This article is part of our LoL Previews series.
In the days before the League Championship Series and organized leagues across regions, the most dominant League of Legends teams were determined through a variety of tournaments including Intel Extreme Masters, Major League Gaming, and the now retired IGN Pro League. Since then, one of the largest forms of criticism Riot has received was a lack of tournaments and international competition outside of the World Championship. In recent years, Riot has started hosting the Mid-Season Invitational in order to create more international competition and give teams more experience in a tournament setting. The tournament also acts to keep competition from falling off during the off season between the Spring and Summer splits of the regular season. This year's MSI will take teams across the globe to Shanghai where they will compete from May 4-15 for their chance at a chunk of the $400,000 prize pool. All of the teams attending were given direct invites after dominating their own regions. It features teams ranging from World Champions to Wildcards all of whom looking to prove themselves on the international stage.
The MSI will pit these teams against one another in a double round-robin format to determine the top four teams who will advance to the best-of-five bracket stage of the event. As of this year, making it to the bracket stage portion of the MSI will have an implication on the World Championship. All of the teams competing at MSI will look to secure seeding for their region at World's making it one of the most competitive and exciting international tournaments to date.
To read more about the World's implications, check them out in Riot's official statement here
In this preview, I'll divide the six teams into three categories based on how I think they will shape up against the competition.
Finalists:
These are the teams that I feel have the best shot at playing in the finals and claiming the $250,000 grand prize. When looking at teams it's important to note that some of them do not have a history of playing against each other; meaning there is no way to be certain who will advance past the group stages. Despite that, I'll be looking at the individual team's international as well as domestic performances in making these predictions.
SK Telecom T1
Home to "The Unkillable Demon King" it is no surprise that SK Telecom tops my rankings. After a disappointing showing in the regular season, it was unclear whether SKT would be able to attend MSI. After losing regular season series to Afreeca and Longzhu, the team lost their high standing in the league. They dropped even further, having lost both of their regular season matches to ROX which affected their seeding for playoffs and forcing them to play an additional series against Jin Air Green Wings where they dropped a game. The big item to note about these losses was Faker, the Demon King himself, having poor performances along the way. Trying new picks throughout the games, Faker had varying success ranging from absolute domination to uncharacteristically leading his team in death count. Despite the various problems, SKT was able to rally when it counted and put up a stellar showing against ROX in the finals to earn themselves yet another LCK title. The big difference this time though was newcomer Blank. After flying under the radar on Energy Pacemaker and Star Horn Royal Club, he was picked up in December by SK Telecom who were confident in their ability to groom him -- and that is just what they did. After dominating the whole regular season, he kept his play up through the playoffs earning a staggering 8.36 KDA and secure the LCK Championship for his team. Fresh off of their win over ROX, an absolute domination of their best domestic talent, it is hard to imagine a team that will be able to take a game off them, let alone a series to eliminate them from the tournament.
Additionally, SK Telecom dominated their most recent international competition, winning the IEM Katowice World Championship in convincing fashion without dropping a single game. Although MSI will not contain the same teams, the dominating fashion in which they dismantled the likes of Qiao Gu and Fnatic indicate they are still on top of the world standings. In Shanghai, SKT will look to repeat their performance. If their players come with the fire in their eyes displayed in the Spring Playoffs, they should have no trouble winning yet another international competition. This bunch of world champions should be heavily favored to win the tournament, but because of their slump during the regular season, fans and pundits alike are more apt to suggest that there is more of a chance they could lose. Despite the questions from some, SKT is my pick to win the entire tournament.
Royal Never Give Up
This team of royalty currently reigns over China and is looking to extend the power of their throne on their home turf during MSI. Most recently they claimed first in LPL Spring with an impressive 13-3 regular season record. They then went on to dominate the playoffs and nearly swept the finals, losing only a single game because of an unfortunate draft phase. The team saw impressive performances from their ten man squad including their touted rookies Wuxx, MLXG, and XIaohu. These shining stars assisted the team in their impressive season and subsequent qualification to MSI, making them the players to look out for in this tournament. If anyone can take down SKT, they are the ones I'd recommend betting on.
Royal's domination is not contained just to China, but also extends to international competition in recent showings. In Katowice, the team dominated their IEM group, advancing to the playoffs with ease. Despite falling to Fnatic in the semifinals, they had a strong showing in the series earning them third place at the event. They even out shined their Chinese brethren Qiao Gu who failed to advance past groups despite being favored to win the entire event. With their ability to perform at pressure filled times coupled with having the home field advantage, I expect RNG to make it to the finals of the event with ease.
Bracket Stage Contenders:
The title for this section is rather self explanatory. With only six teams attending the event and the top four advancing, these teams will likely be able to secure a portion of the prize pool but may not have what it takes to reach the finals depending on who they are matched up against.
Flash Wolves
Hailing from Taiwan, this team has a long history of doing well both home and abroad, giving them my number one spot in the bracket stage Contenders group. Their most recent domination of the LMS Spring Playoffs indicates they will have a rather strong showing at MSI and may even find their way into finals depending on how the semifinals are seeded. After an extremely one sided 3-0 victory over ahq (a team I would also expect to make it to the Bracket Stage) in the finals, I will be extremely surprised if they fall victim to the LCS teams and fail to make it out of round robin play. They've placed top three in the past three splits of the LMS, proving that they are the top talent from Taiwan and deserve their spot at this tournament.
Not only have the Flash Wolves been dominant domestically, they have also had strong showings internationally in the past year. At IEM Katowice, they placed 3rd/4th with ROX Tigers, after missing out on finals in a close series against Team Solo Mid. They didn't stop there, storming into the World Championship in a group with Counter Logic Gaming and former Koo Tigers (now ROX). They topped their group convincingly with a 2-0 record against the second place Tigers. Their run ended in the quarterfinals with a close series against Origen where they took a game off the semifinalists. After proving they have what it takes to compete internationally, they've certainly got what it takes to continue the trend of showing up at international competitions and earning their spot in the bracket stage of MSI.
Counter Logic Gaming
This is the point in the article where many of you will start to disagree with me. A North American team doing well at an international tournament? Inconceivable! Hear me out before you click away. CLG has a strong case for their ability to perform, leading me to believe they have a strong chance at advancing to the Bracket Stage.
First let's take a look at their performance in North America. Fresh off yet another NALCS Championship, CLG is looking stronger than ever. After winning the Summer Split, the team made changes that shocked fans and made their future uncertain. Bringing fresh blood to the team, they replaced Eugene "Pobelter" Park with Choi "Huhi" Jae-hyun in the mid lane as well as replacing star ad carry Yilliang "Doublelift" Peng with Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes. The changes ended up being successful, with the team's chemistry skyrocketing. After a strong regular season with the team, playoffs saw them fight tooth and nail in two best-of-five series where they proved to be the best team in North America once again. Utilizing both impressive teamfighting as well as 1-3-1 split pressure, the team has an arsenal of strategies at their disposal. With the successes in their own region, I expect them to show up to MSI with something to prove.
Not only has Counter Logic Gaming proven successful domestically, but like many of the other teams representing their regions at MSI, they have several international showings. The team competed at IEM San Jose back in November shortly after the rookies were brought in. Despite being the roster's first international tournament, they shattered expectations sweeping both Unicorns of Love and Jin Air Green Wings to earn a spot in the finals of the event. Although they fell to Origen in the finals, they've proven that they had what it took to compete on an international stage. Their experience doesn't stop there as they most recently competed at IEM Katowice with a much different result. After facing SKT in their first game of the event, they were knocked to the losers bracket where they were forced to face Fnatic -- now having faced both teams that were in the finals. CLG was unable to take down Fnatic in their best-of-three, winning just one of the games and subsequently being eliminated from the tournament. Not all hope is lost for CLG fans because of this performance, in fact, if anything, it should bring hope. The team showed signs of life and put up a fight against the toughest opponents in the game -- something they must continue to do if they hope to make it out of the Round Robin stage at MSI. With their recent success domestically and history of international performance, I expect CLG to put up a fight for a spot in the bracket stage.
Gamers 2
Just because I put Counter Logic Gaming ahead of Gamers 2 does not mean I favor them. In fact, I think both of these teams have a strong chance of making it out of groups, but it will come down to who is able to show up internationally and may even come down to their head-to-head record in the round robin. Don't get me wrong, the team is looking strong and took the EULCS Spring Split by storm. They had a near perfect split, earning a 15-3 record in the group stages and dropping only two games in the playoffs. Domestically, they are on the SKT of Europe; the team nobody wants to face. I concede that Gamers 2 has dominated Europe and will likely continue to do so unless the other teams step up and retaliate against their newly crowned champions. However, this doesn't necessarily mean they will perform internationally.
Being a relatively new team being thrust into international competition comes with a lot of pressure. Teams want to prove themselves and often times are unable to do so, especially when being pitted against the reigning World Champions. This situation is slightly different for Gamers 2 which leads me to believe they have a chance at knocking out either the Flash Wolves or CLG to advance to the bracket stage. Although the team doesn't have international experience as a whole, they are made up of individual members who have competed in a variety of other regions. Their coach, Joey "Youngbuck" Steltenpool, recently came from a stint in North America where he coached in the NALCS. They also have two players who have experience across the globe, with Kim "Trick" Kang Yoon competing in the LCK along with Kim "Emperor" Jin-hyun. Emperor has also competed in Brazil and North America in addition to Korea, giving the team perspective from across multiple regions. With the recent success that Gamers 2 have had, I will be surprised if they are unable to perform at MSI, but what it's going to come down to is how they show up at their first international event.
The Vacation Team:
Since I've deviated from my original grouping of two teams per section, this final section is made up of the final team and the one who won't be receiving any prize money but did secure themselves the ultimate consolation prize - a vacation in Shanghai paid for by Riot. Although they will also gain experience on the international stage, it is unclear whether this will affect how they perform on their home turf after the tournament.
SuperMassive
It should be no surprise that SuperMassive is one of the teams I predict to fail to make it out of the group stages. Although the team is a new name, it is home to familiar faces in the wild card region. Formerly known as Beşiktaş e-Sports Club, the team re-branded but kept the previous roster including well known DumbleDoge and Thaldrin. They continued to compete in the Turkish Championship League where they had a mediocre winter split that resulted in a three-way tie for third. After grueling tiebreaker matches, they prevailed and went on to Playoffs where they made a run from Quarterfinals to place first in the league.
After their first place finish, the team looked towards the International Wildcard Invitational where they ultimately secured their spot at MSI. After an up and down group stage, they advanced to the bracket stage of the event where they dominated the competition to finish in first place. Although the team proved themselves to qualify for this international event, their recent international showing has not been strong. Last MSI, they failed to win a single game, being eliminated from the tournament with a 0-5 record. This year's competition looks much stronger with the rise of the rookies across the regions, so it will be surprising if they are able to win a single game, let alone upset and make it out of the group stage. The tournament will not be a waste for them as they look to play spoiler, as they gain even more experience to continue dominating the TCL and hopefully qualify for the World Championship later this year.
