Riot Games changes MSI 2019 Play-In Stage schedule to accommodate national mourning in Vietnam
More matches will take place over fewer days.
In an official League of Legends blog post, Riot Games has confirmed that changes have been made to the Mid-Season Invitational Play-In Stage in order to accommodate a two day period of national mourning in Vietnam.
This means that matches will no longer take place on Friday, April 3rd or Saturday April 4th as previously scheduled. To compensate, eight matches will now be held on the 1st, 2nd and 5th.
2019 Mid-Season Invitational Schedule Update #MSI2019Read now at: https://t.co/k56eVKYrUB pic.twitter.com/oKg4SnmA7X
lolesports (@lolesports) April 29, 2019
The two days of national mourning are being held to pay respects to the former Vietnamese President, Le Duc Anh, who passed away in late April. During May 3rd and 4th, Vietnam will hold a state funeral and memorial service, with no public entertainment events permitted during this time.
This year’s MSI is the first League of Legends tournament ever to be held in Vietnam and it’s certainly going to be one of the most exciting international competitions in a long time.
Vietnam’s hopes lie with Phong Vu Buffalo who qualified for the MSI Play-Ins after winning the VCS Spring Split, and they’re definitely one of the strongest minor teams who have a great chance of making through to the Group Stage.
For the complete, revised version of the MSI 2019 schedule, make sure you head over to the official lolesports MSI page.