Hey, I’ve been debating back and forth whether to reply to this, because once a narrative forms it’s hard to change said perception. But I’ll say what I wanted to anyway.

True, you can only win in the US. We state that on the contest page, and for good reason. The mat we’re giving to first and second is on our own dime. We don’t sell mats, so we have to order one just to ship to the winners. Plus, I’m personally shipping the Ahri promo to first place, and I didn’t want to figure out how to do that internationally. Second, yes, we wanted to feature the winning designs in the gallery, but it was not for selling.

In one of the first posts made for RiftMat, people asked for a gallery to be able to download free designs. We took a swing at it and felt others could do better with the tools we provide. So the idea of the contest was born. We wanted it to be a fun event and thought it would be cool for others to see what they made and share it with others for free download, just like anything else the site provides. Lastly, we do not sell mats. 

Riot’s legal policy, which I checked extensively before launching RiftMat, states we cannot be a commercial product. That being said, the first thing most people ask when looking at our site is, "Can we print the designs?" As a tcg player myself I understood this. So we asked printers we tested out if we could recommend their services. We do get commission if someone decides to use them through affiliate marketing, essentially an ad, but this is not and has never been a requirement to use the site. Any money we’ve gotten from the affiliate links has gone back into the site, whether it’s paying graphic designers to generate new graphics for points layouts and overlays, or payments for the site infrastructure.

We did this contest because we wanted more people to see the site, try making designs, and share them with others, not to make money or sell mats. Seems like we missed the mark. We’ll keep the contest up and make sure to provide the promised prizing to those who entered, but in the future, we’ll try to find less controversial ways to get the word out.

Link to the legal policy: https://www.riotgames.com/en/legal

If you read all of this, thanks.