Riot Games is bringing the League of Legends World Championship to North America this year, the organization has announced, and Shanghai will host the Mid-Season Invitational.
The 2016 Championship will begin with a Group Stage in San Francisco, followed by the Quarterfinals in Chicago and Semifinals at New York City’s Madison Square Gardens. The Finals will be held in Los Angeles at the Staples Center — the same venue where the Season 3 World Championship Finals were held in 2013.
The event, which is set to run Sept. 29-Oct. 29, will bring together the top 16 teams from around the world, based on their results in regional championships throughout the year. Last year, Korea’s SK Telecom T1 took home the Summoner’s Cup, the ultimate grand prize in professional League of Legends.
Riot simultaneously announced Tuesday that the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational will be held at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center on May 4-15. The MSI’s Group Stage has been expanded to a double round-robin format taking place over five days, with twice as many games as in 2015. The semifinals and Finals will be best-of-five series.
Teams invited to the MSI will include the Spring Split winners from NA and EU League Championship Series, the Tencent League Pro League, League Champions Korea and League Master Series.