League of Legends MSI 2024: EMEA region preview

This cross-regional League of Legends event is certainly something to look forward to. The best teams from all over the world gather together to crown the best — and to fight for the World 2024 qualifying spot.

EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) is one of the main regions. Let’s take a look at its representatives at the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational 2024: their path, players, and prospects at the tournament.

This team has qualified for MSI 2024 as the second LEC seed (League of Legends EMEA Championship). Fnatic got the chance to compete at the Mid-Season Invitational thanks to their LEC points — 2nd place in the general standings.

Fnatic got a new player in December 2023, Yoon "Jun" Se-jun, who previously played for the Korean teams Freecs and DRX Challengers. He is considered a strong addition to the roster, arguably the best player. The rest of Fnatic has not changed since World 2023.

In the first half of this LoL esports season, Fnatic participated in two LEC splints: Winter and Spring.

LEC Winter 2024 wasn’t very successful for the team. Fnatic finished 5th in the Regular Season with a 5-4 W/L ratio. But in the Playoffs, they fell to the lower brackets after the Semi-Final against G2 Esports.

And then Fnatic got eliminated by MAD Lions KOI in the Lower Bracket Semi-Final. The final position was 5th, which brought Fnatic 60 points.

LEC Spring 2024 went so much better! The team was first in the Regular Season (6-3, like three other teams). In Playoffs, Fnatic lost to G2 Esports in the Upper Semi-Final but nevertheless managed to make it to the Grand Final — having a super tough match vs BDS in the Lower Final, with a successful reverse sweep.

In the Grand Final, Fnatic won only game 1 and then could not resist the might and the creative style of their opponents. This placement brought the team 120 points.

LEC (EMEA) has two seeds for the MSI 2024, for the Winter and Spring split Champions. G2 Esports won both, and Fnatic qualified thanks to their points in the general Champion standings.

This team has been dominating the LoL EMEA scene for quite some time. G2 Esports won LEC Season Finals 2023 and both splits of 2024. They got the 1st LEC seed for the LoL Mid-Season Invitational 2024.

G2 Esports has not changed the players compared to the World 2023.

In LEC Winter 2024, G2 Esports were first in the Regular Season (7-2) and won all Playoff matches.

In LEC Spring 2024, the team was 3rd in the Regular Season, but the W/L ratio was the same as for three other teams, 6-3. In the Playoffs, G2 Esports lost only two games: one to BDS in the Upper Final and one to Fnatic in the Grand Final. That did not prevent them from winning all the matches.

G2 Esports qualified for the MSI 2024 quite confidently.

Fnatic starts competing at the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational 2024 from the Play-In Stage. They are in the group with Top Esports (China), LOUD (Brazilia), and GAM Esports. Fnatic’s first opponent is GAM Esports (Vietnam). 

The previous time LoL Fnatic shined at international tournaments was the 2018 World Championship — the team finished second. That also was the previous occasion when Fnatic qualified for the MSI. More recent results are not optimistic: 14th-16th at Worlds 2021; 9th-11th/9th-10th at the Worlds 2021/2022.

Fnatic is known as a momentum team. We could clearly see that in Game 1 of the LEC Spring 2024 Grand Final. When the players catch their wave, they look unstoppable. May that happen in the MSI 2024? We certainly can expect Fnatic to qualify for the Bracket Stage.

Thanks to the 1st LEC seed, G2 Esports joins the LoL MSI 2024 with the Bracket Stage. The Draw Show happens on May 5, so it’s the day when we will discover G2’s groups and opponents. One thing is sure — two EMEA teams will not be seeded into one group; it’s a new rule for the MSI in 2024.

LoL G2 Esports was 3rd-4th at the MSI 2022 and 5th-6th at the MSI 2023. We can expect the same (or even better) level this year too. One thing that may keep the fans somewhat anxious is rather a disastrous result at the 2023 World Championship, where G2 Esports finished 9th-11th, without leaving the Swiss Stage. The team was 3rd-4th at the World 2020 and the World 2019 — but that is obviously a different story. 

Still, fan’s expectations from G2 Esports are pretty high. The players are known for their innovative and creative approach, like swapping lanes, so Support and Bot are playing on Top in the early game.