After an action-packed five days, the group stage at MSI 2019 has finally come to a close. Six teams entered the fray but only four teams have earned a spot in the knockout stage of the tournament. Invictus Gaming, SK Telecom T1, G2 Esports, and Team Liquid will now head to Taipei to decide which team is the best in the world.
Invictus Gaming has chosen Team Liquid to be their semifinals opponent on Friday, May 17. As a result, SKT will be facing G2 Esports the day after on Saturday, May 18. The winners of those best-of-five series will then face each other for the championship on Sunday, May 19.
Invictus is coming off a dominant performance at MSI, going 9-1 in the Group Stage. The only game they dropped was to SK Telecom T1, who defeated them behind the brilliant performances of Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok and Kim “Clid” Tae-min. Even still, IG is looking like the best team in the tournament and will be the overwhelming favorites in their upcoming series.
Team Liquid awaits Invictus Gaming on the other side of the Summoner’s Rift after a pretty lackluster performance through the Group Stage. TL struggled to find many wins throughout the week, only managing to beat Flash Wolves and Phong Vũ Buffalo. Although Liquid beat G2 Esports on the last day of groups, they are still huge underdogs in this matchup.
Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng might be celebrating his first time advancing past a group stage at an international tournament, but his work is not done yet. He and Jake “Xmithie” Puchero must continue to pressure the early game for TL if they want a chance at beating the best team at MSI.
Published: May 14, 2019 11:47 am