New Mid-Season Cup featuring LPL and LCK teams coming in May

The Mid-Season Cup between the LCK and LPL is coming by the end of May, Fomos’ reporter Kenzi shared on Twitter.

There might not be a Mid-Season Invitational this year, but the LPL and LCK are working together on an alternative, the Mid-Season Cup. This flash tournament would run from May 28 to May 31 and will include four teams from each region.

The top four teams from each league will be involved. This means that T1, Gen.G, Dragons, and Damwon Gaming are representing the LCK, while JD Gaming, Top Esports, FunPlus Phoenix, and Invictus Gaming are the LPL teams in the tournament. Each side has two former World Champions, so both sides are theoretically even.

LCK and LPL teams want to prove who’s better after MSI canceled

The event will plug a major gap in the competition calendar for League of Legends after the cancelation of MSI 2020.

LCK teams will be playing from LoL Park in Seoul, the establishment recently opened to host the 2020 LCK Spring Split finals. LPL teams will play from the TJ Sports center in Shanghai. Because of the different locations, the expected ping was established to be between 30 and 40.

The format for the event has not yet been announced yet, but it might follow the one used in previous editions of Rift Rivals. In Rift Rivals, the teams played against all other teams with same seeding in the group stage. If that’s the format, the Mid-Season Cup will have the spring champions T1 and JDG going against each other. The other matches would be TES versus Gen.G, DragonX versus FPX, and Damwon versus IG.

What started as a friendly initiative between two regions, will turn out to be a highly competitive tournament. Unlike other regions, the LPL and LCK always took Rift Rivals seriously. The rivalry between these two regions is fierce, especially now that China is getting recognition as the best region in the world. For the 2020 World Championship, the LPL got an extra seed while the LCK has the regular three.

There will be one definitive difference compared to Rift Rivals. While that event was all about proving which region was stronger, there will only be one winner at the Mid-Season Cup. This means that two LPL teams could contest the trophy in the final, as could two LCK teams.

Fans can expect a good show during the three days of competition. Riot Games has yet to confirm the full details for the Mid-Season Cup.