Riot Games Korea announced that on the 28th (KST), the top four teams from both the LCK and the LPL will be participating in the Mid-Season Cup (MSC).

This year, the Mid Season Invitational (MSI) was cancelled due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In order to quench the thirst of esports fans that are missing the fierce competition in LoL esports, MSC will be taking place to provide the fans quality competitive League of Legends.

With a prize pool of $600,000 USD, the MSC will be held over the span of four days, from the 28th to the 31st (KST). T1, Gen.G, DragonX, and DAMWON Gaming will be the four LCK representatives, while JD Gaming, TOP Esports, Invictus Gaming, and FunPlus Phoenix will be the four teams representing the LPL.

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the MSC will be held in an online format, on the KR server. The LCK teams will be playing in LoL Park (located in Seoul), while the LPL teams will be playing from the Shanghai LPL Arena. Groups draw and additional details are scheduled to be announced in the coming days.

As MSC is being held across two countries, in order to ensure the integrity and fairness for all participating teams, Riot Games is reviewing technical risks at various angles. As the competition is being held in the KR server, the ping of the server will be artificially standardized to 30-40 m/s via the use of a third-party tool. Riot Games Korea has already provided the LCK teams with the tools to get used to 30-40 m/s, as the teams are used to playing on much lower ping.

A representative of Riot Games commented, “As MSC is a huge competition with a prize pool on the line, we’re working hard to ensure the integrity of the competition. As we’re artificially raising the ping of the server, there’s no way to guarantee that there won’t be any instability within the server. If any problems arise, not only it may take a long time to serve, and in the worst case scenario, cancellation of the competition is something that’s on the table. However, we’re working day and night  to showcase incredible matches for the LoL esports fans, and are currently conducting various tests for MSC.”

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