League of Legends’ 2021 Mid-Season Invitational will kick off in Reykjavik, Iceland next Thursday on May 6. While there are 11 teams that are vying for the title, only two teams are considered real contenders to win it. LCK champions DWG Kia (formerly DAMWON Gaming) and LPL champions Royal Never Give Up look to be the cream of the crop. They are enormous favorites to win their groups.
While they are clearly the teams to beat at MSI, it might be folly to install those teams as too strong of favorites. There is no extra incentive to finish in first place in the Group Stage, as the top two teams from each group will advance to the next round. That next round has a double round robin format, so there is no difference between finishing in first or second.
2021 Mid-Season Invitational Group Betting Odds
Group A
Royal Never Give Up -5000
Unicorns of Love +1300
Pentanet.GG +10000
This could have been a very spicy group. The VCS and LCL are arguably the two best non-major regions for League of Legends in the world. We have seen VCS teams flummox opponents with their frenetic playstyle and extreme aggressiveness in the early game, and LCL teams like Moscow Five, Albus Nox Luna, and others have made a big impact on the world stage.
Unfortunately, VCS champion GAM Esports (formerly GIGABYTE Marines) was not able to travel to Iceland for MSI due to Vietnam’s COVID restrictions. That leaves the Unicorns of Love as the one team that can challenge Royal Never Give Up for supremacy in Group A. The Unicorns of Love have four of their five players from last year’s team that made Worlds back in the lineup, and Lodik is an upgrade over Gadget in the bottom lane.
There is a huge talent gap between RNG and UOL though. RNG are paced by two veterans with plenty of international experience in Xiaohu and Ming, and new bottom laner Gala has looked very strong.
Pentanet.GG have no chance to make it out of the Group Stage as Oceania has always been a weak region, and it has become even weaker since the few elite players left for North American teams.
Group B
MAD Lions -227
PSG Talon +240
Istanbul Wild Cats +1200
Pain Gaming +1300
The MAD Lions are the nominal favorites to win this group after turning it on in the LEC playoffs to knock off both Rogue and G2 Esports. There are a lot of doubters since this is MAD Lions’ first international competition, and they did appear to rise and fall with shifts in the meta.
That gives PCS champions PSG Talon a good chance to grab the top spot in Group B. PSG Talon managed to knock off both JD Gaming and Rogue at last year’s Worlds, and they became even stronger this year with the addition of Maple. Hanabi can dominate opponents in the top lane, and Unified is a strong bottom laner. This team has moved to become the new Flash Wolves of the region, and Flash Wolves were always a team that fared well at MSI.
We can’t completely rule out either the Istanbul Wild Cats or Pain Gaming. TCL teams have typically performed decently on the international stage although the Wild Cats don’t have the same hype as other Turkish teams in the past, and there has been a strong push for Brazilian teams in the CBLOL as soaring viewership numbers have led to increased salaries for players.
Group C
DWG KIA -1667
Cloud9 +846
Detonation FocusMe +2832
Infinity Esports +3778
The defending world champions are heavy favorites to win their group at MSI. DWG KIA is easily the most talented team at MSI, as they have now dominated the LCK for a full calendar year. Canyon, ShowMaker, and Beryl are among the top three players in the world at their positions, but this team might decide to have a little fun in the Group Stage.
Cloud9 are probably going to be the other team coming out of Group C. While North America is having a down year as a whole, C9 have played well and have loads of experience coming into MSI. They can get punished in the top lane, and the bottom lane has been shaky at times though, so it’s hard to have too much faith in C9.
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