MSI 2019 Play-Ins Knockout Stage Preview

The group stages of the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational are behind us and we now know who’s going to be playing in the play-ins knockout stage to fight for those three tickets to the main event. 

All of the League of Legends pro regions around the globe sent their representatives to Vietnam this last week, and the lowest seeded 8 we’re put into groups for the play-in stage in order to dwindle the rosters down to the best 6. However, we’re currently sitting at 7 teams still in contention, so one more small round has to be played. 

How it Works

The play-ins are designed to give smaller and lower seeded regions a chance to play on an international stage against some of the best teams in the world. 8 teams from regions like the CBLOL and LJL played a group stage within the play-ins, to determine who would get a shot at the 2nd-tier teams, where they could earn a date against the 1st-tier squads. 

The two teams that made it out of the play-ins group stage are the Phong Vu Buffalo (VCS) and Vega Squadron (LCL). These two teams will now play either Team Liquid (LCS) or Flash Wolves (LMS) who are the 2nd-tier qualifiers. 

International tier rankings and qualifications are based on the previous two years performances at MSI. 

Three slots are available at the main event, and so 4 teams needs to become 3. The fairest way to do this is to play a “lose twice and you’re out” knockout stage. Phong Vu will play Team Liquid, before Flash Wolves play Vega Squadron. The winners of both of those matches will move on to the main event. The losers of those two matches will then play each other, where the winner moves on and the loser goes home. 

All matches in the play-ins knockout stage will be a best-of-five series. 

Team Liquid vs. Phong Vu Buffalo

The North American representatives of Team Liquid looked extremely talented (and a bit confusing) during their run to the LCS throne. After a mostly dominant Spring Split, this Team Liquid squad might be the best team NA has ever sent to an international tournament. Since last year’s MSI, Team Liquid has only gotten stronger, adding two new players who both come to the table with international stage experience. 

This spells trouble for Phong Vu Buffalo, who are playing in front of their home country. The VCS representatives have looked great through the normal group stage, but their 4-2 record after six games was only tied for first in their group. Luckily, they managed to beat a very strong Fenerbahce team, and Buffalo won the group of death. 

There’s a lot of faith to be had in Phong Vu. Even though they are expected to lose out to Team Liquid in the first matchup, don’t count them out in the losers win-or-go-home match the following day. Phong Vu Buffalo are favorites to claim that 6th and final slot in the main event. 

Vega Squadron vs. Flash Wolves

The well known Flash Wolves have been around on the international scene for a long time now. Consistently, this franchise has wound up in the 3rd-4th place spot at the end of MSI events for the past few years. The Wolves have been pretty dominant domestically, however, and one of these years they are going to make a huge play at the top of the standings during an international tournament. 

Playing the Flash Wolves, the Vega Squadron looked absolutely smashing in their group stage matches. Aside from a sloppy final game, the Vega Squadron didn’t have much difficulty through those 6 group stage games. Some would say that they won in a group without a whole lot of scary competition, and we tend to agree. 

This best-of-five against Flash Wolves will most likely not go in favor of the Vege Squadron team from the LCL. Actually, they don’t seem like they have much a shot against Phong Vu Buffalo either should those two teams meet in the losers match. 

When Are They? 

The Team Liquid versus Phong Vu Bufffalo match will kick-off the play-in knockout stage early on Monday morning (Pacific Time), while the Flash Wolves versus Vega Squadron game will be held following the completion. A losers versus loser win-or-go-home match will be played the following day, on Tuesday, to decide the final admission to the main event. 

Team Liquid vs Phong Vu Buffalo

Monday, May 6th

1:00 AM Pacific Time / 3:00 PM Local Time (VT)

Flash Wolves vs Vega Squadron

Monday, May 6th

5:00 AM Pacific Time / 7:00 PM Local Time (VT)

Loser vs Loser

Tuesday, May 7th

3:00 AM Pacific Time / 5:00 PM Local Time (VT)

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You can catch all of the action from the MSI 2019 play-ins knockout stage on the Riot Games Twitch channel, or check it out via the embed below.

Watch live video from Riot Games on www.twitch.tv

For a full look at the teams eliminated, and the standings from the play-in group stage don’t forget to check out our MSI Standings & Results page that will continue to be updated as the tournament moves forward.