MSI 2023 favorites

MSI or Mid-Season Invitational is one of the most important LoL events of this season, second only to Worlds. A total of 13 teams will take part in it and at least several of them could easily win the trophy.

This time, because of Riot’s decision to boost the prize pool, the competitors are fighting for a lot of money, not just the $250.000 prize pool that’s offered by default. Many estimate that the final amount will be in the millions of dollars, which should make the battles a lot more exciting.

With so much money on the line, the teams are guaranteed to not only prepare as best as they can, but also to try some novel strategies, especially if they’re the underdog and have nothing to lose.

MSI 2023 participants

Here are the 13 teams that will attend Mid-Season Invitational this year:

• Gen.G
• T1
• JD Gaming
• Cloud9
• MAD Lions
• Bilibili Gaming
• DetonatioN FocusMe
• G2 Esports
• GAM Esports
• Golden Guardians
• LOUD
• PSG Talon
• Rainbow7

The top five of these teams will start the race a bit later. The bottom eight will need to prove themselves in the play-in stage.

Favorites

The results of the Spring Split clearly indicate that Gen.G, T1, and G2 Esports are the biggest favorites.

In the case of GenG, the team did reasonably well in the group stage of LCK Spring 2023, finishing second with a record of 13 W – 5 L. Then, in the playoffs, they started to play a lot better and ended up beating T1 in the Grand Final. Along the way, they also defeated Hanwha Life Esports and KT Rolster.

They were initially defeated in the upper bracket Final by T1 (3-1), but in the Grand Final they managed to change their strategy and won with the same score.

Needless to say, because we’re talking about South Korea and the team that finished second at Worlds 2022, T1 are also one of the top three favorites at MSI 2023. It’s very hard to neglect them when they consistently win matches against some of the world’s strongest teams. In the group stage of LCK Spring 2023, T1 had 17 wins and one loss.

G2 Esports are the last of the three favorites and the reason for that is the vast experience that their roster has at top-tier tournaments. Sure, MAD Lions did better in the Spring Split, but G2 still have a slight advantage when competing internationally.

Header: Riot Games