The 2023 League of Legends (LoL) Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), potentially the second-largest tournament on the competitive LoL calendar, will conclude in London this weekend.
Two teams are in the running for the $50,000 (£40,000) first-place prize in this year's esports competition, which started on May 2.
T1 and JDG will go head-to-head in the grand final on Sunday, May 21 at Copper Box Arena in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
The losing team will not go home empty-handed. The prize money for the runner-up is $37,500 (£30,172).
Tickets for the big day were in high demand. Those who missed out on them can watch the big match at several gaming bars and venues in London hosting viewing parties.
Four Quarters, Pixel Bar, New Meta, Platform, SideQuest are some of the venues doing this.
The Riot Games Twitch feed will live-stream the MSI 2023 final, which starts at 12pm BST.
This year’s tournament followed a different format from previous years.
Although MSI has been successful in increasing team rivalry since its launch in 2015, the game designers reportedly saw a chance to enhance the mid-season event and highlight more cross-regional competition.
This year’s competition featured 13 teams from around the globe, two more than usual. League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK), League of Legends Championship Series (LCS), League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) and Tencent League of Legends Pro League (LPL) were each represented by two teams. The top seeds from League of Legends Japan League (LJL), Liga Latinoamérica (LLA), Vietnam Championship Series (VCS), Pacific Championship Series (PCS), and the Campeonato Brasileiro de League of Legends (CBLOL) were the others involved.
Every year, many gamers, including those who are not League of Legends fans, tune in to watch MSI, one of the largest international esports tournaments.
As the top teams from each region compete against one another for prize money and the glory that goes along with it, the competition is all about igniting regional rivalries.