MSI Survival Guide

 
In just a few hours, six of the best teams in the world will compete in the 2015 Mid-Season Invitational Tournament, where they’ll be vying for international repute and the $100,000 USD first place prize. The competition will be hosted live at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center in Tallahassee, Florida, with an expected 12,000 live viewers and several hundred thousand more online. Are you ready? Make sure by checking out our complete survival guide!

The Prizes

Position : Prizes

1st : $100,000
2nd : $50,000
3rd : Unproven Challenger Korean (1x)
4th : Hate of EU fans
5th : A loud radio (x1) that summons a helicopter. Using the radio will alert the Horde, but successfully surviving two waves will allow for evacuation to team’s home country.
6th : Hallmark consolation cards, saying “At least you’re not CLG” (x5)

The Teams

Lucky fans will get to meet one, two, or even all five/six of these teams during their visit to Tallahassee.

SK Telecom T1

Position : Name

Top : Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok
Jungler : Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok
Mid : Lee “Easyhoon” Ji-hoon
ADC : Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok
Support : Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok

This team of four World Champions and Easyhoon has made a meteoric comeback after placing only 4th in HOT6iX Champions Summer 2014. As Korea’s representative, this team is a fan favorite to take first place.

What to expect from the team:
Awkwardly holding the first place trophy, oversized check for $100,000

What to expect against the team:
Appropriate rune pages.

Edward Gaming

Position : Name

Top : Edward
Jungler : Edward
Mid : Edward
ADC : Edward
Support : Edward

The aptly-named Edward Gaming fields a team of five Chinese and Korea players, all named “Edward.” When recruiting new members, players already named “Edward” are prefered, although recruited players not named “Edward” may simply change their name once they join.

What to expect from the team:
Communication is conducted solely in shouts of “Edward, Edward Gaming.” Meaning is derived from the tonal variation of these exclamation, in a system analogous but ultimately different from the tonal system in Chinese.

What to expect against the team:
Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu will visit SKT in their dressing room. “May the best Korean win,” he wishes upon the team, but the members of SK Telecom coldly ignore his presence. Eventually, Bang will turn to face him, snarling, “You’re not a Korean anymore.” A single tear will fall from Deft’s right eye.

Team Solo Fnatic

Position : Name

Top : NAKR
Jungler : EUKR
Mid : EU
ADC : NAEU
Support : KREU

The Western fans outside looked from EU to NA, and from NA to EU, and from KR to EU to NA; but already it was impossible to say which was which.

What to expect from the team:
A high concentration of ionic compounds, particularly sodium-based.

What to expect against the team:
Attempts to overwhelm them with Korean player count disparity

Mosquito-Borne Illnesses

Position : Name

Top : West Nile “WNV” Virus
Jungler : Plasmodium “Malaria” Falciparum
Mid : Dengue “Breakbone” Fever
ADC : Aedes “Yellow Fever Mosquito” Aegypti
Support : Poor Healthcare Facilities

This team — composed of players from all over Asia, Africa, and the rest of the world — has enjoyed a steadily-increasing fan base for a very long time. The team prefers kill-orientated gameplay that overwhelms their enemy in the late game.

What to expect from the team:
Headache, fever, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, neural damage, paralysis, death

What to expect against the team:
Mosquito nets, long-sleeve shirts and pants, insect repellant, quality medical attention (must leave state)

Crime

Position : Name

Top : Suspect unknown
Jungler : Suspect unknown
Mid : Suspect unknown
ADC : Suspect unknown
Support : Suspect unknown

Tallahassee has a crime rating of 6 out of 100, meaning that only 6% of US cities have more combined violent and property crime per capita. However, using a logarithmic scale, it comes to 0.77 out of 2, which looks a lot better. This team prefers to farm and steal objectives, although it will resort to team fights and kills in extreme cases.

What to expect from the team:
When the enterprising burglar’s not a-burgling and when the cutthroat isn’t occupied in crime, they love to hear the little brook a-gurgling and listen to the merry village chime.

What to expect against the team:
The police might help in a percentage directly correlated with ΔM, where ΔM = (melanin count of attacker) – (melanin count of victim).