Riot has just released the first League of Legends update for 2026 a couple of days ago and it brings some interesting changes. One of them is more important than the rest and it is called the First Selection rule. It affects LoL esports and adds a new approach to the Pick & Ban phase during a match.
League of Legends First Selection Rule
Riot Games’s new First Selection rule aims to refine the way people play League of Legends, at least at the highest level. The idea behind it is to balance the variance in side win rates by giving the teams who won side selection to get the first selection. In other words, they can choose one of the two options:
- Which side to play on
- To get the first or second pick in the draft
Once the side makes a decision, the next step is for the opponent to choose the remaining option. The entire idea behind these changes is to give professional teams more flexibility regarding their strategies. They will be able to shape their plan for the game much more easily, which is exactly what most of them are interested in.
Based on the information we have, the First Selection change will be available in all regions once the season starts. The first regional leagues where we will see the new rule will be the LCK and LPL, and they will start on January 14, and we will see the rest after that.
All in all, we can safely say that the new change will make the professional League of Legends matches even more interesting. It is no secret that League of Legends has been growing in popularity in the last couple of years, so Riot expects this change to make it even more popular. Let’s not forget that the company introduced the new Fearless Draft mode last year and it changed the way people played.
