Mid-Season Invitational event primer

The Mid-Season Invitational is a pivotal moment in the League of Legends esports scene. Residing between the Spring and Summer Splits for professional leagues across the globe, the tournament brings the very best teams from each region together for one epic weekend of matches. And from it, debates are settled, scores are settled, and we can finally say which region is able to produce the finest League of Legends team in the world. For now, at least. Are you ready to cheer on your hometown team? On May 7, 2015, six of the world's best teams head to Tallahassee, Florida, to compete for regional pride. The teams competing at MSI are:

• ahq e-Sports Club from the LMS
• Team SoloMid from the NA LCS
• Fnatic from the EU LCS
• Edward Gaming from the LPL
• SKTelecom T1 from the LCK
• Beşiktaş, who won the International Wildcard Invitational

What's the format?

MSI follows our standard event format. The tournament progresses from a Best of 1, Round Robin Group Stage to a Best of 5, Single Elimination Bracket Stage. After the 15 games of the Group Stage, and any resulting tiebreakers, the top four teams advance to the Bracket Stage. In the Bracket Stage, the No. 1 and No. 4 seeds will play in one Semifinal while the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds will play in the other. The winner of the Bracket Stage is the champion of the event.

What's on the line?

In addition to proving their region is the best in the world, and their prowess as a team, competitors will be battling for a prize pool of $200,000 USD. The third and fourth place teams will each receive $25,000 USD, while the runner-up will receive $50,000 USD and the MSI Champion will receive a prize of $100,000 USD.

When is this happening and how can I watch?

The event begins May 7 and continues through May 10. The broadcast will run for around eight hours each day.

• May 7 - Group Stage - 1:00pm PDT / 22:00 CEST
• May 8 - Group Stage - 1:00pm PDT / 22:00 CEST
• May 9 - Semifinals - 1:00pm PDT / 22:00 CEST
• May 10 - Finals - 2:00pm PDT / 23:00 CEST

Check out the schedule for game-by-game information and start times. Tickets for the live event are available at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center website. We will be giving away Samsung White and other esports championship skins (Fnatic, TPA, and SKT) to players who attend the event. Players who have purchased tickets will receive an email from Florida State University with the redemption site link, and it will be sent to the email where they purchased tickets. The email will direct players to a redemption site where they will input their ticket number. Purchase a ticket for more than one day? Good news! This offer applies to each individual ticket, so those who attend multiple days will be able to redeem multiple skins. Players will only be able to redeem their skins until May 14, after which point the redemption site will be closed.

2015 MSI Mystery Gifting

Did you watch the 2015 Mid-Season Invitational? Did you catch that Fnatic got a Baron steal against SKT on May 8th? This action triggered a Mystery Gift opportunity that now doubles your chance to unlock esports team (Fnatic, TPA, SKT), championship, and legendary skins until May 15. The SSW skins will be available in the sale once they're released on May 14. Thanks Fnatic! You can watch the event online right here on Lolesports at watch.lolesports.com. May the best region win!

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