MSI 2022 record most undefeated teams in tournament’s history
The 2022 League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational (LoL MSI) has seen more teams winning in the group stage than during the last six years of the tournament’s history combined. Among the teams are T1, G2 Esports, and Royal Never Give Up.
Between the MSI’s inception in 2015 and the MSI last season, only two teams have had perfect performances through the group stages. SK Telecom T1 went undefeated in 2015, while RNG shoed a similar display in 2021. T1 competed in a single round-robin in MSI 2015, while RNG took on two minor regional teams in a three-team group, competing in a triple round-robin in MSI 2021.
Riot combined the play-in stage and the group stage in the MSI 2021. The play-in stage mostly consisted of teams from minor regions. Essentially, this meant that major and minor region teams began playing from the same starting blocks of the tournament. This modification is one of the primary factors in how T1, G2, and RNG squads can achieve such stellar results at MSI 2022.
In the group stage of MSI 2022, the four major region teams tallied a 20-0 record against the minor region squads. As of now, there has not been a significant loss involving a team from the LCS, LEC, LPL, or LCK.
MSI’s rumble stage kicks off this weekend. The best six teams in the tournament will be competing in this phase. This stage mostly resembles the group stage. However, due to the fact that the major and minor region teams are combined into one talent pool last season, an additional phase of the tournament is needed in place of the play-in stage.
All four major region teams will compete in the rumble stage along with two minor region teams. Saigon Buffalo of the VCS and PSG Talon of the PCS made it out of Group A and Group B, respectively. Buffalo holds an all-time record of 3-12 against major regions, while PSG finished 7-10 in games against major region teams last year. All those victories came after defeating the G2 team.
The MSI 2022 rumble stage is set to begin on Friday, May 20.
Is MSI the worst esports format ever?
So far, MSI’s games have been a bit lackluster. Every group’s outcome had already been predetermined from the moment they were drawn, so the group stage felt like a long waiting game for an outcome that was already in the bag. It is not without reason that Riot receives a lot of criticism for the tournament format.
Esports casters, hosts, and analysts have been the real highlight of MSI so far, bringing life to otherwise dreary game days. The Jungle analysts Daniel “dGon” Gonzales, Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles, and Christian “IWDominate” Rivera recently released a video. commenting on the tournament’s current format.
The analysts said MSI 2022 had taught fans a lot, showing them its flaws from both the inside and outside of the Rift. This year’s viewership has fallen short of last year’s, and Monte argued that Riot could significantly improve MSI.