No Russian teams at MSI this year
LCL To Miss MSI
The Mid-Season Invitational this year is going to be held in South Korea, but unlike years before, we won't be getting a representative of the LCL region. International League of Legends events are no stranger to some teams staying home, but never has it been a LCL representative.
Does it come as a shock to anyone to hear that the LCL representative won't be making the 2022 Mid-Season Invitational? With the current political situation in the area, it would be more of a shock to have a team compete and represent the region internationally, right?
LCL Spring Split Cancelled
Not only is the LCL not sending any representative to the Mid-Season Invitational, the region literally cannot send anyone. According to their official Facebook channel, the league is also unable to proceed with their Spring Split.
With the amount of sanctions on Russia due to their invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war, it makes complete sense that the LCL is unable to continue play as normal. Various other events have also excluded Russian-based teams from their competition and the teams have to, if they want to compete, do so under a neutral banner.
Mid-Season Invitational Without LCL Team
This means that at the 2022 Mid-Season Invitational, no LCL representative will be able to compete. This will have an impact on the way groups are played. Last year, the VCS was unable to send their top team to the event, which meant one group of four had to play with only three teams.
A similar situation might unfold this year as well. If the VCS cannot send a representative again, then Riot might have to think of only competing with two groups instead of three as they usually would, but so far we haven't heard anything of the VCS' status and sending teams to international events once again this year.
When is MSI 2022?
The 2022 Mid-Season Invitational will take place in May. This isn't the only international tournament this year, though, with the 2022 Asian Games taking place in September and the 2022 World Championship to be held in North America in October. It's a busy schedule for international esports fans this year.