Riot sets aside Fantasy LCS, what are the alternatives?

Riot Games announced some pretty disappointing news for LoL fantasy draft fans – as per a Tweet from Chris Greeley, the commissioner of the LCS announced that there won’t be a Riot-endorsed fantasy league for the upcoming 2020 Spring Split.

Don’t worry though – Riot isn’t abandoning fantasy LCS entirely – instead, the company is creating a structure to make it easier for third parties to offer their own fantasy products and leagues. There will still be more LCS affiliated events down the line, but for now, no official event has been announced.

Popular Drafts

This is despite the fact that the fantasy LCS leagues were incredibly popular. They gave fans the opportunity to create and sign their own competitive dream teams, and have them compete virtually. Each week, they would receive points based on kills, assists, and creep scores that their team managed to accrue, and all of it based on real-world statistics and player performances.

The lack of Spring Split event is likely going to upset a lot of fans – in fact, the first time around, fans weren’t happy because Riot didn’t commit enough resources to the fantasy LCS in the first place. In the end, offering third-party services instead may be a good idea – if nothing else, it will allow dedicated parties to offer a great experience.

Greeley mentioned some alternatives in his Tweet, including services like Esports One and Thrive Fantasy. Both offer prize pools, comprehensive databases and player stats for fans to pick from.

Fantasy #LCS 2020 – For Spring, there will be no LCS endorsed/affiliated products. However, we’ve created a structure for third-parties to create fantasy products. We’ll have more updates on LCS affiliated products later in 2020. Here is some cool stuff (HMU with others) (1/4) — Chris Greeley (@IAmGrza) December 16, 2019

Other services

Although those two are probably the biggest ones out there, smaller fantasy draft sites also exist – with services like DraftKings esports offering dedicated leagues, fans can enjoy the competition at a smaller level. Gamepedia also offers pick’em game predictions where players can pre-select who they think will win each of the games and series that are taking place in the regular League Championships.

Keep in mind that DraftKings is completely legal in the United States as it is not considered an esports betting site in the USA, but a game of skill.

A bad reaction

Fans have already taken to social media to complain – following a promise made last year that Riot would have ‘something in place’ for the Spring Split, the general opinion is now that they broke the promise, and really failed to deliver.

Among the suggestions from fans are things like reviving the existing system… or for Riot to step up to the plate and to keep the promise they made mere months ago. In July, Riot still claimed to have a plan for this Spring Split, briefly after announcing that they tried and failed to find a suitable partner to develop said product with.

Even then, some fans were already fearing for this season’s fantasy league experience. The light at the end of the tunnel though is the fact that several third parties have already picked up the slack and made these services available to fans. Be sure to check out some of these sources if you want to participate in fantasy picks this Spring Split.

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