The playoffs are almost at their end, so the Mid-Season Invitational 2015 is nearly upon us. As this is the current situation, everyone who enjoys eSports (and League of Legends, more precisely) is getting hyped. Because the MSI is kind of a big deal because featuring some of the best LoL teams in the world. It features all the winners from the spring splits of the 5 big League of Legends leagues, so the best team of every region will combat the others in order to claim the ultimate glory and the $ 100,000 first prize. Not only that, but we also get one wildcard team – the winner from the International Wildcard Invitational, so the stakes are extremely high for all attendants and no one wants to go home frustrated by failure. You can be sure that all teams will play 100% to the best of their abilities and will give you a show definitely worth watching.

MSI 2015 – Tournament Overview

Match Overviews: Day 1 Groupstage > Day 2 Groupstage > Semi-Finals > Grand Finals

In this article we’ll pay a bit of a closer attention to the attending teams in order to see what makes them tick and how did they manage to get to where they are, how much they had to fight to get there, and what are their motivations. Some managed to get here rather easily, while others had to fight all the time in order to be here. One thing is certain, though – the teams that will take part in this tournament are here because they are the best of the best. Let’s have a look below.

The teams in the MSI so far are:

Team Solomid – Winner of 2015 NA LCS Spring Split Playoffs

– Winner of 2015 NA LCS Spring Split Playoffs Fnatic – Winner of 2015 EU LCS Spring Split Playoffs

– Winner of 2015 EU LCS Spring Split Playoffs Edward Gaming – Winner of 2015 LPL Spring Split Playoff

– Winner of 2015 LPL Spring Split Playoff ahq e-Sports Gaming Club – Winner of 2015 LMS Spring Split Playoffs

– Winner of 2015 LMS Spring Split Playoffs Beşiktaş e-Sports Club – Winner of IWCI 2015

– Winner of IWCI 2015 SK Telecom T1 – Winner of 2015 LCK Spring Split Playoffs

Team Solomid (North America | LCS NA)

Notable achievements: 1st place 2015 NA LCS Spring Playoffs, 1st place IEM IX World Championship Katowice 2015, 1st place 2014 NA LCS Summer Playoffs, 1st place LCS North America Season 3 Spring Playoffs

Team Solomid is a North American team created in 2011 after the disbandment of All or Nothing. The idea behind the name of the team was to represent the website of one of the team’s founders – Andy “Reginald” Dinh. Reginald was in All or Nothing when the team disbanded, but wanted to stay on the professional scene, which is why he formed his own team. The original roster included Brandon “Saintvicious” DiMarco, Shan “Chaox” Huang, Brian “TheOddOne” Wyllie, Choi “Locodoco” Yoon-sub, and of course Reginald. Today, Solomid is a really strong team that give their opponents a hard time.

TSM – MSI Team Roster:

Top Lane: Marcus “Dyrus” Hill

Marcus Hill Jungle: Lucas “Santorin” Tao Kilmer Larsen

Lucas Tao Kilmer Larsen Mid Lane: Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg

Søren Bjerg ADC: Jason “WildTurtle” Tran

Jason Tran Support: Jang-sik “Lustboy” Ham

Fnatic (Europe | LCS EU)

Notable achievements: 1st place Season 1 World Championship, 1st place 2015 EU LCS Spring Playoffs, 1st place 2014 EU LCS Spring Playoffs, 1st place Season 3 EU LCS Summer Playoffs, 1st place Season 3 EU LCS Spring Playoffs, 1st place DreamHack Winter 2012

Fnatic is an international eSports organization that ventured into the rich world of League of Legends in 2011 by acquiring the roster of myRevenge. Having an already established team within in their midst, it wasn’t easy for them to start making an even more impressive name for themselves. Players may have changed over time, but the constant resolve and perpetual desire to make impressive plays and win seems to be a trait of the team, itself, no matter who plays in it. The first Fnatic roster consisted of Tim “WerDreaM” Buysse, Enrique “xPeke” Cedeño Martínez, Manuel “LaMiaZeaLoT” Mildenberger, Maciej “Shushei” Ratuszniak, Lauri “Cyanide” Happonen, Max “MagicFingers” Drysse, and Peter “Mellisan” Meisrimel.

Fnatic: MSI Team Roster:

Top Lane: Seong “Huni” Hoon Heo

Seong Hoon Heo Jungle: Kim “Reignover” Ui-jin

Kim Ui-jin Mid Lane: Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten

Fabian Diepstraten ADC: Pierre “Steeelback” Medjaldi

Pierre Medjaldi Support: Bora “YellOwStaR” Kim

Edward Gaming (China | LPL)

Notable achievements: 1st place LPL Spring Playoffs, 1st place X Championship Season I, 1st place 2014 Season China Regional Finals, 1st place 2014 LPL Summer Playoffs, 1st place 2014 LPL Spring Playoffs, 1st place International Esports Tournament 2014

Edward Gaming is a professional League of Legends team originating from China. The team was created in 2014. From there on out, they have been mostly on the rise. Victory after victory, they’ve manage to claim glory on the Chinese scene despite the fact that the team was created so recently. Even though they did strike a rough patch a few months ago, the fact that they claimed victory yet again in the LPL playoffs this split only stands to show that they’re back and better than ever.

Edward Gaming – LPL Spring Split Team Roster:

Top Lane: Tong “Koro1” Yang

Tong Yang Jungle: Ming “Clearlove” Kai

Ming Kai Mid Lane: Heo “PawN” Won-seok

Heo Won-seok ADC: Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu

Kim Hyuk-kyu Support: Chen “Mouse” Yu-Hao

ahq e-Sports Gaming Club (South East Asia | LMS)

Notable achievements: 1st place 2015 LMS Spring Playoffs, 1st place 2014 LNL Winter, 1st place 2013 GPL Championship, 1st place 2013 GPL Summer

ahq e-Sports Gaming Club is a Taiwanese eSports organization. The League of Legends division was formed in 2012. The first roster was formed out of two teams – Corsair and SSWIE. The original roster was Yang “UDJ” Shu-Wei, Chang “ArTie” Che-Ming, Chen “Prydz” Kuang-Feng, Kang “Albis” Chia-Wei, and Sa “GreenTea” Shang-Ching. After going through some hard times, the team is now on the rise and looking good, especially after winning the 2015 LMS Spring Playoffs.

ahq e-Sports Club – LMS Spring Split Team Roster:

Top Lane: Chen “Ziv” Yi

Chen Yi Jungle: Kang “Albis” Chia-Wei

Kang Chia-Wei Mid Lane: Liu “Westdoor” Shu-Wei

Liu Shu-Wei ADC: Chou “An” Chun An

Chou Chun An Support: Sa “GreenTea” Shang-Ching

Beşiktaş e-Sports Club (Turkey | IWCI Istanbul 2015)

Notable achievements: 1st place 2015 International Wild Card Invitational, 1st place International Invitational Tournament 4

Beşiktaş e-Sports Club is Turkey’s only eSports oriented club, created in 2014. Actually, BJK is mostly known for their offline endeavors, such as football, handball, and basketball. Despite this fact, the League of Legends division which is a part of the organization is doing fine, their latest feat being claiming the first place in the IWCI. Now they get to show the whole world what they’re made of and will hopefully play in par with the far more experienced teams they’ll have to face.

Beşiktaş e-Sports Club – MSI Team Roster:

Top Lane: Berke “Thaldrin” Demir

Berke Demir Jungle: Muhammed “Theokoles” Işık

Muhammed Işık Mid Lane: Isak Pettersen “Energy” Fjell

Isak Pettersen Fjell ADC: Tomáš “Nardeus” Maršálek

Tomáš Maršálek Support: Mustafa Kemal “Dumbledoge” Gökseloğlu

SK Telecom T1 (South Korea | LCK (former OGN)

Notable achievements: 1st place Season 3 World Championship, 1st place All-Star 2014, 1st place PANDORA.TV Champions Winter 2013-2014,

SK Telecom T1 is one of the legendary teams from South Korea. It all started as a StarCraft: Brood War team, which has always been one of the most popular eSports in South Korea, but then they ventured into the Fields of Justice. Koreans have always been fond of their eSports, so this is taken seriously there, meaning that a team has to prove their worth through a lot of challenges, and SK Telecom T1 have managed to do that so far by winning the LoL World Championship 2013 and last year’s All-Stars tournament in Shanghai.

SK Telecom T1 – LCK Spring Split Team Roster:

Top Lane: Jang “MaRin” Gyeong-Hwan

Jang Gyeong-Hwan Jungle: Im “Tom” Jae-hyeon / Bae “bengi” Seong-ung

Im Jae-hyeon / Bae Seong-ung Mid Lane: Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok/ Lee “Easyhoon” Ji-hoon

Lee Sang-hyeok/ Lee Ji-hoon ADC: Bae “Bang” Jun-sik

Bae Jun-sik Support: Lee “Piccaboo” Jong-Beom/ Lee “Wolf” Jae-wan

These are the 6 teams playing the League of Legends MSI 2015. Not all of them have rich histories and lots of experience, but all of them will be entering the arena with fire in their eyes and the desire for victory in their hearts, so the spectacle will be well worth it. As always, we’ll keep you posted on what’s happening. See you at the tournament.

You might also be interested in:

MSI Ticket Information

Pinnacle Mid Season Promotion

MSI 2015 Live Stream