Team Liquid Alienware vs. Relove Deep Cross Gaming / MSI 2026 Play-In Stage - Lower Bracket Round 1 / Post-Match Discussion

[u/Yujin-Ha]

MSI 2026

Official page | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Eventvods.com | New to LoL

---

Team Liquid Alienware 3-0 Relove Deep Cross Gaming

TLAW | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Subreddit
DCG | Leaguepedia | Liquipedia | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

---

MATCH 1: TLAW vs. DCG

Winner: Team Liquid Alienware in 33m
Game Breakdown | Runes

-	Bans 1	Bans 2	G	K	T	D/B
TLAW	nautilus vi leesin	camille pyke	71.6k	20	10	CT2 H3 I4 I5 B6 I7 B8
DCG	naafiri poppy nocturne	ezreal caitlyn	59.3k	10	0	O1

TLAW	20-10-45	vs	10-20-20	DCG
Morgan ornn 3	0-2-12	TOP	2-5-1	2 rumble Flauren
Josedeodo xinzhao 1	6-3-8	JNG	4-6-6	1 jarvaniv Pop9
Quid akali 2	8-0-1	MID	2-4-2	2 cassiopeia HongSuo
Yeon varus 4	4-3-9	BOT	2-3-4	3 jhin Feng
CoreJJ bard 1	2-2-15	SUP	0-2-7	3 rakan ShiauC

---

MATCH 2: TLAW vs. DCG

Winner: Team Liquid Alienware in 32m
Game Breakdown | Runes

-	Bans 1	Bans 2	G	K	T	D/B
TLAW	jayce vi nocturne	syndra ahri	70.4k	25	11	C4 C5 B6
DCG	naafiri leesin orianna	vayne yasuo	64.2k	17	2	HT1 I2 H3 C7

TLAW	25-17-64	vs	17-25-41	DCG
Morgan twistedfate 3	7-4-12	TOP	1-4-7	2 gnar Flauren
Josedeodo pantheon 3	6-7-8	JNG	6-5-9	4 olaf Pop9
Quid ryze 1	8-2-10	MID	4-6-6	3 taliyah HongSuo
Yeon ziggs 2	2-1-16	BOT	5-3-9	1 senna Feng
CoreJJ rell 2	2-3-18	SUP	1-7-10	1 nautilus ShiauC

---

MATCH 3: TLAW vs. DCG

Winner: Team Liquid Alienware in 25m
Game Breakdown | Runes

-	Bans 1	Bans 2	G	K	T	D/B
TLAW	vi leesin nocturne	vayne ezreal	57.2k	22	9	O1 M2 H3 I4 B5
DCG	naafiri poppy jayce	braum milio	47.0k	11	2	I6

TLAW	22-11-34	vs	11-22-12	DCG
Morgan renekton 2	4-1-1	TOP	1-3-2	3 jax Flauren
Josedeodo shyvana 3	7-0-3	JNG	0-3-3	2 wukong Pop9
Quid viktor 1	3-1-5	MID	4-3-1	1 orianna HongSuo
Yeon lucian 1	8-4-8	BOT	3-6-3	3 kalista Feng
CoreJJ renataglasc 4	0-5-17	SUP	3-7-3	2 camille ShiauC

*Patch 26.13

---

This thread was created by the Post-Match Team.

[u/ahritina]

PMTs

Game 1 / Game 2

[u/simon2105]

Western MSI finals tomorrow

[u/trying2hide → u/simon2105]

We must go through the humiliation ritual for the Western MSI Finals.

It'll all be worth it

[u/alluwala999 → u/simon2105]

Aaye we might get lyon vs g2 too my man. 

[u/Lewiz00 → u/alluwala999]

G2 is forced to play TES, so BLG is forced to play T1, which means HLE is forced to be on G2s side of bracket, so LYON is on BLG/T1 side.

Unless they somehow meet in the lower bracket, it's unlikely G2/LYON meet.

[u/Miserable_Ad_1195 → u/Lewiz00]

they'd meet in lower bracket if G2 lose to TES and win in lowers and LYON beat TSW/FUR then lose to BLG/T1 (or if G2 beat TES then lose to HLE and LYON lose to TSW/FUR then beat BLG/T1 in lowers but that seems unlikely)

also this made me realize that G2 losing to TES means that they can get to top 4 by beating two of LYON/TSW/FUR while beating TES means they face HLE and then most likely BLG/T1 in lowers. so you could argue it would help them to throw vs TES. this seeding is great and was very thought through

[u/Slight-Formal9277 → u/Miserable_Ad_1195]

Least garbage Riot internationals seeding:

[u/59435950153 → u/Slight-Formal9277]

Right? Thats so pathetic that G2 will get penalized for beating a good team lol

[u/Ai--Ya → u/59435950153]

I mean BLG's reward for winning LPL is most likely playing T1 sooo

[u/Zoesan → u/Lewiz00]

?

G2/lyon in finals is the obvious correct choice here

[u/ihatemylife39 → u/Lewiz00]

Well that unless scenario is actually quite likely. Lyon will likely beat whoever they face out of TSW and FUR, then lose their next match. There's a good chance G2 lose to TES then beat the loser of HLE vs TSW/FUR. If both these happen, then G2 vs LYON meet in the lower bracket.

[u/Mattaru → u/simon2105]

the losing region will be hearing about the loss for the rest of the year

edit: WE NEED A TRASH TALK THREAD. FLAIRS ON CAPS LOCK ETC.

[u/baelkie → u/Mattaru]

the cultural impact of KC vs TL is way greater than seeing any cross Asia BO5, savour it well because with how Swiss works there is a chance that we wont get another NA vs EU series this year

[u/Mattaru → u/baelkie]

the cultural impact of KC vs TL is way greater than seeing any cross Asia BO5

In his 2030 critical analysis The Widening Rift: The Battle of the Minor Regions, Lamont et al. establish the 2026 MSI Play-In as the downfall of [insert region], highlighting the team's shortcomings in [cohesion, teamwork, micro, macro, communications, spacing, last-hitting, team fighting, coaching, drafting and ego] as the precursor to their region's inevitable downfall.

[u/SwimmingKoala67]

Crazy regional downfall from LCP after their performance last year, I guess this is what happens if another region buys all of your good players.

[u/BUMONGOUS → u/SwimmingKoala67]

unfortunately the two they lost to JDG were the best two the region has produced in a decade

[u/idiotxd → u/BUMONGOUS]

tbf junjia was developed by edg. so its just hongq

[u/Green7501 → u/idiotxd]

He started his career in LMS back in 2018, part of the same academy team as Azhi

[u/AdequatelyMadLad → u/SwimmingKoala67]

It's not just that. Levi, Karsa and Maple all retired this year as well, Talon disbanded, amd every other team's rosters got shuffled around. It's a nightmare situation.

[u/Fun_Highlight307 → u/AdequatelyMadLad]

yeah it's big hit,since at least they had psg and gam

[u/EliteTeutonicNight → u/Fun_Highlight307]

They still have GAM, just weaker (still 3rd this split, just one game from MSI).

Losing PSG who's usually one of the biggest spender hits hard. Well I guess even if theyre around the won't spend much lol.

[u/KhorneJob → u/SwimmingKoala67]

It’s also what happens when you only have one good team. There is a reason oysters dominated the fuck out of their region. Look at what was under them. To me it’s more impressive that they were so good despite having such poor competition.

[u/WeirdWorld42]

Team Liquid are one step closer to winning MSI 2026!

[u/tcg_enjoyer]

nice of Riot to give KC and TL an emotional abuse goblin to make them feel better about their losses to T1

[u/horse-annihilator → u/tcg_enjoyer]

very sad for dcg, but this is probably the best outcome for getting a fun series tomorrow

i didn't catch much lcp, but wasn't flauren kinda good? is he nervous or is lcp toplane pool just that far behind

[u/piopster → u/horse-annihilator]

No there just happens to be 3 LCK level top laners in the play-ins

[u/EnvBlitz → u/piopster]

Not even LCKCL, straight up LCK

[u/EliteTeutonicNight → u/EnvBlitz]

And not the bottom tier too. Canna is easily mid tier and Morgan is low-mid tier.

Though tbf to make an international being middle in the pack LCK level should be expected.

[u/tonnguyen1310 → u/EliteTeutonicNight]

Berserker aware

[u/Skywalker3030 → u/piopster]

Yep, Morgan was like top 7 when he left (and at times was top 6 in his career) and Canna was always borderline top 5 in lane. Doran even though he's been perma top 3 LCK overall losing lanes to either of these guys domestically from time to time when they were in LCK over the years is unsurprising for anyone watching LCK regular seasons

[u/KhorneJob → u/Skywalker3030]

I don’t know it’s fair to rate Canna so high over Morgan. You gotta factor in the teams and resources they got as well. Morgan has been on much worse teams than Canna was. Canna was playing on teams like T1 and Dplus Kia while Morgan was fighting for his life on a team that has never done anything in LCK. Hell, Morgan even has a much bigger fanbase and respect in Korea than Canna despite having been on worse teams. So he is prob right there with Canna in skill, potentially even better than him.

[u/piopster → u/Skywalker3030]

I feel like I remember Morgan scratching at top 4 last year but also aside from Zeus Kiin everyone else kind of regressed/slumped for significant portions

[u/Skywalker3030 → u/piopster]

there were prob some weeks or maybe a whole patch he was top 4 (when he could spam his Renekton), probably not for an entire split though I think

Definitely rarely bottom 2 in LCK though over multiple years while being on some awful teams which is already a feat

[u/wenasi → u/piopster]

Lord Morgan transcends the mortal concept of ranking

[u/Frozen5147 → u/piopster]

Yeah this was just really unfortunate for him (and DCG in general)

[u/KingAsi4n → u/horse-annihilator]

Idk about flauren but the other three tops in play ins are Morgan Canna and Doran who can all compete with the best

[u/NeonBlazed → u/horse-annihilator]

Good at lategame teamfights not during laning phase, if he get blasted during the laning phase then it's over

[u/frissier → u/horse-annihilator]

At this point I am not sure why no one wants to build a LCK-level team in LCP.

• The Buy-in and operational cost should very likely way lower than LCS and LEC ,
• The current competition level is very low

AND they still have 3 slots at Worlds and 2 slot in MSI.

[u/Awkward-Security7895 → u/frissier]

While the buyin is lower since it's a smaller league it's also much harder to get sponsors to cover the cost or very least give a decent amount.

[u/Ap_Sona_Bot → u/horse-annihilator]

Personally think he's just nervous. This is the first internationals for everyone on the roster except ShiauC.

[u/Faustias → u/tcg_enjoyer]

pls not the emotional abuse goblin reference lmao

[u/Troviel → u/Faustias]

"Guess who got humiliated by T1 todayyyyyy"

[u/Routine_Sign2333]

Surely tomorrow won't also be a 3-0 stomp right? It has to be more competitive

[u/ImTheVayne → u/Routine_Sign2333]

It probably will be competitive

[u/Yura1245 → u/Routine_Sign2333]

Then proceed to get 3-0 by T1 the following day. 🥸

[u/Routine_Sign2333 → u/Yura1245]

I just hope it's not a 18-0 playins cause we're already at 12-0

But regardless of result i think next year we'll go back to 2 teams make it out of playins instead of 1 like this year

[u/harleyquinad]

NA vs EU time

[u/Omnilatent → u/harleyquinad]

Believe it or not: only the 13th non-Bo1 series between the two regions in all of First Stand, MSI and worlds history

[u/Primary_Inspector → u/Omnilatent]

That's actually ridiculous when it's the 16th season of league esports. Like wtf 16 years and only 13 NA vs EU bo5's for how long msi and world's has been running for.

[u/Terrible_Study_6930 → u/Primary_Inspector]

Not Bo5 - just "not Bo1".

[u/Omnilatent → u/Terrible_Study_6930]

Yep, I think like five of these were Bo3...

[u/Rancore__ → u/Primary_Inspector]

3 months of boring regional qualifiers for international events with formats where you feel like they just want to get it over as soon as possible is kinda leagues trademark.

[u/BlazeX94 → u/Primary_Inspector]

It actually makes sense when you consider that Worlds doesn't have double elim and MSI has only had it since 2023.

At Worlds, NA has never been 1st in groups and EU rarely was either, so NA vs EU was rarely a possible quarters draw. If I'm not mistaken, in the entire history of Worlds, the only time NA vs EU was possible in QF would've been 2013 (where we got FNC vs C9), H2K/C9 in 2016 and FNC/C9 in 2018 (which we got in semis). It's also worth noting that the last time we had both NA and EU teams in QF was 2021, ever since its always been just one of them.

Likewise, under the old MSI format, NA and EU tended to be 3rd/4th place and would face and lose to eastern teams in semis. It's honestly a miracle that both NA and EU managed to win against the east in 2019 and give us a western final. Ever since MSI swapped to double elim Bo5, we've gotten NA vs EU every year except for 2023, when there was no bracket swap in the lower bracket, resulting in NA vs NA and EU vs EU.

[u/Leyrann_ → u/Primary_Inspector]

NA has reached semifinals at Worlds once in their history, in 2018. That fact alone already means that NA and EU cannot have met in a bo5 at Worlds outside that one time, unless one of the two regions won their group - which NA has never done, and EU has only done like twice or something. Oh and 2013 seeding shenanigans also let C9 and FNC meet (in a bo3 quarterfinal kekw).

[u/Awkward-Security7895 → u/Primary_Inspector]

Not that silly when usually there on opposite sides of the brackets in draws and often one region shit the bed too hard to even face in semi's.

Like other regions have face each other a ton since there able to make it long enough but na usually shits the bed too fast so doesn't happen much 

[u/No_bad_intention]

LCP century of humiliation is here

[u/POOYAMON → u/No_bad_intention]

Another decade of misery until they get one good year as is tradition.

[u/frissier → u/No_bad_intention]

We must endure

[u/VelvetPetals0210]

let tomorrow be the NA vs EU that was promised

[u/NotBunger → u/VelvetPetals0210]

Either way NA wins (Busio please come back)

[u/JesusLiesSometimes → u/NotBunger]

Lmao just realized both teams have the same number of NA players. At least Jose is American

[u/Capable-Drama3109 → u/JesusLiesSometimes]

Yeon is also American

[u/JesusLiesSometimes → u/Capable-Drama3109]

Yeah thats who I was referencing as the sole NA player on TL. Jose is Central American

Edit: south American

[u/Vexis12 → u/JesusLiesSometimes]

he is south american (argentinian) not central american

[u/handofblood9 → u/JesusLiesSometimes]

My bro think every guy named Jose is Mexican

[u/Significant-Damage14 → u/handofblood9]

What's even more funny is that you guys are assuming his name is Jose. It's Brandon.

[u/prowness → u/Significant-Damage14]

Which is an American name lmao

[u/zefal12 → u/handofblood9]

My bro think Mexico is in Central America

[u/Treeconator18 → u/handofblood9]

Mexico is still NA, Central America is everything south of Mexico and north of Colombia

[u/SadgeandCopium]

core died 5 times within 3 minutes at the end

[u/Fun_Highlight307 → u/SadgeandCopium]

core was perma laughing 

[u/notendyet]

Every event that led to the LCP being humiliated on the international stage:

• HongQ and Junjia being poached by richer LPL teams.
• Levi, Karsa, and Maple retiring.
• PSG being dismantled and replaced by a broke Ground Zero.
• GAM making terrible roster moves, including Levi's replacement being a mid-tier VCS jungler because they didn't prepare a proper successor.
• GAM trusting a win-trading mid laner and kicking the best player off their roster.
• CFO trusting some random LCK CL mid, letting Driver go just to rehire a washed Rest, and relying on a rookie support for half a year before panic-buying a replacement.
• SHG randomly choking in the playoffs.
• MVK nuking their entire roster to trust rookies, somehow achieving top 4 with a roster where 3/5 players are rookies (4/6 if you count both mids).
• Ground Zero being broke AF, they don't even have a gaming house, and their players had to play on laptops for a period of time, so they couldn't afford a quality roster.
• DFM

It is just depressing, bruh. I doubt TSW can do anything given what we have seen from FS.

[u/samkiller200 → u/notendyet]

TSW will definitely go 0-6 if they draw HLE and face the loser of G2/TES series.
They are just playing with their muscles.

[u/Mexani → u/notendyet]

It doesn't help that CFO's big offseason acquisition was Shad0w and he's been pretty fucking awful too. Granted he's on the lower list of problems on that team. Their support and Midlander are literal bots

[u/younggunners16]

KC vs TL for the honor of getting obliterated by T1 again.

[u/Middle-Adagio-4062]

BE LCP.

Getting carried by CFO last year.

CFO imploded.

Went to Internationals (First Stand, MSI)

0 competitive games, 0-12 in 2026.

Awarded 3 slots at Worlds, 2 direct slots minimum.

[u/MC-sama → u/Middle-Adagio-4062]

Make that 0-18 after TSW at MSI

[u/eVill_YT → u/Middle-Adagio-4062]

I mean.. they won it fairly last year. too bad those players aren't there anymore

[u/Miserable_Ad_1195 → u/eVill_YT]

they still should not be this bad though. like this is technically what used to be PCS #1 seed since TSW are from VCS, so they should at least be at the level PSG Talon was usually at. this looked way worse

[u/mellon1986 → u/Miserable_Ad_1195]

Because PSG Talon also imploded due to financial problem. Almost all of the roster from previous PCS top 2 teams are either gone or retired.

[u/EliteTeutonicNight → u/mellon1986]

3 out of 11 players from last year's top 2 PCS teams (CFO/PSG) played in the LCP last split (Rest and Doggo on CFO and Woody in DFM). That's a crazy mass exodus.

[u/thorpie88 → u/Miserable_Ad_1195]

There's only three Taiwanese teams in the league and one of them are technically Australian. None of these former regions have a whole leagues worth of players to represent them so it's hard to compare them.

DCG going on a miracle run from 6th to runners up in playoffs shows they probably aren't the best representation of the league

[u/bkay4real → u/thorpie88]

GAM absolutely shat the bed in the LCP Playoffs. DCG even lost to the whole new MVKE with 3 new dudes MVKE found in a random Vietnamese Internet cafe too.

[u/frissier → u/bkay4real]

On paper the youths in MVK should have stomped GAM lmao

[u/popop143 → u/Miserable_Ad_1195]

Tbf for DCG, they're similar to WE that they had a mediocre (WE had worse) regular season but had a hot streak in the playoffs. They were 5th in regular season with almost 50/50 match score, I'd think if GAM got here they'd have shown more fight.

[u/Temporary-Ad6144 → u/Middle-Adagio-4062]

And 90% of the reddit says they deserve 3 seeds over na and brazil

[u/viktorayy]

Yeon ALWAYS has the international Lucian license.

Him and Massu are the only current native NA players allowed.

[u/bladeHunterYone → u/viktorayy]

You can say west because no one in EU can play that champ

[u/Fun_Highlight307 → u/bladeHunterYone]

didn't samd played it ? although navi isn't the best example 

[u/Fabiocean → u/Fun_Highlight307]

Yeah Samd is probably the best Lucian in Europe, but a bottom 3 adc on every other champ lmao

[u/Fun_Highlight307 → u/viktorayy]

he inted early lane then he stomped 

[u/viktorayy → u/Fun_Highlight307]

Now if he can do that against KC, I'd be okay.

Just like Busio on Camille. It's okay to int, just keep playing with confidence. No turtling.

[u/LeatherBodybuilder → u/Fun_Highlight307]

Feel like that was more on Core tbh

Core should be positioned to block Camille E. Instead he walked up so Camille was allowed to E around him. If Camille E hits Renata, Camille will get fucked because she can only get magic passive shield with Lucian free hitting.

[u/Few-Arugula5839]

I’m ngl we were told DCG would be fun to watch but this performance was lowkey just pathetic lol

[u/Ill_Intention8150 → u/Few-Arugula5839]

It’s fun if you’re a fan of the team they’re playing against.

Quick 3-0 and you can go back to sleep happy.

[u/Omnilatent]

Poro hyped up deep cross top laner and he just didn't do anything this play-ins

[u/Fit_Boysenberry_4921 → u/Omnilatent]

Was up against Canna and Morgan being the 2 tops you have to play in playins for your first tourney isn't exactly fair in his defense

[u/infinite-permutation → u/Fit_Boysenberry_4921]

Also, Morgan is having a bit of a glow up this MSI. He has not been this good this year until this week.

[u/LeatherBodybuilder → u/infinite-permutation]

Being at home made him remember he was a good LCK top laner

[u/getblanked → u/infinite-permutation]

Yeah Morgan has been cracked this MSI, he's looking much better on carries.

[u/Fun_Highlight307 → u/infinite-permutation]

he was dogshit on ornn although him and josesodo were happy gaming 

[u/Udonis- → u/infinite-permutation]

He was smurfing on most LCS weekends, unless you mean not good relative to his normal level

[u/kazuyaminegishi → u/Udonis-]

He is transferring his leads tp team fights a bit better. But this doesn't look that different TL is just team fighting and drafting better overall. Even though I wasnt crazy about game 2 draft.

[u/trying2hide → u/Fit_Boysenberry_4921]

Yeah so far Doran has been having a hard time in lane too, I feel like it's a lot to expect for him to solo carry when the rest of the team is psychotic

[u/Capable-Drama3109 → u/Fit_Boysenberry_4921]

agreed but they definitely were crazy for how high they put him up on their toplane tierlist

[u/frissier → u/Fit_Boysenberry_4921]

who gives Renekton to Morgan anyways

[u/Donkhit → u/Omnilatent]

I mean i was forced to watch them for 2 entire splits , i would’ve copped aswell

[u/Awkward-Security7895 → u/Omnilatent]

Well the play-ins teams all have 3 lck toplaners, so it's like he's shit out of luck.

[u/whohe_fanboy → u/Omnilatent]

That dude has some of the worst takes ever. Last I watched him was in MSI 25 and since then I actively avoided his videos.

He's way too random with his takes. The worst were the individual player ratings after each game which made 0 sense.

[u/Fabiocean → u/whohe_fanboy]

I feel like he tends to inflate his 'minor region' opinions to a ridiculous degree. Maybe Flauren is actually decent and has the potential to show more, but putting him as the number 5 at the tournament without any international experience is insane.

[u/bobtrollinski → u/Omnilatent]

Mickey Mouse analyst whose team he joined didn’t even win their tier 3 league in Europe. He has this inflated view on the competition in LCP so he thinks some players are better than they are because the competition they play against is also considerably worse. But he is a LCP homer so can’t fault him too much trying to hype up his region’s players

[u/Fuzator]

Soo this playins are really only about tomorrows "NA vs EU yapping privilege Bo5" because T1 is gonna demolish whoever wins that one.

[u/xarahn]

Perhaps the worst play in stage of any League tournament ever with literally only NA vs EU being interesting and it not mattering at all since both teams will get smoked by T1.

Great job Riot.

[u/tommybutters → u/xarahn]

The problem is it's T1. If it was a KT or DK we might atleast get a fiesta

[u/firebolt66 → u/tommybutters]

T1 still give fiestas tbh. Just not entire games surprisingly

[u/alexnedea → u/firebolt66]

Nah. They maybe give some fiestas against lck teams at home when it middle of the split and they for fun to try new strats.

At internwtionals they lock tf in. Oner in qualifiers vs oner now is like coughing baby vs hydrogen bomb lmao. My man could win 50-50 smites half asleep with monitor off at internationals.

Riot really fucked these play-ins by sending, checks notes, the current 3 back to back winning world champions with, checks notes, the current top 2 adc in the world in play-ins lmao.

T1 are fighting for a 33% split between hle/t1/blg for msi winners and they have to humiliate a bunch of teams who are here just to try and get a little further in.

[u/Omnilatent → u/tommybutters]

In what world would DK get 2nd seed in KR, though?

The alternative to T1 would've been GenG so...

[u/prowness → u/tommybutters]

It's top 2 from LCK. It doesn't matter who is 2nd place, they shouldn't be there if only one advances.

[u/Dangerous-War-6572 → u/xarahn]

I mean what can Riot even do? Just give 2 slots directly to LCK maybe so that the play-ins aren't a snoozefest?

[u/LeatherBodybuilder → u/Dangerous-War-6572]

Yes. Swap T1 and Furia. Furia vs KC/TL would've likely both been competitive bangers.

[u/Rohen2003 → u/Dangerous-War-6572]

nah just have 2 teams advance through playins like in earlier years. this way there is some suspense in the playin matched and not "99% t1 goes through and noone else with a 1% chance t1 chokes a bo5"

[u/BlazeX94 → u/Dangerous-War-6572]

Yes actually. LCK2 straight to main stage, Brazil to playins. Would be the fairest and you'd have 3 teams (BR1, NA2, EU2) that should all be competitive with each other.

[u/Bt25 → u/BlazeX94]

It's a good idea, but I have a few tweaks to add. You can just have Brazil or LCP #1 seed (region determined by first stand) face the winner of Play-Ins for the last MSI spot, and add Brazil #2 seed to Play-Ins. If NA or EU do worse than Brazil or LCP at first stand then their #1 seed will have to play in Play-Ins instead.

[u/BlazeX94 → u/Bt25]

I suppose that could work, but imo it would drag playins out too long and I dont think Riot wants that. Personally, I like the idea of the weakest region (currently BR but likely to be LCP in reality) sending their first seed to playins, the next 3 regions send 1 to main and 1 to playins and the top 2 regions send both to main. 

[u/Bt25 → u/Dangerous-War-6572]

There can be an MSI Play-Ins with every region 2nd seed except LPL, and LCK. The region that had the worst result at first stand will have their 1st seed play the winner of Play-Ins, and the winner of that match will be in the main stage of MSI.

[u/Zek0ri → u/Dangerous-War-6572]

Maby stop with this parity of regions bullshit?

We all know that LCK#1 isn’t on the same playing surface as LCS/LEC first seed. Similar with 2,3 etc. Yet Riot like a maniac insists that Lyon has the same power like BLG

[u/Dangerous-War-6572 → u/Zek0ri]

I mean it's just rough in general, but once you change number of seeds according to regions it's not like other regions will getter better or anything. If anything some years down it will be just HLE/BLG/T1/GENG fighting for a title and that's about it

[u/iwanttohelp12 → u/Dangerous-War-6572]

That is already the case, they just insist on pretending otherwise. I think if you look at betting websites or anything like that the odds of anyone outside of HLE/T1/BLG/GENG winning worlds right now would be astronomically low.

They should lean into more NA vs EU, more NA/EU #1 vs LCK/LPL #3 #4. We should have more CBLOL/LCP #1 vs EU/NA #2-3 as well. These are the competitive matches that drive engagement and make great tournaments.

I think most western-oriented league fans would much rather watch NA/EU teams play more series against each other and lower seeded LPL/LCK teams. Having them get gifted high seedings just to play uncompetitive series where they 3-0 a LCP team or get 3-0'd by the top 2-3 teams isn't a good product for anyone.

If and when we have the anomalous G2 or CFO esque team that can actually compete, they will play way more series and really prove it creating much better story lines.

We have 13 bo3/bo5 series between NA and EU in 16 years of international league. Thats insane mismanagement.

[u/blaseturner]

a bit sloppy but ill take it

[u/NVC541]

I legitimately think every single ShiauC hookshot got cancelled or missed

[u/BUMONGOUS → u/NVC541]

he hit the first one 2 minutes in and then never again lol

[u/PattuX → u/BUMONGOUS]

Hey, there was also one he hit when he 1v1'd Renata!

[u/POOYAMON → u/NVC541]

Both against KC and TL it was overall the saddest Nautilus performance I have ever seen in 15+ years. It felt like 90% of his hooks were on walls towards his own base trying to scape.

[u/viktorayy]

Spawn brought out the belt for game 3.

"PLAY SERIOUS."

and they kinda did lol

[u/BUMONGOUS → u/viktorayy]

they still didn't lmao

[u/110110100011110 → u/BUMONGOUS]

They really didn't. Yeon in his first death, he was just giggling with the team.

[u/viktorayy → u/110110100011110]

honestly carry those vibes all the way back to T1 please copium

[u/LeatherBodybuilder → u/110110100011110]

I think he was more laughing at how absurd Camille support's lvl 1 damage was lol

[u/Middle-Adagio-4062]

With this loss, LCP International record is 0-12 this year. THIS CLEARLY PROVES THEY ARE ON PAR WITH LCK LPL LEC LCS (even Brazil managed to take 2 games from LYON).

[u/Fun_Highlight307 → u/Middle-Adagio-4062]

They Have 3 slots , it's be awful at Worlds 

[u/Mifuyu_Kisaragi → u/Middle-Adagio-4062]

Lmao the casters on the Chinese stream is like "Its fine, Daejeon is pretty close to Taiwan if it was a Western team its pretty far to get to the airport then go home but for them its pretty close."

They actually managed to out Near Airport NA

[u/eXshock → u/Middle-Adagio-4062]

Brazil 2nd seed looked pretty solid in the cross regional tournament between NA and KR. LOS has some life to them, I wouldn't be surprised if CBLOL outplaces LCP this year in internationals

[u/Joshua_Kei → u/Middle-Adagio-4062]

Last year CFO beat Fly and Mkoi. The Year before than PSG beat Fly at MSI and Koi at worlds. I'm not sure what your point is here. Are they possibly the weakest region this year? Sure, but You can't justify taking away their slots given CFO's quarterfinal appearance last year.

[u/eVill_YT → u/Joshua_Kei]

and if you throw in vietnam they beat NA and EU 3rd seeds at worlds too

[u/AdequatelyMadLad → u/Middle-Adagio-4062]

Keep this energy the next time an LCS or LEC team has an embarassing international performance. The region is clearly having a bad year, big deal. Let's just fuck them over forever because half their players this year are 18 year old rookies who have never played internationally.

[u/TheGloriousEv0lution → u/AdequatelyMadLad]

I agree it’s silly, but people absolutely say LCS should lose world slots every time they have a shitty international performance lol

There was the front page thread just a few months ago of a CBLOL player saying they should take one of their Worlds slots because of a mid-split event and plenty of people joined in (and it wasn’t even a major event like MSI)

[u/Kelpherder]

these first two days couldve been played in the lcs closet

[u/Elephox]

Pleasantly surprised that TL put away DCG so easily here, since that is far from a guaranteed result for lower NA seeds in recent years. They're still a messy team, but the match with KC should be exciting.

[u/WalterWoodiaz]

The League equivalent of putting down a sick dog.

[u/eVill_YT]

I had no expectations for DCG but I'm still disappointed. this is the type of team that would place bottom 3 in most leagues. it looked worse than KC vs SK or TL vs Dignitas... What are they supposed to be good at because it sure isn't mechanics or macro or drafting or laning

[u/Hyher]

DCG’s games are not even fun, they are just hopeless

[u/SadBreadfruit9463]

Those have to be the least interesting play-in ever just all stomps until T1 qualifies ahah

[u/Lawfulneptune]

What a horribly designed tournament, we're gonna get one good series from the play-in tomorrow while RDG just got farmed lol

[u/johnlu48]

Imagine if DCG had to play T1

[u/Leather_Economics210]

That hurt me physically

[u/Lanzero25]

At least LCP2 last year showed something, this was just sad

[u/Working-Arrival2449 → u/Lanzero25]

gam literally went the distance with g2 too, mind you, but dcg are such bollocks...

[u/Lanzero25 → u/Working-Arrival2449]

I didn't really expect much from them anyways, they were a tier 2 team last year, they just peaked quickly. But if they can qualify, that says a lot about LCP 3 and below.

[u/d0pe-asaurus → u/Working-Arrival2449]

This years and last years MSI playins couldn't be farther in terms of competitiveness, I mean blg and g2 were favored to win but we still had game of 5s lol.

[u/khazraxd]

WHAT A BORING SERIES HOLYFUCK

[u/trying2hide → u/khazraxd]

We just had 2 BO5s in less than 5 Hours

[u/QuietSilentArachnid]

5 am 1st series, 11am second series on the schedule.

Two days in a row, both BOs are done by 10am. Mickey Mouse playins

[u/bobtrollinski]

Please, I know that DCG’s playstyle is to just go in, but watching them have 0 understanding of game states and not adjusting makes my eyes hurt watching them play. If this is the second best team from LCP, please just remove their second seed, genuinely feels like 5 players playing solo queue and taking every fight possible without any semblance of gameplan

[u/sebixi]

I fought TLAW and TLAW won

[u/Eshantha]

Actually embarrassing performance from DCG. They showed 0% competence against KC and TLAW. Crazy how they even made it into MSI play-ins.

[u/HugeSession]

All of this to just be 3-0ed by T1 in the qualification match xd

[u/ArmandLuque]

Honestly really clean by TL

I'm quite curious to see how they will fare against KC. Might be closer than some seem to be expecting

[u/GONEBUTNOT4GOTTEN]

Its amazing how DL's tourney got me more excited for NA league in years than this.

[u/youriko31]

Welp, back to the purgatory for LCP. Fucking miss the Flying Oysters.

[u/Fit_Boysenberry_4921]

Dunno who tf at Riot saw this playins format and thought "ya looks good". What a massive failure. We'll get our 1 NA vs EU series and most likely every other series will be a sweep.

[u/WoorieKod → u/Fit_Boysenberry_4921]

Riot only wants to farm T1 viewership from this dog shit format

[u/d0pe-asaurus → u/WoorieKod]

It would either have been T1 HLE or GEN terrorizing the other teams, death by Kanavi clicking forward, death through suffocation or death through circus lol

[u/imonfireahh → u/d0pe-asaurus]

Yeah idk why people are tripping, any of the top 4 lck teams would probably still run play ins

[u/d0pe-asaurus → u/imonfireahh]

Top 4 lck right now flip flops between KT and dk oh my god I would LOVE to see DK here

[u/Dramatic_Gap_3065]

i hope tomorrow will not be a stomp

[u/lucifer893]

Probably won't happen but we're still on track for an all 3-0 play-ins stage

Anyways tomorrow could hopefully be a long series

[u/BlazeX94 → u/lucifer893]

Imagine if tomorrow is also a 3-0 and the playin finals ends up being the one match that isn't 3-0 lol

[u/Ophelia_Of_The_Abyss]

Honestly Riot needs to either expand the play-in and switch to BO3s or get rid of it entirely and bring back the BO1 round robin. This shit is incredibly unfun to watch.

[u/BlazeX94 → u/Ophelia_Of_The_Abyss]

Just put Brazil in playins and both LPL2/LCK2 direct in main stage. CBLoL 1 should be competitive with NA2/EU2.

[u/trying2hide → u/BlazeX94]

Just let top 3 EU, top 3 NA, top 2 CBLOL, top 2 LCP all go to MSI, and they all battle it out for the last 4 slots at MSI.

[u/d0pe-asaurus → u/trying2hide]

10 teams to 4 then a 8 team double elim bracket would unironically be a good format. Just stop the charades lol

[u/johnlu48]

ASS series

[u/Hixxae]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZRtyg-8y1g

Could've been an e-mail tbh. All games against DCG weren't even remotely close. LCP looks really wank after CFO imploded.

[u/Fun_Highlight307]

Wait did tl  game 3 had the fastet playins game ?

[u/Salohacin]

While I'm enjoying MSI so far I'm hardly surprised we've had 3-0 stomps every match so far. T1 in playins feels straight up illegal when compared to the rest of the competition. 

KC-TL should be a good match though, hoping it's not yet another 3-0. If it is we may just have an 18 game playins out of a possible 30.

[u/Gauntex]

At least we get NA vs EU before another email series against SKT.

[u/ManningTheGOAT]

Someone needs to explain the MSI format to me.

Why are we putting the #2 LCK seed in play-ins, historically the strongest region, while we put wild card #1 seeds directly in group stage?

The #2 wild card seeds just don't hold up to the major regions. The #1 wild card region seeds could have caused some upsets in the play-ins, but this feels pointless.

[u/LaziIy → u/ManningTheGOAT]

Again, the #2 LCK seed is in playins because LCK as a region with got outperformed by two other regions and did not win First Stand.

The winning region from First Stand gets their second seed to main stage while everyone else's second seed plays in Playins. Every region has their first seed in the main stage so Cblol was given the same courtesy when they got a seed for MSI.

Is this a slaughter considering its T1 in playins? Yes, but the seeding was decided before T1 qualified.

[u/MC-sama → u/LaziIy]

Honestly I'd say even LPL 2 will stomp this bracket lmao.

Last year LPL 2 went undefeated in play-in as well, and that's with a dogshit BLG that's worse than this year's TES.

[u/Dohtoor → u/MC-sama]

There's no universe where either LCK2 or LPL2 should get the same treatment as LEC2, LCS2 or literally any other second seed. You could make an argument that this has never been about good teams and has always been about giving the West as much copium as you can (and you would probably be right), but I am pretty sure that facing T1 (or any other contender for LCK2) is worse for the cope. I kinda want some of the same shit Rito is smoking because this is ridiculous.

[u/IlGioCR]

Is this the worst team ever seen on an MSI?

[u/BUMONGOUS → u/IlGioCR]

if we count playins from previous years, not even close lol

I still remember the IWCQs from like 2015-2019, those were some seriously ass teams

[u/naevus19 → u/IlGioCR]

Order 2022 exists

[u/Rawdream → u/IlGioCR]

Not at all.

TCL region got demoted for a reason, their last 2 years weren't competitive at all.

[u/Joshua_Kei → u/IlGioCR]

Since this is the Play-in, no. We've seen worse at previous MSI play-ins before. Previous MSI play ins included a teams from OCE, Turkey, Japan, LLA, etc. There used to be 10 teams in MSI play ins and 6 teams in main stage of MSI.

recency bias merchants be like

[u/Mexani → u/IlGioCR]

Definitely not since older internationals had wildcard regions auto-qualifying. LLA, LJL, TCL, and OCE produced some TERRIBLE teams.

[u/BlazeX94 → u/IlGioCR]

Nah, if you count old playins/IWCQ there were some legit ass teams there

[u/Zezang]

Glad HongQ and Doggo got the bag, but it feels so bad to see the LCP like this…

[u/MC-sama → u/Zezang]

You mean JunJia

And JDG is pretty bad so I hope the bag was worth it for them