As we crown new split champions around the globe, the 10 teams who will face-off in the Play-In Stage of the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) are being locked. To determine the groups for the Play-In Stage, we’ll be hosting a Play-In Draw Show on April 23rd at 7:00pm CST (4:00 AM PDT).

What is the Play-In Stage?

The Play-In Stage is the first stage of MSI, played before the Group Stage. Teams will be split into two groups of four, where they will play a double round-robin phase. The 10 regional teams will include:

• CBLOL’s INTZ – Brazil (BR)
• LCL’s Vega Squadron – Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
• LJL’s DetonatioN FocusMe – Japan (JPN)
• LLA’s (TBD) – Latin America (LATAM) (Qualifier on 4/20)
• LCS’s Team Liquid – North America (NA) – First round bye, starts in Play-In Knockout Stage
• OPL’s Bombers – Oceania (OCE)
• LST’s (TBD)  – Southeast Asia (SEA) (Qualifier on 4/20)
• TCL’s 1907 Fenerbahçe Espor – Turkey (TUR)
• LMS’s (TBD) – Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau (LMS) (Qualifier on 4/20)- First round bye, starts in Play-In Knockout Stage
• VCS’s Phong Vũ Buffalo – Vietnam (VN)

The Play-In Group Stage takes place on May 1-4 with each day featuring six games from one of the two groups.

The best performing team from each group will advance to the Play-In Knockout Stage where the winner of Group A will be paired against the representative team from the LCS and the winner of Group B will be paired against the representative team from the LMS in a Best of 5 series. These matches will take place on May 5-6 and the winners will advance to the next stage of the tournament, the Group Stage.

The losing teams will play each other in the Best of Five Play-In Elimination match on May 7. The winner of this match will also advance to the Group Stage.

What is the Play-In Draw?

The eight teams participating in the Play-In are randomly sorted into two groups. The Play-In Draw is how we randomly sort the two groups from the eight participating regions for the Play-In Group Stage.

During the Play-In Draw Show, the on-air team will explain the teams and breakdown the process as it happens live.

How does Play-In Draw work?

The eight teams participating in the first round of Play-Ins are sorted into two pools based on each region’s international performance over the last two years.

Here are the Play-In Draw seeding results:

Pool 1: Turkey’s TCL, Vietnam’s VCS, Southeast Asia’s LST, and the Commonwealth of Independent States’ LCL

Pool 2: Japan’s LJL, Latin America’s LLA, Brazil’s CBLOL, and Oceania’s OPL

To start the draw process, we will draw two teams from Pool 1 into Group A. The remaining two Pool 1 teams will then be placed in Group B. We will then repeat the same process with the Pool 2 teams. Note, this means exactly two teams from each of the pools will be sorted into each group.

Why does the Play-In matter?

The top three teams from the Play-In Stage will advance to the MSI Group Stage in Hanoi on May 10-14. The recently crowned split champions from LPL, LCK, and LEC will join these teams for the Group Stage.

How do I watch?

Watch the MSI 2019 Play-In Draw Show live on Lolesports on April 23rd at 7:00pm CST (4:00 AM PDT).

Don’t miss any of the MSI 2019 action starting with the Play-In Stage on Wednesday, May 1st at 5 PM ICT (3 AM PDT).