The 2026 Mid-Season Invitational was the eleventh iteration of the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), a Riot Games–organized tournament for League of Legends, a multiplayer online battle arena video game. The tournament was played in Daejeon, South Korea from June 28 to July 12, 2026.

Gen.G of the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) were the two-time reigning champions, but failed to qualify for the event after losing to T1 in the 2026 LCK Road to MSI qualification tournament.

Hanwha Life Esports of the LCK won the tournament after defeating Bilibili Gaming of the League of Legends Pro League (LPL) with a 3–2 scoreline in the grand finals. It was the third consecutive year a team from the LCK won the Mid-Season Invitational, and the fifth time overall an LCK team won the tournament (tied with the LPL in tournament wins of all time). The finals MVP was awarded to Choi "Zeus" Woo-je of Hanwha Life Esports, who alongside Kim "Zeka" Geon-woo, became the first players to win all three major international titles in League of Legends esports.

During the final day of the event, Riot Games announced the upcoming release of League of Legends Classic game mode for the 29th July 2026, with a showmatch played before the grand finals that featured prominent internet personalities such as Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng and William "Scarra" Li.

Host selection In a development update video published by Riot Games on 8 January 2025 to begin that year's competitive season, Riot Games announced that South Korea will host the tournament. Daejeon was named as the host city of MSI 2026 on 7 November 2025 during the media day for the 2025 League of Legends World Championship final in Chengdu, China. It will be the second time South Korea hosts MSI, the first being the 2022 edition which was held in Busan.

Venue During the finals of the 2026 First Stand Tournament in São Paulo, Brazil on 22 March 2026, Riot Games announced that the Daejeon Convention Center was chosen to host the tournament, which had previously hosted the 2023 LCK Summer Finals weekend.

Daejeon, South KoreaPlay-in stageBracket stageDaejeon Convention Center II

Qualification The League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK), League of Legends Pro League (LPL), League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC), the League Championship Series (LCS), and the League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP) sent two qualified teams each, while the Campeonato Brasileiro de League of Legends (CBLOL) sent one qualified team. The LCS and CBLOL returned to MSI for the first time since 2024 after the League of Legends Championship of The Americas (LTA), which briefly replaced them, was discontinued after the 2025 season.

Qualified teams On 10 May 2026, Team Secret Whales of the LCP became the first team to qualify for the tournament by virtue of securing enough championship points to finish in the top two as of the second split. G2 Esports of the LEC followed suit on 25 May after winning in the upper bracket final of the league's spring playoffs. The LCP's Relove Deep Cross Gaming, the LEC's Karmine Corp, and the CBLOL's FURIA, completed the list of qualified teams in their respective regions on 6 June. The day after, Top Esports of the LPL, and LYON of the LCS became the first qualified team from their respective regions. The LCK's Hanwha Life Esports advanced to the tournament on 12 June, with Bilibili Gaming and Team Liquid Alienware completing the LPL's and the LCS's representatives the next day, respectively. T1 secured qualification on 14 June to finalize the list of all qualified teams.

Starting in the bracket stageRegionLeaguePathTeam BrazilSouthern Latin America CBLOL Split 1 champion FURIA South Korea LCK Road to MSI Match 1 winner Hanwha Life Esports Asia-Pacific LCP Split 2 champion Team Secret Whales North AmericaNorthern Latin America LCS Spring Split champion LYON EMEA LEC Spring Split champion G2 Esports China LPL Split 2 champion Bilibili Gaming Split 2 runner-up Top EsportsStarting in the play-in stageRegionLeaguePathTeam South Korea LCK Road to MSI Match 2 winner T1 Asia-Pacific LCP Most Championship points as of Split 2 Relove Deep Cross Gaming North AmericaNorthern Latin America LCS Spring Split runner-up Team Liquid Alienware EMEA LEC Spring Split runner-up Karmine Corp

Format Like prior years, the tournament was split into a play-in stage and a bracket stage, albeit with changes. In the play-in stage, four (4) teams, those being the second seeds from the LCK, LCP, LCS, and LEC, were placed into a double-elimination bracket consisting entirely of best-of-fives. The winner of the play-in stage advanced to the bracket stage. In the eight (8) team bracket stage, the play-in stage winner, the first and second seeds from the LPL (by virtue of being the winning region of the 2026 First Stand Tournament) and the first seeds from all other regions played in a double elimination best-of-five bracket. As in prior years, the winner of MSI qualified automatically for the 2026 World Championship should they qualify for their region's third split playoffs, while the runner-up region also gained an additional spot in the tournament.

Play-in stage Date and time: 28 June–1 July, began at 17:00 KST (08:00 UTC) Excluding games scheduled on June 28–29, which began at 12:00 KST (03:00 UTC). Four teams placed in a GSL-style double-elimination format Seeding based on results from the 2026 First Stand Tournament 2nd place: LEC; 3rd place: LCK; 4th place: LCS; 5th place: LCP All matches are best-of-five.

Bracket

Bracket stage Draw Following the conclusion of the play-in stage, a draw was originally scheduled to be conducted for the bracket stage. The eight qualified teams were divided into the following four tiers:

Tier 1 Bilibili Gaming G2 Esports

Tier 2 Hanwha Life Esports LYON

Tier 3 Team Secret Whales FURIA

Tier 4 Top Esports T1

As T1 was able to qualify for the bracket stage, no draw was conducted to ensure no intra-regional matches can take place in the first rounds of both upper and lower brackets, and the first round of the latter. Hence, Hanwha Life Esports and T1 of the LCK, and Bilibili Gaming and Top Esports of the LPL are in opposite brackets each.

Bracket Date and time: July 3–12, began at 12:00 KST (03:00 UTC) Excluding games scheduled on July 9–11 and July 12, which began at 17:00 KST (08:00 UTC) and 15:00 KST (06:00 UTC), respectively. Eight teams were drawn into four tiers where teams in Tier 1 will face teams from Tier 4, while teams from Tier 2 went up against teams from Tier 3 Teams from the same region were to be placed on opposite bracket sides Double elimination; all matches are best-of-five.

Ranking A base prize pool of US$2,000,000 is offered for the tournament. The prize pool is spread among the teams as seen below: Place League Team Prize (%) Prize (USD) 1st LCK Hanwha Life Esports 25% $500,000 2nd LPL Bilibili Gaming 15% $300,000 3rd LCS LYON 12% $240,000 4th LEC G2 Esports 10% $200,000 5th–6th LCK T1 8% $160,000 LCP Team Secret Whales 7th–8th CBLOL FURIA 5.5% $110,000 LPL Top Esports 9th LCS Team Liquid Alienware 4.5% $90,000 10th LEC Karmine Corp 3.5% $70,000 11th LCP Relove Deep Cross Gaming 3% $60,000

Global partners

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Notes

References