All stars: This year, and last.

All-stars is a global event that brings together the top players from across the world for each role, as chosen by the community through a system of votes. Due to the top players from each region appearing all in one place, the first place prize was an extra spot at the world championships for the winner's region. Of course there was also the skill competitions where the top, mid and junglers faced off in a 1v1 match against the other regions' counterparts, with bot lane having a 2v2. The prize for this? Bragging rights to say you're the most skilled at your role.

This time, however, Riot has evaluated that it wasn't fair for a worlds spot to be contested in such a manner, as language barriers severely affected some teams, most specifically the EU squad where not everyone spoke fluent English, and has chosen to change the prize for coming first in the 5v5s. The new prize is yet to be unveiled but with everyone's goals set keenly on the top, and where getting chosen is a struggle in itself, it'll surely be good.

Unlike last year, where each of the all stars dominated their roles for their region, this year it'll be more varied. With the EU and NA regions being closer than ever before and with the introduction of several new rising players, the votes are almost impossible to predict. There may be a few people who you can say are more likely to achieve a spot at all stars such as Bjergsen, Faker and Mazrin, the rest will have to fight tooth and nail for it, to prove to us that they're worthy.

Of course this year we are in season four aswell: the meta currently has no real form and is in the process of a major shift away from the assassin type carries, which means that several more options are available. We can no doubt expect to see weird and wonderful things from all regions. With Korea being one of the top innovators in terms of the meta, they will certainly be a team to watch going through all stars regardless of their team players.

No one really knows how the structure for selecting an all star will look this year. Last year it was more of a popularity contest with the exception of the fabled Wickd vs Soaz top lane match. The mid laner for Alliance, Froggen, stated in an interview that if the regions really wanted to win at all stars, then every one of the voters needs to do proper research on who they're going to vote for and not vote based off popularity.

With all stars starting on the 5th of May, things are going to move fast, not to mention the location which is yet to be announced. Last year it was a success and this year looks to be even better. The question on everyone's minds is "Can Riot make all stars better than last year?". In less than two months we'll find out.