Champion Shards

Honestly, is there any point in having champion shards from loot boxes? Getting an S and 3 keys is hard enough, but finding out it led to a champion shard is disheartening, even more so once all champions are unlocked. I'm worried about spending money on boxes in case i get 10 champ shards.

Also, linking the essence to mastery seems redundant; either getting 3 random shards and breaking them down into essence or spending 5100ip to unlock the next mastery just seems pointless.