Draft Mode Bans Increased from Three to Six!

I don't think this change really surprises anyone seeing as how the tournaments all have increased number of bans, but good golly that is going to be a lot of bans to choose from on a regular basis. I wonder what sort of "secret op" champs are going to come out of the wood works now? I can only hope for Teemo to rise to power! I am also curious to how numerous the far away Season 3 bans are going to be. We had about 30~ new champions this season, can we expect the same amount to be released during Season 2?

As the pool of available champions in League of Legends has grown since Season One, we will be making an update to Draft Mode: Draft Mode will feature six bans, up from four. These two additional bans will provide competitive players with a greater range of strategic options at champion select, and ultimately deliver a more engaging, more sporting style of play. The ban order for draft mode has also been updated to an alternating “ABABAB” format instead of the previous “ABBAAB” format. This change aligns Normal and Ranked Draft more closely with the Tournament Draft mode used in pro tournaments.

Additionally, aspiring tournament organizers will be happy to know Tournament Draft is now an available option for custom games. Tournament Draft functions similarly to Normal and Ranked Draft, but includes extended ban, selection, and trade times consistent with tournament rules.

Please also note that this update will require you to have access to 16 champions rather than 14 if you wish to participate in a game using a Draft. (This guarantees that if you’re the last person to pick, you still have a champion to play.) Non-Draft games such as Blind Pick and All Random remain unaffected.

- rjcombo, Senior Game Designer, via the official forums.