MSI 2022: Royal Never Give Up take down T1 in nail biting five-game final

Andrew Amos

League of Legends’ Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) has come to a close – and LPL representatives Royal Never Give Up have been crowned champions. 


  • RNG take down T1 for their second consecutive MSI title
  • RNG mid laner Xiaohu and support Ming become the only players to hold three MSI titles
  • T1 stand empty-handed in front of Busan crowds after missing out on victory in game 5

After three weeks of intense competition, Royal Never Give Up have won their third-ever MSI title. This win makes them the first team in League of Legends history to win three MSI titles, although the win felt more than a little hollow as RNG were unable to fly to Busan to lift the MSI trophy.

For the entirety of May in Busan, South Korea, 11 of the best teams in the world fought it out in the first taste of international competition in Season 12.

This tournament saw a return of some of League’s most iconic names, with T1 – flying the flag for Korea – making it to the finals to face off against defending MSI champions RNG who swept their way to the final despite playing remotely from Shanghai.

There were upsets, one-sided stomps, and underperformances aplenty, but the semifinals saw all four major regions battle it out for that elusive finals spot.

G2 Esports and Evil Geniuses were eliminated 3-0, which left only T1 and RNG in the final fight for the trophy. And after a nail biting five game series, it was RNG who took it home – although they were forced to lift a replica in their Shanghai training facility after quarantine regulations meant that the 2022 trophy could not be delivered to the team.

RNG MSI 2021
RNG have claimed their second MSI crown in two years, and become the first ever team to hold three MSI titles.

Contents


MSI 2022: Stream

You’ll be able to rewatch MSI 2022 on the official Riot Games stream, which we have embedded below for your convenience.

Miss a specific game? Catch up on the LoL Esports VODs YouTube channel.

MSI 2022: Schedule & results

Knockout Stage: May 27 – 29

Stage & Day Match PT ET BST
Semifinal / May 27 RNG 3-0 Evil Geniuses 3AM 6AM 11AM
Semifinal / May 28 T1 3-0 G2 Esports 3AM 6AM 11AM
Grand Final / May 29 RNG 3-2 T1 3AM 6AM 11AM

Rumble Stage: May 20 – 24

Day 1: May 20

Match PT ET BST
T1 0-1 G2 Esports 2AM 5AM 10AM
Evil Geniuses 0-1 RNG 3AM 6AM 11AM
PSG Talon 1-0 Saigon Buffalo 4AM 7AM 12PM
G2 Esports 1-0 RNG 5AM 8AM 1PM
Saigon Buffalo 0-1 Evil Geniuses 6AM 9AM 2PM
PSG Talon 0-1 T1 7AM 10AM 3PM

Day 2: May 21

Match PT ET BST
G2 Esports 1-0 Evil Geniuses 2AM 5AM 10AM
RNG 1-0 PSG Talon 3AM 6AM 11AM
T1 1-0 Saigon Buffalo 4AM 7AM 12PM
PSG Talon 0-1 Evil Geniuses 5AM 8AM 1PM
RNG 1-0 T1 6AM 9AM 2PM
Saigon Buffalo 0-1 G2 Esports 7AM 10AM 3PM

Day 3: May 22

Match PT ET BST
Evil Geniuses 0-1 T1 2AM 5AM 10AM
G2 Esports 0-1 PSG Talon 3AM 6AM 11AM
RNG 1-0 Saigon Buffalo 4AM 7AM 12PM
T1 1-0 PSG Talon 5AM 8AM 1PM
RNG 1-0 G2 Esports 6AM 9AM 2PM
Evil Geniuses 1-0 Saigon Buffalo 7AM 10AM 3PM

Day 4: May 23

Match PT ET BST
PSG Talon 1-0 G2 Esports 2AM 5AM 10AM
T1 0-1 Evil Geniuses 3AM 6AM 11AM
Saigon Buffalo 0-1 RNG 4AM 7AM 12PM
G2 Esports 0-1 T1 5AM 8AM 1PM
Saigon Buffalo 1-0 PSG Talon 6AM 9AM 2PM
RNG vs Evil Geniuses 7AM 10AM 3PM

Day 5: May 24

Match PT ET BST
G2 Esports 0-1 Saigon Buffalo 12AM 3AM 8AM
Evil Geniuses 1-0 PSG Talon 1AM 4AM 9AM
Saigon Buffalo 0-1 T1 2AM 5AM 10AM
PSG Talon 0-1 RNG 3AM 6AM 11AM
Evil Geniuses 0-1 G2 Esports 4AM 7AM 12PM
T1 1-0 RNG 5AM 8AM 1PM

Group Stage: May 10 – 15

Note: RNG’s first three matches will be replayed on May 14 to maintain competitive integrity due to issues with Riot’s artificially inflated ping environment.

Day 1: May 10

Group Match PT ET BST
Group A Saigon Buffalo 0-1 T1 2AM 5AM 10AM
Group A DetonatioN FocusMe 1-0 Team Aze 3AM 6AM 11AM
Group C ORDER 0-1 G2 Esports 4AM 7AM 12PM
Group C Evil Geniuses 0-1 G2 Esports 5AM 8AM 1PM
Group B 6AM 9AM 2PM
Group B RED Canids 1-0 PSG Talon 7AM 10AM 3PM

Day 2: May 11

Group Match PT ET BST
Group C Evil Geniuses 0-1 G2 Esports 2AM 5AM 10AM
Group C ORDER 0-1 Evil Geniuses 3AM 6AM 11AM
Group A DetonatioN FocusMe 0-1 Saigon Buffalo 4AM 7AM 12PM
Group A Team Aze 0-1 T1 5AM 8AM 1PM
Group B RED Canids 0-1 Istanbul Wildcats 6AM 9AM 2PM
Group B 7AM 10AM 3PM

Day 3: May 12

Group Match PT ET BST
Group C ORDER 0-1 Evil Geniuses 2AM 5AM 10AM
Group C ORDER 0-1 G2 Esports 3AM 6AM 11AM
Group B Istanbul Wildcats 0-1 PSG Talon 4AM 7AM 12PM
Group B 5AM 8AM 1PM
Group A Aze 0-1 Saigon Buffalo 6AM 9AM 2PM
Group A DetonatioN FocusMe 0-1 T1 7AM 10AM 3PM

Day 4: May 13

Group Match PT ET BST
Group B RED Canids 0-1 PSG Talon 12AM 3AM 8AM
Group B Istanbul Wildcats 0-1 RNG 1AM 4AM 9AM
Group B Istanbul Wildcats 0-1 PSG Talon 2AM 5AM 10AM
Group B RED Canids 0-1 RNG 3AM 6AM 11AM
Group B RED Canids 0-1 Istanbul Wildcats 4AM 7AM 12PM
Group B PSG Talon 0-1 RNG 5AM 8AM 1PM

Day 5: May 14

Note: RNG’s first three games were voided due to ping issues. They will be replayed on May 14.

Group Match PT ET BST
Group C Evil Geniuses 0-1 G2 Esports 12AM 3AM 8AM
Group C ORDER 0-1 Evil Geniuses 1AM 4AM 9AM
Group C ORDER 0-1 G2 Esports 2AM 5AM 10AM
Group C Evil Geniuses 0-1 G2 Esports 3AM 6AM 11AM
Group C ORDER 0-1 Evil Geniuses 4AM 7AM 12PM
Group C ORDER 0-1 G2 Esports 5AM 8AM 1PM
Group B Istanbul Wildcats 0-1 RNG 6AM 9AM 2PM
Group B RNG 1-0 PSG Talon 7AM 10AM 3PM
Group B RNG 1-0 RED Canids 8AM 11AM 4PM

Day 6: May 15

Group Match PT ET BST
Group A Team Aze 0-1 Saigon Buffalo 12AM 3AM 8AM
Group A DetonatioN FocusMe 0-1 T1 1AM 4AM 9AM
Group A DetonatioN FocusMe 0-1 Saigon Buffalo 2AM 5AM 10AM
Group A Team Aze 0-1 T1 3AM 6AM 11AM
Group A DetonatioN FocusMe 0-1 Team Aze 4AM 7AM 12PM
Group A Saigon Buffalo 0-1 T1 5AM 8AM 1PM

MSI 2022: Standings

MSI 2022 Rumble Stage standings

Placement Team Record
1 Royal Never Give Up 6-1
2 T1 5-3
3 Evil Geniuses 4-3
4 G2 Esports 4-4
5 PSG Talon 3-5
6 Saigon Buffalo 1-7

MSI 2022 Group Stage standings

Group A

Placement Team Record
1 T1 6-0
2 Saigon Buffalo 4-2
3 DetonatioN FocusMe 1-5
4 Team Aze 1-5

Group B

Placement Team Record
1 Royal Never Give Up 6-0
2 PSG Talon 3-3
3 RED Canids 2-4
4 Istanbul Wildcats 1-5

Group C

Placement Team Record
1 G2 Esports 8-0
2 Evil Geniuses 4-4
3 ORDER 0-8

MSI 2022 Final placements

Placement Team Prize Money
1 Royal Never Give Up $75,000
2 T1 $50,000
3-4 Evil Geniuses $25,000
G2 Esports
5-6 PSG Talon $17,500
Saigon Buffalo
7-8 RED Canids $8,325
ORDER
9-10 DetonatioN FocusMe $6,675
Team Aze
11 Istanbul Wildcats $5,000

MSI 2022: All qualified teams

MSI 2022 will feature 11 teams from across the world, all champions in their domestic League of Legends tournaments.

One region will be missing out on the fanfare: the CIS will skip MSI 2022 after the cancellation of the LCL 2022 Spring Split. They will not be replaced by another region getting a second slot, similar to Vietnam’s exclusion in 2021.

You can find a full list of teams here below, updated after each regional qualifier wraps up.

Team Region Players
RNG China Bin, Wei, Xiaohu, GALA, Ming
T1 Korea Zeus, Oner, Faker, Gumayusi, Keria
G2 Esports Europe BrokenBlade, Jankos, caPs, Flakked, Targamas
Evil Geniuses North America Impact, Inspired, jojopyun, Danny, Vulcan
PSG Talon PCS Hanabi, Juhan, Ray, Unified, Kaiwing
Saigon Buffalo Vietnam Hasmed, BeanJ, Froggy, Shogun, Taki
Team Aze LATAM Lonely, Dimitry, Aloned, 5kid, Straight
FastPay Wildcats Turkey StarScreen, Ferret, Serin, HolyPhoenix, Farfetch
RED Canids Brazil GUIGO, Aegis, Grevthar, TitaN, Jojo
DetonatioN FocusMe Japan Evi, Steal, Yaharong, Yutapon, Harp
ORDER Oceania BioPanther, Kevy, Kisee, Puma, Corporal

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About The Author

Hailing from Perth, Andrew was formerly Dexerto's Australian Managing Editor. They love telling stories across all games and esports, but they have a soft spot for League of Legends and Rainbow Six. Oh, and they're also fascinated by the rise of VTubers.