As Spring Splits around the world are culminating in their playoff brackets, Riot Games has finally given fans of professional League of Legends information on the first major international tournament of the year.
This year’s Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), where the best League teams from around the world will compete for a spot at the 2024 World Championship, is set to take place in Chengdu, China from May 1 to 19, Riot announced today. This will be the first MSI in history to offer the winning team a guaranteed spot at Worlds rather than simply a cash prize.
The four major regions—consisting of the LCS, LEC, LPL, and LCK—will each be sending their top two teams to the tournament, with the top seed from those regions earning an immediate entryway into the bracket stage. The second seeds from the major regions, as well as the top seeds from the LLA, CBLoL, PCS, and VCS, will all have to compete for bracket spots in the play-in stage of MSI 2024.
As with previous years, the entirety of the play-in stage will be conducted in two double-elimination, best-of-three brackets, with four teams being eligible to advance. The eight teams that make up the bracket stage will compete in a single-elimination, best-of-five bracket until a winner is determined.
Regardless of the result of their Summer Split, the team that wins MSI earns a spot at Worlds—acting as an additional slot for their region, not taking one of the original ones. The second-place team won’t get immediate access to Worlds, but their region will also be able to send another squad to the biggest tournament of the year.
This announcement notably excludes the revelation made yesterday following an official Riot investigation of “unusual data” discovered in VCS games, resulting in the suspension of 32 players. The VCS’ Spring Split had previously been suspended as the investigation continued, though it will resume on April 3. But it’s unclear as to how this will affect the representation of the VCS at this year’s MSI, if at all.
Fans can look forward to the start of the MSI broadcast on May 1, consisting of nearly three weeks of international gameplay that will culminate in the grand finals on May 19.
