Five new teams from five different regions will punch their tickets to the Mid-Season Invitational over the weekend of June 6 and 7, as the CBLOL, LCP, LEC, LCS and LPL all reach decisive moments in their playoff runs. The LCK is the exception: its MSI qualification spots will be decided next weekend, when the Road to MSI tournament takes place in Wonju from June 12 to 14. This weekend, the LCK plays out lower bracket matches only. The team that comes out on top there will face Gen.G next week in Wonju, with the loser of T1 against Hanwha Life Esports waiting in the next round for the region's second MSI ticket.

Saturday, June 6

Brazil's CBLOL is the only region sending a single representative to MSI, which raises the stakes for its lone qualifying match. FURIA face LOS for that spot. FURIA reached the grand final through the upper bracket without dropping a single game, and they had already lifted the Americas Cup right before First Stand with two BO5 wins over Cloud9. They are the logical favourites. LØS , on the other hand, had to climb the entire lower bracket, and few expected them to reach this level.

furia
Photo Credit: Riot Games

The LCP champion will become the second team to qualify, taking the first seed. Secret Whales are already locked into MSI after earning their ticket through championship points, and they reached the final via the upper bracket. So Saturday will decide the second qualifier. Deep Cross Gaming will face the winner of MVK Esports against GAM Esports, played the day before, for the right to join Secret Whales in the final. Secret Whales remain favourites to claim the first seed in the grand final, since they beat Deep Cross Gaming just before, and Deep Cross Gaming themselves had beaten GAM. Still, nothing is settled. Secret Whales were pushed to five games by a Deep Cross Gaming side that raised its level considerably in the playoffs.

Over in the LEC, Karmine Corp will face Movistar KOI for the fourth time in a series this year. So far Karmine Corp remain unbeaten against them. They had beaten Movistar KOI at this same stage during LEC Versus by a 3-2 scoreline, then again in a BO3 (best-of-three) during the LEC regular season in Madrid, then once more at the EWC qualifier, and again in a BO5 at the EWC qualifier by a 3-1 margin. The only time Movistar KOI got the better of Karmine Corp this split came in a BO1 at LEC Versus. A more detailed preview of this match will be out soon. Worth noting: Movistar KOI have shown better recent form. They pushed G2 Esports to five tightly contested games, while Karmine Corp collapsed 1-3 against G2 in the upper bracket.

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Photo Credit: Hara Amoros/Riot Games

Sunday, June 7

The LCS delivers an upper bracket final between the two best teams in the region since the start of the year, the very same who contested the title in the first split: Cloud9 and LYON. A revenge-minded Cloud9 are unbeaten this regular season at 7-0. Even so, the last time these two met in a match with an international qualification on the line, LYON came out on top to win the LCS Lock In and book a place at First Stand. It promises to be a close one, though Cloud9 are slightly the favourites on paper given their domestic dominance.

Also on June 7, the LPL underdog story of Team WE reaches its conclusion. Can they hold on to the momentum that let them topple Anyone's Legend and Bilibili Gaming back to back, long enough to take down Top Esports in the upper bracket final, qualify for MSI, and reach the LPL final? The answer comes Sunday. Going by the regular season, Top Esports are heavy favourites, with a contested top-three finish followed by a convincing win over JD Gaming, the regular season's second-placed side, in the upper bracket. But Team WE, who finished 1-13 in the regular season, have just sent in the lower bracket the heavy favourites in Bilibili Gaming as well as Anyone's Legend, and they look poised to pull off the unthinkable.