2026 Mid-Season Invitational
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Sport | League of Legends |
| Location | South Korea |
| Dates | June 28–July 12 |
| Administrator | Riot Games |
| Host | Daejeon |
| Teams | 11 |
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]
Gen.G of the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) are the two-time defending champions heading into the event.[2]
Host selection
In 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.[3] 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.[4] It will be the second time South Korea hosts MSI, the first being the 2022 tournament in Busan.
Venue
During 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.[5] The convention center previously hosted the 2023 LCK Summer Finals weekend.
| Daejeon, South Korea | |
|---|---|
| Play-in stage | Bracket stage |
| Daejeon Convention Center II | |
Qualification
The 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.[6]
Format
Like 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.
References
- ^ "MSI and Worlds Updates". LoL Esports. Retrieved 22 March 2026.
- ^ Ilyas Marchoude (13 July 2025). "LoL: Gen.G are the 2025 MSI champions". Sheep Esports. Retrieved 13 July 2025.
- ^ 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.