MSI 2026 is about to get underway with the event’s Play-in stage, and Riot Games is inviting fans to make their best picks in its latest Pick’ems contest with meaningful rewards on the line.
The Mid-Season Invitational is the second-most prestigious event on the League of Legends esports calendar, and this year’s MSI tournament is looking like a scorcher. It all starts with a double-elimination bracket featuring four teams attempting to earn their way into the main contest, with only one spot available to be contested.
Which of these four side will come through, and who are the best teams to pick in each match? We’ll run through all of that here.
Our Mid-Season Invitational Play-in picks
Picks for the Mid-Season Invitational Play-in stage are handled by round. For each potential match played, players must pick a winning team. Those picks inform later theoretical matches, and fans must pick those as well.
What this means is that making one wrong pick early in the bracket can essentially scuttle an entire Pick’ems sheet at MSI. If you have T1 winning through the Play-in stage and they suffer an early upset, your bracket is likely in trouble.
In our MSI Pick’ems bracket, we recommend taking T1 to defeat Team Liquid in the first round, while Karmine Corp defeats Deep Cross Gaming. Neither pick should be a surprise to fans, as T1 is unquestionably the strongest team on-paper here as the defending World Champion. Liquid has played T1 closely in the past, but that’s not enough to support an upset pick here.
We’ll then pick T1 to continue winning from there, defeating Karmine Corp in the upper bracket final. KC has shown solid form Europe through the first half of the year, but it has struggled to overcome G2, and that doesn’t bode well for its chances against T1.
While DCG is a lesser-known name hailing from the LCP, it would be a mistake to underestimate the group entirely. LCP teams have repeatedly proved able to outperform international expectations. But that performance has typically been restricted to the region’s best team, which DCP is not. With that in mind, we’ll take Liquid to best them in the lower bracket.
KC and Liquid potentially clashing would make for an exciting event as a renewal of the LCS/LEC rivalry. While LEC teams are traditionally favored versus their LCS cohorts, LCS teams have generally performed well versus their European counterparts over the last few years. Combining that trend with KC’s tendency to disappoint on the international stage, and we’ll take TL to move on.
That would set up a T1/TL rematch with a qualifying spot on the line. And while it may be tempting to go for the upset here, we’ll stick to the chalk and select Faker and the rest of T1 to win and move on to the main stage of the tournament.
MSI 2026 Pick’em rewards
MSI 2026 features a few different rewards for Pick’em participants. Anyone taking part will receive a Braum emote. Ranking in the top 50% of fans rewards players with a unique icon, while ranking in the top 25% provides another emote, this one featuring Thresh.
For any fans wise and fortunate enough to produce a perfect Pick’em for MSI 2026, Riot Games will provide access to Jhin and his new Broken Covenant Jhin skin.
That’s a high bar to reach in order to receive the best rewards, but it will at least make those who do manage to secure a perfect Pick’em sheet feel that much more accomplished.
MSI 2026 begins June 26 and is being held in Daejeon, Korea. The tournament’s main stage features a separate double elimination bracket from the Play-in, and begins on July 3. Pick’ems for the main stage will open on June 30 and lock on July 1.
