MSI 2023 is approaching, as multiple teams have already locked a spot for the tournament.
The next major event for League of Legends 2023 is coming as teams around the world are battling in their regional tournaments. MSI 2023 is coming soon to the UK as the format has been changed to make it more competitive.
The Esports season started a few months back as LEC has already completed their first-ever Winter Split and is going to start their Spring Split playoffs soon. Meanwhile, the rest of the major leagues are nearing the end of their Spring Split runs, with regions like the LCK and LPL almost done and dusted.
MSI 2023 is going to be a hyped-up event as it will be a new look for them. This will come with an MSI event that has not been revealed yet and the brand-new Inkshadow skin line. All of that said, this is a full list of the teams that have qualified for MSI 2023 and what the qualification status looks like for the regions.
Read More: Will Naafiri Be Released With MSI 2023 Event?
Qualification For MSI 2023
As mentioned earlier, the MSI 2023 format was changed to add more best-of-series and double elimination. With that, the number of teams coming from major regions has also increased compared to MSI 2022. To recap really quickly, MSI 2023 will feature 13 teams from all regions, and the distribution of spots is as follows:
- 2 from LCK (Korea)
- 2 from LPL (China)
- 2 from LEC (Europe)
- 2 from LCS (North America)
- 1 from VCS (Vietnam)
- 1 from PCS (South East Asia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Oceania)
- 1 from CBLOL (Brazil)
- 1 from LJL (Japan)
- 1 from LLA (Latin America)
With the dissolution of the TCL and the merging of the OCE playoffs to PCS, there are fewer teams to work with, but higher-caliber teams are able to come to the event. The tournament will be in two stages of Play-Ins and Brackets. 5 teams out of 13 will be auto-qualified for the Brackets Stage while the rest will compete in the Play-Ins.
We will not go into the format in detail here as we have an article that already covers that front. So let’s jump in and talk about the teams that are already qualified for MSI 2023.
Teams Qualified for MSI 2023
So far, these are the teams that are qualified for MSI 2023.
- Gen.G (as LCK 1st Seed)
- T1 (as LCK 2nd Seed)
- JD Gaming (as LPL 1st seed)
- Bilibili Gaming (as LPL 2nd seed)
- MAD Lions (as LEC 1st seed)
- G2 Esports (as LEC 2nd seed)
- Cloud9 (as LCS 1st seed)
- Golden Guardians (as LCS 2nd seed)
- PSG Talon (as PCS 1st seed)
- GAM Esports (as VCS 1st seed)
- Detonation FocusME (as LJL 1st seed)
- LOUD (as CBLOL 1st seed)
- Movistar R7 (as LLA 1st seed)
It is still fairly early for some of the regions to call it just yet. In light of that, let’s talk about the qualification races in the different regions briefly.
LCK
Starting with the LCK, T1 and Gen.G have already qualified, with the latter picking up the first seed. Gen.G beat T1 in the Spring Finals as a surprise and locked in the first seed. Meanwhile, T1 will be the 2nd seed at MSI 2023. Both seeds will be in the Brackets Stage automatically as the winning region in Worlds 2022.
LPL
Moving on to the LPL, the Spring Playoffs has progressed to the Grand Finals as JDG and BLG compete for a trophy and MSI seeding. JDG has advanced in the Winners Bracket as BLG is in the Losers Bracket after the result earlier. BLG emerged victorious in the lower bracket finals to face JDG once more.
JDG won LPL as they handily beat BLG in the Grand Finals. For winning, JDG takes 1st spot, and BLG takes 2nd. The former goes straight to the Brackets Stage while BLG goes into the Play-Ins, awaiting the draw.
LEC
Next is the LEC, as Europe has already gone through one split, with the Spring Playoffs coming in soon. The LEC changed its format this year, as they now have three splits in a season. Now, The Winter Split is over, as G2 Esports won that one. With that, G2 Esports is the first team to come to MSI.
The rest of the Spring Split will determine the 2nd team from Europe and the seeding. The Spring Split Champions will be the 1st seed, with the 2nd seed will be either the Winter Split Winners or the team with the highest Championship points. Since both Winter and Spring Splits can have the same winners, the team with the highest Championship points can qualify.
Thus, it is very hard to predict which other team will come to the tournament. It turned out to be that as MAD Lions were the victors of Spring Split 2023. No one expected it as they made the full run from the Lower Bracket to the Finals and then reverse-sweeping BDS. A great achievement and one MAD Lions have something to show for with a trophy and an MSI spot.
LCS
The LCS will work like the LPL and LCK as Cloud9 has qualified for MSI 2023 as they are in the Spring Split Finals. Cloud 9 and Golden Guardians faced off against each other as the former emerged victorious. Hence, both teams are heading to MSI 2023, with Cloud 9 being the first seed and Golden Guardians being the second seed.
VCS
The VCS is set to start their playoff run as four teams are awaiting their turn to come to MSI. GAM Esports could not come last year due to the Southeast Asia Games, but they have a good shot at coming to MSI this year. They were 12-0 in the VCS Spring Split Regular Season as they only dropped 7 games out of the 31 they played. An incredible dominance in regional play that did not translate in Worlds 2022.
Other teams like SBTC Esports, Team Whales, and CERBERUS Esports have a legitimate shot at making it to MSI 2023. However, GAM Esports remains the favorite, and they will hope to make it and have a better showing than last year. The VCS playoffs wrapped up on May 23 as GAM Esports will represent VCS at MSI 2023.
PCS
The system of the PCS has changed as the teams from the LCO directly compete with them to get a spot in MSI 2023. This is a better opportunity for the LCO to make their teams stronger with the improved competition before an international tournament. However, it does hinder a chance for a team from the LCO to make it to a big event.
Having said that, the PCS playoffs ended as PSG Talon emerged as the winner of the league. They will be the only participant at MSI 2023 for the regions.
CBLOL
The CBLOL Split 1 Playoff is ongoing as LOUD is sitting in the finals and has a leg up for MSI 2023 Qualifications. Meanwhile, paiN Gaming awaits their opponent from the Los Grandes and FURIA winners in the Losers Bracket Finals.
LOUD made a lot of noise at Worlds 2022, but they have had some roster changes since then. Regardless, LOUD managed to win the entire split and will make another appearance on the international stage. The Play-ins draw will determine which group they fall in and how hard it becomes to proceed to the Brackets Stage.
LJL
The LJL is in the Semifinals of their Spring Playoffs as Sengoku Gaming faces FENNEL on one side and Detonation FocusME faces Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks Gaming on the other. The winner of the playoffs will earn a trip to MSI 2023.
Having said that, Detonation FocusMe has once again won the LJL and will be representing the region in MSI. It will be interesting to see how this team performs once more on the international stage.
LLA
Lastly, the LLA is at the Finals of the Spring Playoffs, with Six Karma facing Movistar R7. The favorites cannot be determined, really, as the top seed of the playoffs in Estral Esports was knocked out. This should be an interesting Finals, as either team can make it to MSI 2023.
Movistar R7 emerged victorious and now awaits the draw to determine who their opponent is in MSI 2023.
