‘Faker’s fifth title at the Worlds is only a few days old – but the eSports plans for the coming year are already in place. At the forefront: a new international tournament in the home country of world champions T1.
LoL fans have long been calling for more global competitions. Seeing their heroes only twice a year at the MSI or Worlds is not enough for them. With “First Stand”, the reigning world champion ‘Faker’ has the chance to conquer another international title in his native Korea – provided that he and T1 are among the best in their region. After all, participation is exclusive: only those who finish first in the local league qualify.
Given the problems T1 had last year against the top team Gen.G, the competition for ‘Faker’ and Co. will be fierce. Europe, on the other hand, should be pleased. This time, an EU team is sure to be included, which will be able to compete against the big names. So this time, no elimination in the preliminary round.
Next year, there will be five major LoL eSports regions worldwide: the LEC from Europe, the LCK from Korea and the LPL from China are already established. The LTA as the American league and the LCP as the Pacific league are new. The first-place finishers from the Winter Split – the first regional tournament in 2025 – will compete in the seven-day “First Stand” competition from March 10 to 16. What makes it special is that each team plays against every other team, similar to a league format. This means that advancing is not determined by luck of the draw, but purely by the skill of the teams. In addition, the Fearless Draft format will be used for the first time.
What is the Fearless Draft?
Normally, the banned and selected champions change each round. In Fearless, this is different: champions that have been played or banned once may no longer be chosen during the entire best-of-3 or best-of-5 series. This way, the number of unavailable champions increases with each round. In round 1, only 10 are banned, in the second round already 30 – in round 3 finally 50. This multitude of bans is intended to make the tournament more challenging for the teams and more exciting for the spectators. There should be no repeated meta-picks, i.e. champions that are currently very strong.
“The fearless draft is very dangerous for the teams. It’s difficult to prepare for because you need a larger champion pool,” explained G2 top laner Sergen ‘Brokenblade’ Celik eSport. While Europe is rather critical of the new system, Asian teams are more open. Hanwha midlaner Kim ‘Zeka’ Geon-woo is excited because the system gives the game a new direction and challenges players in a different way. However, both agree that it will be exciting for viewers to watch as teams adapt to the new system and try out different strategies.
A fresh path for eSports
“First Stand” represents Riot Games’ next step into a more modern future, moving away from traditional meta thinking. After kicking off in Seoul, the tournament is scheduled to tour smaller regions in the coming years, bringing esports to places where major events have not been held before – including South America, where the last MSI was held in 2017.
