RNG recorded the most points among the lot, securing eight wins and only two losses. T1 were next in line with 21 points from seven wins, while EG and G2 were tied for 15 points. With Evil Geniuses losing all their head-to-head contests in MSI, G2 were placed third and EG in fourth. ??

Although PSG Talon won their game against G2 Esports on the final day of the Rumble Stage, they lost to Saigon Buffalo in their second and final game. Despite winning two of their last four games, Saigon Buffalo were eliminated after losing six straight games.??

With the knockouts being the final stage of the tournament, all four teams will battle to become the 2022 MSI champions. The reigning champs, RNG, have an opportunity to defend their crown.

In 2021, RNG defeated the then-defending champions, DWG KIA, 3-2 in the best-of-five finals series in Reykjavik, Iceland. That was their second MSI title, and a third title would make the Chinese esports franchise the most successful team in MSI history.

The MSI 2022 Knockout Stage will commence on Friday, May 27, and run through to Saturday, May 28. On Sunday, a new champion will be crowned.

Which teams and players topped the Rumble Stage KDA rankings?

RNG led the pack in KDA with 175 kills across all 10 games played in the Rumble Stage. T1 and EG both tied at 148 kills each with Choi “Zeus” Woo-je leading T1 on 47 kills and Joseph “Jojopyun” Joon Pyun recording the most kills (39) on EG’s roster.

The KDA player rankings were dominated by RNG players, namely Chen “GALA” Wei, Li “Xiaohu” Yuan-Hao, Yan “Wei” Yang-Wei, and Shi “Ming” Sen-Ming. According to Oracle’s Elixir, the League of Legends stats company, they recorded 7.9, 6.8, 6.2, and 4.7 KDA respectively.

??T1 were duly represented, as three of their players made the list from fifth to seventh place: jungler Moon “Oner” Hyeon-joon with 4.6 KDA, mid laner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (4.3), and marksman Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyoeng (4.2) respectively.

The rest of the top 10 KDA rankings were occupied by players from Evil Geniuses. The Polish jungler Kacper “Inspired” S?oma finished with a team-high 4.0 rating, while bot laner Kyle “Danny” Sakamaki and mid laner Joseph “jojopyun” Pyun both had 3.7 KDA.??

G2, who didn’t lose a game against Evil Geniuses, had all their players ranked below EG. Sergen “Broken Blade” ?elik and Rapha?l “Targamas” Crabb�� led the team with 3.3 KDA, ranking 13th and 14th respectively. Victor “Flakked” Lirola Tortosa ranked bottom among all players from the major regions with 2.6.

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They finished top in the Group C standings, winning all seven games they featured in.

Group C had only three teams, and so they had to play a quadruple round-robin format as opposed to the double round-robin for Groups A and B.

The group also had North America Evil Geniuses and ORDER from Australia.

With Group C played to a conclusion, EG has secured the second spot in the group with a 4-4 record.

ORDER failed to win a single game throughout the group stage and has thereby been eliminated.

The European esports organization has started its campaign spectacularly, thus far looking like one of the strongest teams in the tournament.

They have the most kills with 143, followed closely by Chinese Royal Never Give up, who have 131 kills in six games.

Everybody in G2 has pulled their weight so far. Rasmus “caPs” Winther and Victor “Flakked” Lirola deserve honorable mentions for their roles in their victories so far.

However, it is worth noting that RNG’s first three games were wiped as there was the issue of ping discrepancy.

Riot Games rescheduled replays for the LPL’s representatives, also stating that the problem has been rectified.

Recall that RNG is playing remotely due to COVID-19 travel restrictions in their home country while other teams are present for the LAN event in Busan, South Korea.

Navigating an offline event because of the global pandemic has not been easy.

There were reports that Riot wanted participants to wear face masks on stage, but they have since reversed the decision.

By May 15, the group stage will come to an end, and all the six teams participating in the rumble stage will be revealed.

In Group A, T1 looks like they will continue their impressive form and secure their berth in the rumble stage.

The Korean team has won their first three games, while the second spot will likely be filled with either Saigon Buffalo or DetonatioN FocusMe.

Despite the cancellations, RNG has kept its heads up and continued to dominate Group B.

They also had a perfect run in the group stage, proving that their first three victories were not flukes.

The rumble stage will commence on May 20, with six teams competing for one of the top four spots.

They will compete in another double round-robin, with all matches being best-of-1.

Whoever finishes top in the rumble stage will have the privilege to choose who they would like to face in the semifinals between the third and fourth-placed teams.

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Riot put out a statement that the tournament will operate with a 35-millisecond ping between China and Korea to maintain competitive integrity, but those at the live location have complained about the connectivity.

Complaints came from several participants at the event, with the most consistent complaint centered around the stability of the ping. The same latency tool was used in the LPL vs LCK Showdown during the 2020 Mid-Season Cup, but no issues were reported.

After data evaluations by Riot’s technical team, they discovered discrepancies in the ping. Apparently, the data on the logs were different from what was observed in the live arena.

“Following extensive technical evaluation of the competitive and training environments during the first three days of the 2022 Mid-Season Invitational, we discovered the following Day 3 that there was a discrepancy in the latency being reported in game logs for all matches versus what was being experienced in the Busan venue.”

Due to recent developments, Riot opted to cancel RNG’s first three games. All three have been rescheduled and will be played within the stipulated date for group stage matches.

With the issue reportedly fixed, RNG will have to replicate their previous performances to finish first in the group. The group stage, which started on May 10, will run until May 15.

Their first three games were against Group B counterparts Istanbul Wildcats, PSG Talon, and RED Canids. They won the best-0f-1 series against all teams comfortably, but those victories have been dismissed by the organizers.

Riot Never Give Up has asserted its dominance in the 2022 MSI

With their initial three wins canceled, RNG’s slate was wiped clean with the team having to replay all three initial group stage matches. However, the LPL representatives were not fazed as they won all three games originally scheduled for today, becoming the third team yet to lose a game in the tournament.

The team’s first match was against the Wildcats, and they got back on the board. Even with a two-hour gap between all three matches, RNG was able to secure victories in all three games.

It is great to see that the team did not drop their heads after receiving the news that their first three games were canceled. They came out and took care of business, looking to reassert their dominance in the tournament.

As the group stage follows a double round-robin format, RNG will play against all three teams in their group once again on May 14. A top-two finish will see them advance to the next round, and they currently top the Group B standings with a 3-0 record. as they look to retain their title.

The MSI is currently being held at the Busan Exhibition & Convention Center in South Korea. Eleven teams from the individual Riot Leagues are competing for a piece of the $250,000 prize fund.
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The demand was made public by Evil Geniuses’ head coach Peter Dun and player Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme. Both participants took to social media platform Twitter to break the news, pointing out how ridiculous it sounds.

According to Dun, it is not in MSI’s rule book.

“Found out this morning that Riot are going to insist on all teams at MSI wearing face masks on stage at the venue in Korea even during games.

This is not in the rule book for MSI. Even KR and CN playoffs had players maskless during games (and you have to wear before/after).”

“On a team with multiple people who wear glasses, which will get fogged up in a high humidity studio environment, this kind of notice is absurd.
35 ping I’m not 100% in favor of, but I understand the logic and we were given a month to prep. But come on.”

Vulcan, while revealing the flaws with such a decision, sarcastically said he is looking forward to it.

“Learned yesterday that we have to play with masks on for MSI stage games. Can��t wait to first time foggy glasses league of legends and muffled mic comms today”

However, with both team members drawing notice to the reported rule, they also shared progress reports on the reversal of the decision. Dun thanked Riot for overturning the decision before the tournament commences.

“Thank you to the people at Riot for overturning this.

35 ping, we’ve known about for weeks, and have been scrimming non-stop to adjust. Although it’s not ideal, I’m glad a solution was found to include LPL. Treat it like a slightly weird game play patch.”

It is evident that Riot Games is trying to do everything it can to protect the players and staff from contracting COVD-19 during the tournament. However, a decision like this will hamper the players’ performance a great deal.

The 2022 MSI is being held in Busan, South Korea, with the group stage already kicked off. The tournament will run from May 10 to May 29.

Ten of the eleven teams in the competition made it to the LAN event, with the exception being LPL’s Royal Never Give Up. The Chinese team could not make it due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions in their home country.

However, Riot has made accommodations for them by allowing them to participate remotely. That decision resulted in everyone playing at 35 milliseconds to level the playing field.

All participants representing each of the 11 individual Riot leagues will be fighting for a larger piece of the $250,000 prize pool. In Group A, Japan’s DetonatioN FocusMe are off to a flying start, defeating Mexican Team Aze in their first game. Korea’s T1 also won their first game of the group stage against Vietnamese Saigon Buffalo.

Royal Never Give up will not play their first until May 12 against RED Canids. The team will be looking to assert their dominance early to have any shot of defending their title.
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