Ever since it was introduced to the League of Legends community, Fearless Draft has been one of the most requested format changes for multiple leagues around the world. And in Europe, EMEA esports director Maximilian Peter Schmidt has confirmed the unique draft style is still being considered for next year.
In an interview with Sheep Esports, Schmidt said Fearless Draft was “still on the table” to be added as a new system for its various leagues, but that Riot Games still had to observe how the rest of the region was adapting to the other recent changes that were implemented for 2024.
“The concept of bans persisting or champions persisting and then being removed from the pool, leading to deeper champion diversity, is very exciting,” Schmidt said. “It’s also more similar to the experience most people have at home when they queue for a game. It brings esports and the game closer together, which I think is really awesome.”
This unique LoL drafting style is a concept that was used in China’s developmental league, and helped add a ton of variety to games and even more strategy in the draft phase. It was even adopted by North America’s Challengers League, and brought up even more arguments for why the major leagues could implement such rules in their own best-of series.
With Fearless Draft, once a team picks a champion, that team can no longer pick that same champion for the rest of a series. The system forces coaches and players to diversify their drafting strategies, deciding whether they want to pick their strongest champions and compositions early or save them for later, while also showing off unique comps with surprising picks that they’ve cooked up in the lab.
Bringing this draft style to major leagues could be a great way to add even more excitement to the esport, as the meta would widen out to many different champions across the game’s roster. Players wouldn’t be forced to play the same champs over and over, which could add a bit more stress to their daily practice, but would be amazing for the variety and fun both in draft and in-game.
