2021 Mid-Season Invitational gets new format, dates revealed

William Davis Published 01/03/2021

The 2021 Mid-Season Invitational will happen and fans now know when, where, and how it will take place.

MSI 2021 will take place in Reykjavík, Iceland from May 6 to 22. 

After missing out on MSI in 2020, the second-biggest event on the League of Legends calendar is set for 2021 and will bring together top teams from all around the world. After a variety of rumors, it is now confirmed that the event will take place in Iceland’s capital city and will be in a bubble format like the one seen during the 2020 World Championship, which largely played out without an audience. Besides that, Riot is changing up the format and dividing the tournament into three stages. 

MSI 2021 will mark the first time that an official Riot Games tournament will take place in Iceland. All games will be played at the Laugardalshöll indoor sporting arena behind closed doors, but will still include the top performers of the first half of the season from each region. 

No teams have been decided for the MSI 2021 yet, but it will only be a few weeks before regional champions will start being crowned. 

Format changes for the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational

The biggest change to the MSI 2021 format is the fact that the play-in stage has been removed. This means that all teams from all regions will now start at the same stage of the tournament. 

The tournament will be divided into three stages, starting with the group stage, followed by the “rumble,” then ending with the knockout stage. The first stage will include all 12 teams, who will be split into three groups of four teams. Each group will play a best-of-one double round robin. The two best teams from each group will advance to the next stage. 

The Rumble Stage is where the six teams will play another double round robin, to find the top four teams that will move on to the final stage. Once again, it’s in a best-of-one format. The final stage has the four remaining teams compete in a single-elimination bracket. All matches will be best-of-five and there will be no room for mistakes. 

The team that wins two best-of-fives in the knockout stage will be crowned the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational champions. 

Who won MSI?

The Mid-Season Invitational has been held a total of five times, with four different winners. The first-ever MSI was won by EDward Gaming in 2015, followed up by two years dominated by SK Telecom T1. Royal Never Give Up won in 2018, followed up by G2 Esports winning the most recent MSI in 2019. 

Read Also

League of Legends

Caps Hall of Legends skins prices and dates revealed Hannan Mundia Caps is the latest League of Legends player to be inducted into the Hall of Legends, and the LEC player’s dedicated skins have been revealed, including their prices and release dates. The Hall of Legends is Riot Games’ way to honor a handful of the most well-known and celebrated professional players associated with LoL. The first inductee was naturally Faker, while the second was Uzi. The third player is Caps, ...

League of Legends

Five Support Champions To Pick Up in LoL Patch 26.17 Ben Boland The support meta in League of Legends is one of the most highly discussed roles in the game right now. With Riot doubling down on the roaming support playstyle, we will likely see more champions added to the pool around the time of Worlds 2026, which begins on 15 October. At the time of writing this article, the current patch, 26.17, is being tested on the PBE, with the launch ...

League of Legends

These Are Five Top Lane Champions To Pick Up in League of Legends Patch 26.17 Ben Boland League of Legends patch 26.17 is just around the corner, and with that patch comes more changes to the role. The days of ADCs in the lane are starting to be a thing of the past, with more bruisers hitting the gym before the launch of 26.17. Many top laners are receiving buffs on the new patch, while powerhouses such as Nasus and Vayne are on the chopping block, making ...

League of Legends

Here Is What To Expect From the League of Legends Patch 26.17 Ben Boland It’s less than a week until the release of League of Legends Patch 26.17, and with this patch comes some significant nerfs to popular champions, item adjustments, and targeting roaming supports as mage bottom lanes dominate the meta. While there is plenty to unpack in this week's patch from Riot Games, two champions, Vayne and Xerath, have received the biggest nerfs across the board. Here are some of the biggest ...

League of Legends

Trade on LGD vs Bilibili Gaming at Polymarket — Use Promo Code WINGGPREMAR Ben Boland Bilibili Gaming comes into their best-of-three series against LGD Gaming as the overwhelming favorites, with Polymarket traders giving the MSI finalists an 83% implied probability of winning at the time of writing this article. The prediction market doesn’t give LGD much of a chance at all, and with traders backing BLG heavily, it paints a picture of who is most likely to win this series in the LPL Split 3, ...

League of Legends

Which Teams Should Be Panicking Ahead of LoL Worlds 2026? Ben Boland The 2026 League of Legends World Championship is fast approaching, with the tournament beginning on 15 October. 19 of the best teams that esports has to offer will do battle in North America for a shot at the Summoner's Cup. For teams like Bilibili Gaming and Hanwha Life Esports, their fates are already sealed without stepping foot on the Rift again, but for the rest of the teams, they will ...

League of Legends

Predictions For Gen.G vs Dplus KIA: Best Value Odds at GGBET Ben Boland Two of the more in-form teams in the LCK go head-to-head as Dplus KIA takes on Gen.G on 22 August. Despite the odds leaning more towards a Gen.G win, there are some solid bets to make across the board, not just simply the result. Dplus KIA have shown impressive form throughout the summer and so shouldn’t be discounted in this series. In this preview, we will highlight the best chances to ...