League of Legends
League of Legends
Once blamed for TSM’s failures, C9 Zven now stands atop LCS
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Cloud9’s Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen is currently standing as the best bot laner in the 2020 LCS Spring Split in terms of stats. After being considered Team SoloMid’s weakest link during the previous season, Zven is popping off under Cloud9’s banner. Two weeks into the 2020 LCS Spring Split, he has a perfect KDA, he’s a top farmer amongst the bot laners, and has the highest gold per minute. To be …
League of Legends
Team Liquid updates fans on Broxah’s visa issues as team wallows
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Co-CEO of Team Liquid Steve “LiQuiD112” Arhancet shared new details about Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pedersen’s visa process. During the Hotline League, a Twitch podcast hosted by Travis Gafford and Mark Zimmerman, Arhancet said he has big news to share regarding the organization’s League of Legends team. As he couldn’t join the voice chat himself, he dropped the news about Broxah’s visa in the Twitch chat, letting fans know where things stand …
League of Legends
TSM styles on CLG, adds another victory in 2020 LCS Spring Split
William Davis
Team SoloMid closed week two of the 2020 LCS Spring Split with a convincing victory over Counter Logic Gaming. TSM and CLG have one of the most iconic rivalries in League of Legends. Over the years, the two teams have consistently found themselves face-to-face on Summoner’s Rift. At this point in 2020, the rivals are at a low point and looking to rebound back at the expense of the other. …
League of Legends
G2 Caps shares why his team is happy with their role swap in LEC
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Ramus “Caps” Winther shared with his fans more details about the G2 Esports role switch between him and Luka “Perkz” Perković. G2 may have not started the 2020 LEC Spring Split performing as good as fans expected, but is still with no doubt the best team in the region. Even though some fans weren’t confident in Perkz and Caps switching their roles, mostly since Caps had never competed in a …
League of Legends
Legendary ADC Bang is the latest to complain about NA solo queue
William Davis
Evil Geniuses’ bottom laner Bae “Bang” Jun-sik is not happy with the current state of North America’s solo queue environment. According to Bang, NA solo queue is simple “not valuable”, the player wrote on his Twitter. He added that he is going to keep playing anyway. In a second tweet, responding to a fan, Bang said that high elo players in North America play like Platinum players in South Korea. …
League of Legends
Jankos interrupts LEC interview to warn Riot on Sejuani buffs
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
G2 Esports’ League of Legends player Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski sent a message to Riot Games to not go through with buffs to Sejuani. The jungler has just helped G2 advance to a 4-0 winning streak in the 2020 LEC Spring Split after a dominant win against Origen. After a game with Lee Sin, Jankos sat down for a post-game interview. While Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere was asking him questions related to …
League of Legends
Riot selling LoL Valentine’s Day merch featuring Rakan and Xayah
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Valentine’s Day is approaching quickly and Riot Games has something special for couples that play League of Legends. The publisher is rolling out a special 2020 Valentine’s Collection that fans can give to that special someone, or keep for themselves if they just happen to be a collector. Fittingly, most of the items in the collection are based on League of Legends’ top power couple, Xayah and Rakan. Four new items were …
News
G2 Esports vs. Origen breaks viewership record for LEC splits
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
The second weekend of the 2020 LEC Spring Split produced one of the most-watched matches in European League of Legends history. G2 Esports’ dominant performance over Origen attracted a record number of viewers to their screens. After failing to reach last year’s numbers on debut day, the LEC enjoyed a significant uptick in viewership in week two. This is especially true for last weekend’s match between OG and G2, as fans tuned …
Major Soraka nerf coming to League of Legends in near future
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Pros and casual players alike have seen the rise of Soraka in League of Legends over the past few weeks. Riot senior champion designer August Browning announced that Soraka will be seeing a pretty big nerf in an upcoming patch when his followers asked about the popular champion on Twitch. “It’s just overpowered. That’s what I think about it,” he explained. “It’s not like it’s not cool. But Soraka top …
Everything you need to master top lane Soraka in League
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Every so often, champions designed for completely different roles show up strong in the meta as an unconventional pick. Such is the case with Soraka, a support that recently spiked in popularity on the top lane, even in pro play. With healing abilities and high poke, Soraka’s solo lane potential is high. Though squishy, she excels in sustain. Her range and crowd control make for easy poke and her global …
Team SoloMid gets first LCS win of 2020 by beating Evil Geniuses
William Davis
News
Team SoloMid got its first win of the season, courtesy of a victory over Evil Geniuses in week two of the 2020 LCS Spring Split. Things are looking up for TSM, as the team recovered a bit after an underwhelming debut in week one. TSM and Evil Geniuses fought for 38 minutes in one of the most action-packed games of the season so far. The teams went for standard compositions, with …
Riot promises improvements to Clash, top lane impact soon
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Riot Games teased improvements to Clash, an increase in the impact of top laners, and minor adjustments to Teamfight Tactics. The League of Legends publisher spelled out some of its future plans for the game in the latest Dev Corner. Top laners of higher skill levels have been complaining about how little they can do to carry a game, and Riot is looking to address that problem as soon as …
Liquid rebounds from loss to Dignitas by beating FlyQuest in LCS
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
The second day of week two of the 2020 LCS Spring Split opened with a match between Team Liquid and FlyQuest. Though Liquid entered the day coming off a disappointing loss against Dignitas, the team got no help as they faced an undefeated opponent. Despite that, Liquid managed to take the win to avoid a losing streak. With Ornn, Jarvan, and Braum, Liquid secured a strong initiation lineup. Ironically, FlyQuest was looking …
Johnsun after beating TL: “I’m glad I’m not stuck in Academy”
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Dignitas is currently 3-0 in the Spring Split after defeating Team Liquid. The only rookie on a team full of veterans, Johnsun “Johnsun” Nguyen was all smiles after Dignitas’ latest victory. Johnsun talked with WIN.gg about their win over Team Liquid and his goal for the Spring Split. Team Liquid is considered the top North American team. Is this how you thought the match would go? I was nervous. I was …
100T Meteos thinks playing Blaber will be a challenge vs C9
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
100 Thieves is looking strong this season after their win over Counter Logic Gaming. They are currently sitting at a 2-1 record, with their only loss being to Evil Geniuses. But jungler William “Meteos” Hartman isn’t too concerned about that. He told WIN.gg that his biggest goal is just to be a good teammate. How are you feeling after that win against CLG? Meteos: Pretty good. Just pretty good? I don’t …
Froggen on Orianna ult whiffs: “Some ults you hit, some you miss”
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
After defeating top North American organization Team Liquid, Dignitas is now 3-0 in the 2020 LCS Spring Split. Once considered underdogs, the roster full of veterans has become the team to watch. WIN.gg sat down with Henrik “Froggen” Hansen to talk about Dignitas’ victory, his team’s strengths, and what Dignitas’ logo even is. How do you feel about being Player of the Week? Froggen: It feels pretty good. I’m really happy about it. …
Team Liquid’s CoreJJ: “If we beat FlyQuest, we can win LCS again”
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Team Liquid has not been at the top of their game. Support Yong-In “CoreJJ” Jo wasn’t too happy after his team lost to Dignitas to start their second week in the 2020 LCS Spring Split. The game was close though, and CoreJJ told WIN.gg that his team is not about to roll over just yet. Not with their eyes already on their match with FlyQuest tomorrow. How are you feeling …
Cloud9 runs over Immortals, remains undefeated in 2020 LCS Spring
William Davis
League of Legends
Cloud9 started week two of the 2020 LCS Spring season with a massive victory over Immortals. Cloud9 remains undefeated in the LCS after taking down Immortals on Saturday. The team came into the series as the clear favorite over an Immortals that is still struggling to find its identity as a team. In the pick and bans, both teams focused on top lane champions, particularly the newly popularized Soraka. With …
Dignitas scores big upset win over Team Liquid, takes 1st in LCS
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Dignitas took a chance against reigning LCS champions Team Liquid during the second week of the 2020 LCS Spring Split. It paid off, as the team pushed its record to 3-0 with a win to start its weekend. Dignitas’ Henrik “Froggen” Hansen picked Orianna and whiffed multiple ultimates. That proved to be of no concern as Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen couldn’t carry the game for Liquid as Ryze. Both teams drafted strong compositions, …
G2 Esports picks Soraka top to destroy Team Vitality in LEC
William Davis
League of Legends
G2 Esports continues undefeated in the 2020 LEC Spring Split after a dominant victory over Team Vitality. It’s week two in the LEC and G2 is already taking over the standings with three clean victories and no defeats. The most recent victim of G2’s power was Vitality, which now stands in last place with three defeats. History is repeating itself with G2 at the top of the rankings, taking the …
League of Legends
is among the most popular widely-played video games in the world. It has been a consistent trendsetter in the gaming industry, whether as a model for other free-to-play titles looking to monetize their players or as a guiding light for how professional esports can be both successful and sustainable.
It hasn’t always been so though. League of Legends was released in 2009 as an uncertain new project, a game with large aspirations but little proven. In the years since, it has developed into the dominant title that it is today, and one of the biggest games on the planet.
League of Legends drives success of MOBA genre
League of Legends stands out in part because it may arguably be the very first original game released to truly fit into what we now understand to be the increasingly
popular MOBA genre. Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas are a very particular type of game genre that carry out competition between two opposing teams of players on a map. These games test a mix of competition, tactics, and quick reactions, a potent combination that has proven equal parts popular and durable over the years.
While League of Legends was certainly among the first full releases to focus on the genre and its new ideas, it wasn’t actually the origin point for any of it. That distinction belongs to
Blizzard release WarCraft 3,
and more specifically a modified game mode titled
Defense of the Ancients.
WarCraft 3 was a real-time strategy game that featured prominent hero units who could gain in power as they accrued experience points to level up their abilities, and gold to purchase powerful items. Defense of the Ancients was a
user-made game mode
which emphasized these heroes by giving each player control over one such character and teaming them up against an opposing squad of players. It was a dynamite success, inspiring myriad clones and, eventually, an entire genre of games.
But while League of Legends wasn’t the first to bring about these concepts, it was certainly
effective in executing on them. Early developers at publisher Riot Games had a clear idea of what they wanted to accomplish with the creation of League of Legends, and it would be hard to argue against their success given the runaway popularity achieved by their iteration on the MOBA formula.
LoL incorporates esports sustainably
Just as impressive as the long-term success of League of Legends as a game is the continued success of the title’s esports scene. While esports has known multiple peaks and valleys over the years, Riot Games has consistently managed to maintain the prominence of LoL esports. This has been accomplished through an emphasis on
regular regional play
and
sustainability.
Most esports and competitive games at the time used a circuits system, scattering major tournaments for the best teams across the year. Instead, Riot divided the world into separate playing regions. Each region has its own
competitive league
in which the best professional teams play weekly. The best teams in each league are then brought together for an
annual World Championship event
at the end of the competitive year. This allowed for domestic fan followings to develop across such regions as
Korea,
China,
Europe, and
North
and
South America. Fans would closely follow the teams in their region, and from that familiarity would feel invested in cheering them on when they clashed with teams from other regions at the game’s biggest international event.
This basic blueprint has continued to prove successful for Riot Games over the years, though it has expanded and been modified with time. In response to the success of the World Championship, Riot introduced a second international tournament in 2015, the prestigious
Mid-Season Invitational. In 2025,
First Stand
was added to bring LoL esports to three international events per year. Once again the scene was enhanced and this indirectly expanded the opportunities for
League of Legends esports betting. In the meantime, the regional leagues have spread out to include
more regions and lower levels, solidifying their identity.
The basic formula remains the same, however.
Encourage fan support on a domestic level, and then carry that support and interest over to
the global stage. It’s a formula that continues to power League of Legends esports, and looks set to enable it for many years yet to come.
At Win.gg, our coverage of LoL esports spans from the broader competitive updates and their impact on the scene to in-depth high-profile match previews with team analysis, head-to-head analysis,
LoL betting odds
sense-makers and predictions. All of these based on the insights of our experienced esports journalists.
