Having dropped some huge news about the forthcoming LoL World Championship, Riot Games has already got its players really hyped. One headline says Fearless Draft is indeed making a return alongside several other format changes. It is the biggest stage after all, so anything like this must be causing a stir in the community.
Fearless Draft! So what was that exactly? For those who have not been following the professional scene closely, Fearless Draft happens during the later stages of tournaments, specifically the best-of-five series. After a champion has been picked for a certain match, that champion is locked in for the remainder of the series and cannot be picked or banned by either team. Teams are forced to mind their deepest champion pools and go all-out with some very unexpected strategies. Five meta champions are no longer going to be used in the exact same manner.
The official announcement from lolesports was pretty basic; however, the replies… oh-boy, that is a whole different story. The community has split itself down the middle over this.
Some were hyped about this. “I really enjoy Fearless Draft,it lets me see so many unique team comps and the true skill of each player. The trophy this year looks incredible, this feels like peak League of Legends!” posted Rubyy. And that’s the dream, no? Pros pulling out pocket picks and off-meta strategies rarely seen outside of your average solo queue games. A measure of how adaptable a team is and how well they can perform outside just knowing the cookie-cutter meta.
But on the other hand, there are those who really don’t like it. Another player, W4llSt4ll, was far less enthusiastic, pleading, “Please let this be the last year for fearless, it’s fucking abysmal.” Oof, strong words there. The argument that usually serves against this mainly boils down to it denying us from witnessing the absolute highest form of play on the strongest champions. If the best champion for that particular time is banned due to being played in game one, then you’ll be losing out on that epic, utmost optimized showdown.
This discourse took a little detour into some champion-based jokes. One user, SchizokaiserPPT, had a very specific request: “Lemme see pickban morde as a flex pick top/jg in worlds and then ill be happy.” And wouldn’t you know it-another user SBYLOL actually backed this opinion up with stats, commenting “26 games in pro play this year 🙂 it’s def viable game 4-5.” There’s hope for those who enjoy Morde, then! Fearless Draft could really be his time to shine.
Then it’s stuff you’d call regional banter. Oops, things got spicier from there. There was one user from Mexico, Herreraaa10_, who wrote in Spanish: “TODOS LOS CAMBIOS BENEFICIAN A KOI Y FACILITAN LA SUPERVIVENCIA DEL SUIZO (no me he ni leído los cambios) MUNDIAL PELIGROSAMENTE PREPARADO PARA ESPAÑA.” Translation: “ALL THE CHANGES BENEFIT KOI AND FACILITATE THE SURVIVAL OF THE SWISS (I haven’t even read the changes) WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP DANGEROUSLY PREPARED FOR SPAIN.” So, yeah, conspiracy theories are already pretty strong, with some fans believing this format is rigged for a bunch of regions. Classic.
And those jokes concerning the regions for sure didn’t come to a halt there. All it took was a “FUCK NA” from BoladaumLee, which serves as a summary of the sentiment towards the North American league, followed by siegx_ posting an LCS middle finger emoji. The passion is very real, people.
Wait. What was I saying about the other changes? Oh right – and more changes, so it’s not just Fearless Draft either. The linked article is probably going to get some interesting detail out on the overall structure of the tournament, the schedule, and maybe even that oh-so-sick new trophy that someone casually mentioned. Another one of Riot’s attempts to give Worlds that fresh-unpredictable stage.
Now, spilling over even more into sorts of competitive discussing formats, a player under the name of smtxgaming said, “We should ban best of 1 from every League and Tournament that wants to be meaningful. Best of 3 should be the standard for everything and best of 5 for the big games.” It’s always been the bone of contention within esports on which format really crowns the better team, and Worlds is that ultimate proving ground for such discourses.
So where does that leave us? Oh, before we leave, we should say that the community is very much fired up. There are those that find Fearless Draft a genius way to showcase the versatility of teams while providing a fresh feel to all the games, while others consider it a gimmick that downgrades the show. There is really no definite answer, but the lead-up to Worlds has become much more interesting for it. One way or another, Fearless Draft is about to make its comeback with a ton of off-meta picks, drama, and surprises at Worlds. That’s gonna be crazy!
