The Mid-Season Invitational is Riot’s annual tournament, and it features the best teams in all of League of Legends. The event itself is positioned between the spring leagues that precede it and the summer events that come after it.
Teams that finish the spring leagues can qualify for the MSI, and when the event was first conceived back in 2015, there were only six leagues. Nowadays, that number doubled, and we now have twelve spring leagues leading up to the Mid-Season Invitational.
The Mid-Season Invitational 2021 is the game’s sixth annual esports tournament, and this year it’s held in Iceland, Reykjavík. It boasts a large $250.000 prize pool and has 11 teams competing for it.
The event lasts from May 6th up until May 23, so that is just enough time to do some MSI betting. The event is segmented into three distinct stages:
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The MSI tournament uses round-robin and single-elimination formats, double round-robin being used in the Group Stage and the Rumble Stage, while single-single elimination is used at the very end in the Knockout Stage.
The MSI 2021 features 3 groups in total. Group A has 3 teams, while Groups B and C have 4 teams each. The reason why there’s only 3 teams in the first group is because Gam Esports, the Vietnamese team that qualified for the event, weren’t able to participate due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.
Group A plays in a quadruple round-robin format, while the other two groups play in a double round-robin format. The top two teams from each group move into the Rumble Stage, while the rest are eliminated.
We went from 11 teams in the Group Stage to only 6 teams in the Rumble Stage. The remaining six teams play a series of fast best-of-one matches to determine who goes into the final stage of the event, the Knockout Stage.
Like in the Group Stage, this stage uses a double round-robin format. The top four teams proceed into the Knockout Stage, the rest are eliminated.
This stage uses an interesting rule. The first placed team from Rumble Stage can choose whether they wish to face the third or the fourth placed team. This gives the top team some extra advantage, and allows them to pick their opponent.
This is a single-elimination bracket and all matches are played as best-of-five.
This year’s teams are some of the best that League of Legends has to offer, and out of all three groups there are clearly some favorites that we’d like to take a look at. If you’re interested in MSI betting, you should read on.
This Chinese giant finished Group A with great LoL MSI results. They are by far the most impressive team in MSI 2021.
Royal Never Give Up finished Group A with a flawless 8-0 score, coming out undefeated and continuing that same performance in the Rumble Stage. Judging by their overall stats in this event, it would be hard not to categorize them as the clear favorites of this year’s MSI.
If you’re following this tournament and are interested in LoL betting, then this is the team to keep an eye on. If they play their cards well, they might end up finishing this event with a perfect score.
The Spanish crew is doing exceptionally well in MSI 2021.
They finished Group B on the first spot, with 5 wins and 1 loss. It would have been a perfect score had they not blundered against Istanbul Wildcats, the team that finished last and only one this match out of all six. Still, they are doing great, all things considered.
They currently share the first spot with Royal Never Give Up in the Rumble Stage, but not for long. These two teams are scheduled to fight against one another in the next series of matches, which will determine who’ll hold the first position.
Overall, this is a great pick when it comes to MSI betting. You really can’t go wrong by betting on MAD Lions in these best-of-one matches.
The Korean powerhouse is doing great in this year’s event. They finished Group C in the first place, achieving identical results as MAD Lions.
The only issues they ran into during Group Stage was when they faced the runner-up team, Cloud9. In this matchup, the US team emerged victorious, although they finished second in the overall group standings.
This is a great League of Legends team, and they’re almost guaranteed to place in the top 4 teams that will qualify for the last Knockout Stage.
This is the battle between three teams – Cloud9, PSG Talon, and Pentanet.GG. It might seem a bit unfair to call these three teams underdogs, especially considering how each one of them is great in their own rights. However, in this event they clearly are the underdogs when compared to the top 3 giants leading the charge.
Cloud9 and PSG Talon finished their Group Stage with a 4-2 result, and as such they both have equal chances of placing 4th in the Rumble Stage and securing a spot in the Knockout Stage.
However, since Pentanet.GG had to play a quadruple round-robin format and had to face Royal Never Give Up multiple times, we shouldn’t judge them by their 2-6 score.
Nothing is set in stone yet, and we can see any of these three teams qualify for the last stage. As things stand now, PSG Talon has the best odds as they have 1 win and 1 loss, while the other two have 2 losses both. Things can still change, so make sure to follow the event to have more confidence when betting on MSI.
When betting on MSI, it’s important to choose a safe and reliable MSI betting site. In this section, we’ll share some of our own recommendations.
We’ll start off with GG.Bet as our number one pick. This bookmaker is simply the best in the business. They have a great selection of events, including all the MSI 2021 matches, and they offer some of the best odds on the market.
Great and intuitive user interface means you’ll never get lost and you’ll always have a clear idea how to navigate the site. GG.Bet showers their users with a ton of bonus events every month, so make sure to check for those as soon as you register. Feel free to take a look at our GG.Bet review to learn more.
Betway regularly offers amazing incentives for first time users that don’t require personal information at the first try. On top of that, Betway Esports offers an excellent arrangement of competitive Mid-Season Invitational odds and live betting options that aren’t as prevalent on other websites.
While most betting sites boast user friendly interface and simply layouts for their odds and bets, Betway is a cut above the rest when it comes to sampling the entire eSports genre and should be looked into as a quality first choice.
This is a very simple and user-friendly website. If you’re betting primarily from your mobile device, this is a great option for you.
They have a very intuitive mobile app for Android and iOS, and the user interface looks great on both PC and your phone. Very simple and easy to use, which means you’ll enjoy a seamless betting experience. On top of that, they have amazing Bet365 odds.
Now that we’ve covered the tournament structure, the teams, and the best betting providers, only one last thing remains – to do some MSI betting.
Betting on the MSI is fairly simple and straightforward. First of all, pick your betting provider. Make sure you check each one of the aforementioned bookmakers and select the one that appeals to you the most.
Next, register on the website. Since all three of these bookmakers are licensed, they are very safe and you’ll never encounter any issues.
Lastly, go over to the League of Legends section and find the MSI matches. You’re now done. You can pick the teams you’d like to bet on and place a wager. Place your trust in your betting knowledge and some luck, and you might just win.
MSI 2021 is the sixth annual tournament, and as such, it already has a rich history. It all began in 2015 when there were only 6 spring leagues, and only 1 team from each league could compete in the 2015 MSI. Fast forward to 2021, and Riot has doubled both the number of leagues, as well as competing teams on the MSI.
In the past, SK Telecom was dominating the scene. They won both MSI events in 2016 and 2017, while finishing 2nd during the first 2015 event. Later on, Royal Never Give up took the lead and won the 2018 tournament, and then G2 Esports outshined both during 2019.
The 2020 event was scheduled as usual, but the event was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The event came back one year later in 2021, and is currently being played without any issues.
Despite the pandemic, Riot Games have managed to organize an amazing event, and continue the tradition that started back in 2015. The scale of the event did change, especially considering the restrictions when it comes to a live audience, as nowadays those are pretty much non-existent. The prize pool also reflects this, where MSI 2021 has a $250.000 prize pool, while in the past the number reached all the way to $1.690.000.
Overall, the event is still going strong and it’s keeping LoL esports alive and well. Hopefully we’ll have even more teams, bigger prizes, and a live audience in the future, but for now we’ll take what we can get and enjoy it.
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