- Rumors say that South Korea will host this year’s League of Legends MSI
- The MSI was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19 restrictions
- South Korea hasn’t hosted a major international LoL event since 2018
After a two-year-long hiatus, the League of Legends Mid-Seasonal Event will finally return to South Korea, one of the most successful countries in League history.
Korea Will Host the MSI
The League of Legends Mid-Seasonal Event, or MSI, is one of the most anticipated events of the LoL competitive circuit. Up until now, it was unknown where it will be held, but recent rumors suggest that South Korea is going to host the event, although the cities and venues where it will be held still remain unknown.
This event will be the first time South Korea hosts an international League of Legends event since 2018. The country was last the home of the Worlds 2018, so it has not hosted any international events for almost four years. Despite League of Legends being massively popular in the country, with Korea producing many top-notch players and teams, the Covid pandemic took a major toll on any event. The small Asian country had very severe restrictions and organizing a major international event was no easy task.
The Covid pandemic wreaked havoc on League of Legends events. The restrictions continue to have their negative effects on the sport, as even this year’s LEC Spring is being held online. The previous years’ MSI were all canceled due to the pandemic, so this year’s event in Korea not only marks the first hosting of the country of a major international event, but also the return of the MSI after a two-year-long hiatus.
In 2020, as the first instances of Covid were starting to pop up around the world, Riot decided to cancel that year’s MSI and go for a restrictive “bubble system” in China for Worlds 2020. The following year, Riot again adopted the same system in Iceland in 2021 for both the MSI and Worlds.
More about the MSI
The 2022 MSI is held between the first and second splits of all regions, with the champions of each competitive region competing for the MSI title. The event will be divided into 3 stages, with 12 teams entering the first Group stage.
The teams will be divided into three groups based on speed. Groups with four teams will compete in the double round-robin, and groups with three teams will have a quadruple round-robin. Matches are the best of one and the top two teams from each group will advance to the next stage.
Stage Two is a rumble with double robin rounds, where matches are again best of one. The top four teams will advance to the final Third knockout stage, which is a single-elimination bracket with matches being a best of five.
With a prize pool of a quarter of a million dollars, the 2022 MSI should kick off between the last week of April and the first week of May.
