The 2021 Mid-Season Invitational was the sixth

Mid-Season Invitational The Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) is an annual ''League of Legends'' tournament hosted by Riot Games since 2015. It is the second most important international ''League of Legends'' tournament aside from the World Championship. In 2015 and 2016, ...

(MSI), a

Riot Games Riot Games, Inc. is an American video game developer, publisher and esports tournament organizer based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in September 2006 by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill to develop ''League of Legends'' and went on ...

-organised tournament for ''

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a custom map for ''Warcraft III'', Ri ...

'', a

multiplayer online battle arena Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) is a subgenre of strategy video games in which two teams of players compete against each other on a predefined battlefield. Each player controls a single character with a set of distinctive abilities that i ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

. 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. "Starts Right Here" was the tournament's theme song, put together by Foreign Air, and Kenny Mason. The tournament was hosted in

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from 6 to 23 May 2021. All of the matches were held in the

Laugardalshöll Laugardalshöll (; also known as Laugardalshöllin and Laugardalsholl Sport Center) is a multi-purpose sports and exhibition venue located in the Laugardalur district of Iceland's capital Reykjavík. The complex consists of two main venues, a sp ...

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a pop ...

due to restrictions from the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

Royal Never Give Up Royal Never Give Up (RNG) is a Chinese esports organization whose ''League of Legends'' team competes in the League of Legends Pro League. It was established in May 2015. RNG won the 2016 LPL Spring Playoffs, 2018 LPL Spring Playoffs and 2018 ...

from China defeated the Worlds Champion

DWG KIA DWG KIA, commonly referred to as DAMWON KIA ( ko, 담원 기아) and formerly known as DAMWON Gaming (abbr. DWG; ko, 담원 게이밍, links=no), is a South Korean professional esports organization. Its ''League of Legends'' team competes in ...

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 Lck (or lymphocyte-specific protein tyrosine kinase) is a 56 kDa protein that is found inside specialized cells of the immune system called lymphocytes. The Lck is a member of Src kinase family (SFK), it is important for the activation of the ...

) 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 The 2021 ''League of Legends'' World Championship was an esports tournament for the multiplayer online battle arena video game ''League of Legends''. It was the eleventh iteration of the ''League of Legends'' World Championship, an annual in ...

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 A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or techn ...

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.

Roster

Venue

was the city chosen to host the competition. All matches will be played at

without spectators.

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 Round-robin may refer to: Computing * Round-robin DNS, a technique for dealing with redundant Internet Protocol service hosts * Round-robin networks, communications networks made up of radio nodes organized in a mesh topology * Round-robin schedu ...

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 In games and sports, a tiebreaker or tiebreak is used to determine a winner from among players or teams that are tied at the end of a contest, or a set of contests. General operation In matches In some situations, the tiebreaker may consi ...

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.

Group B

Group C

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

matches are played for first, second, and fourth place * Top four teams will advance to the Knockout Stage; bottom two teams are eliminated

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

Match 1

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

Match 2

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

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.

Ranking

(*) Not including tie-break games.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mid-Season Invitational, 2021 2021 multiplayer online battle arena tournaments May 2021 sports events in Europe

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...