As the 2022 Mid-Season Invitational is coming to a close, it is stirring up the good old discussion about the format for international events once again.
After the conclusion of the first two stages of this year’s MSI, it’s clear to many fans and experts that the format isn’t optimal. Once again, we saw a big international event with an overflow of best-of-one matches. In fact, there have been 66 bo1s overall. By the time the tournament ends, only three bo5s would have taken place.
When you put the two numbers up against each other, a pretty obvious imbalance comes to light: 66 bo1s, three (3!) bo5s. Although Riot Games have favored bo1s for years, it seems to have spiraled so far out of control that most people would like changes to take place.
The slogan for this year’s MSI is to “take notes,” and maybe it’s about time that Riot Games do that.
Riot seemingly wants some bo1’s so that minor regions can make flashy upsets, but it doesn’t seem worthwhile to have this many in one tournament. Don’t worry, G2 Esports will still make sure that some of these crazy upsets happen at its expense.
Caedrel and other experts scream for MSI format changes
One of the loudest voices in the recent format debates has been LEC caster Marc “Caedrel” Lamont. The former professional jungler recently voiced his complaints on Twitter, directly calling Riot out for having this many bo1’s compared to bo5’s. Then, other prominent names hopped to their keyboard and supported Caedrel in his frustrations.
MSI really was just 66 best of 1s into 3 best of 5s
— Marc (@Caedrel) May 24, 2022
bruh moment
fix that format
The key point is that MSI spends several weeks playing out bo1s; whereas the decisive bo5 rounds, the ones people look forward to the most, only last for a few days.
Judging by the many Reddit threads, the community agrees: a format change needs to happen for MSI and, probably, also the World Championship and its bo1 party.
Whether Riot will listen is still unknown, but many people wish to see a double-elimination bracket in the playoffs for these international events.
