Everything You Need to Know About the 11 Non-LCS Teams Going to MSI 2017

13 teams are heading to Brazil for MSI this year, one champion from every single League
of Legends region.
That’s more than double the number of teams that went last year.
To get you up to speed before the event, we’ll walk you through all 11 non-NA and EU teams
heading to MSI, and the star players you should keep an eye on.
Let’s start off in Brazil, where MSI takes place this year.
INTZ Esports has led Brazil for almost 2 years, even making it to Worlds in 2016, all while
their former sister team RED Canids took a backseat.
But this season saw the end of INTZ’s reign -- RED Canids tied with INTZ 11-3 at the end
of the split, and crushed playoffs to win a trip to MSI.
Also, we have this cool picture of all the players' noses.
brTT is Brazil’s superstar, kind of like TSM wrapped into a single human being.
He channels his favorite champion Draven by screaming a lot and tattooing axes on his arms.
One time, he even made Doublelift worried...
and then he beat him.
They’ve been looking forward to a rematch ever since.
Moving up to Latin America South, local favorites Isurus Gaming are one of the oldest teams
around.
This year, they were the first ever Latin America South team to bootcamp in Korea, and
returned to sweep the finals 3-0.
At the center of Isurus is Emp, known as the region’s best mid laner, and possibly the
best player in his league.
He leads the region in gold and damage per minute, and won the ‘best player’ award
last year.
Emp used to play AD carry, and now he’s trying to lead Isurus from the mid lane -- he’s
basically the Piglet of Argentina.
In Latin America North, we have eight-time champions Lyon Gaming, a team that
destroys their region.
They average a 5k gold lead at 20 minutes, they went 13-1 in the split, and more than
anything, they want to make up for barely missing Worlds last year.
But while Lyon dominates Latin America North, they’ll have to prove their killer stats
aren’t just the result of easy competition.
If you’re looking for the Bjergson of Latin America North, it’s probably Seiya,
one of the region’s most well known and respected midlaners.
He ended the regular season with a KDA of 11.2.
The highest KDA for NA was Bjergson’s 5.5.
In a world where you shouldn’t judge players by their KDA alone, that’s still impressive.
Heading across the Atlantic, Virtus.pro will be representing the Commonwealth of Independent
States.
The CIS is Riot’s youngest league, only just starting last year.
It’s also the home of Albus Nox Luna, the wildcard heroes that reached Worlds 2016 quarterfinals
and afterwards became M19.
Long story short, the CIS loves M19, or at least, expects them to win hands-down.
Then in comes Virtus.pro, a fresh team of up and coming faces that took down the M19
dynasty.
It was a huge upset, and now the king-killers have to prove themselves on the international
stage.
Fans and analysts have a hard time pinning Virtus.pro’s success to any one player.
Paranoia and Santas have the tournament experience, Kreox is a young jungle prodigy, and Blasting
recently set a CIS record with 15 kills in one game.
Their assortment of strengths and drawn-out playstyle seems to just make for a winning
formula.
Over in Turkey, we have SuperMassive esports, the only wildcard team that got to MSI last
year.
The super team of their home country, SuperMassive entered the international stage as the world’s
underdogs.
They lost a lot, but they managed to take down CLG and walked away smiling.
Now they’re still the underdogs, but ones with a lot of heart.
Wherever they go, they’re followed by the massive Turkish Besiktas chant:
Star support Dumbledoge likes his pocket-pick Poppy support, but usually, he’s sprinting
around the map as Bard, looking for aggressive plays and laying out pressure miles away from
his AD carry.
He once cosplayed as Bard for a Turkish patch notes video, and he’s so loveable that even
Riot couldn’t resist making fan art:
Having just won the Turkey MVP award, Dumbledoge is heading into MSI hoping to top his last
play of the game -- first blooding Faker as a level 1 Janna.
From the Oceania league, we have Dire Wolves, who’ve been around since the OPL started
in 2015 (and during that weird Oceania tournament in 2014).
They’ve always been a top team, but have never been able to take home their regional
cup, until now.
The Wolfpack went undefeated for the last 6 weeks of their split, and won the final
game of playoffs without a single death.
While star AD carry K1ng definitely made an impact this year, it’s Jungler Shernfire
to look out for.
The Wolves picked up Shernfire during their bootcamp in Korea, where he once reached rank
4 in Korean Challenger.
His playmaking around the map handed the Wolves a lot of their late-season wins.
Heading over to Asia, we have Marine Esports, champions of the Southeast Asia region.
The SEA holds six leagues across six different countries, and at the end of the split they
each send their champions to battle it out in the Garena Premier League.
Marine Esports (who used to be called the Boba Marines) steamrolled the Vietnam Championship
Series, ending 12-0.
Then they went to the GPL and won every series, becoming the SEA champions.
They’re walking into MSI as a hyper-aggressive team with almost no losses.
You might remember Optimus from the Barcelona All-Stars event last year, where he played
on the Fire All-Star team alongside Doublelift, MadLife, and current teammate Levi.
People call him OP-timus for his pro game-ending moves.
The Flash Wolves are entering MSI from the LMS, a league of countries that mercy-left
Southeast Asia because Taiwan won every single GPL tournament for 6 splits straight.
Flash Wolves is a team to watch on the international stage.
They won IEM Katowice against G2, and made it to Worlds quarterfinals in 2015.
Last year, Flash Wolves beat SKT twice at MSI, and then beat them again at Worlds.
But the best thing about Flash Wolves is their freakishly cheerful spirit.
They stick together, and win or lose, sing songs with each other in-game.
When he’s not starring in a Flash Wolves musical, Karsa is hard carrying from the jungle.
His predator-style gameplay shines best on Graves and Lee Sin.
On to Japan and their champions, Rampage.
NA has TSM versus CLG, Japan has Rampage versus DetonatioN FocusMe.
These rival teams have been fighting for the crown since the Japan league started in 2014.
Detonation won the regular season this split, but Rampage swept them 3-0 in playoffs for
the cup.
Now they’re headed to MSI while their rivals stay home
Yutori Moyashi and Dara are Japan’s beast bot duo.
Yutori’s aggressive playstyle builds huge gold leads in lane, and he’s famously unkillable
-- he went deathless for 9 games of the split.
His support, Dara, roams so much he’s pretty much a jungler -- people have started calling
him “Doko demo Dara.”
Yutori says their botlane is the strongest in their league, and now has to prove it can
measure up to the other regions.
From Korea, we have the MSI favorites, 3-time world champions SK Telecom T-1.
The LCK finals this split ended in a bloody telecom grudge war between SKT and KT Rolster,
star teams backed by Korea’s two biggest telecommunication companies.
The show opened with a subtle nod to Faker’s legacy, and after a back
and forth Game 1, SKT swept the series 3-0 for their fourth LCK championship win.
Player to watch: Faker.
Maybe Peanut.
Peanut does a good job too.
China hasn’t picked their MSI representative yet.
This weekend, Team World Elite and Royal Never Give Up will fight in the playoff finals for
the spot.
World Elite have been blowing through the ranks to catch up to former champions Royal,
who made it to Worlds quarterfinals last year after beating TSM twice.
The LPL winner will come down to a couple of big showdowns: In the botlane are Mystic
and Uzi, the best AD carries in the region right now.
Then there’s World Elite’s Condi, possibly the best jungler in China, versus Royal’s
MLXG, a player with such a hot streak, his name means “a spicy hot pot”.

Everything You Need to Know About the 11 Non-LCS Teams Going to MSI 2017

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