The 2015 Mid-Season Invitational rules

During our AMA, we gave a few details about the 2015 Mid-Series Invitational (MSI) including mid-series substitutions, competitive patch, and coaches being allowed on stage during the Pick/Ban phase. Here’s the rundown on some of the important policies from the 2015 MSI ruleset:

Regional Residency Requirement (Section 1.2)

This requirement is designed to reflect the Interregional Movement Policy that exists in several of the major regions. Since not all of the potential participating regions have adopted the Interregional Movement Policy, we won’t be imposing the policy on a region that hasn’t implemented it this season so players must meet the eligibility requirements of their regional League to participate at MSI.

Event Prize (Section 2.1)

Previously, the event prize for our mid-season event (All-Star) was winner takes all. For MSI, we decided to transition to a prize pool to better support participants and reward top performers along with their regular season earnings. The 2015 MSI Champion will receive a prize of $100,000 USD, the 2nd place team will receive $50,000 USD, and 3rd/4th teams will receive $25,000 USD.

Roster Requirements (Section 3.1)

All teams are required to bring one substitute. We're requiring a substitute in the case of an emergency situation in which a player is unable to play. In that case, competitive play will be able to continue without a forfeit. Regions with multiple substitutes on team rosters will only be allowed to bring one to MSI. This policy is designed to be a middle ground solution for the participating regions where substitutes are used for a backup plan and regions where substitutes can be used as a strategic advantage during mid-series.

Single-Day Substitutions (Section 3.4)

As a potential competitive edge, teams can substitute in a new player prior to the start of the next game of a series so long as they notify the head referee right after the most recent game has ended and no later than five minutes after the explosion of the nexus.

Coaches (Section 3.3)

With the progression of competitive play and many regions officially recognizing coaches, coaches will be mandatory and need to be designated before MSI. Regions that don’t have coaches will be allowed to designate their team managers as coaches.

Player-Owned or Team-Owned Equipment (Section 4.2)

We manage the process of player equipment and peripherals to ensure competitive integrity of the devices used on stage during tournaments. Peripherals will be sent to MSI officials in advance for approval, and MSI officials will maintain possession of the peripherals throughout the event. Unapproved equipment or equipment that is suspected of providing an unfair competitive advantage will not be permitted for use, and players will be required to use the event-provided equipment instead. During MSI, there will be an opportunity for players to break in equipment under supervision of MSI officials.

Player and Coach Apparel (Section 4.4)

All players and coaches will be required to wear closed-toe shoes. All player outerwear will need to be matching. If a player wishes to wear a jacket then they must match other team members that are also wearing jackets. Colors of pants need to be significantly similar and any athletic style pants will need to be pre-approved by MSI officials. Coaches will need to be wearing appropriate and professional attire such as business casual. Appropriate attire does not include athletic wear, sneakers, team branded apparel (like jerseys), etc.

Group Stage (Section 6.3.1)

The group stage will have every team play each other in a Best of 1 round-robin phase. Side selection will be randomized and some teams will have three games on blue side, others will have only two. No team will play more than three times on a single side.

Competitive Patch (Section 7.4)

The 2015 Mid-Season Invitational will be played on the 5.7 patch. Changes to the competitive patch will be at the discretion of MSI officials.

Start of Pick/Ban Process (Section 7.6.1)

We’ve seen the impact of a strong Pick/Ban phase in competitive League of Legends and the success of coaches being part of the strategic phase in many of the participating regions. Therefore, coaches will be allowed on-stage and will be able to communicate with players during the Pick/Ban phase. The coach will exit the stage after five seconds in the Trading phase.

Player Communication During Stoppage of Play (Section 8.3.5)

For the fairness of all competing teams, players are not allowed to communicate in any fashion with each other during a game pause. For the avoidance of doubt, players may communicate to the MSI referee, but only when directed in order to identify and remedy the cause for the stoppage. If a pause extends long enough, referees may allow teams to talk before the game is unpaused to discuss the game conditions.

Conclusion

While this post doesn’t address every section in the 2015 MSI ruleset, we hope this additional context helped explain how some of these policies will impact the upcoming Mid-Season Invitational. We’ve been working closely with all the regional leagues in advance of MSI to give them time to understand and comply with the ruleset. If you’d like to review the official language in the ruleset, the 2015 Mid-Season Invitational rules are available here.

Related Articles

• 2015 Mid-Season Invitational AMA
• More Mid-Season Invitational tickets coming soon