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    Royal Never Give Up (RNG) has qualified for the 2021 League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational finals.

    RNG remained unchallenged in the group stage, qualifying for the rumble stage without losing a single game, after arriving at the tournament as one of the favourites to win. Their rumble stage performance was less impressive, as they lost three games to Cloud9, MAD Lions, and PSG Talon, but they still finished second and faced PSG Talon in the first round of the knockout stage yesterday.

    This was one of the tournament's most awaited matchups so far. PSG Talon, the underdog PCS leaders, stunned the world by finishing third in the rumble round, beating out both MAD Lions and C9. They were a relatively untested consideration coming into MSI with a replacement AD carry due to visa issues. However, they soon demonstrated that they were able to compete with the best in the world. In reality, despite having rarely played with the team prior to MSI, PSG's replacement AD carry, 18-year-old Doggo, became one of their most valuable assets.


    Yesterday's series started with MSI's longest game yet, in which RNG won in an uncharacteristically shaky fashion. According to Oracle's Elixir, RNG has the shortest average game time of the four knockout stage players, at 28.6 minutes. However, they struggled to finish the first game after a strong start resulted in several fumbles around key objectives. PSG won the second game in a surprisingly fast 30-minute stomp on Tristana, piloted by a ridiculously fed Doggo. He put up one of his best performances of the tournament so far, finishing with a KDA of 18 to tie the series at 1-1.

    PSG Talon may have returned empty-handed from MSI, but they definitely made an impact on the international League community. If the organisation qualifies for the World Championship this year, support Kaiwing and mid laner Maple will be the players to watch. With Doggo returning to Beyond Gaming now that MSI is over, he's another player to keep an eye on in the offseason, as a solid, confident, and most importantly young ADC is a valuable addition to any team with an open import slot.

    RNG will now await the winner of the finals match between DWG KIA and MAD Lions. RNG's ideal scenario is for DWG to qualify, as DWG is the only team left in the tournament that has yet to defeat RNG. The LPL leaders were responsible for DWG's only two defeats in the rumble period.

    DWG and MAD will compete on May 22nd, 2021 at 8am CT.