Pick’ems returning to Worlds 2019

After massive success in Season Eight, Pick’ems make a triumphant return for Worlds 2019. Visit pickem.lolesports.com on October 9 to get started.

Pick’ems go live before the start of Group Stage on October 9, and prior to Knockout Stage, starting on October 21. Pick’ems require completion before the start of each corresponding event.

Players finding success during Pick’ems will be rewarded with an exclusive Worlds Pick’em Master Poro icon. To earn the icon, players must earn at least 34 points.

Image via Riot Games

The lucky (or incredibly talented) player who manages to guess Worlds 100% correctly will be awarded every Ultimate Skin in the game. These skins include Pulsefire Ezreal, DJ Sona, and more.

Missions are becoming a trend with Riot events, and Pick’em is no exception. Riot will release missions for completing Pick’ems. Just by participating, players receive 500 Blue Essence for each stage fulfilled.

Last year, the Pick’em event was a welcome mini-game for the League of Legends community. It helped the average player become more invested with Worlds and watch games from teams they normally wouldn’t care about. However, a tool existed previously that performed the exact same function. Since the beginning, the community was desiring a fantasy league for the LCS and other regions.

The last time fans saw Fantasy LCS was the 2018 Summer Split. However, the Fantasy LCS team at Riot were discontent with the quality and decided to discontinue the league. Several updates released since, but little concrete news for a brand new fantasy league.

Chris Greeley, the commissioner of the LCS, states that at the soonest, a fantasy league can be expected by the Spring of 2020.

Greeley’s Update

Riot frequently finds issues working with different companies producing the league. But Greeley is promising that in some form, fantasy reopens in Season 10. Through a deal with Bayes Esports, third party providers can now access league data to make their own fantasy league. Despite this apparent fallback, Greeley attests that they are committed to crafting their own official product.

Pick’ems are a successful experience, and Riot likely continues to support it in the years to come. Its existence is an apparent copout to its ideological brother, the fantasy league. Riot often leaves projects unfinished after a first release and Fantasy LCS proves to be no exception. Only time will tell if like Clash, Fantasy LCS becomes a distant memory.

Written by Devon Huge