League of Legends’ annual Mid-Season Invitational tournament faced many changes over the years, but one thing has never changed: its being the second biggest international event in League of Legends and great opportunity for LoL betting followers. Unlike the Worlds, Mid-Season Invitational didn’t start to be held with Season 1. The event’s history began in 2015, and it has been bringing so many great stories since then.
2015
After Riot’s announcing the first MSI in 2015, it featured five major leagues’ Spring Split champions alongside Wildcard Regions’ champions. While the champions of major leagues started with the group stage, Wildcard’s champions fought each other to earn a spot beside the giants. After many great matchups between the best teams around the world, China representative Edward Gaming and South Korea representative SK Telecom T1 managed to qualify for the grand final. Edward Gaming surpassed SK Telecom with a 3-2 in the final, and destroyed Faker’s undefeated record with LeBlanc.
2016
The 2016 MSI’s format was the same as the previous year. Champions of China, South Korea, Europe, North America, Taiwan and Turkey, which was the winner region of Wildcard, took their places in the group stage. With performances they showed, everyone thought SK Telecom would bid a farewell in the knockout stage. However, the Korean champion surprised everyone by eliminating Royal Never Give Up in the semifinals and then they crushed NA’s presentative Counter Logic Gaming in the final with a 3-0.
2017
In 2017, Riot Games made some changes in the tournament’s format. Due to low performances of NA and LMS teams, Riot obligated those regions to play another qualifier to get a spot in the group stage. However, it didn’t matter which teams took place in the group stage in 2017, because SK Telecom T1 was there to win everything. After winning eight games out of ten in the group stage, SKT beat Flash Wolves and G2 Esports consecutively and secured their second MSI championship.
2018
Let me tell you something that was unforeseen: SKT couldn’t make it to the MSI 2018 after they lost the LCK championship to King-Zone DragonX. It’s a little bit surprising, right? But do not allow this to make you think other teams had a chance. Another final boss was there, Royal Never Give Up. The legendary ADC Uzi succeeded in winning his first international trophy beating every team one by one.
2019
This is the year where every Western League of Legends fans were proud. After the long period of Eastern dominance in the League of Legends scene, this was the first final where the European and North America champions met each other. Passing SKT and Invictus Gaming in the semifinals, both teams gave their fans a happy memory in 2019. At the end, G2 Esports was the stronger side and lifted the trophy.
2020
Due to COVID-19 pandemic, MSI 2020 was cancelled by Riot Games. There was no option for esports betting fans.
2021
2021 Mid-Season Invitational’s state wasn’t clear for a long time under the conditions of the ongoing pandemic. After Riot Games announced the LAN event that is being held in Iceland, the company revealed the changed tournament format. At the end China representative RNG won the tournament.
