T1 tops Bilibili to get to Lol MSI upper-bracket final

After needing every minute it could muster to get out of the first round, T1 had little trouble advancing to the upper bracket final of the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational at Vancouver, beating Bilibili Gaming 3-0 on Saturday.

The win puts T1 into a matchup with Gen.G Esports for the right to go to the grand final. That match will be played Wednesday, with the grand final set for July 12.

CTBC Flying Oyster joined Bilibili in the lower bracket, beating KOI 3-1 in the opening round of the lower bracket.

The $2 million event began with two teams from each League of Legends region: China, Korea, Pacific, the Americas and Europe-Middle East-Africa.

All matches in the play-in and the double-elimination bracket stage are best-of-five. The winner of the grand final will earn $500,000 and a spot in the $5 million League of Legends World Championship, to be played this fall in China.

On Saturday, T1 started with a 27-minute win, then followed that with a pair of 34-minute wins for the sweep. T1 played on red in all three matches.

Lee "Gumayusi" Min-hyeong of South Korea led the way for T1 with a 21-2-25 Kill-Death-Assist ratio. Fellow South Korean Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok posted a 17-7-26 KDA.

Zhuo "Knight" Ding of China paced Bilibili with a 12-10-10 KDA.

CTBC opened its match against KOI with back-to-back wins -- in 37 minutes on blue and 33 minutes on red. KOI avoided a sweep with a 28-minute win on blue but CTBC ended the match with a 32-minute win on blue.

Taiwan's Chiu "Doggo" Tzu-Chuan dominated the match, posting a 25-3-12 K-D-A for the winners. David "Supa" Martinez Garcia of Spain posted a 17-9-8 in the loss.

CTBC will face Anyone's Legend in the second round of the lower bracket on Monday. Bilibili plays FlyQuest in the other second-round lower-bracket match on Tuesday.

League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational final standings / prize pool:

1. $500,000, berth in League of Legends World Championship

2. $300,000

3. $240,000

4. $200,000

5-6. $160,000

7-8. $130,000 -- G2 Esports, KOI

9. $100,000 -- GAM Esports

10. $80,000 -- FURIA

--Field Level Media