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Fantasy LCS changes for the 2016 Summer Split

Riot·5/23/2016, 6:58:37 PM·1 votes·39,216 views

The last Split of Fantasy LCS was wild. Now it's returning for the 2016 LCS Summer Split on May 26.

With so many roster shakeups and explosive players, we had countless opportunities to take big risks and reap big rewards in the fantasy points column in Spring. And if what we've seen from the LCS teams lately is any indication, the 2016 NA LCS Summer Split is going to be just as exciting.

New Fantasy Scoring Options

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Fantasy LCS aficionados have been asking one question since we announced the NA and EU LCS format changes last year: How will Fantasy LCS scoring work? Well, it's finally time to answer that question! (And share some of the other new upgrades coming to the Fantasy LCS experience this Split.) As we mulled over the many different ways we could score fantasy points in the new formats, we found two formats that really stood above the rest.

They were both strong scoring formats that rewarded different player strengths and each had their own pros and cons, so which was the right choice? Ultimately, we realized that the right choice was to let you decide which format is right for each of your leagues. But before we dive into how you choose, let's take a look at the two scoring systems.

First Two Games

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The First-Two-Games scoring system is exactly what it sounds like: only the first two games played in each Best of 2 (Bo2) or Best of 3 (Bo3) match are worth fantasy points. This scoring system emphasizes balance between the EU and NA regions, and rewards players with consistent performances.

We believe this is the most balanced option, where NA and EU players will likely score similar fantasy points. It's also interesting to note that when an NA player's match ends after 2 games, the First Two Games scoring system functions exactly the same as the previous scoring system. Both NA and EU players would get standard points for every game they played (2).

If the NA player's match has a third game, that third game is simply ignored for Fantasy LCS purposes.

Best Game

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The Best Game scoring system is just as straightforward: only the highest-scoring game for each pro in their Bo2 or Bo3 match is worth fantasy points. This scoring system is a little more wild and prone to extremes, as it rewards exceptional, stand-out performances.

And while this scoring system is more fair than giving points for every game played in both regions, it definitely still favors NA pros who will often have more opportunities to score big in their Bo3 matches.

So Which is Right for You?

The default scoring system for Fantasy LCS Leagues in the Summer Split is the First Two Games scoring system, because we believe it offers the most balanced points for both regions. But both scoring systems offer exciting Fantasy LCS experiences, so we want you to be able to choose between them. When you begin your draft of a new Fantasy LCS league, you'll be able to select which of the two scoring systems that league will use.

You will be able to change the scoring systems during league setup while inviting other players. However, once you start the draft, the scoring system will be locked in.

Personally, I'm going to be using both scoring systems across my different leagues this year. I'm excited to go all-in on some risky picks in the Best Game format, and rely on my usual favorites in the First Two Games format. And we'll of course be giving advice for both scoring systems in our weekly Fantasy LCS articles here.

See our Draft Guide for tips on drafting for the 2016 LCS Summer Split here!

We've also put together an infographic showing the differences between the two scoring systems in order to help you decide which scoring system is right for you.

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League and Draft Improvements

We've also added other quality-of-life improvements to Fantasy LCS that'll help league commissioners keep things running smoothly. First up, the commissioner can remove owners from their league before the Draft happens. This way, owners can be swapped out without needing to rebuild the entire league.

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Once the owner lineup is locked in and draft time rolls around, the commissioner can perform a ready check to make sure everyone is online and ready for the draft to start. They can wait for everyone, or Force Start if someone can't make it. But, in the past, those oh-so-impolite AFK owners continued to slow down the draft with their long pick times. Well, Live drafters, rejoice! Autopicking just got faster.

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Autopicks now happen in eight seconds, instead of the full 60 that they used to take. Any owner can manually turn Autopicking on or off at any time during the draft, but Autopicking turns on automatically for anyone who doesn't select a pick on their turn.

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More Fantasy Goodness Soon

We're excited to hear what you think of the new scoring formats and which one (or both) you're going to try with your friends this Summer Split.

While you wait for Fantasy LCS to start up again on May 26, be sure to read our Survival Guides (NA, EU) and Schedule breakdowns (NA, EU) for the Summer Split. And don't miss our massive Draft Guide for insight into which players we think are poised to dominate Fantasy LCS this Summer.

Josh Augustine's favorite champion is Sona, he's never enjoyed a Darius, and he will always go for the kill, even when he knows he shouldn't. He currently works as a game designer at Daybreak Games. He’d love to talk with you on Twitter.

55 Comments

steinberg5/23/2016, 7:39:51 PM16 votes

why not just average? take aggregate points / games played. Favors no one and doesn't make any games throw aways. Also, why can't lck/lpl we added into the fantasy pool?

Th4ren5/24/2016, 6:35:42 PM2 votes

I was really hoping that they would announce some sort of open league so you didn't need a bunch of friends that are also interested in order to start a league. A lone person can usually just go online and play fantasy against random people in other sports I haven't been able to play since the first split it was introduced :(

Cöb5/24/2016, 4:43:56 AM2 votes

Everyone saying how dumb this is when im just here hyped and ready for this to come back

Spoo5/24/2016, 9:46:25 AM2 votes

I honestly wish they'd mix the two. Best game, of the first 2 games. Each team has a chance to make a clutch game and statistically NA = EU in terms of odds for players to reach a certain point threshholds that the drafter wants.

HandDa5/24/2016, 8:10:25 AM1 votes

I think first 2 games doesn't make sense because, 3rd game usually is the most intensified game, simply taking it out doesn't sound right.

Roll a dice 2.5 times(Avg. BO3) vs Roll a dice twice, is it fair? Best game is heavily in favor of NA players, I bet it won't take long for most people realized NA players are heavily favored.

if you guys are not happy with it, give this site a shot. http://www.tfansport.com/

It's using avg stats and it also includes LCK players. Besides, it offers an categories option. Just like Fantasy Basket Ball, you are competing over 10 categories, like K,A,D, minions, dmg dealt, dmg taken and etc, which sounds fun

Wrosgar5/24/2016, 9:41:49 AM1 votes

I feel like I've missed something. Why does EU have less games? Looking at schedules and amount of teams, it looks like there are 10 games a week over 9 weeks for both regions, with both regions having 10 teams.

On top of that, if each region has the same amount of games why is either new mode necessary? What was wrong with just letting every game count for the players. What about player trading mid season? For the highest score one, if I don't own a player when he has a really high scoring game, but then pick him up later, does that high scoring game still count towards an LCS total?

I really enjoyed smaller leagues where I could fight against other people in the league to pick up hot players or potentially risk losing a player from my draft to pick someone up for a special week due to favorable matchups and what not. From what I'm seeing with these new systems, it seems to be against this method and it's 100% about picking your players from the start of the draft and just ignoring fantasy LCS until the season is over. Maybe I'm missing something here though.

Mech hi5/24/2016, 1:51:00 PM1 votes

can we get the ability to have fantasy with other people

Simulcrash5/24/2016, 2:22:04 PM1 votes

Two things:

  1. To help alleviate the scoring issues, could it be an option to have a league (4 maybe 6 person) from only one region (NA or EU)? This is still a good idea regardless of different Best-of series.
  2. Why are there still no points for rift scuttler? I can understand no points in the first split because of point balancing issues, but why not now?
YaJpTpOg4C5/24/2016, 9:16:56 PM1 votes

These comments are so dumb

Laugh more5/25/2016, 1:59:20 AM1 votes

I wish you didn't need a community of friends to play fantasy league. I would love to participate but I don't know anyone else interested. I wish Riot would just set up one exact way fantasy league should go and pit everyone against everyone where you don't need to have friends to play.

MAGA MAN X 20205/25/2016, 8:57:35 AM1 votes

If only Europeans didn't love ties so much. Just goes to show the need for a unified format.

Mr Smee 015/26/2016, 3:05:25 AM1 votes

I'd love to have the option to auto-join a league, instead of trying to be invited, or trying to find people to invite. That is the only thing that has been keeping me from playing fantasy LCS.

RooTsMan5/26/2016, 4:05:07 AM1 votes

Am I the only one that thinks Riot didn't take any of my recommendations into account from the last split? I'm glad that they managed to come up with a way of solving the scoring system with the introduction of the best-of format, but as far as I'm concerned the main issues with Fantasy LCS as it stands involves the actual criteria involved in scoring. Sure, the league draft is important, but honestly, that takes little precedence over actually including rift herald as a team-objective worth some points.

All I want is a stats page that tells me how the players and teams stack up against eachother on a weekly basis (is it too much to ask for a head-to-head stats option for any future matchups that's available on the stats page and NOT on the trade page?), for team gold to be scorable stat (team gold difference plays a big role in ALL pro-LoL games I've seen, so why can't it be worth some points?), and for certain roles on teams to be rewarded for their team play (it's not fair to bench a solo-laner that wins the game for you despite split-pushing all game and having a low-KDA from not being in teamfights, don't you think?).

As for my thoughts on the scoring systems they've opted for, honestly either works just fine if you think about it. But these scoring systems could have been avoided altogether if they'd made the Best-of format the same for both regions, meaning a Bo3 format for both the EU and NA LCS; that way they'd spend more time making changes to Fantasy LCS using our recommendations rather than trying to come up with scoring system options for us to choose from.

im Cris5/26/2016, 7:00:24 PM1 votes

http://fantasy.lolesports.com/share/join/league/1086613/qsBWGF0HxQhbOcZx6dpX join

Whall5/29/2016, 2:27:02 PM1 votes

http://fantasy.lolesports.com/share/join/league/1112552/2b9dtjpIKUnsyGfXvnGI Draft is ASAP

Beezý5/30/2016, 2:02:07 AM1 votes

3/6 slots left open! Come join this LCS Fantasy! Planned start time is 10:30pm EST

http://fantasy.lolesports.com/share/join/league/1115628/mvtGaC8qscHXoHUX5XQx

theauger5/31/2016, 12:47:56 PM1 votes

http://fantasy.lolesports.com/share/join/league/1121215/CXnRTk7ksHahtwkteOZd

x sputn1k x5/31/2016, 6:26:36 PM1 votes

http://fantasy.lolesports.com/share/join/league/1122513/ZAkG5BoIUCrHQdjClcNL

D4shD4nce6/1/2016, 8:55:56 PM1 votes

http://fantasy.euw.lolesports.com/en-GB/league/1126937

here's mine

join :^)[zombie-brand-facepalm] [zombie-brand-facepalm] [zombie-brand-facepalm] [zombie-brand-facepalm]

Kairu7776/9/2016, 8:08:14 PM1 votes

Is anything being done in Fantasy scoring dealing with in-between games subs? No way to lose points when they make last minute subs and it throws off the fantasy league T.T

Doge the alt5/23/2016, 11:14:31 PM1 votes

Isn't the Best Game thing unfair? Since EU has 2 Games and NA has 3 NA players will be more likely to have a better "best game"

Das BrotatoChip5/24/2016, 4:37:18 AM1 votes

This is dumb. Score should just be an average across games. If two games are played, then it's total score divided by two. If three games are played, then it's total score divided by 3.

"Best game" is ridiculous too. The ONLY way this pays off is IF the series goes to three games AND the player scores more in that third game than in BOTH previous games combined. I don't foresee this happening too often in general, and I see very few fantasy players taking the risk to begin with. We all know that consistency in fantasy LCS is a myth anyways.

My Name is5/24/2016, 5:00:41 AM1 votes

WHY ISNT LCK/LPL IN THIS? They now have the same format, just put it to where it's only 9 weeks. LCK is going to 11, and LPL is doing 10. and what about the LMS?