From June 28 to July 1, the Play-In stage of the
Mid-Season Invitational takes place in Daejeon and will see four teams from across the globe battle it out:
Karmine Corp,
Team Liquid,
T1, and
Deep Cross Gaming, the second seeds from the
League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC),
League of Legends Championship Series (LCS),
League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK), and
League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP).
The Play-In stage of this MSI will be played in a double-elimination bracket format with Best-of-Five series, with only one team qualifying for the Main Event, which will begin on July 3 and run until the Grand Final on July 12. When it comes to the main contenders, a clear top three stands out with Hanwha Life Esports, T1, and Bilibili Gaming. Behind them come Top Esports and G2 Esports, who could also have a say in the tournament.
The bracket is heavily unbalanced, with T1 looking far ahead of the other teams. Only Karmine Corp and Team Liquid seem capable, on a very, very good day, of challenging the reigning three-time world champions. And even then, Ryu "Keria" Min-seok and Kim "Peyz" Su-hwan look like they are playing on another level right now.
