2024 MSI Format Interpretation: May 1st, following last year's rules, T1 will participate in the Play-In Tournament!
The 2024 Mid-Season Championship Invitational is about to officially start in Chengdu in May, and the spring tournaments in various major regions around the world have also ended, and 11 of the 12 teams participating in this competition have been determined, and only the Brazilian region will not be able to determine the participating teams until the end of this week.
The upcoming mid-year international tournament has a role to play every year, so how is this year's MSI different from previous years in terms of format and schedule?
The Play-In format continues from last year, but with a slight twist
Unlike MSI in 2023, there are 12 teams participating in this year's competition, and compared to last year's 13 teams, there are fewer teams from the LJL region, mainly because after the end of the 2023 Worlds, the LJL region was merged into the PCS region, and in the past PCS finals, the SHG team from the LJL region was ruthlessly eliminated by PSG with a 3-0 victory despite reaching the finals.
From 13 to 12, the biggest change is the composition of the teams in the play-in stage, in 2023, the second seed in the Korean division does not need to play in the play-in round, so the play-in stage is 8 into 3, and the second seed (T1) in the Korean division this year needs to play in the play-in round, so the play-in round has become 8 into 4, but the competition system has not changed much.
In the play-in stage, the second seeds from the four major regions (LCS\LEC\LCK\LPL) and the second seeds from the wild card regions (CBLOL\PCS\LLA\VCS) will be divided into two groups through a draw, and each group will determine the winner of the upper bracket and the winner of the lower bracket through a double-elimination format of BO3.
In the draw ceremony, the second seeds in the LPL and LCK regions are both the teams in the first pool, so they will not meet in the play-in stage, the second seeds in the LEC and LCS regions are the second pool, the PCS and VCS are the third pool, and the LLA and CBLOL are the fourth pool. Meanwhile, in the game, Pool 1 will play against Pool 4 and Pool 2 will play against Pool 3.
Double Elimination Stage
The four teams that make it through the Play-In Stage will be automatically allocated to Pool 3 and Pool 4 of the Knockout Stage draw, with the winner of the upper bracket going to Pool 3 and the winner of the lower bracket going to Pool 4.
In the draws of the knockout stage, the No. 1 seed in the LPL and LCK regions is pool 1, and the No. 1 seed in the LEC and LCS is pool 2.
That is, when a draw results in multiple teams from a region on the same side, the team that is drawn will be moved to the other side to avoid conflicts with the above rules. For example, if there is an LPL No. 1 seed and an LEC No. 1 seed in the top half, and then the LPL No. 2 seed is drawn, the team will be automatically moved to the bottom half to avoid two LPL teams on the same side.
Depending on the results of the Play-In Tournament, there may be only one draw. So in this case, there will be no draw ceremony.
The knockout stage will also be in a double-elimination format, and from the second round of the lower bracket and the upper bracket, the principle of avoiding the same region will be removed, and all matches in the knockout stage will be BO5.
Game time
The play-in stage of the competition will start on May 1st, end on the 5th, and then there will be a day off, and the knockout round will start on the 7th, because the competition location is in Chengdu, so most of the game time should be arranged in the afternoon, and the play-in stage should start at about 2 o'clock, and the knockout stage will start at about 5 o'clock because it is BO5, and the number of games arranged every day is reduced.
The above is the interpretation of the rules of this year's MSI mid-season, this year's MSI is actually more competitive, one of the important reasons is that the LPL division sent out two all-Chinese teams, plus MSI in the past few years, the LPL division has always had good results, LCK vows to regain the championship, and this year's MSI champion will go straight to the global finals at the end of the year, which also makes MSI the highest gold content in the past.