League of Legends‘ Mid-Season Invitational has come and gone for 2024, but many fans will struggle to forget the action that unfolded over the past few weeks. Many are even proclaiming this MSI the best of all time, chiefly due to the format change.
This year’s edition introduced the very highly-requested double-elimination playoffs for the tournament and this, combined with a faster turnaround between each series and the removal of as many “civil war” matchups between regions, made for a much better viewing experience. Fans on the League subreddit pointed out last year’s World Championships had seven best-of-fives over three weeks, while MSI cranked out 14 full series in 12 days. “Double elim is superior but the best difference is the lack of downtime,” they said, adding hype for Worlds was killed thanks to the format’s week-long wait between matches.
The main worry for sceptics of the format was the lack of a proper advantage for entering the grand final from the upper bracket. While the odd few still believe in a bracket reset, most were pleased the faster format meant a lower-bracket team making a run, like Bilibili Gaming this year, was naturally at a disadvantage due to the busy schedule. “If the playoffs was like four weeks, it would give lower bracket teams a chance to rest up. Double elim must be done as short as possible to favor the upper bracket team,” a fan said.
Others were happy to see the League spotlight shared among a host of regions, thanks in part to the group draw, which was designed to keep inter-regional series to a minimum. While MSI’s results this year helped achieve this goal, the difference compared to past iterations of the tournament was noted by fans.
“[The] overall quality of this MSI has been fantastic and every region had something to be proud of,” a fan said, listing off the many twists and turns the community was treated to—from G2’s shock win over Top Esports to Liquid’s amazing NA-EU grudge match win and competitive series against giants T1.
The one element holding back this format’s adoption for Worlds is the venue change between playoff stages. Riot tends to play out the single-elimination finals across multiple venues, building up to a grand finale in front of a packed-out arena. Logistically, fitting that many location swaps in isn’t viable without these extended breaks between games, but the fans want Riot to know the busier schedule is the way forward.
While it’s unlikely we’ll see any major changes now this World’s season has reached its halfway stage, after record viewership and a stunning MSI from start to finish, a change to League‘s biggest event can’t be far away.