Look, let's be honest: Riot Games has finally pulled back the curtain on the 2026 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), set to take place at the Daejeon Convention Center’s Exhibition Hall 2 on the 16th.

The tournament runs for a solid three weeks, from June 28th to July 12th, split into the Play-In and Bracket stages. The Play-In stage kicks off from June 28th to July 1st, where four teams will clash in a best-of-five double-elimination format, but only one will punch their ticket to the next round. The real drama unfolds during the Bracket stage, running from July 3rd to 6th and July 8th to 12th, featuring eight elite teams. Save the date for the grand finale, which kicks off at 3 PM on July 12th.

We now have the full roster of 11 teams locked in. Representing the LCK, we have Hanwha Life Esports and T1, while the LPL sends Bilibili Gaming (BLG) and Top Esports (TES). EMEA's LEC is represented by G2 Esports and Karmine Corp (KC). The list continues with North America’s LCS sending LYON and Team Liquid Alienware (TL), joined by the LCP’s Team Secret Whales (TSW) and Revolve Deep CROSS Gaming (DCG), plus Brazil's CBLOL representative, FURIA (FUR).

For those of you tuning in from home, Riot has cooked up some interactive bits and bobs to keep you engaged. Catch the matches on the official website to earn 'Drops', including a cute duck theme and a Renekton-themed 'run forbidden' icon. Interestingly, a portion of the revenue from official Twitch channel subscriptions will be allocated as GRP to provide financial support for regional leagues and teams. Plus, thanks to AWS, we are seeing the debut of the 'Crystal Ball' system, which helps you predict the meta, trending champions, and star player performances.

If your predictions hit the mark, you'll be rewarded with limited-edition emotes, icons, and the Broken Covenant Jhin skin, depending on your accuracy. A slice of the revenue from that very skin will be distributed among the participating teams. Once the champions are crowned, commemorative icons and emotes will hit the shop, with fans from the winning region getting the chance to snatch them up for just 1 Blue Essence. To cap it all off, from July 13th to 20th, a promotion will offer a 33% discount on the actual skins used by the winning players. Best of luck with your picks!