"2025 will change League of Legends forever," game director Pu 'Pupulasers' Liu said back in 2023. This is the year that the MOBA supposedly levels up: new lore-inspired Rifts, new modes, a new battle – the list goes on. Yet, as the excitement around Arcane Season 2 tapers off and the seasonal model continues to struggle, 2025 feels like it's been more turbulent than transformative. The gacha-esque Sanctum continues to prove divisive, skin quality has been variable (with one being pulled entirely), and battle rewards – specifically the removal of Hextech Chests – have alienated long-time players. A glance at the game's subreddit, or even X (formerly Twitter) paints a picture of discontent and concerns for the future.
But it isn't all doom and gloom. While the game itself is in an odd state, MOBA's esports sphere feels more alive than ever. As part of a Red Bull Media day celebrating their new partnership with LEC legends Fnatic, I sat down with top laner Óscar 'Oscarinin' Muñoz Jiménez, bot laner Elias 'Upset' Lipp, and Mihael 'Mikyx' Mehle to ask about the current state of the game, and whether or not Riot's changes have been good for esports.
"I've really enjoyed the changes that [Riot] has been making lately, which is weird," Oscarinin says, prompting a laugh. "It's been a nice change of pace," Upset echoes. Unanimously, they agree that the new fearless draft system has played a key role in changing things up – both for the players, and the fans.
For those who aren't too familiar with the esports sphere, once upon a time teams would formulate a draft ahead of the game, ban out ten champions across both squads, and pick from there. Now, however, when a player plays a champion in one game, they can't be played for the rest of the series. So, for example, I, a world-renowned League of Legends professional, choose Senna game one, so Senna can no longer be played by either side for the remaining games.
The primary goal of fearless draft is to make matches more interesting to watch because it's not Corki vs Azir midlane for five games, while also forcing players to deepen their champion pools. This is something the likes of Los Ratones have risen to, with Simon 'Baus' Hofverberg and Martin 'Rekkles' Larssen having 'champion oceans' filled with unexpected picks. As a result, however, it's forced others to adapt, meaning that we've seen more unique, exciting picks across the board.
"I think the fans enjoy the games way more because they're not watching the same matchups every game," Oscarinin says, with Upset noting that "having a slower format with more best-ofs has been pretty fun for us as well."
I ask about the increased level of weird picks as a result of fearless drafting, and the effects those have had on each player's lane. "I think top lane still feels a bit isolated," Oscarinin says. "I don't think you can really impact the game, at least in the early stages. You're not always with the team, but I think the champions get really powerful later on when you team fight – top lane is just always OP. But with Los Ratones' picks I think there are a lot more champions picks than before – especially with the lane swaps being gone, people are getting way more creative, and I think that's really nice. I'm also cooking some new picks, and it's always fun to have a bigger champion pool; it's fun to have more champion variety."
In of the bot lane, Upset credits fearless once again with increasing champion viability. "Usually the ADC meta is locked into a few champions that I repeated every game, but now that's not an option," he says. "It's definitely more snowbally now because lane swaps have been removed, so I can see advantages in bot lane sticking a bit more later in the game where you had more options to avoid difficult matchups. I don't see a particularly big shift, but it's more fun that you get to see a lot of different matchups – you're forced to see them now."
Mikyx agrees that the lack of lane swaps has been a good thing. "[It's] enabled some picks that are harder to lane. It's about what champions actually win lane harder now. With fearless there's always the possibility to play whatever you want, as well as different styles of champion – someone who plays tanks maybe gets to play something a bit more fun, like an enchanter. I don't think much has changed in of ; it's more champions being played which makes it more fun."
"You have to be more open-minded now and happy to try a lot of different things," Upset continues. "Fearless isn't a solid method of drafting at all; there's a lot of trial and error to figure out what fits your team, what fits your playstyle, and what you're good at. It's more experimental, but everyone's on the same playing field because everyone has to adapt."
Speaking of adapting, as part of Riot's ongoing seasonal model, the Rift itself changes, too. Season 1 brought in new epic monster Atakhan, who has been changed yet again coming into Season 2. Then, there were the Noxus-specific Feats of Strength, which are set to phase out as we depart for Ionia. I ask if the sudden shift in mechanics keeps things interesting for Fnatic, or whether it's an irritating spanner in the works.
"I guess we need to see how Riot decides to change it from one season to the next," Mikyx says. "In esports it could be a bit weird to have a big shift in how the game is supposed to be played in the middle of the year instead of being saved for the off-season.
"But so far it's been kind of cool," he continues. "The whole Noxus thematic was cool. There's been good changes with Atakhan and the Nexus respawning. I'm excited to see what's next."
Fnatic is currently competing in the LEC Spring split, sitting in second place at the time of writing. Upset tells me that there were "a lot of high highs with our performance [in Winter], but too many low lows," so the focus this time around is "improving consistency and focusing on the macro aspects of the game." As we near the pointy end of the competition, as well as the launch of League of Legends Season 2, the future really does look bright, and I can't wait to see what the boys in black and orange do next.