2025 Mid-Season Invitational

A Historic Hosting in Canada

The 2025 Mid Season Invitational marked a significant milestone as the first major international League of Legends tournament to be hosted in Canada. Riot Games announced the country as the host during the 2024 World Championship media day in London on November 1, 2024, with the specific city of Vancouver confirmed in a development update video on January 8, 2025. The event was held at the Pacific Coliseum, a venue with prior esports history as the site of the 2017 NA LCS Spring Finals.

This hosting was a long awaited event for the Canadian esports scene. Canada had originally been scheduled to host the semi final stage of the 2022 World Championship at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Those plans were changed when Riot Games moved that stage to Atlanta, Georgia, due to challenges in securing multi entry visas during the COVID 19 pandemic. The successful staging of MSI 2025 in Vancouver therefore represented a full circle moment for the region, finally delivering a top tier international competition.

Qualification and New Leagues

Qualification for the 2025 MSI reflected a year of structural change in the global League of Legends ecosystem. The tournament featured two teams each from five major regions. The LCK, LPL, LEC, and the newly formed LCP and LTA leagues all sent representatives. The LCK's two teams, Gen.G and T1, earned direct entry to the Bracket Stage due to their region's performance in the First Stand Tournament, specifically because Hanwha Life Esports won that event.

This edition was notable for being the first to include the League of Legends Championship Pacific, a merger of the PCS, VCS, LJL, and LCO leagues. It was also the only MSI to feature the League of Legends Championship of The Americas, a merger of the LCS, CBLOL, and LLA, as this league was announced for discontinuation on September 28, 2025, with the LCS and CBLOL returning as separate entities in 2026. All teams that qualified for MSI also secured a spot in the League of Legends tournament at the 2025 Esports World Cup.

The qualification process unfolded over several weeks. G2 Esports of the LEC became the first team to qualify on May 26, 2025. They were followed by CTBC Flying Oyster of the LCP on June 1, and then GAM Esports and Movistar KOI on June 7. The LPL's Anyone's Legend qualified on June 9, with Bilibili Gaming joining them on June 13. The defending champions Gen.G advanced on June 13, with T1, FlyQuest of LTA North, and FURIA of LTA South completing the list on June 15.

The Fearless Draft Innovation

The 2025 Mid Season Invitational introduced a major competitive innovation as the first tournament to fully adopt the Fearless Draft format. This system is an evolution of the traditional pick and ban phase. In a best of five series, any champion selected in a game becomes permanently unavailable for both teams to pick in all subsequent games of that series.

This rule was initially intended only for the first split of the 2025 season. However, after receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback from players and fans during its trial period, Riot Games decided to implement it for all major tournaments for the rest of the year, starting with MSI. The format was designed to test team depth and strategic adaptability, forcing players to utilize a wider champion pool. Riot Games made the announcement to apply the rules for the rest of the year prior to the First Stand Tournament final.

Tournament Structure and Play-In

The tournament was split into a Play-In Stage and a Bracket Stage, with every match played as a best of five series. The Play-In Stage, held from June 27 to 29, featured four teams. These were the second seeds from the LCP, LEC, and LPL, along with the champion from the LTA South region. They competed in a GSL style double elimination bracket, seeded based on their region's performance in the 2025 First Stand Tournament, with the LEC in 2nd, LCP in 3rd, LPL in 4th, and LTA in 5th place. The two teams that earned two wins advanced to join the six direct qualifiers in the main event.

The eight team Bracket Stage ran from July 1 to 12 in a double elimination format. Teams were to be drawn into four tiers to determine first round matchups, where Tier 1 would face Tier 4 and Tier 2 would face Tier 3. However, after the Play-In results, no draw was necessary. The seeding was arranged to prevent teams from the same region from meeting in the initial rounds of both the upper and lower brackets. This ensured T1 and Gen.G of the LCK, and Anyone's Legend and Bilibili Gaming of the LPL, were placed in opposite bracket sides.

The tournament's official slogan, Ignite the Fire Within, was unveiled on June 17, 2025, alongside a format explainer video. Matches during the bracket stage generally began at 17:00 PDT, with exceptions on July 3 to 5, when they started at 12:00 PDT.

A Record-Breaking Path to the Final

The 2025 MSI was defined by close series, setting a new record for competitive tension in international League of Legends. Across the entire tournament, nineteen best of five series were played. Of those, an unprecedented nine series reached a decisive fifth game. This broke the previous record of six game fives, which was set during the 2021 World Championship.

This trend of extended series created a dramatic narrative throughout the event, testing the mental fortitude and strategic reserves of every team under the new Fearless Draft rules. The high number of full series demonstrated the increased parity and depth of competition at the highest level. The tournament operated under the game's new competitive esports calendar implemented from 2025, and the intense competition validated the new schedule and format changes.

Gen.G's Successful Title Defense

The tournament culminated in an all Korean final between the defending champions, Gen.G, and their regional rivals, T1. In a fitting end to a tournament defined by game fives, the grand final itself went the full distance. Gen.G ultimately prevailed with a 3-2 victory to secure their second consecutive Mid Season Invitational title.

With this win, Gen.G entered the history books as only the third team ever to successfully defend an MSI championship. They joined T1, who won back to back titles in 2016 and 2017 under the name SK Telecom T1, and China's Royal Never Give Up, who repeated as champions in 2021 and 2022. The victory earned Gen.G a direct qualification to the 2025 League of Legends World Championship. Furthermore, the second best performing region at MSI also gained an additional slot for their region at the World Championship.

The tournament offered a base prize pool of two million US dollars, distributed among the participating teams according to their final ranking. Gen.G's triumph in Vancouver confirmed their position as a dominant force in the mid season period and set the stage for the upcoming World Championship.