MOBA fans have been pushing for this new format for a while now but why all the hubbub?
Riot Games recently announced that not only are they hosting a third international League of Legends tournament next year, it’ll be using Fearless Draft. This news has garnered a lot of favorable reactions from fans, eager to see pros play using the new format. That begs the question then: what makes Fearless Draft so special?
To answer that we first need to go over the drafting phase, a key part of any MOBA. Whether it’s LoL, MLBB, or Dota 2, all MOBA’s have a diverse roster of characters for you to choose from. These characters have different abilities, roles, and functions, and picking the right character is vital for making a winning team.
The drafting phase is therefore seen as one of the most important parts of a MOBA because it’s where you literally draft your team’s characters right before playing the game. The standard way starts with both teams alternating which characters they want banned, meaning they’re not selectable for the game. Then, they will select among the remaining characters, alternating among each other until both teams are formed.
A lot of mind games and strategies begin in the drafting phase as it’s where teams can get their advantages before the game starts. Games are won or lost entirely in the drafting phase, making it a crucial step for any team’s game plan.
Stagnating Strategies
On paper, this format should promote diverse playstyles as there’s no guarantee that you’ll get the same characters. In practice, this leads to stale metas where both teams just pass around the strongest characters in the game.
The unfortunate reality for modern MOBA’s is that while they may have a huge roster of characters, only a handful are ever considered to be competitively viable. Not only that, the nature of pro play means you always go for what wins you games. If your players are winning with these characters, you keep picking them over and over again until it either stops working or they’re consistently getting banned. At that point, you just move over to the next set of strong and successful characters. This can make the drafting phase, and by extension the game itself, rather boring and predictable.
That’s not to say that drafting is any less important to the overall strategy of the game. You’re still maneuvering against your opponent to get priority characters, after all. It’s just that the game can feel stagnant when you’re just watching the same handful of characters played every time you tune in to pro matches.
The Fearless Fix
Enter Fearless Draft and its one, simple solution to this problem. If a character gets picked, it’s banned for the rest of the series.
This simple addition to the rules immediately has a massive impact on the dynamics of drafting. Teams now have to consider that they’ll essentially be playing a unique character and team composition every single game. They have to consider that they only have one chance to play with the strongest characters in the game. And with the inclusion of regular bans, teams will have to dig much deeper into the roster of characters to find an effective team composition the longer a series goes.
On the spectator’s side of things, it’s exciting as you’re guaranteed to see something new every game. For pros, it’s extra work as it increases the amount of preparation and training they need to stay competitive. However, this also gives them an opportunity to show just how creative they can be with their strategies and gameplay.
The Ultimate Solution?
So, will Fearless Draft banish the stagnant meta problem that MOBA’s face? Honestly, it’s too early to tell. Both LoL and MLBB have tried this format in a small capacity, particularly in their developmental leagues. While it has led to more interesting games, it hasn’t really solved the ‘just pick the next best character’ problem.
There’s also a concern from some fans that this might reduce the overall quality of pro play. The argument is that while things could get stale with standard drafts, it also promoted mastery with key characters. Because pros know who the strongest characters are, it allows them to truly train and understand how they work. From that level of understanding, pros are then able to make outstanding plays, pushing the limits of their characters capabilities.
If pros only have one chance to play a character in a series, is it really worth it to invest a significant amount of time in them? Then you have to consider that they have to learn how to play a number of other characters. Can they really afford to dedicate the time to master one character when they have others that they need to get to a pro play standard?
These are all questions that can only be answered with more professional games played using Fearless Draft. We’ll see just how far this format can go and if it has the legs to become the new standard.
Banner photo from MOONTON Games.