MSI 2025 Play-In preview: Upsets from underdog teams incoming?

The Mid-Season Invitational 2025 kicks off in Vancouver with a Play-In stage that’s likely to excite League of Legends fans. Four teams—G2 Esports, Bilibili Gaming, GAM Esports and FURIA — will compete for just two spots in the Bracket Stage. 

The new Fearless Draft format, coupled with the Patch 25.13, makes outside-the-box picks in champion select almost a necessity. While the favourite teams have name recognition, the underdogs aren’t just here for the experience and will land in Vancouver with determination and the hunger to upset fans’ expectations. Ultimately, the Play-Ins provide a perfect opportunity to make a statement.

Ahead of the event, Esports Insider take a look at the narratives shaping the Play-In stage of MSI 2025.

It’s hard to talk about international League of Legends competitions without mentioning G2 Esports.

Despite falling short in both Winter and Spring LEC Finals — losing to Karmine Corp and Movistar KOI, respectively — G2’s international reputation remains untarnished. Much like T1, G2 often shows its best form when the global spotlight is shone on the team.

Patch 25.13 suits G2 Esports’ identity to a tee by rewarding creativity, favouring flexible drafts and encouraging surprising picks. G2 has long thrived on innovation, and in a format where one clever pick can tilt a whole series, this may be the organisation’s greatest weapon. Whether it’s Rasmus ‘Caps’ Borregaard Winther bringing out a forgotten midlane pick or Rudy ‘Skewmond’ Semaan navigating an early jungle advantage, G2 remains one of the few Western teams that top-tier Eastern representatives truly respect on stage.

Still, this is a different G2 than years past. Caps and Sergen ‘BrokenBlade’ Çelik no longer sit unchallenged at the top of their roles domestically. Moreover, while SkewMond and Labros ‘Labrov’ Papoutsakis offer explosiveness despite their green international experience, they often lack consistency.

But if there’s one thing G2 has proven time and again, it’s that fans should never write the team off, especially when there’s room to experiment. Finally, with Fearless Draft in full effect, MSI 2025 feels like G2’s natural habitat.

Bilibili Gaming’s road to Vancouver hasn’t been without obstacles. While much of the 2024 roster remains intact, the departure of star jungler Peng ‘Xun’ Li-Xun has left an undeniable void.

BLG still possesses star power — Chen ‘Bin’ Ze-Bin, Zhuo ‘Knight’ Ding and a strong bot lane — but the team has struggled to maintain its spotless execution that resulted in one of the LPL’s most feared rosters.

Last year’s strong international performance had Bilibili Gaming knocking on the door of greatness, but each tournament that ends without a trophy corrodes the team’s hopes. BLG’s mechanical abilities remain high, but cracks in its macro game, inconsistencies in lane dominance and draft inflexibility have cost BLG key series in its home region.

MSI’s Play-In could be exactly what it needs, a chance to reset and easily slide into the bracket stage. But in a field where a single best-of-three can change everything, BLG can’t afford to start slow. 

Bilibili’s first real test comes against GAM, where jungler Yang ‘Beichuan’ Ling will need to hold his own against Đỗ ‘Levi’ Duy Khánhin, a jungle matchup that could tilt the entire series, especially on a patch that demands precision and proactivity from junglers more than ever.

Vietnam’s GAM Esports enter MSI 2025 as the LCP second seed, but don’t be fooled — this team is dangerous. GAM pushed CTBC Flying Oysters to the brink in both playoff series and looked stronger with each passing game. Its roster remains largely unchanged from previous international runs, a sign fans can interpret as a harbinger of stability and experience.

While most fans have learned to be cautious in predicting GAM’s fate, its track record of international upsets — especially against Western teams — is undeniable. GAM proved time and time again to thrive in situations where it’s overlooked, underestimated and becomes quietly lethal—quite literally proving “What We’re Made Of.”

The new patch favours assertive plays and strategic draft picks, all areas where GAM has shown it can match up against the best. If there’s one team likely to crush someone’s MSI bracket hopes early, it’s the LTA second seed.

FURIA may come into MSI Play-In stage as the biggest underdogs. The Brazilian organisation will have to prove a lot of fans wrong, not just for the team, but for the new LTA South region — which is still finding its footing post-merger.

Individually, FURIA’s players have shown the ability to punch up. Guilherme ‘Guigo’ Araújo Ruiz’s high-damage top lane style, Pedro ‘Tatu’ Seixas’ stable jungle performances and Arthur ‘Tutsz’ Peixoto Machado’s dependable mages form a cohesive identity. FURIA is built around skirmishes and early leads. However, the team’s challenge lies in bringing that playstyle to MSI, which is not ideal considering the patch it’ll play on. 

Patch 25.13 solidified the slower, scaling compositions meta. Many teams will look to drag games out and play for the late-game, but this doesn’t necessarily work against FURIA. In fact, its strengths may become even more valuable in this context. With explosive midlane mages like Tutsz’s signature picks and Guigo’s relentless pressure in the top lane, FURIA is uniquely equipped to disrupt slower setups and dictate the early tempo. If it can seize control before its opponents scale, FURIA may just flip the script on teams expecting a passive early game.

To add to the pressure is the recent performance of Latin America and Brazil in international tournaments, both of which have exceeded expectations in recent years. Now, FURIA inherits that legacy, and with it, the burden to prove that LTA South can compete in the big leagues. 

Tune in on any major streaming platform or on the official LoL Esports website on June 27th at 8:00 PM BST to catch what is poised to be an unusual MSI 2025 Play-In stage.