The Mid-Season Invitational 2024 Bracket Stage started on Tuesday, May 7, as Team Liquid battled Top Esports. It saw the return of some of the players who featured in the 2023 edition.
One of them is 369, the top laner of Top Esports, who has seen improvement in some teams, especially the Western teams, compared to last year. 369 played with JD Gaming and won the MSI with them last year.
In that edition, the only Western team they were able to beat was Golden Guardians but now the top laner, who has been observing Western teams prepare especially with their gameplay and performance at MSI 2024, says that the Western teams apparently have stepped up.
“Definitely, I think Western teams are way more powerful than last year. Personally, I’m definitely looking at them and feel pressure in my preparation against them. They have definitely stepped up after 2023,” 369 said.
369 has had the opportunity to size up a Western team in a duel as Top Esports faced Fnatic in the play-ins stage, and Fnatic managed to take a game off the Chinese team, although Top Esports eventually sealed the series with a 2-1 victory.
Top Esport’s next game will be Team Liquid, who are debuting at MSI 2024. The North Americans hopes are on Team Liquid after FlyQuest’s early exit from the tournament, the NA side is perceived as an underdog to the Chinese runners up.
The MSI 2024 still promises at least two more clashes between Western and Eastern teams. Fnatic will face Korean winners Gen.G on Wednesday in their opening game of the Bracket Stage.
On Friday, G2 Esports will play a match against T1, and with the structure that the competition has and the presence of a lower bracket, more possible matchups between Europe and North America could still come up.
