Riot Gaming held a premier League of Legends tournament, the Mid-Season Invitational 2018 for the first time ever in Europe. The main event organised annually will take place between the 3rd until the 20th May this year, in between the Spring and Summer Splits. The prestigious event will gather the top LoL teams who will battle it out showing the world which team is master of League of Legends.
The Mid Season Invitational is considered the second biggest League of Legends competition, offering esports teams the ticket to earn a spot in the main event of the upcoming Worlds Championship in Korea. At the moment of writing this article, the prize pool for MSI 2018 still has to be announced. The match will feature the winners of the Spring Splits from each region, as well as the winning squad from the International Wildcard Invitational.
In the Mid-Season Invitational in 2017, 2.5 million esports fans saw SK Telecom T1 win over G2 Esports in the grand finals with an incredible score of 3-1. Records at MSI 2017 have been broken with the SKT winning the premier title for the second time and taking home the first prize of $676K. There were 364 million esports fans who watched the entire esports event while 4.3 million viewers tuned in to watch at peak times.
In the Mid-Season Invitational 2016, many League of Legends fans saw how SKT Telecom T1 won over Counter Logic Gaming in the finals with a remarkable score of 3-0. This entire event had over 6 million viewers watching the live legendary battles.
Back to this year’s LoL tournament, Riot Gaming is proud to host MSI 2018 in Germany for the Play-ins and Group Stages. While the main event will feature the Semi-finals and Finals, taking place in France at the EU LCS Studio, Zénith Paris La Villette.
All 14 esports teams that won the regional Splits will go against each other, promising you two weeks of thrilling League of Legends battles. The tournament will kick off with the Play-ins starting from the 3rd till 6th May, while the Group Stages will be from the 8th until 15th May. The Knockout Stage of the main event will feature the Semis and Finals in the last two days between 18th till 20th May.
Seven League of Legends Teams at MSI 2018
Ascension Gaming
The LoL team from Thailand, Ascension Gaming was formed in July 2016. Acquiring their place at MSI 2018, ASG beat the Lol unit, Kuala Lumpur Hunter with an unbeatable score of 3-1 at GPL Spring. The professional players that make up the League of Legends roster are Renrin, Nuni, G4, Lloyd and WarL0cK who will represent the South East Asia region.
Gambit Esports
The LOL team of Gambit Esports dominated and won the LCL Spring Competition, where they will represent the CIS region at MSI 2018. Thanks to the team effort professional players, PvPStejos, Diamondprox, Kira, Blasting, Lodik and Edward that make up their League of Legends roster will take their gaming to the next level. Does Gambit have what it takes to win MSI 2018?
Dire Wolves
The Australian League of Legends unit was formed by Nathan ‘Rippli’ Mott in August 2014. Since then Dire Wolves have made a name for themselves in the LoL esports community becoming one of the strongest teams. The team have recently won the OPL Spring matches to earn their spot at the MSI 2018. Will they continue to play well when they are on the International stage?
EVOS Esports
The Indonesian team, Evos Esports was established in May 2016 with headquarters based in Jakarta. They have recently won the esports VCS Spring League to represent Vietnam at the upcoming Mid-Season Invitational. The LoL roster consists of Stark, YiJin, Slay, Warzone and Harbinger. How will EVOS go through the battle against the likes of top LOL teams?
Fnatic
After a year of struggle in 2016, Fnatic came out stronger rising to the top in 2017. They went through the Group Stages to earn a spot in the Worlds Playoffs. However, FNC lost to a top LoL team, Renegades in the Quarterfinals. In the meantime, the squad signed on a new support player, Hylissang to join the current League of Legends roster that also consists of pro players, Bwipo, Broxah, Caps and Rekkles. Having won the EU LCS Spring league which have made them the current European favourites, although they need to work on their macro game. Will they improve and pick up their pace in time for the upcoming MSI 2018?
KaBuM! Esports
The Brazilian League of Legends team has recently won the region’s CBLoL competition, which means they are in fact the best top squad. Many esports fans were left surprised that the squad won since they have had some poor performances in the past few years. However, since the start of 2018, KaBuM suffered only one loss to Vivo Keyd Team. Do they have what it takes to fight for their country?
Team Liquid
The North American squad have achieved success since their team was created back in 2015, However, the highest rankings in competitions were in fourth place. Now TL has the best pro players that from their lineup consisting of Impact, Xmithie, Pobelter, Doublelift and Olleh. Training together as an NA squad they broke records winning the North American LCS league so as to compete at MSI 2018. Will Team Liquid break the curse and finish in the finals?
There are other regions that are still going through the Spring Splits, so the remaining teams still have to be announced in the coming weeks. These units will be representing Korea, China, Japan, North Latin America, South Latin America, Turkey and lastly Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau region.
The good thing about the Mid-Season Invitational 2018 is that you can side with the closest region you are from. Stay tuned to check out the last few participating teams so that you can make your best League of Legends esports bets while also watching live streaming of the competition.
