Every MSI champion ranked from 2015 to 2026: JDG’s superteam remains the standard after HLE’s comeback

Hanwha Life Esports have added their name to League of Legends history after defeating Bilibili Gaming 3–2 in the 2026 Mid-Season Invitational Grand Final.

Their championship was not built on uninterrupted dominance. HLE lost 3–1 to BLG in the upper-bracket final, survived a five-game lower-bracket series against LYON and then returned one day later to defeat the same Chinese team that had already exposed them.

Zeus, Kanavi, Zeka, Gumayusi and Delight became the first roster to win MSI on Korean soil, with Zeus earning Finals MVP after several decisive performances during the championship series.

That resilience makes HLE’s victory memorable. It does not automatically make it the greatest title run in MSI history.

Jatt’s official retrospective reopens an argument that becomes more complicated every year. The early editions used a group stage followed by a short single-elimination bracket. Modern MSI tournaments contain multiple representatives from major regions, double elimination, longer best-of-five paths and, from 2025 onward, Fearless Draft.

Raw win rate cannot solve the comparison. Neither can historical reputation.

The ranking below applies five principal criteria: the strength of the champion at the tournament, the quality of its opposition, control of the prevailing meta, difficulty of the path and the historical significance of the victory. It is an editorial order based on those factors rather than a transcription of Jatt’s exact numerical list.

There are 11 champions to rank between 2015 and 2026 because MSI 2020 was cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Every team on this list was elite. The question is which champions left the fewest reasonable doubts behind.

MSI champions cannot be compared through records alone

Winning MSI in 2015 required surviving five group-stage games and two best-of-five series.

Winning in the modern era can require four or five best-of-fives against multiple LCK and LPL opponents, with a lower bracket providing both additional protection and additional exposure. A team can lose one series and still become champion, but it may need to defeat the same rival in a rematch to do so.

Tournament depth has increased significantly.

The earlier editions generally sent one representative from each region. That made regional qualification extremely important, but it also meant the second-best Korean or Chinese team remained at home. Modern MSI tournaments place several championship-level teams into the same bracket.

Fearless Draft introduced another complication. Once a champion has been used in a best-of-five, it becomes unavailable to that team for the remainder of the series. Modern winners therefore need greater drafting depth and cannot solve every game through one successful composition.

Historical impact creates a separate category.

G2 Esports’ 2019 victory was less statistically clean than several Asian championships, but its influence on how teams understood drafting, flex picks and tempo was enormous. EDward Gaming’s 2015 title established the tournament by defeating the reigning Korean dynasty. RNG’s 2018 triumph gave Uzi the major international trophy that had repeatedly escaped him.

A ranking must balance dominance with consequence.

That is why the cleanest record does not automatically take first place—and why an emotionally powerful comeback cannot erase every weakness shown before the final.

11. Royal Never Give Up — 2021

RNG’s 2021 championship deserves more respect than its position suggests.

Xiaohu had moved from mid lane to top, Wei was emerging as one of the strongest young junglers in the world and GALA had inherited the enormous expectations attached to RNG’s bot lane after Uzi’s retirement. The rebuilt roster still reached the MSI final and defeated reigning world champion DWG KIA 3–2.

GALA earned Finals MVP after becoming RNG’s primary late-game weapon.

The title also made Xiaohu the first player to win MSI while playing two different positions. He had been RNG’s mid laner during the 2018 victory before reinventing himself as a top laner three years later.

The final opponent gives the championship considerable credibility. DWG KIA contained Khan, Canyon, ShowMaker, Ghost and BeryL and had entered the event as the strongest representative of Korea’s renewed international power.

The lower ranking comes from the overall tournament environment.

MSI 2021 was conducted under pandemic restrictions in Reykjavík. The Vietnamese champion could not attend because of travel complications, and the competition used a multi-stage format containing several matches against teams that were substantially below the level of RNG and DWG KIA.

RNG were deserving champions. They defeated the best opponent available in a five-game final.

Compared with later double-elimination winners, however, they faced fewer elite best-of-five tests before lifting the trophy. Their run is defined by one outstanding final rather than sustained bracket dominance against several championship contenders.

10. Royal Never Give Up — 2022

RNG became the first organization to win three MSI titles when it defeated T1 3–2 in Busan.

Wei earned Finals MVP, while Bin, Xiaohu, GALA and Ming completed a lineup capable of winning through top-side aggression, jungle control or the familiar reliability of RNG’s bot lane.

Defeating T1 in South Korea was a major achievement.

The Korean team had completed an undefeated domestic spring split and entered MSI carrying enormous expectations. Faker, Oner, Zeus, Gumayusi and Keria were already developing into one of the most recognizable rosters in League of Legends history.

RNG prevented their international coronation through disciplined objective play and better execution in the deciding game.

The 2022 title nevertheless carries unavoidable contextual complications.

RNG competed remotely from Shanghai during COVID-19 restrictions. Riot attempted to standardize latency for every participant in Busan, and technical inconsistencies forced RNG to replay three group-stage victories.

None of this means the championship was illegitimate. RNG followed the tournament conditions established by the organizer and defeated T1 under the same competitive framework used for the final.

It does make direct comparison more difficult.

The remote setup became part of almost every discussion surrounding the event, while the standardized latency affected how players experienced a tournament normally decided in a shared venue. RNG’s quality is not in question, but the conditions prevent the run from feeling as definitive as the championships above it.

Their three MSI titles remain an unmatched organizational achievement. The 2022 edition is simply the hardest of those victories to separate from the environment in which it occurred.

9. SK Telecom T1 — 2017

The defending world champions arrived at MSI 2017 with Huni and Peanut joining Faker, Bang and Wolf.

SKT finished the group stage 8–2, swept Flash Wolves in the semifinal and defeated G2 Esports 3–1 in the final. Wolf earned Finals MVP after providing the initiations and map control around which the Korean champions operated.

It was the first successful MSI title defense.

The run was efficient, controlled and rarely placed SKT in genuine danger. Even G2’s improved performance in the final was not enough to force a fifth game.

Why, then, does such a clean championship sit ninth?

The issue is not failure. It is comparative weight.

SKT entered as the reigning world champion and clear tournament favorite. Their principal opponents were respectable, but the field lacked the density of later editions containing two LCK and two LPL representatives. G2 were still developing toward their eventual international peak, while Flash Wolves could not translate their group-stage strength into a competitive semifinal.

The title also did less to redefine SKT’s historical position than their other achievements.

By 2017, Faker’s dynasty had already won three World Championships and the previous MSI. Another international trophy confirmed what everyone knew rather than revealing a new level of the team.

SKT were still excellent. The championship simply feels like the final extension of an established era rather than its defining peak.

8. EDward Gaming — 2015

EDward Gaming gave the Mid-Season Invitational an identity in its first year.

The Chinese champions arrived with Koro1, Clearlove, pawn, Deft and Meiko, advanced comfortably through the group stage and swept ahq e-Sports Club in the semifinal.

The final placed them against SK Telecom T1.

Faker and SKT were beginning the campaign that would eventually produce one of the most dominant World Championship runs ever seen. Their lineup included MaRin, Bengi, Faker, Bang and Wolf, with Easyhoon also sharing mid-lane duties during the tournament.

EDG won 3–2.

The final game became one of the most famous drafts in competitive League history. SKT selected Faker’s LeBlanc, a champion on which he had never lost a professional match. EDG responded with a composition deliberately designed to contain his mobility, punish his entries and prevent him from controlling the game.

Clearlove’s Evelynn was central to that plan and to his Finals MVP performance.

The result carried significance beyond the trophy.

Korean teams had dominated the previous two World Championships and exported elite players across the newly strengthened Chinese league. EDG demonstrated that an LPL organization could defeat the Korean standard directly rather than attempting to imitate it.

Its placement below the modern champions reflects tournament scale.

The inaugural MSI contained only six teams, a five-game group stage and two playoff series. EDG’s victory over SKT was exceptional, but the route offered fewer opportunities for elite opposition to test every part of the roster.

As a historical moment, 2015 EDG belongs near the top. As a complete tournament run, it remains narrower than the championships ranked above it.

7. Hanwha Life Esports — 2026

HLE’s championship is the greatest recovery run in MSI history.

The roster entered the eight-team double-elimination bracket with elite talent in every position. Zeus and Gumayusi were already world champions, Kanavi had won MSI with JDG, Zeka had built his reputation through decisive international performances and Delight had developed into one of Korea’s most complete supports.

Their opening rounds reflected that quality.

HLE swept Team Secret Whales 3–0 and then defeated G2 Esports by the same score. They reached the upper-bracket final without dropping a game.

BLG changed the tournament.

The LPL champions beat HLE 3–1 and forced them into a lower final against LYON, the surprise North American contender that had already eliminated T1 and swept G2.

HLE came within one game of elimination.

They survived LYON 3–2, returned for the Grand Final the following day and once again fell behind during a five-game series against BLG. This time, they won Games 4 and 5 to complete the reversal.

Zeus earned Finals MVP, while Kanavi’s decisive Baron steal in the last game became one of the championship’s defining moments.

The route contains everything expected from a memorable title: a superior opponent, a lower-bracket recovery, consecutive five-game series and a rematch won under greater pressure.

Its weakness is equally clear.

The greatest MSI champions generally controlled the tournament before the final. HLE were convincingly defeated by BLG in the upper bracket and nearly eliminated by LYON. Their ability to recover is evidence of mental strength and adaptation, but it also confirms that the roster was not consistently superior throughout the event.

HLE rank above several cleaner early champions because the modern field was deeper and their final-weekend workload was severe. They remain below the top six because the title required correcting problems that stronger championship runs never displayed so dramatically.

6. Royal Never Give Up — 2018

MSI 2018 was the international tournament that finally belonged to Uzi.

RNG had spent years approaching the summit without reaching it. Uzi had played in two World Championship finals, built a reputation as one of the greatest mechanical carries in the history of the game and repeatedly fallen short of the major international title expected of him.

The 2018 roster was designed to give him another opportunity.

Letme accepted low-resource top-lane assignments. MLXG and Karsa offered different jungle styles. Xiaohu controlled mid lane without demanding every draft resource. Ming became the support capable of matching Uzi’s precision and aggression.

The prevailing meta rewarded their structure.

Bot-lane pressure, reliable team fighting and control around Uzi’s item spikes allowed RNG to dictate how opponents approached the map. They finished first after a tightly contested group stage, swept Fnatic and defeated Kingzone DragonX 3–1 in the final.

Uzi earned Finals MVP.

The title was not based on one surprise strategy or fortunate bracket. RNG were the best team at the event and repeatedly imposed the same fundamental problem: opponents knew where the decisive carry would be, but still could not stop him.

Their position outside the top five reflects the era’s shorter playoff structure and the fact that Kingzone never reproduced their feared domestic dominance internationally.

The run remains one of MSI’s clearest examples of a team perfecting a recognizable identity. Every opponent understood RNG’s win condition. None could dismantle it four times before RNG dismantled theirs.

5. Gen.G — 2024

Gen.G’s 2024 championship ended several long-running narratives simultaneously.

Chovy had accumulated domestic titles, individual awards and statistical dominance without winning a Riot international tournament. Canyon had already become a world champion with DAMWON, but the new Gen.G roster still needed to prove that its extraordinary ceiling could survive against elite Chinese opposition.

Kiin, Canyon, Chovy, Peyz and Lehends answered those questions without losing a series.

Gen.G swept Fnatic, survived a five-game confrontation with Top Esports and defeated BLG 3–1 in the Grand Final. Lehends earned Finals MVP after controlling the series through engages, roaming and one of the defining Blitzcrank performances of the tournament.

The victory restored the MSI trophy to the LCK for the first time since SKT’s 2017 championship.

It also established the foundation for Gen.G’s modern international era. Chovy was no longer the exceptional domestic player without a global title. Kiin finally converted years of individual quality into an international trophy. Canyon proved he could become the strategic center of another elite roster.

The only factor keeping 2024 below the four highest runs is that Gen.G were pushed close to elimination by Top Esports.

Their ability to survive that series deserves credit, but it exposed vulnerabilities that the best versions of JDG and the following year’s Gen.G displayed less frequently.

The final was convincing enough to resolve the debate. BLG were not unlucky, surprised or deprived of a second opportunity. Gen.G understood the series better and won decisively.

4. SK Telecom T1 — 2016

SKT’s 2016 MSI began like the collapse of a dynasty and ended like proof that the dynasty had no intention of disappearing.

The Korean champions lost four consecutive games during the group stage and finished 6–4. For a roster containing Duke, Blank, Bengi, Faker, Bang and Wolf, the performance appeared almost inexplicable.

The playoff version of SKT looked completely different.

They defeated Royal Never Give Up 3–1 in the semifinal and swept Counter Logic Gaming 3–0 in the final. Faker received Finals MVP as SKT moved from vulnerable group-stage participant to clearly superior champion.

The recovery gives the title greater value rather than simply damaging its record.

SKT did not benefit from double elimination or a forgiving playoff format. Their group-stage problems had to be solved before one best-of-five loss ended the tournament. They adapted immediately and produced seven wins across eight knockout games.

The roster then won the 2016 World Championship later that year.

Through the completed seasons that followed, SKT remain the only team to win MSI and Worlds in the same calendar year. That does not retroactively improve every decision they made in Shanghai, but it confirms that the championship belonged to a roster capable of sustaining its level against another complete international field.

The group-stage instability prevents 2016 SKT from taking first place.

Its knockout performance and eventual historical context still make it the most impressive recovery of the single-elimination era.

3. G2 Esports — 2019

G2’s 2019 victory is the most culturally and strategically influential MSI championship.

The roster had already transformed European League of Legends before reaching the international stage. Caps joined from Fnatic, Perkz moved from mid lane to bot and Mikyx returned from injury to complete a team alongside Wunder and Jankos.

Every lane could become the center of the draft.

G2 used flex picks to hide matchups, selected unconventional champions without treating them as novelties and played the map at a tempo many opponents struggled to reproduce. Pyke could appear in several positions. Perkz approached bot lane with the champion pool and instincts of a mid laner. Caps and Wunder repeatedly converted draft ambiguity into favorable lanes.

Their tournament was not clean.

G2 finished the group stage 5–5, lost both games to Invictus Gaming and were defeated twice by Phong Vũ Buffalo. They were brilliant and erratic in almost equal measure.

The knockout stage changed their legacy.

G2 defeated SK Telecom T1 3–2 in one of the tournament’s most strategically intense series. Team Liquid’s historic upset over Invictus Gaming then removed the defending world champions from the opposite side of the bracket.

G2 swept Liquid 3–0 in the final, with Caps earning Finals MVP.

The route creates the principal argument against placing them this high. They never had to defeat IG, the team that had beaten them twice in groups and appeared to be the strongest roster before its semifinal collapse.

The argument for G2 is larger than one missing matchup.

They became the first European team to win a Riot international tournament since the inaugural World Championship. More importantly, they demonstrated that an elite Western roster could shape the meta rather than merely attempting to survive strategies developed in Korea or China.

G2’s MSI title altered what international contenders believed was possible in drafts. Its influence continued through their run to the 2019 World Championship final.

They were not the most statistically dominant MSI winner. They were the champion that changed the most assumptions.

2. Gen.G — 2025

Gen.G’s second MSI title corrected almost every weakness visible in the first.

Kiin, Canyon and Chovy remained from the 2024 championship roster, while Ruler returned to the organization and Duro entered the support position. The resulting lineup combined established international champions with a mid-jungle structure that had already proven capable of controlling elite tournaments.

Gen.G arrived in Vancouver during an extraordinary run of form.

They went undefeated in series throughout MSI and extended their overall winning streak to 23 consecutive best-of series. Their path concluded with two five-game victories over T1, including the Grand Final.

Chovy earned Finals MVP.

The 2025 tournament also introduced Fearless Draft to MSI. Teams could no longer return repeatedly to their most comfortable champions across a series. Every game removed further options, forcing deeper pools, better preparation and more flexible strategic identities.

Gen.G handled that requirement better than anyone else.

Their advantage was not based on one dominant composition. Canyon and Chovy could change the point of attack, Ruler provided reliable late-game execution, Kiin absorbed or received resources according to the matchup and Duro operated effectively despite carrying less international experience than his teammates.

The two T1 series prevent the run from appearing effortless. Both required five games, and several moments could have changed the tournament.

Those narrow margins also strengthen the title.

Gen.G did not avoid the other Korean superteam through bracket fortune. They defeated it twice under Fearless Draft and remained unbeaten in series across the event.

The 2025 champions rank above every previous winner except one because they combined modern-format difficulty, extraordinary consistency and championship-level adaptation. Their only disadvantage against the top position is that they were repeatedly pushed to the limit.

1. JD Gaming — 2023

The 2023 version of JD Gaming remains the most complete team to win MSI.

The roster appeared constructed without a weak point.

369 could play carries, tanks or low-resource utility. Kanavi provided early-game direction and aggressive jungle control. Knight finally entered an international tournament with teammates capable of converting his laning and team-fighting advantages consistently.

Ruler brought world-champion reliability to the bot lane. Missing completed the formation through roaming, initiation and support play capable of changing according to every draft.

JDG did not lose a series.

They swept Golden Guardians, defeated T1 3–2 and beat Bilibili Gaming 3–1 in the Grand Final. Knight received Finals MVP after controlling the central matchups and demonstrating why he had long been regarded as one of China’s greatest domestic players.

The T1 series was the defining test.

Faker, Zeus, Oner, Gumayusi and Keria had enough talent and preparation to expose any narrow team. JDG survived five games and repeatedly demonstrated the quality that defined their season: they could remain within reach of a game until one coordinated team fight ended the opponent’s control.

Their final against BLG carried additional pressure because the two organizations knew one another exceptionally well.

JDG had repeatedly defeated BLG domestically, but familiarity can reduce the value of surprise and make every weakness easier to target. They still won 3–1.

The 2023 title combined everything required for first place.

The field was deep. The format contained double elimination. JDG defeated an elite LCK roster and the strongest remaining LPL challenger. Their drafts were flexible, their late-game execution was exceptional and no opponent found a repeatable structural weakness.

Their later failure to complete the Golden Road at Worlds does not reduce what happened at MSI. This ranking evaluates the tournament run, not whether the champion preserved its form for the remainder of the year.

At MSI 2023, JDG looked like the finished version of a superteam.

HLE’s championship shows why modern MSI rewards adaptation

Hanwha Life Esports are not ranked seventh because their 2026 roster lacked championship-level strength.

They are seventh because the modern tournament revealed more of their weaknesses than earlier formats might have done.

Under the original MSI structure, HLE’s loss to BLG could have occurred in a semifinal and ended the entire run. Under double elimination, they received another opportunity—but that opportunity required surviving LYON and then defeating BLG in a second series.

The protection came with a greater burden.

HLE had to play ten games across the final two days. They needed to recover mentally from the upper-final defeat, prepare for an unexpectedly dangerous lower-bracket opponent and then redesign their approach to BLG without a rest day.

That is not an easier championship route. It is a different test.

Older MSI champions were required to peak at the correct moment because one bad best-of-five ended the event. Modern champions must demonstrate adaptation across rematches, deeper brackets and a larger volume of elite series.

HLE’s title is the clearest example of what double elimination can reveal.

BLG were demonstrably better in the first series. HLE became better before the second one ended.

Historical influence and competitive strength produce different rankings

A ranking based only on cultural importance would place G2 2019 and EDG 2015 even higher.

A ranking based exclusively on tournament cleanliness would elevate SKT 2017 and possibly lower G2 substantially. A ranking focused on the difficulty of modern formats would favor every champion from 2023 onward.

None of those methods is sufficient alone.

EDG established MSI as a tournament capable of disrupting the expected international order. SKT turned it into another component of a dynasty. RNG made it the stage on which Uzi and later GALA could define bot-lane metas.

G2 proved that European innovation could win a major global trophy. JDG demonstrated what a properly functioning LPL superteam looked like. Gen.G mastered the transition into the Fearless Draft era.

HLE added the definitive lower-bracket comeback.

Every champion represents a different stage in the development of MSI itself.

The greatest MSI champion left the fewest unanswered questions

JDG’s 2023 title remains first because every alternative explanation eventually fails.

They did not avoid elite opposition. They defeated T1.

They did not rely on a fortunate final matchup. BLG had already eliminated both Korean teams from the lower bracket.

They did not survive through one narrow strategic trick. Every member of the roster could become the primary carry, and their drafts changed according to the opponent.

They were pushed, especially by T1, but they were never eliminated, rescued by the format or forced to correct a previous series loss.

Gen.G’s 2025 champions came closest to replacing them. Their undefeated series record, Fearless Draft mastery and two victories over T1 form the strongest challenge to JDG’s position.

G2 remain the most influential. SKT 2016 remain the champions with the strongest full-year validation. HLE now own the best comeback.

The 2023 JDG roster still provides the most complete answer to the fundamental question behind every ranking.

Which MSI champion looked most capable of defeating every kind of opponent placed in front of it?

For one tournament in London, JD Gaming had no meaningful weakness left to expose.