League of Legends
League of Legends
LoL is the most watched game on Twitch of 2019, Fortnite second
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends is the most-watched Twitch game of the year, taking the spot from last year’s top game Fortnite, and pushing it down to second place. With the 2019 World Championship, the game broke its own viewership records, making it the most-watched League event in the game’s history. Not only does League have the highest total viewership through 2019, it also has the highest average viewership and the highest …
League of Legends
Tyler1 Championship Series is back with a $50,000 prize
Olivia Richman
The third annual Tyler1 Championship Series is coming soon. Popular streamer Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp often makes headlines for his wild behavior and antics. But now the controversial League of Legends personality is garnering attention for his upcoming Championship Series. It’s bigger than ever this year, with a $50,000 prize up for grabs for first place. The tournament begins on December 14 at 8 am PST. This will be when the …
League of Legends
League of Legends voice packs may be coming in the future
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Riot Games might be considering adding a voice pack feature to League of Legends. League of Legends product manager Ken Adams asked players over Twitter what they might envision for voice packs of their favorite champions in League, sparking an uptick in discussion on the topic. Most responders shared they would love to have champion announcer packs that only they can hear, which Ken commented “would be pretty cool”. He did, …
League of Legends
Cloud9 confirms Blaber as team’s starting jungler for 2020
William Davis
Cloud9 has completed its roster for 2020 with Robert “Blaber” Huang on the starting roster. After months of speculation, C9 has officially announced Blaber as the starting jungler for the upcoming season. Blaber joined C9 Academy back in 2017 as a substitute jungler. His talent earned him a starting spot with C9 Academy and occasional appearances with the main roster in the LCS. Blaber is considered one of the most …
League of Legends
Everything you need to know about the Diana rework in LoL
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Diana is receiving visual and gameplay reworks in an upcoming League of Legends patch. She’s the next on the list of champions whose ability sets need to be freshened up to be a more viable pick in the larger champion pool. Since her release during Season 2, Diana hasn’t received many changes. She’s played as a combination of an assassin and an AP bruiser. But with the rework Riot Games …
League of Legends
Faker appointed as Shanghai-Seoul Esports Ambassador
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok has been titled as the Shanghai-Seoul esports ambassador by Shanghai Esports Association on November 29, his League of Legends team T1 announced on Twitter. This is only one of many achievements Faker has reached during his career as a professional League of Legends player. He has been a part of SK Telecom T1, now rebranded as T1, since the start of his competitive career, and has won …
League of Legends
Splyce rebrand to MAD Lions, introduce new roster for LEC Spring
Olivia Richman
There’s a new team coming to the LEC in 2020. Splyce has officially rebranded to MAD Lions, making the announcement earlier today. This comes with a brand new logo and an entirely new roster. Despite making it through the LEC gauntlet and qualifying for Worlds, Splyce’s squad disbanded. The organization is now coming back with a roster full of rookies. Mid laner Marek “Humanoid” Brazda will be joined by 18-year-old jungler …
League of Legends
Doublelift praises TL Broxah, plans to attend All-Stars as guest
William Davis
Team Liquid’s bot laner Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng is warming up to the idea of having Mads “Broxah” Brock-Pederse as a teammate. The player recently posted a vlog on his personal YouTube channel where he praised Broxah’s maturity, competitive spirit, and mechanical skills. “I’m really excited to play with this guy. He is so mature for 22, I will tell you I’m still a little bit dumb, but this guy is …
Goldenglue might be only North American mid laner in the LCS
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Golden Guardians’ new mid laner Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer might be the only North American-born mid laner competing in the 2020 League of Legends Championship Series. With most teams slowly finalizing their rosters for the upcoming season, mid laners getting signed to the North American league are coming from Europe, South Korea, and even Australia. Some teams, including Evil Geniuses and Dignitas, still haven’t announced their mid laners, so it’s possible …
Doublelift talks Pobelter, calls him a top-three LCS mid laner
William Davis
League of Legends
Team Liquid bot laner Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng had some words of support for his former teammate Eugene “Pobelter” Park, who recently revealed he won’t be playing in the LCS in 2020. On November 25, Pobelter announced that for the first time since Season 4 he wouldn’t be playing in the LCS. The mid laner was recently cut from FlyQuest, where he played for one year after being kicked off of …
Riot reveals Dawnbringer and Nightbringer skins, upcoming event
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Riot Games has developed new skins to add to the Dawnbringer and Nightbringer theme. Champions receiving new skins are Karma, Nidalee, Lee Sin, Vladimir, and Soraka. New Sugar Rush skins for Braum, Evelyn, and Ziggs, and Hextech Swain are coming as well. The skins come along a new Night and Dawn event that will go live with patch 9.24 and bring Poro King back to ARAM and the Howling Abyss. …
Riot Games postpones cvMax ban after community backlash
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Riot Games has decided to postpone the competitive ruling on Griffin’s former League of Legends coach Kim “cvMax” Dae-ho, Inven Global has reported. After having decided to indefinitely ban cvMax from the League of Legends Champions Korea due to accusations of player abuse, Riot is pressing pause on the ban while a new investigation is conducted. The information came just a short time after DragonX signed cVmax as the head …
Longtime SKT coach kkOma leaves to join LPL’s Vici Gaming
Nina Forneloza
League of Legends
In what has already been an extremely busy off-season in League of Legends, big news just keeps on breaking. According to ESPN, legendary SK Telecom T1 coach Kim “kkOma” Jeong-hyun will be departing the team to join Vici Gaming. Aside from losing star player Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, this is the biggest change the organization could experience. This news marks the end of an era. KkOma has been the coach of …
Dignitas sign Johnsun after Huni signing leads to tight budget
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Dignitas has only signed one other player for their 2020 LCS roster after announcing extending Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon’s contract. The organization has announced former Team SoloMid Academy bot laner Johnson “Johnsun” Nguyen woul be joining Huni on their incomplete roster. “The mechanical God, the overlord of Solo Queue, and the man with 4 accounts in the Top 20,” they tweeted. Earlier this month, ESPN reported that Dignitas had offered Huni $2.3 million …
FlyQuest adds PowerOfEvil to LCS roster for 2020
William Davis
League of Legends
FlyQuest has officially announced Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage as its starting mid laner for the 2020 LCS season, the player will join former teammate Lee “IgNar” Dong-geun as the two newest additions to the team. FlyQuest is getting reinforcement ahead of the 2020 season. The organization made two key hiring in the form of PowerOfEvil and IgNar, two players with a proven track record that have experience playing together. After a …
Doublelift, Bjergsen among LCS stars pulling out of All-Stars 2019
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
League of Legends Championship Series stars Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg and Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng have decided not to participate in the 2019 All-Star event. Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi and Bae “Bang” Jun-sik will take on their invitation slots instead. Team SoloMid’s mid laner Bjergsen, who has also recently acquired partial ownership of the organization, told his fans on Twitter that he’ll be boot camping in times of the event. “Sadly I won’t be …
Damwon Gaming to maintain LCK roster, will add a new coach
William Davis
League of Legends
Damwon Gaming shared a cheerful message on Twitter and revealed that the organization will retain the same roster through 2020. “Another peaceful day spent by Damwon Gaming. Fans, you don’t have to worry anymore!” the team posted on Twitter with a photo of the players. Damwon is not making any changes ahead of 2020, as the organization will keep the same roster that recently took part in the 2019 World …
New LoL champion Aphelios’ abilities revealed in new trailer
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Riot Games has released a champion trailer and a complex kit primer for upcoming League of Legends champion Aphelios. Aphelios will be joining the game as the MOBA’s newest marksman this December. His abilities are far from those of a traditional marksman, though, as he has five different weapons that he uses in both main-hand and off-hand positions. Not only do the different weapons make for different abilities, but they …
T1 adds coach Kim, Roach, and rookies to 2020 LCK roster
William Davis
League of Legends
T1 has announced five new players for its starting roster and revealed Kim “Kim” Jeong-soo as its head coach for 2020. T1 has completed its roster for the next season after the surprising departure of top laner Kim “Khan” Dong-ha, jungler Kim “Clid” Tae-min, and coach Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun. T1 added former Gen.G Esports top laner Kim “Roach” Kang-hui to roster. T1 also signed top laner Kim “Canna” Chang-dong, jungler …
Bjergsen to miss 2019 All-Star event for TSM China bootcamp
Nina Forneloza
League of Legends
Team SoloMid’s star mid laner Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg will not be representing the LCS at the 2019 All-Star event, which is set to begin on December 5 in Las Vegas. The All-Stars event is a unique happening on the League of Legends calendar in which each region sends a team made up of players voted for by the fans to compete. Not only are there traditional five-versus-five matches on Summoner’s …
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.
