Riot Games announces updated schedules, venues, and format adjustments for First Stand, MSI, and S15

On January 8th local time, Riot Games announced the schedule, venue and competition system adjustments for major international events of the 2025 League of Legends.

2025 First Stand

The first is the 2025 First Stand, which will be held at LoL Park in Seoul, South Korea from March 10 to 16, 2025. The participating teams are the teams with the best performance in the first season of each region, and the winning team will be the The region won a bye in the 2025 MSI group stage.

First Stand is divided into two stages: Bo3 round-robin and Bo5 single-elimination. Teams can enter the round-robin directly without drawing lots. In order to encourage teams to innovate strategies, First Stand has confirmed the adoption of the "Fearless Draft" competition system. will be disabled.

2025 MSI Mid-Season Invitational

Following the First Stand, the 2025 League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) will be held in Vancouver, Canada from June 27 to July 12. The participating teams are two teams from the five major regions, and the two regions with the best performance will Receive an additional spot in the 2025 World Finals.

According to Riot Games' official statement, all matches of this MSI will adopt a best-of-five format (Bo5). They also pointed out that this adjustment is aimed at improving the competitiveness and viewing experience of the event.

2025 World Finals

The 2025 World Championship (S15) schedule has not yet been announced, but Riot Games has confirmed that the events will be held in Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu. Beijing will host the play-in round-robin and Swiss round-robin tournaments, Shanghai will host the quarter-finals and semi-finals, and Chengdu will host the 2025 World Championship. It is the venue for the finals.

There will be 17 teams participating in this year's finals, and the quota allocation depends on the regions and their performance in the 2025 MSI Mid-Season Invitational. Riot Games also announced the cancellation of the off week between the S15 quarter-finals and semi-finals to optimize the The pace of the race.

Global events planning for 2026 and 2027

Finally, Riot Games confirmed the venues for major international League of Legends events in 2026 and 2027 in the announcement: the 2026 First Stand will open in Brazil, the MSI Mid-Season Invitational will move to South Korea, and the Global Finals will return to North America. The 2027 First Stand will be held in Southeast Asia, the MSI Mid-Season Invitational will return to Europe, and the Global Finals will be held in South Korea again.