The 2026 Mid-Season Invitational will be the eleventh iteration of the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), a Riot Games–organized tournament for League of Legends, a multiplayer online battle arena video game. The tournament will be played in Daejeon, South Korea from June 28 to July 12, 2026.[1]
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Sport | League of Legends |
| Location | Daejeon, South Korea |
| Dates | June 28–July 12 |
| Administrator | Riot Games |
| Venue | Daejeon Convention Center II |
| Teams | 11 |
Gen.G of the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) were the two-time reigning champions,[2] but failed to qualify for the event after losing to T1 in the 2026 LCK Road to MSI qualification tournament.[3]
Host selection
editIn a development update video published by Riot Games on 8 January 2025 to begin that year's competitive season, Riot Games announced that South Korea will host the tournament.[4] Daejeon was named as the host city of MSI 2026 on 7 November 2025 during the media day for the 2025 League of Legends World Championship final in Chengdu, China.[5] It will be the second time South Korea hosts MSI, the first being the 2022 tournament in Busan.
Venue
editDuring the finals of the 2026 First Stand Tournament in São Paulo, Brazil on 22 March 2026, Riot Games announced that the Daejeon Convention Center was chosen to host the tournament, specifically its second building known as DCC2, which is the largest facility out of the two buildings.[6] The convention center previously hosted the 2023 LCK Summer Finals weekend.
| Daejeon, South Korea | |
|---|---|
| Play-in stage | Bracket stage |
| Daejeon Convention Center II | |
 | |
Qualification
editThe League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK), League of Legends Pro League (LPL), League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC), the League Championship Series (LCS), and the League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP) are planned to send two qualified teams each, while the Campeonato Brasileiro de League of Legends (CBLOL) will send one qualified team. The LCS and CBLOL will return to MSI for the first time since 2024 after the League of Legends Championship of The Americas (LTA), which briefly replaced them, was discontinued after the 2025 season.[7]
Qualified teams
editOn 10 May 2026, Team Secret Whales of the LCP became the first team to qualify for the tournament by virtue of securing enough championship points to finish in the top two as of the second split. G2 Esports of the LEC followed suit on 25 May after winning in the upper bracket final of the league's spring playoffs. The LCP's Deep Cross Gaming, the LEC's Karmine Corp, and the CBLOL's FURIA, completed the list of qualified teams in their respective regions on 6 June. The day after, Top Esports of the LPL, and LYON of the LCS became the first qualified team from their respective regions. The LCK's Hanwha Life Esports advanced to the tournament on 12 June, with Bilibili Gaming and Team Liquid completing the LPL's and the LCS's representatives the next day, respectively. T1 secured qualification on 14 June to finalize the list of all qualified teams.
| Starting in the bracket stage | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Region | League | Path | Team |
| Brazil Southern Latin America |
CBLOL | Split 1 champion | FURIA |
| South Korea | LCK | Road to MSI Match 1 winner | Hanwha Life Esports |
| Asia-Pacific | LCP | Split 2 champion | Team Secret Whales |
| North America Northern Latin America |
LCS | Spring Split champion | LYON |
| EMEA | LEC | Spring Split champion | G2 Esports |
| China | LPL | Split 2 champion | Bilibili Gaming |
| Split 2 runner-up | Top Esports | ||
| Starting in the play-in stage | |||
| Region | League | Path | Team |
| South Korea | LCK | Road to MSI Match 2 winner | T1 |
| Asia-Pacific | LCP | Most Championship points as of Split 2[a] | Deep Cross Gaming |
| North America Northern Latin America |
LCS | Spring Split runner-up | Team Liquid |
| EMEA | LEC | Spring Split runner-up | Karmine Corp |
Format
editLike prior years, the tournament is split into a play-in stage and a bracket stage, albeit with changes. In the play-in stage, four (4) teams, those being the second seeds from the LCK, LCP, LCS, and LEC, will be placed into a double-elimination bracket consisting entirely of best-of-fives. The winner of the play-in stage will advance to the bracket stage. In the eight (8) team bracket stage, the play-in stage winner, the first and second seeds from the LPL (by virtue of being the winning region of the 2026 First Stand Tournament) and the first seeds from all other regions will play in a double elimination best-of-five bracket. As in prior years, the winner of MSI will qualify automatically for the 2026 World Championship should they qualify for their region's third split playoffs, while the runner-up region will gain an additional spot in the tournament.
Play-in stage
edit- Date and time: 28 June–1 July, began at 12:00 KST (03:00 UTC)[8]
- Four teams placed in a GSL-style double-elimination format
- Seeding based on results from the 2026 First Stand Tournament
- 2nd place: LEC; 3rd place: LCK; 4th place: LTA; 5th place: LCP
- All matches are best-of-five.
Bracket
edit| Round 1 | Round 2 | Qualification match | |||||||||||
| June 28, 12:00 KST | |||||||||||||
| T1 | |||||||||||||
| Team Liquid | |||||||||||||
| June 28, 17:00 KST | |||||||||||||
| Karmine Corp | |||||||||||||
| Relove Deep Cross Gaming | |||||||||||||
| Lower Round 1 | Lower Round 2 | ||||||||||||
Source: LoL Esports
Notes
edit- ↑ Excluding the Split 2 champions
References
edit- ↑ "MSI and Worlds Updates". LoL Esports. Retrieved 22 March 2026.
- ↑ Cecilia Ciocchetti (13 July 2025). "Gen.G secures back-to-back MSI titles and first spot at Worlds 2025". Esports Insider. Retrieved 13 July 2025.
- ↑ Shin Yeon-jae (14 June 2026). "T1 Defeats Gen.G in Full-Set Thriller... Secures Last Ticket to MSI". Inven Global. Retrieved 15 June 2026.
- ↑ Ciocchetti, Cecilia (8 January 2025). "Riot just dropped the schedule and location for every LoL esports tournament up to 2027". Dot Esports. Retrieved 13 July 2025.
- ↑ "LoL: Worlds Headed to Texas, First Stand Expands to Eight Teams — Riot Outlines the 2026 International Schedule". Sheep Esports. 7 November 2025. Retrieved 7 November 2025.
- ↑ Xu, Davide (23 March 2026). "MSI 2026 Heads to Daejeon, Schedule and Location Confirmed". Hotspawn. Retrieved 22 March 2026.
- ↑ Ciocchetti, Cecilia (28 September 2025). "Riot bids farewell to the LTA as LCS and CBLOL return in 2026". Esports Insider. Retrieved 28 September 2025.
- ↑ "MSI 2026 Primer". LoL Esports. Retrieved June 16, 2026.