International comparison in LoL starts in the knockout phase

Europe versus Korea, North America versus China: These are the matches for the semi-finals of the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) 2019 in League of Legends (LoL). Here, the regional champions of the spring season compete for the first international title of the year.

G2 Esports, with their very unconventional and impulsive playing style, meet SK Telecom T1, who have a more traditional, slower and orderly style. Although the G2 Esports Europeans have defeated their Koran counterparts twice in the group stage, they are by no means the favourites – the match is more balanced.

Even though G2 Esports have recently won, the match in Mest-of-5 mode is a different challenge in the semi-finals. The Koreans from T1 found their way into the tournament better and better and were able to perform well in the last matches of the group stage. G2, on the other hand, lost their previous two matches against Phong Vũ Buffalo and Team Liquid (TL).

TL are the North American representatives in the second semi-final against Chinese champions and reigning world champions Invictus Gaming (IG). With nine wins from ten matches in the group stage, IG is the clear favourite to win the tournament and thus also in the duel with Team Liquid. Like G2, the Chinese play very aggressively and try to finish games as quickly as possible with an early advantage.

Team Liquid is thinking about their own playing style, which they are successful within North America, but have problems on the international stage because of the strong focus on the Botlane.

The semi-finals and the final will take place in the Taiwanese capital Taipei. In addition to the international title, the remaining four teams will have to pay 750,000 US dollars out of the total prize money of one million US dollars. So far, Invictus Gaming seems well on the way to securing the bear’s share of US$400,000 and the second international title.

The first semi-final match between IG and Team Liquid will begin on Friday at 12:00-noon European time. On Saturday, the match G2 against T1 will follow at 9.00 a.m. European time. The final will be played on Sunday, also at 9.00 am. All matches will be broadcast on the streaming platform “Twitch.tv”.