LoLGUIDESMSI 2026 Pick’Ems and Crystal Ball Are Live: What Can You Win?
MSI 2026 Pick’Ems and the new Crystal Ball are live ahead of the June 28 start in Daejeon. Here are the rewards, the deadline, the full schedule and all 11 qualified teams.
MSI 2026 heads to Daejeon, South Korea. Image: Riot Games
The wait is nearly over. The 2026 Mid-Season Invitational heads to Daejeon, South Korea on June 28. Better still, Riot has just switched on the two things that let you get involved before a single game is played. MSI Pick’Ems are back, and the brand-new Crystal Ball has arrived alongside them.
So if you want rewards, bragging rights, or simply a reason to care about every Play-In game, now is the time to lock your picks. Here is everything worth knowing about MSI 2026, from the prizes to the format to the eleven teams in the hunt.
What can you win from MSI 2026 Pick’Ems?
Pick’Ems powered by AWS lets you predict the results and earn in-game rewards for getting them right. You can make your picks on LoLEsports.com or straight from your League client. Crucially, you have until June 27 to lock them in, so there is no rush, but there is a deadline.
The rewards stack as you climb the leaderboard:
- Participation: an exclusive El Tigre Braum “Pinfall” emote, just for taking part in Play-Ins or the Bracket Stage.
- Top 50%: a Zenith Games Blitzcrank “Settle the Score” icon, plus the participation reward.
- Top 25%: a Janitor Thresh and Zac “Clean Up” emote, plus everything below it.
- Perfect Picks: the big one. Broken Covenant Jhin and the Jhin champion himself, on top of every other tier.
In other words, even a casual guess earns you something. A flawless bracket, though, lands a full skin and champion.
What is the MSI Crystal Ball?
This is the new toy, and it arrives at MSI for the very first time. Where Pick’Ems is about match results, Crystal Ball is about the meta. You forecast the trends and the big moments before anyone has played a game. Then you watch to see how sharp your read really was.
The structure is split in two. Four predictions resolve after Play-Ins, while the remaining sixteen settle at the end of the tournament. The questions get genuinely fun, too. Will a surprise pick take over? Will a team completely rebuild its draft from the regular season? And the one everyone keeps asking, will Teemo finally show up on the international stage after all these years?
So lock your answers before the first match on June 28. Do that, and you walk away with an exclusive “Doesn’t Look Good” emote, win or lose.
When does MSI 2026 start?
MSI runs across two stages in Daejeon, and the whole thing spans just over two weeks:
| Stage | Dates |
|---|---|
| Play-In Stage | June 28 – July 1 |
| Bracket Stage | July 3-6 and July 8-12 |
| Upper Final | July 9 |
| Lower Final | July 11 |
| Grand Final | July 12 |
Because the MSI title and extra World Championship slots are on the line, every series carries real weight. This is the midyear proving ground, and nobody travels to Daejeon just to make up the numbers.
Which teams qualified for MSI 2026?
Eleven teams made it, with two from each major region except CBLOL, which sends one. Here is the full field:
| Region | Teams |
|---|---|
| LPL (China) | Bilibili Gaming, Top Esports |
| LCK (Korea) | Hanwha Life Esports, T1 |
| LEC (EMEA) | G2 Esports, Karmine Corp |
| LCS (North America) | LYON, Team Liquid Alienware |
| LCP (Asia Pacific) | Team Secret Whales, Revolve Deep Cross Gaming |
| CBLOL (Brazil) | Furia |
The Korean pair carries plenty of weight after a dramatic Road to MSI. If you missed how T1 and Hanwha Life punched their tickets, we broke it down in our LCK qualification recap.
How does the MSI 2026 format work?
The format mirrors MSI 2025 almost exactly, with the only change landing in the Play-In Stage. This year, four teams fight through a double-elimination Play-In bracket, and only one survives into the main event. From there, the Bracket Stage is an eight-team double-elimination gauntlet.
If you want it laid out properly, Riot’s own format explainer does the job in a couple of minutes:
What else is happening at MSI 2026?
Plenty, as it turns out. A few extras worth a look:
- Drops are back. Watch live on LoLEsports.com while logged in with your Riot ID. You can earn exclusive icons, including new “Ducky!” and “No Running!” designs.
- Broken Covenant Jhin headlines the skins. He is the official revenue-share champion for MSI 2026. A slice of every purchase goes back to the competing teams.
- Co-streaming goes big. More than 100 invited co-streamers will cover the event through the Opera GX hub, in a long list of languages.
- There is a live event, too. The MSI Fan Festa in Daejeon runs through the tournament, complete with a Locke-themed demon forest and a League arcade.
For now, though, the move is simple. Lock your Pick’Ems and Crystal Ball before June 28, then settle in for the Play-Ins. You can find the full official rundown in Riot’s MSI 2026 primer. We will keep our League of Legends hub current once the games begin.