With JD Gaming being the latest MSI titleholder, what does that say for the growth of the LPL and its dominance over the mid-season tournament?
Over the past five seasons of the Mid-Season Invitational, an LPL team has won it on four occasions with JD Gaming being the latest title holder in the region. They defeated fellow LPL representative and MSI debutant, Bilibili Gaming in the tournament's first-ever all-LPL MSI grand final, which was essentially a rematch of the LPL Spring Split finals.
The fact that both the number one and two seeds of the LPL made it to the MSI grand finals just goes to show how far the region has come after just six months. With Royal Never Give Up as the previous champions, who were looking to make it a three-peat of titles but failed to qualify, not many would've expected the MSI trophy to still head back to the LPL. Especially given how they performed at Worlds 2022.
With three teams in the knockout stage of Worlds 2022, it was only JDG that made it to the semifinals while EDward Gaming and RNG lost in the quarterfinals. But even then, JDG could only muster a third/fourth-place finish having lost at the hands of T1. Given how RNG won MSI 2022, many were expecting the LPL to rise above and claim the Summoner's Cup once more, especially since they have four teams at Worlds last year.
But this season, we've seen something different from the LPL. The likes of JDG and BLG were able to put on a show for their fans back home with clinical performances throughout the tournament. JDG, in particular, were phenomenal given that they only had to play a total of 15 games to win MSI. BLG, on the other hand, had to play 26 games because of their start in the Play-In Stage.
And while BLG were the second seed from the LPL, that didn't mean they were pushovers as they sent some of the biggest regions a message on their journey to the grand finals. Their records against the likes of the LCK's Gen.G Esports and T1 stands at 6-1 while their head-to-head against the LCS' Cloud9 and Golden Guardians stands at 5-1. As for JDG, they defeated the LCS' GG 3-0 while also sending T1 to the lower bracket with a tight 3-2 finish. Even JDG's record against BLG of 6-1 at MSI shows the discrepancy between the LPL's first and second seeds.
However, the biggest challenge the LPL will face right now is living up to the hype that comes with being an MSI champion. RNG did it in back-to-back years in 2021 and 2022. And while an LPL team did win Worlds in 2021, the MSI champ did not. But if trends are to be believed, there is a high chance that an LPL team could take home Worlds once again this year. Then again, there is still plenty of time before Worlds is around the corner, which gives the scriptwriters more than enough time to concoct another storyline for this year's edition.
As for the LPL's dominance in MSI, JDG's win should probably solidify the region's grip on the mid-season tournament. They also become the third team in the LPL to lift the trophy with EDG doing it first back in 2015 and RNG on three separate occasions. That makes it five out of eight years that the LPL has won at MSI with T1's back-to-back in 2016 and 2017 as well as G2 Esports in 2019 being the outliers.
All the regions right now will be recuperating while also locking in their rosters for the upcoming summer splits. The LPL Summer Split is expected to start on May 29, making it the earliest of all regions to start its road to Worlds 2023. Of course, the LPL does have 17 teams to take care of, many of which will be looking to book their spot in South Korea later this year. This year, the LPL will have four teams competing at Worlds 2023, increasing its headcount by one from last year.
With the LPL starting the earliest of all regions, all eyes will be on China once more to see who will come out on top. Plenty of teams will be gunning for JDG, who will be the team to beat this split. Not only are they the MSI 2023 champions, but they are also the reigning LPL Spring 2023 and Summer 2022 victors. This goes to show that JDG's chemistry has been in the making for some time now and is looking to take over China for good this season.
