2022 Mid-Season Invitational

The 2022 Mid-Season Invitational was the seventh Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), a Riot Games–organised tournament for League of Legends, a multiplayer online battle arena video game. The tournament was the culmination of the 2022 Spring Split and the first interregional competition of Season 12.

2022 Mid-Season Invitational

Tournament information
Sport	League of Legends
Location	South Korea
Dates	10 May–29 May
Administrator	Riot Games
Venue(s)	2 (in Busan) Busan Esports Arena (group stage) Busan Exhibition and Convention Center (Rumble stage and Knockout stage)
Teams	11
Final positions
Champions	Royal Never Give Up
Runner-up	T1
MVP	Yan "Wei" Yangwei (Royal Never Give Up)
← 2021 2023 →

11 of the 12 premier League of Legends leagues had a team representing them; the LCL was not participating due to the Spring Split being cancelled as a result of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The competition continued the same format that was introduced during MSI 2021. The minimum prize pool was US$250,000.

"Set It Off" was the tournament's theme song, put together by DPR Live, and DPR Cline.^[1]

The tournament was hosted in Busan, South Korea, from 10 to 29 May 2022. The Group Stage was held in the Busan Esports Arena,^[2] while the Rumble Stage and Knockout Stage was held in the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center (BEXCO) Exhibition Hall 1 in Busan.^[3] Due to COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China, the qualified team from LPL competed remotely from China, in the team's training facility.^[4]

Defending champion Royal Never Give Up from China defeated T1 from South Korea 3–2 in the final, winning their third MSI title.^[5]

Format

Teams from 11 regions competed in the Group Stage, the Rumble Stage, and the Knockout Stage, similar to the format used in the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational.^[6]

Group stage

All teams were drawn into three groups, with two of the groups having four teams and one group with three teams. All matches was a best-of-one double round robin.

Rumble Stage

The top two teams from each group competed in the Rumble Stage. The matches was a best-of-one double round robin.

Knockout stage

The top four teams advanced to the Knockout Stage. The matches was a best-of-one single elimination.

Qualified teams

Due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, the LCL Spring Split had been cancelled, and the CIS region therefore could not participate in the tournament.^[3][7]

Region	League	Teams	ID	Pool
China	LPL	Royal Never Give Up	RNG	1
Europe	LEC	G2 Esports	G2
South Korea	LCK	T1	T1
North America	LCS	Evil Geniuses	EG	2
TW/HK/MO/SEA	PCS	PSG Talon	PSG
Vietnam	VCS	Saigon Buffalo[a]	SGB
Latin America	LLA	Team Aze	AZE	3
Turkey	TCL	Istanbul Wildcats	IW
Brazil	CBLOL	RED Canids	RED	4
Japan	LJL	DetonatioN FocusMe	DFM
Oceania	LCO	ORDER	ORD

Venue

BEXCO for the 2022 MSI

Busan was the city chosen to host the competition. The Group Stage was held at the Busan Esports Arena [ko], while the Rumble Stage and Knockout Stage was held at the BEXCO.

Busan, South Korea
Group Stage	Rumble and Knockout Stage
Busan Esports Arena [ko]	BEXCO
Busan

Group stage

• Date and time: 10–15 May, began at 17:00 KST (08:00 UTC)^[9]
• Eleven teams were drawn into three groups, two groups of four and one group of three
• Double round robin for Groups A and B, quadruple round robin for Group C; all matches were best-of-one
• If two teams had the same win–loss record and head-to-head record, then a tiebreaker match would have been played
• Top two teams advanced to the Rumble Stage; bottom two teams were eliminated

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	Qualification
1	T1	6	6	0	1.000	Advance to Rumble stage
2	Saigon Buffalo Esports	6	4	2	0.667
3	Team Aze	6	1	5	0.167
4	DetonatioN FocusMe	6	1	5	0.167

Source: LoL Esports

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	Qualification
1	Royal Never Give Up	6	6	0	1.000	Advance to Rumble stage
2	PSG Talon	6	3	3	0.500
3	RED Canids	6	2	4	0.333
4	Istanbul Wildcats	6	1	5	0.167

Source: LoL Esports

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	Qualification
1	G2 Esports	8	8	0	1.000	Advance to Rumble stage
2	Evil Geniuses	8	4	4	0.500
3	ORDER	8	0	8	0.000

Source: LoL Esports

Rumble stage

• Date and time: 20–24 May, begins at 15:00 KST (06:00 UTC)^[9]
• Six teams played in a double round robin; matches were best-of-one
• If teams had the same win–loss record and head-to-head record, then tiebreaker matches would have been played for first, second, and fourth place
• Top four teams advanced to the Knockout Stage; bottom two teams were eliminated

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PCT	Qualification
1	Royal Never Give Up	10	8	2	0.800	Advance to knockout stage
2	T1	10	7	3	0.700
3	G2 Esports	10	5	5	0.500
4	Evil Geniuses	10	5	5	0.500
5	PSG Talon	10	3	7	0.300
6	Saigon Buffalo Esports	10	2	8	0.200

Source: LoL Esports

Knockout stage

T1 vs RNG in the finals

• Date and time: 27–29 May, 17:00 KST (08:00 UTC)^[9]
• Single elimination, matches are best-of-five
• Top team from the Rumble Stage chose between 3rd and 4th to be their opponent and the day of play for the semifinals (RNG chose EG).^[10]

	Semifinals					Final
	1	Royal Never Give Up	3
	4	Evil Geniuses	0
						Royal Never Give Up		3
						T1		2
	2	T1	3
	3	G2 Esports	0

Semifinals

Semifinals	May 27	Royal Never Give Up	3	–	0	Evil Geniuses	Busan, South Korea
	17:00 KST	Source					BEXCO
		1	Game 1			0
		1	Game 2			0
		1	Game 3			0

Semifinals	May 28	T1	3	–	0	G2 Esports	Busan, South Korea
	17:00 KST	Source					BEXCO
		1	Game 1			0
		1	Game 2			0
		1	Game 3			0

Finals

Final	May 29	Royal Never Give Up	3	–	2	T1	Busan, South Korea
	17:00 KST	Source					BEXCO
		1	Game 1			0
		0	Game 2			1
		1	Game 3			0
		0	Game 4			1
		1	Game 5			0

Ranking

(*) Not including tie-break games.

Place	League	Team	GS	RS	SF	Final	Prize (USD)[11]	Prize (%)[11]
1st	LPL	Royal Never Give Up	6–0	8–2	3–0	3–2	$75,000	30%
2nd	LCK	T1	6–0	7–3	3–0	2–3	$50,000	20%
3rd–4th	LEC	G2 Esports	8–0	5–5	0–3		$25,000	10%
	LCS	Evil Geniuses	4–4	5–5	0–3
5th	PCS	PSG Talon	3–3	3–7			$17,500	7%
6th	VCS	Saigon Buffalo	4–2	2–8
7th–8th	CBLOL	RED Canids	2–4				$8,325	3.33%
	LCO	ORDER	0–8
9th–10th	LJL	DetonatioN FocusMe	1–5				$6,675	2.67%
	LLA	Team Aze	1–5
11th	TCL	Istanbul Wildcats	1–5				$5,000	2%

Notes

1. The VCS Spring 2022 Champions GAM Esports decided not to participate in this MSI due to their participation in the 2021 Southeast Asian Games as the Vietnam National Team. Saigon Buffalo are invited to MSI as the runners-up.^[8]