DWG KIA & Cloud9 fight for first in LoL team rankings at MSI

William Davis Published 30/04/2021

The last WIN.gg League of Legends team ranking before the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational is here and it brings with it a lot of changes.

The last team rankings were dominated by the LCK and LPL teams heading into the playoffs. This time around, several teams have fallen back after disappointing playoff performances and left a great opportunity for the qualified MSI teams to climb the rankings over the coming weeks. For now, it’s still DWG KIA dominating at the top, but with both Cloud9 and Royal Never Give Up closing in.

WIN LoL team ranking

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Cloud9 looks to challenge DWG KIA at MSI 2021

As the dominance from DWG KIA continues, so does its top spot on the team rankings. DWG KIA dominated the 2021 LCK Spring Split and isn’t looking to slow down as MSI. As the defending world champions and the pre-tournament favorite at MSI, it’s no surprise that the team enters the tournament at the top of the rankings.

DWG KIA has looked like a well-oiled machine since the middle of last year and it’s hard to imagine that the team won’t also perform at MSI. This could mean an even bigger lead on the team rankings unless someone can stop them.

With Cloud9 taking the second spot on the ranking, it may be the biggest challenger for DWG KIA at MSI. Cloud9 and DWG KIA are also the only two teams from the top five that will participate at MSI, so that battle is locked in. DWG KIA still has a big lead in the ranking, so Cloud9 will need to pull out some big upsets at MSI to close the gap.

Luckily for Cloud9 and for fans, DWG KIA has been placed in the same group as the LCS champions. This means that Cloud9 will get two opportunities in the group stage to beat DWG KIA and prove that the top spot in the team rankings belongs to the LCS. The fight will likely be extremely hard for the LCS representative, but crazier upsets have happened at international events.

Cloud9

MAD Lions, PSG Talon chase top 10 spot

The current team rankings still have a lot of prominent teams that won’t even participate at the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational. These are names such as Gen.G, Team Liquid, and EDward Gaming who are all placed in the top five. Despite great showing during the spring split, none of these teams will compete at MSI which might mean that other teams will catch up.

The next MSI participant on the list is RNG, who is currently ranked as number six and will have a good shot at breaking all the way into the top three. Further down the last are LEC representatives MAD Lions and PSG Talon from the PCS, ranked at 12 and 14 respectively. Those two teams will be gunning for a spot in the top 10.

Both teams have a lot to prove at the MSI. MAD Lions is the team that most fans and experts will keep an eye on, as they won the LEC against all odds by taking down Rogue after G2 Esports was dethroned. This will be the first MSI for MAD Lions, who are looking to keep the trophy in Europe after G2 Esports won the most recent event in 2019. MAD Lions struggled in its last international appearance at the 2020 World Championship, becoming the first team from a major region to be eliminated in the play-in stage at Worlds.

Despite a great showing in the spring split, MAD Lions is still not in the top 10. That may change in the next team ranking update after MSI.

William Davis

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