League of Legends’ season has reached its halfway point, which marks the beginning of its annual Mid-Season Invitational.
The best teams from the top professional leagues come together in China for a 12-team tournament to crown one champion. It’s the first of two yearly international tournaments.
The 2024 championship is much more important, since the winning team automatically punches its ticket to the World Tournament.
The Sporting News breaks down MSI’s format, dates, times, locations and more, while providing updated results.
MORE: LOL season schedule 2024, check out all the dates here
MSI 2024 format
Riot is maintaining the same format as last year, with two separate double-elimination stages in the tournament for 2024.
The action starts with the Play-In stage, running from May 1-5. The second seeds from the LCK, LPL, LCS and LEC will compete against the first seeds of the LLA, CBLOL, PCS and VCS. These eight squads will be broken into two best-of-three double elimination brackets.
Four teams — the winners and runner-ups of each bracket — will advance to the Bracket stage. In order to suffer an elimination, a team must lose a best-of-three series. Two lost series will eliminate the team.
The top seeds from the LCK, LPL, LCS and LEC already earned a bye into the Bracket stage.
The remaining eight teams will be put into one best-of-five, double-elimination bracket. The same rules apply with lost games/series.
The winner of this year’s tournament will immediately earn a spot in the 2024 World Tournament, as well as giving their league another bid. The runner-up will also give their region another bid to the World Tournament, but does not lock in their position.
MSI 2024 teams
- LCK: No. 1 Gen.G (GEN), No. 2 T1 (T1)
- LPL: No. 1 Bilibili Gaming (BLG), No. 2 TOP Esports (TES)
- LEC: No. 1 G2 Esports (G2), No. 2 Fnatic (FNC)
- LCS: No. 1 Team Liquid Honda (TL), No. 2 FlyQuest (FLY)
- PCS: No. 1 PSG Talon (PSG)
- CBLOL: LOUD (LLL)
- LLA: Estral Esports (EST)
- VCS: GAM Esports (GAM)
MSI 2024 schedule, live results, scores
The Sporting News will update this file with results during the tournament.
| Stage | Date | Game | Start Time (ET) | Start Time (GMT) |
| Play-In | Wed, May 1 | FLY 2, PSG 1 T1 2, EST 0 |
4 a.m. | 8 a.m. |
| Play-In | Thurs, May 2 | FNC 2, GAM 0 TES 2, LLL 0 |
4 a.m. | 8 a.m. |
| Play-In | Fri, May 3 | T1 2, FLY 0 TES 2, FNC 1 |
4 a.m. | 8 a.m. |
| Play-In | Sat, May 4 | EST vs. PSG LLL vs. GAM |
4 a.m. | 8 a.m. |
| Play-In | Sun, May 5 | FLY vs. TBD FNC vs. TBD |
4 a.m. | 8 a.m. |
| Bracket | Tue, May 7 | TBD vs. TBD | 5 a.m. | 9 a.m. |
| Bracket | Wed, May 8 | TBD vs. TBD | 5 a.m. | 9 a.m. |
| Bracket | Thurs, May 9 | TBD vs. TBD | 5 a.m. | 9 a.m. |
| Bracket | Fri, May 10 | TBD vs. TBD | 5 a.m. | 9 a.m. |
| Bracket | Sat, May 11 | TBD vs. TBD TBD vs. TBD |
12 a.m. | 9 a.m. |
| Bracket | Sun, May 12 | TBD vs. TBD TBD vs. TBD |
12 a.m. | 9 a.m. |
| Bracket | Tue, May 14 | TBD vs. TBD | 5 a.m. | 9 a.m. |
| Bracket | Wed, May 15 | TBD vs. TBD | 5 a.m. | 9 a.m. |
| Bracket | Thurs, May 16 | TBD vs. TBD | 5 a.m. | 9 a.m. |
| Bracket | Fri, May 17 | TBD vs. TBD | 5 a.m. | 9 a.m. |
| Bracket | Sat, May 18 | TBD vs. TBD | 5 a.m. | 9 a.m. |
| Bracket | Sun, May 19 | TBD vs. TBD | 5 a.m. | 9 a.m. |
When is MSI 2024?
MSI begins on May 1 with the Play-In stage, and the Bracket stage will begin on May 7. The tournament concludes on May 19 with the Championship, scheduled at 5 a.m. ET/9 a.m. GMT
How to watch MSI 2024
League of Legends fans can tune into MSI through lolesports.com.
Where is MSI 2024?
MSI changes locations each year as different countries get the opportunity to host the event. This year, the tournament will be held in the Chengdu Financial City Performing Arts Center in Chengdu, China.
MSI champions history
| Year | Team |
| 2015 | EDward Gaming |
| 2016 | SK Telecom T1 |
| 2017 | SK Telecom T1 |
| 2018 | Royal Never Give Up |
| 2019 | G2 Esports |
| 2020 | Cancelled due to COVID-19 |
| 2021 | Royal Never Give Up |
| 2022 | Royal Never Give Up |
| 2023 | JD Gaming |
