Riot released the official formats for the 2025 Mid-Season Invitational and the League of Legends World Championship to prepare fans for what’s to come over the next few months. But there’s one glaring absentee from the tournament formats: Fearless Draft, with Riot evidently doubling down on the decision only to have Split 1 feature the format.
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Although some came into the year with cautious optimism about Fearless Draft, fans were quickly on board once they saw the system work, especially in the best-of-fives where 50 champions were put on the chopping block. “If they don’t implement this for the rest of the year and every year – they are hugely missing out,” one fan said in a Reddit thread on Fearless Draft.
First Stand will be the only fearless draft international event of the year. Photo via Riot Games
For MSI and Worlds 2025, fans will unfortunately not see the new drafting system played out over the course of the year, with the format pages not even addressing Fearless Draft whatsoever. This will be a major disappointment to fans who have become accustomed to the heightened drama that Fearless Draft brings. Knowing a K’Sante or Azir will only be played once in a series keeps the games feeling fresh.
For Worlds, it’s becoming evident that Riot doesn’t want to tamper with their biggest event of the year unless necessary. For many years Riot stood firm on its Worlds format before introducing a half-measured attempt at appeasing the fans by removing groups and introducing the Swiss format. The other side of that coin was the continuation of the single-elimination bracket. And while MSI could have had Fearless Draft, Riot seems firm on the idea of the first split having a unique feeling with the rest of the calendar being standard.
League of Legends players will get to watch the only fearless international event of the year later this month as the likes of Hanwha Life, Top Esports, and more compete for the first international title of 2025.
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LoL MSI and Worlds 2025 formats have one glaring problem
