Format changes headline 2023 League of Legends MSI tournament in London

LoL Esports is beginning a new chapter with MSI 2023 heading to London with a tweaked format promoting international competition.

By Stole Kostov Published on January 11, 2023

After eight years, competitive League of Legends is coming back to the United Kingdom. Even the mayor of London is excited to host the MSI circuit with the new and improved format. And while this looks like damage control on the side of Riot Games after butchering the NLC region, it’s still better than nothing.

London will host MSI 2023

We have been hearing rumors for the past 2-3 months but now it’s official. London will be the city hosting the 2023 Mid Season Invitational. Spanning from May 2 to May 21, this year’s MSI circuit is coming with plenty of changes. Apart from the many changes in regional competitions, MSI will feature a new format. We will also see more teams participating. The recent changes to the EMEA format meant that two slots were open. Add the exclusion of the Russian LCL from international competition, and we have the groundwork for the new format.

MSI expanding to 13 teams

Even the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, knows that this edition of the tournament will be monumental. And while he does highlight the importance and growth of esports, these changes further build upon that. Moving forward, the Mid Season Invitational will feature 13 teams instead of the previous 11 teams. With the Turkish TCL and Middle Eastern MENA regions joining Europe’s LEC, they will be losing their MSI slots. The Russian TCL is also excluded from the competition. Now with the new format, the four major regions receive two representatives.

13 teams and a lot of games scheduled for MSI 2023. Credit: Riot Games

That’s right! The European LEC, the North American LCS, the Chinese LPL and the Korean LCK will send two teams to London. In previous years and with the old format, the champions of the Spring Split represented their region at MSI. With the new LEC format in place, we might see two champions representing Europe. Former LEC Commissioner Peter Schmidt teased the possibility before announcing his retirement. It appears that the winners of the Winter and Spring Splits in 2023 will be the LEC’s representatives at MSI.

2023 MSI format changes

With eight teams from the four major regions, the remaining five slots are spread out more evenly. There will be one team representing the Latin America LLA, the Brazilian CBLOL, the Pacific PCS, the Vietnamese VCS, and the Japanese LJL. With more contestants, it’s understandable why Riot is moving to a format composed of two stages. And both will be double elimination.

MSI Play-In stage explained

The newly introduced Play-In stage of MSI will feature two groups composed of four teams. The second seeds from the LEC, LCS and LPL will join the five representatives from the smaller regions. As a reward for winning the 2022 World Championship, both seeds from Korea will advance directly to the Bracket stage. The winners of each group will advance to the Bracket stage.

The Play-In stage format has been added to MSI. Credit: Riot Games

There they will be joined by the winner of a last chance qualification match. After the group winners advance, there will be a lower bracket offering other teams a second chance. That makes three teams in total advancing from the Play-In stage to join the remaining five teams that have already qualified. Every match in the Play-In stage will be a best of three competition. And with the double elimination bracket in place, we might finally see some upsets on the international stage.

MSI Bracket Stage explained

The three teams advancing through the Play-In stage will join the first seeds from the LEC, LPL and LCS as well as Korea’s two representatives. These eight teams will match up in another double elimination bracket. All matches in the Bracket stage will be best of five series, so be ready to see a lot of gameplay.