MSI 2025 Preview: All you need to know ahead of massive event!

It's the collision of giants in the League of Legends Esports universe as the second-biggest tournament in the calendar. The Mid-Season Invitational, or MSI 2025, is crashing onto the world stage, as the top two teams from each competitive region are coming together to trade blows for the lion’s share of a £1.5million prize pool.

Heading out to Vancouver, Canada, Riot Games’ first global tournament of the year is filled with vengeance storylines, hungry underdogs, and the fate of the greatest dynasty of all time on the line. But before the action kicks off, Betfred Insights has everything you need to know, with a full MSI 2025 Preview, including the format, schedule, and teams, below.

Teams

Over the last two months, each top-tier region has been jostling in elite leagues until the top two teams were crowned. EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), the Americas, Korea, China, and Asia-Pacific have summoned up the best and most in-form League of Legends teams they have to offer, and the ten rosters are butting heads in a two-week-long tournament.

Korea

• Gen.G and T1

EMEA

• Movistar KOI and G2 Esports

Asia-Pacific

• CTBC Flying Oyster and GAM Esports

China 

• Anyone’s Legend and Bilibili Gaming

Americas 

• FlyQuest and FURIA

For most teams, like T1, G2 Esports, Gen.G, and Bilibili Gaming, the international stage is a second home, with each of those teams retaining players who have won at least one of the elusive bi-annual global events. 

There is plenty of room for surprises with a handful of first appearances at major tournaments. Whether they’ll buckle under the pressure or produce careless heroics is always difficult to gauge, but coming up against regimented, world-class sides is always a tall order for the underdogs, no matter the mindset.

Format

As is with many esports events, the formats are unconventional from mainstream sports, and MSI 2025 will see a convoluted two-tiered bracket format come to fruition.

League of Legends works on set play, much like Tennis, and MSI 2025 will see every game be a best-of-five (or, first to three). With each ‘map’ lasting anywhere from 20 minutes to over an hour, these series can either be straightforward done-and-dusted sets or tactically nuanced long hauls lasting an entire afternoon.

As for the tournament format, this is where things get tricky. The bottom seeds from the four lower-ranked regions (not Korea) will be placed in a ‘Play Ins’ phase, which will be a ‘double elimination format’ with two progression slots up for grabs. Any team that wins two matches here will advance. Lose twice, and you’re out before the main event.

So with eight teams remaining, another double-elimination bracket will come into play. All teams will get two lives in this knockout stage, where a loss will send you to the loser’s bracket, and those who win will be rewarded with easier fixtures and more rest between games.

With a total of 19 games spread out over 14 days with eight teams, culminating in a thrilling grand final, line betting quickly evolves, and winning margins become popular markets to get valuable odds.

Schedule

MSI 2025 kicks off on Friday, June 27, with the first match in the Play-Ins stage (G2 esports vs FURIA) commencing at 20:00. 

For the Play-In stage, the five matches will be spread out over three days, with two matches at 20:00 and 01:00, while the final match will start at 01:00 on Monday, June 30.

When it comes to the main event, games will continue to start at 20:00 and 01:00, with a maximum of two games on the same night.

It's worth mentioning that on days where there is a second fixture at 01:00, this time isn’t set in stone, and can be pushed back if the first game is running over. It's not common, but long best-of-five sets do happen, especially in the later stages of MSI 2025.

How to watch

All of the MSI 2025 matches will be played live on the official Riot Games and League of Legends Esports YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok channels, all with English commentary. 

Other languages (Korean, Chinese, Viet, Taiwanese, Thai, Portuguese, Japanese, Mexican, French, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, German, and Polish) can all be found on Twitch through ‘Co-streamers’. 

This preview article is the first in a new series of expanded Esports coverage here on Betfred Insights, with Previews, Betting Tips and educational guides planned, for those just taking their first step into Esports betting.