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Surprise! The MSI 2018 Play-In Group Draw was Tuesday (update)

I hope you didn’t forget.

By Austen Goslin
Riot Games

Update 4/24: The group draw is finished and the teams have been selected. The headline has been updated to reflect this and you can still see the original story below the cut.

Group A:

  • Rainbow7 (LLN)
  • Gambit Esports (LCL)
  • Kaos Latin Gamers (CLS)
  • Ascension Gaming (GPL)

Group B:

  • KaBuM! e-Sports (CBLOL)
  • SuperMassive eSports (TCL)
  • Dire Wolves (OPL)
  • PENTAGRAM (LJL)

The Mid-Season Invitational is getting close and the first group draw is already here, though we forgive you if you forgot about it. Riot announced the date for the first of MSI’s two group draws last week, but it was washed away by all the Rift Rivals news.

As a brief reminder, the MSI’s Play-In stage is where some of the smaller regions will compete for the chance to participate in the main MSI competition. The eight teams will be split into two groups and will play double round-robins to determine which teams advance to the Play-In stage’s playoffs. The group winners will be randomly paired against Flash Wolves (LMS) or EVOS Esports (VCS). Both of these teams received a group stage bye thanks to their regions’ previous performances.

The eight teams in the group stage will be picked according to their regional seed, which is determined by how well their region has done in past international events. In these results, Riot has prioritized events for Worlds qualifications like the IWCQ, over events like previous MSI qualifiers.

The MSI 2018 Play-in Group Draw will go live at 8 a.m. ET and can be seen on lolesports.com, the Riot Games Twitch channel, or the Riot Games YouTube channel. For a reminder on which teams will be competing in the Mid-Season Invitational, you can check out our team listing.

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