The rules of the MSI mid-season format are simple.
The six participating teams from each major region will first have two rounds of group matches. Each team has played a total of 10 games in two rounds. According to the accumulated points of winning and losing, the top four will advance to the semi-finals.
The semi-finals begin and enter the BO5 format.
The four teams will then decide the winner, and the two winning teams will advance to the final.
The final is also a BO5 format.
The first team to win three wins is the champion of this MSI.
According to a basic situation in previous years, the six teams in the six major divisions have made a simple strength ranking. There is no suspense that the teams in the wild card division are at the bottom, and then the Taiwan server division can only be ranked fifth in the past few years. Occasionally Maybe a sudden burst of rushing forward, but more than a few other old-fashioned regions.
Further on—
It is the LPL division of the national service, and the two LCS divisions of Europe and the United States, basically in a situation of equal shares. The battle data of various international competitions in previous years also show that the three major divisions always win each other. It is difficult to say who is certain. stronger than anyone.
Therefore, the teams of these three divisions are often classified as the same echelon, and the LMS division of the Taiwan server is considered to be half a position behind.
The last remaining Hanbok LCK division is recognized as the strongest division of the first echelon.
But in fact, judging from previous years, the LCK division's lead over the second tier behind is not completely incapable of catching up, and occasionally it is caught up by the second tier.
Therefore, their lead is also considered to be only half a position ahead.
According to such judgment analysis, this year's MSI mid-season game should be an extremely competitive and suspenseful event.
Basically, apart from the wild card competition area that is destined to be the foil of Greenleaf, it is hard to say who will have the last laugh in the confrontation between the representative teams of the other five major competition areas - even if in theory, the Taiwan server competition area seems to be ranked fifth, It may not be impossible to break out the unpopularity and bring down the strongest Hanbok division.
However.
When this time the MSI officially kicked off.
When the representative teams of the six major regions quickly entered into the fierce and fierce battle.
Almost for the first time, everyone discovered this year's MSI, which may not be judged by the old concept of the past.
everything.
Compared with previous years, the earth-shaking new changes have taken place.
…
To some extent, this year's MSI is not completely different from previous years.
At least, in the first round of the group stage, the two major LCS regions of Europe and North America, as well as the LMS region of the Taiwan server, from the MLG team to the Season team to the Assassin team—
The various confrontations between the three teams are still the familiar fierce stalemate, and it is easy to distinguish.
Assassin wins MLG.
MLG beat Season.
Season turned his head again and slashed the assassin off his horse.
To put it simply, in the competition between these three teams, the results in the first round were all 1 win and 1 loss, and no one took more advantage.
Then the three teams each easily won a victory in the representative team of the wild card division, so after the four games, the overall result is 2 wins and 1 loss.
The record is exactly the same, and the score is tight.
For the general audience of ordinary players from all over the world, this scene is also quite familiar, and it is not surprising.
but.
This is only after the other two teams were temporarily ruled out.
If the two teams from the national service LPL division and the Hanbok LCK division are also included, then—
Everything is completely different than in previous years.
If you count God-Hand of God and SSK two teams.
Then, the other four MSI teams have to add two more defeats to their respective first-round results.
In other words, God-Hand of God and SSK won all four games in the first round against the top teams in the spring of the wild card, Europe, America and Taiwan server regions.
It is not surprising that SSK can have such a result.
But God-Hand of God also does this, which is enough to make the outside world amazed and moved, and it also makes countless fans of national service players ecstatic!
This year’s LPL…
Really rise!
…
It was also said before that, according to the assessment of the strength of the competition area, the national service LPL competition area should have been on a par with the European LCS and North American LCS competition areas, and there is a chance to win or lose.
The same cannot be said for the assassins who came to the LMS division on the stage server.
But in the first round of this MSI group stage—
God-Hand of God defeats MLG, Assassin and Season in a row!
Facing the three powerful enemies who are the top French king in Europe, the top jungler of the seven kings and the god of support in the world, the God team has shown an even more amazing style this time!
Fight to win!
And than this, there is even more shocking and even ecstatic news.
The God-Hand of God team's complete first-round group stage record will be counted, including four wins against the wild card, the Taiwan server, and the European and American divisions.
It's a five-game victory.
In contrast, the SSK team that also won the other four BO1 games, the final first round record is 4 wins and 1 loss.
God-Hand of God and the SSK team collided for the first time in the first round of the group stage, and the former ended with the victory.
This alone seems to be enough to shake the entire e-sports circle. God-hand of God, who was once only considered to be in the second echelon, has not only entered the ranks of the first echelon, but even seems to have already The once-only SSK team was eliminated from the first tier—
And the God team itself seems to want the first echelon exclusive!
However, such news has a regrettable footnote-
The first defeat of the SSK team has a very reasonable reason that no one can fault it.
because.
In the first round of the group stage, what the SSK team sent was not the complete main lineup of their own team.
As the core of the team's soul and the biggest ace in the world, the world's number one mid laner.
SSK's captain F-Han Se-ho.
Did not play.
…
"Unprecedented!"
Battle reports and professional commentary from major online forums and social media platforms continue to go viral.
The most visible is such a comment.
It represents the indescribably complex mood of countless ordinary gamer fans, professional e-sports insiders, senior professional commentators and commentators.
It's no small talk...
It is serious, and the specification level is almost second only to the top international events of the S-Series World Championship.
Every team participating in the competition, even the wild card division, is by no means an underdog, and the rest are the top teams in the major established divisions.
Among them, in every game starting from the group stage, the outcome is extremely important, which is directly related to whether they can advance to the next stage. No team dares to be slack in such a situation, except to go all out, Still go all out.
can be -
Just in this MSI mid-season game, as the SSK team that is now recognized as the strongest in the world, they made such a move that can be called a big deal.
On the four main first team players.
But in the most critical mid-laner position, they should have been their most ace in the game, but they did not send the world's number one mid-laner who was enough to make a final decision.
Only one mid laner from the second team came off the bench.
Such a move, even without making any other remarks, seems to have shown an attitude to the world.
contempt.
random.
A mere MSI, a mere spring final champion in several major competitions.
I don't need my main ace yet.