The League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) is about to get underway in Vancouver, Canada.
MSI will see the two strongest teams from each region compete to earn automatic qualification at this year’s LoL World Championships.
Legendary Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok will play at MSI this year, but there are also a lot of other exciting players competing at the tournament.
With that in mind, here is the key player from every team competing at MSI 2025 who will be pivotal to their success.
Chovy – Gen.G
We could highlight any of Gen.G’s star-studded roster, it’s why they’re MSI favourites according to LoL betting sites.
Their midlaner Jeong ‘Chovy’ Ji-hoon is one of the world’s best and one of the tournament’s most exciting players.
In the LCK Rounds 1-2, he led all midlaners in most stats. He had a solid 7.3 and the highest cs, gold, and damage per minute.
Gen.G won last year’s MSI, which was Chovy’s first and long-awaited trophy. He’ll be hoping to win the tournament in consecutive years and then have a better Worlds run than 2024.
Gumayusi – T1
It has been a rollercoaster year for the reigning World Champions and especially botlaner Lee ‘Gumayusi’ Min-hyeong who spent a lot of time on the bench.
However, the ADC has seemingly secured his starting place once more and is seemingly returning to his terrifying best.
During the LCK Road to MSI, Gumayusi died only seven times in seven games and recorded a ridiculous KDA of 17.1, the next closest was Chovy’s 6.9.
While most focus on Faker, it usually comes down to Gumayusi’s skill in team fights to pull T1 through.
Elyoya – Movistar KOI
Many are talking about Canadian midlaner Joseph Joon ‘Jojopyun’ Pyun who made history as the first North American pro to win LEC.
However, the heartbeat of this Movistar KOI team is jungler Javier ‘Elyoya’ Prades Batalla, who has now won four LEC titles without ever playing for Fnatic or G2 Esports.
This will be his seventh international tournament and his third MSI. If MKOI are going to be successful, Elyoya will need to take over the early game with his proactive jungling.
SkewMond – G2 Esports
Another European jungler, this is a big moment for Rudy ‘SkewMond’ Semaan as this is his first international event.
It’s been a tough year for him with the heavy expectations of being a G2 pro and losing both LEC finals this year.
However, the French jungler has been the team’s unsung hero with his uncanny ability to remain consistent.
He has focused on helping other players shine so it’ll be fascinating to see how that playstyle holds up against the world’s best junglers.
Hope – Anyone’s Legend
LPL champions Anyone’s Legend are entering their first international event.
Veterans Li ‘Flandre’ Xuan-Jun and Lee ‘Tarzan’ Seung-yong take a lot of the limelight but ADC Wang ‘Hope’ Jie is key to the team’s success.
The Chinese botlaner led all five major regions for average kills this split with 6.4 across 64 games, beating Gen.G’s iconic Park ‘Ruler’ Jae-hyuk who averaged 6.2 in just 46 games.
Knight – Bilibili Gaming
One of the biggest LoL stars in China, former MSI champion Zhuo ‘Knight’ Ding will cause issues for any team.
He was individually brilliant in last year’s Worlds final and pushed T1’s players to the edge.
However, BLG came second at MSI and Worlds last year and now have failed to win an LPL split in 2025.
The team will want to turn their fortunes around and, to do so, they will need Knight to make the mechanical outplays he has become known for.
Inspired – FlyQuest
Kacper ‘Inspired’ Słoma is in direct competition with Elyoya to be the best jungler in the west.
He was the mastermind who called for the backdoor in Game 5 versus Cloud9, which won the LTA North finals for FlyQuest.
And it was his Nunu pick which caught Gen.G off-guard at Worlds last year and nearly led to a historic upset.
JoJo – FURIA
FURIA dominated the LTA South Split finals with a 3-0 win over pAIN Gaming.
And a star player for the team is support Gabriel ‘JoJo’ Dzelme de Oliveira.
The team plays through him as he recorded a very impressive 80.4% kill participation in the Playoffs and had the highest avergae assists in the league with 12.7.
Doggo – CTBC Flying Oyster
CTBC Flying Oyster are the only team from First Stand also competing at MSI.
At First Stand, Chiu ‘Doggo’ Tzu-Chuan caught the world’s attention as he had an incredible tournament, recording the third-highest average kills at the event.
He has continued that form, sporting the best KDA (6.1) while helping CTBC win the LCP Mid Season Qualifying Series.
Levi – GAM Esports
It wouldn’t be an international event without the hijinks of Đỗ ‘Levi’ Duy Khánh.
The Vietnamese jungler has long been the star of GAM with his unorthodox picks and hyper-aggressive playstyle.
In my seven years of esports writing, I’ve introuduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I’m most proud of the latter.
