[2023] What's the point of friend requests?

To clarify, aside from possibly using the function as a workaround for tournaments run by those other than Riot, the only reason to send friend requests in the game is to have the ability to play against individuals casually for whatever reason. At least in Hearthstone, you were incentivized to make friends through the quest that allowed you to spectate for a free pack. LoR doesn't have a quest like this and, given the fact that cards are so easy to come by, doesn't need to. And since I've been seeing a few people talking about this lately, I figured I'd ask what's the point?