With a spot in the grand final on the line, Gen.G Esports and T1 engaged in a back-and-forth slugfest at the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational on Wednesday in Vancouver, with Gen. G ultimately prevailing 3-2.
Neither team won consecutive games, as T1 answered Gen.G twice to tie the match. In the winner-take all match, Gen.G won in 31 minutes on blue.
The $2 million event began with two teams from each League of Legends region: China, Korea, Pacific, the Americas and Europe-Middle East-Africa.
All matches in the play-in and the double-elimination bracket stage are best-of-five. The winner of the grand final will earn $500,000 and a spot in the $5 million League of Legends World Championship, to be played this fall in China.
With their spot in the grand final secure, Gen.G will now have two days off to watch the remaining lower-bracket teams fight for their right to oppose Gen.G in the championship round.
Gen.G opened play Wednesday with a 36-minute win on red. T1 answered with a 28-minute win on blue. The teams switched colors and Gen.G prevailed in 37 minutes on blue. T1 got back on blue and evened the match again with a 46-minute win, the longest game of the match. Gen.G ultimately advanced with a 31-minute win on blue.
Korean Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk led the winners with a dominant 28 kills, seven deaths, 26 assist kill/death/assist ratio. Ruler’s assist total was the lowest on the team, with Joo “Duro” Min-kyu of Korea led all players with 57 assists.
The losers were paced by Korea’s Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong, who posted a 30-12-20 K-D-A ratio.
Up next will be Bilibili Gaming facing Anyone’s Legend in Round 3 of the lower bracket on Thursday.
The winner of that match will play T1 on Friday for the second spot in the grand final.
League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational final standings / prize pool:
1. $500,000, berth in League of Legends World Championship
2. $300,000
3. $240,000
4. $200,000
5-6. $160,000 — CTBC Flying Oyster, FlyQuest
7-8. $130,000 — G2 Esports, KOI
9. $100,000 — GAM Esports
10. $80,000 — FURIA
–Field Level Media
