' Mid-Season Invitational". Forbes. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  8. ^ Kelly, Michael (21 May 2023). "Flawless: JDG win MSI 2023 without losing a single series". Dot Esports. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  9. ^ a b c Czar, Michael (8 February 2023). "MSI 2023: How to watch, schedule, teams, and more". Upcomer. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  10. ^ Esguerra, Tyler (19 April 2023). "Riot confirms 2 top LoL supports will be disabled for MSI 2023". Dot Esports. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  11. ^ "Worlds 2023 to be held in Korea, MSI 2023 in London". InvenGlobal. 10 January 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  12. ^ a b "MSI 2023 Primer". lolesports.com. Retrieved 25 April 2023.