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Riot Games and LoL Esports announced where the upcoming Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) 2023 will be held, as well as changes to the format.
MSI 2023 Location
The Mid-Season Invitational for 2023 is coming to London for the first time, as revealed by Riot Games. No exact venue has been revealed as of yet.
London mayor Sadiq Khan was the one to welcome LoL Esports to the capital city as he was featured in the official video announcement. “Esports is a growing sector and presents a hugely exciting opportunity for London and its gaming community,” said Khan. “We want to bring the biggest and best tournaments to London, and MSI is a brilliant way to showcase our ambition to become a center for esports.”
MSI 2023 will take place from May 2nd through May 21st.
MSI 2023 Format Changes
The international event will now feature more teams, going from 11 up to 13. The tournament format itself is also receiving some changes, ditching the single elimination bracket and adapting to two double-elimination stages: the Play-In Stage and the Bracket Stage.
Play-In Stage
The Play-Ins will feature eight teams composed of the following:
- LEC 2nd seed
- LCS 2nd seed
- LPL 2nd seed
- LLA 1st seed
- CBLOL 1st seed
- PCS 1st seed
- VCS 1st seed
- LJL 1st seed
Since LCK was the winner of the 2022 Worlds (congrats again, DRX!), their second seed will go straight into the Bracket Stage.
These teams will be grouped into two groups of four via a draw, wherein they will go through best-of-three, double elimination matches.
The winners of each group, alongside with the winners of a do-or-die qualification match between the lower bracket winners, will move on to join the five teams waiting in the Bracket Stage.
Bracket Stage
The Bracket Stage will feature the following seeds:
- LEC 1st seed
- LCS 1st seed
- LPL 1st seed
- LCK 1st & 2nd seed
- 3 qualifiers from Play-Ins
These teams will face off in a best-of-five, double elimination bracket for the title of MSI 2023 champion. “MSI is an opportunity for fans to evaluate the relative strength of teams and regions at the midway point of the season,” said the LoL Esports staff on the blog post. “With this new competitive format, we hope to better deliver on that opportunity, as well as showcase more exciting best-of series, and allow for more player stories to unfold.”
