Riot has confirmed the introduction of First fight tournament at LoL Worlds 2024, with the new competition planned to take advantage of the Fearless Draft.

For those who don’t know, the Fearless Draft is a pick/ban format in League of Legends where a champion cannot be used twice in a given series. This applies universally, so once a team has used a champion, neither team can use it again.

This draft system is used in the LCK Cup and is a regular practice in China’s secondary division, the LDL, but this is the first time players and fans have seen it at the international level.

At Worlds 2024, Dexerto spoke with the lead gameplay designer Matthew Leung-Harrison about the unique challenges that the Fearless Draft presents.

“We had been planning this for quite a while. I would say it’s been a pretty exciting thing for the dev team, actually, because one thing that Fearless Draft opens up for us is that we don’t have to balance pro play as tightly,” he said. he declared.

“For example, let’s say Ryze just played in the first game, he won’t be played in the second game. It reduces a lot of stress in the balance area, but it also increases stress in other places, which I think is a good thing, right? »

“We need to make sure as many champions are viable as possible and make sure we pay a lot of attention to them. It’s kind of a function of strength for us to, quote, “do our job well,” you know? Not that we are not doing our job well now, but it is an additional element to keep us in check.”

Riot Games

As part of this, Leung-Harrison also points out that this will push professional players out of their comfort zone. This will then likely lead to a much more varied approach to more standard draft formats from competing teams.

“I think there have always been problems with professional players wanting to take this step. Only the best teams are able to take an L in the draft and use it to innovate with a new champion or something like that. Their backs should be against the wall. If you’re fighting to keep your place in the LEC, you’re not really going to say “let me bring out my Karthus Jungle.”

“You’re just going to be fired up and lured on stage, and then you’ll probably be out of a job for next season. This therefore allows us to have this type of effect without the psychological and incentive risks to which professional players are subject.

The First Stand tournament will take place March 10-16 in Seoul, South Korea. Each region will take a team to the tournament, with the LCK, LPL, LTA, LEC and LCP all represented. In the case of the LTA, only the best team in the conference will be able to represent the region.