On February 25, Riot Games updated the community on the status of the 2020 Mid-Season Invitational. John Needham, global head of esports at Riot Games, said they had to delay revealing the event’s date and location because of COVID-19, also known as the Coronavirus. Today, Riot Games announced that the event is taking place in July instead of May.
2020 Mid-Season Invitational Moved from May to July #MSI2020
Read more here: https://t.co/FHD5CgIsD3 pic.twitter.com/SryvyBvgH8
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) March 10, 2020
The new schedule of the 2020 Mid-Season Invitational
The Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) will start Friday, July 3, with the event finals on Sunday, July 19. At this time, there is no information available on the event’s location. Most regional League of Legends leagues take MSI’s timing into account. Because of this, the regions have now all bumped up the starting dates of their second splits. In addition to this, the regional leagues will have an extra break during the delayed MSI event.Â
The new starting dates of the second splits are as follows:
- OPL – May 15
- VCS – May 15
- LCS – May 16
- TCL – May 16
- LCK – May 20
- LEC – May 22
- CBLOL – May 23
- LPL – May 23
- LLA – May 30
- PCS – May 30
- LJL – May 31
- LCL – June 6
The effect of the new schedule on regional leagues
Within the competitive year of League of Legends, there are very few moments for players to take an extended break from the game. Mainly for the teams not attending MSI, this event’s timing was the perfect opportunity to rest. However, several regions now only have two weeks to prepare for the new split after the season ends.
One example of this is the Chinese Pro League. The League of Legends Pro League (LPL) had quite a considerable delay in its regular season due to the coronavirus. The regular LPL season ends on April 19, two weeks after the intended ending date. After this, one to two more weeks is required for the Spring Playoffs. That leaves the team that wins the 2020 LPL Spring Playoffs no time for a break between seasons, and no time to prepare ahead of the event.
For more League of Legends news, be sure to read all about the upcoming improvements to matchmaking in League of Legends.Â
