With only two months left until the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational kicks off, Riot Games has finally unveiled the group draw for each region while also adding a new reward for the winner of the tournament.
This year, the winner of MSI will earn an additional regional team spot for their respective league at the 2021 World Championship, Riot announced today. This is a huge reward that should add even more pressure for teams to perform since they could increase their region’s chances of winning the biggest League of Legends tournament of the year.
Riot will also be handing out an additional slot to the highest-ranking league in its calculated global power rankings.
Once MSI finishes, the rankings will be created. If the highest-ranking league also won MSI, the extra slot will be passed down to the second highest-ranking league in the power rankings instead. This performance-based system is new to competitive League and should be an interesting point of discussion for fans and analysts moving forward.
Meanwhile, MSI’s Group A will consist of the best team this spring from the LPL, VCS, LCL, and LCO. Group B will have representatives from the LEC, PCS, TCL, CBLOL. Lastly, Group C will set the top teams from the LCK, LCS, LLA, and LJL against one another. Only the top two teams from each group will be able to qualify for the second stage of the tournament.
MSI 2021 will begin on Thursday, May 6 in Reykjavík, Iceland.
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