League of Legends revamps esports side selection and draft order with new system

League of Legends has announced ‘First Selection’, a revamped system for side selection and draft order ahead of its 2026 esports season.

The new system will allow teams to either select a side (Blue/Red) or choose whether they would like to pick their champions first or second during draft phase.

Previously, Blue Side also had first pick during a game’s draft phase, often making it the preferred side to choose. 

In best-of-one (BO1) matches, or for the first game in a best-of-three (BO3) or best-of-five (BO5), the Blue side was typically given to the higher-seeded team. Following the conclusion of game one within a BO3 and BO5, the losing team would always be allowed to pick its side for the subsequent game.

In the case of equal seeding, a coin toss would determine side selection, while ensuring that one team would start half of its games on either side. However, some regional leagues used 1v1 deciders to assign sides.

According to Riot Games’ latest blog post, First Selection aims to address the variance in side win rates identified via analysing match data and gathering feedback from professional teams around the world.

Teams that have previously earned side selection will now earn First Selection, allowing the organisation to choose between:

Once a choice is made, the opposing team will get the choice of the remaining option. For instance, if Team A chooses Blue Side, then Team B will be allowed to choose between picking first or second in draft.

Similar to Fearless Draft, this new system aims to add strategic nuance to the drafting process.

Prior to today’s Dev Update, Riot Games had already highlighted key information about the 2026 League of Legends esports season, including the return of the LCS and CBLOL as independent leagues after a joint 2025 season.

Today, the game developer additionally confirmed the return of Hall of Legends, the game’s most prestigious player award. Hall of Legends was first introduced in 2024 with the induction of Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok, followed by Jian ‘Uzi’ Zihao last year.

This year, the awards event will take place later than usual, but still ahead of the season-ending World Championship.

Finally, Riot Games has announced a modernised financial structure during this year’s League of Legends esports season. Regional split prize pools will be removed in Global Revenue Pool (GRP) regions to redirect those funds into ‘deeper, more meaningful areas’.

According to the developer, the funds contributed to regional prize pools resulted in relatively small payouts for individual players. Meanwhile, the total investment across leagues has grown into a ‘meaningful amount’, which will be used more strategically to support the ecosystem’s long-term development.

However, prize pools for global events will continue to be funded by the GRP.