It is time for the Mid-Season Invitational in League of Legends esports schedule and we are eagerly waiting for the tournament to begin. However, shocking news from China was about to put a shadow on the tournament. Riot Games found a solution to include the Chinese champion, and MSI 2022 is saved for now. Let’s have a look at the latest updates and news from MSI 2022.
All MSI 2022 representatives are decided, every single major League of Legends tournament is over other than the LCL which was discontinued. Vietnam is sending their second place team to participate in Sea Games 31, but being able to see a Vietnamese team will be an amazing feeling. Get the details below.
Chinese representative RNG will play remotely
Thanks to some leaks within China, we knew that there was a possibility of China not being able to send a representative to MSI 2022. Because of China’s restrictions to those coming from outside of the country, if the champion were to leave the country to attend MSI, they would have to be quarantined, and as LPL 2022 Summer will be played rapidly to catch up to Asian Games, they would probably miss most of it.
However, Riot Games quietly found a solution to this problem that could damage MSI dearly. First, they moved MSI 2022 to Busan, Korea, where Chinese players could play from their home country with the lowest ping possible. Following that, they allowed the Chinese champion to participate from their country.
To balance things out, all teams will be playing with around 30-35 ping during their scrims and the games at MSI 2022 to get used to this situation and not to take advantage of Chinese team having to play with high ping. Probably the most affected team will be T1, as they are used to play with low ping in SoloQ, scrims and professional play, while regions like Europe and NA are familiar with having a little bit of lag problem during SoloQ.
China will be represented by Royal Never Give Up after the favourites Victory Five’s elimination. They will be the team playing from China, in a bid to defend their MSI 2021 title this year as wellal.
Teams participating in the MSI 2022
Korea, the best League of Legends region after China, is sending T1, their 20-0 champions to MSI 2022. Europe’s champion G2 Esports and North America’s champion Evil Geniuses were both underdogs during the tournament and they will have to prove their quality at MSI 2022. It will set a message for Worlds 2022 too.
Vietnam’s GAM Esports won’t attend as mentioned earlier since they will attend Sea Games 31 which will take place at the same time. Instead, the second place Saigon Buffalo are joining. A familiar face is coming from the Pacific Championship Series, PSG Talon continued their domination with a weakened roster and will be attending MSI 2022.
Turkey sends Istanbul Wildcats, they joined MSI 2021 last year but missed Worlds 2021, and they were the favourites for the championship title all 2022 long. Another favourite that came through the expectations were Detonation FocusMe, representing Japan once again with their experienced roster.
Brazil also surrendered the title to an underdog as RED Canids took down most of the championship favourites to find an unexpected win. Latin America’s LLA had two tough series and Rainbow7 and INFINITY missed finals, but although they struggled, Team Aze deserved the win. Only Oceania is left, where another underdog, ORDER, reached the championship after taking down PEACE, Pentanet.GG and Chiefs.
MSI 2022 will start with its group stage on May 10 and it will take until May 15 to end. Following that, the rumble stage will be played between May 20-24. The will be played during the remaining time until the grand final which is on May 29.
A more detailed look at the participating teams will be coming in the next weeks, so keep your eyes on Luckbox to find them, watch the games live and even place your bets on your favourite teams.
