League of Legends
League of Legends
Damwon Gaming to maintain LCK roster, will add a new coach
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
New LoL champion Aphelios’ abilities revealed in new trailer
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
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 …
League of Legends
T1 adds coach Kim, Roach, and rookies to 2020 LCK roster
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
Bjergsen to miss 2019 All-Star event for TSM China bootcamp
Nina Forneloza
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
Team SoloMid officially adds Kobbe as new bot laner for LCS
Steven Rondina
Team SoloMid has officially signed Kasper “Kobbe” Kobberup to its roster. A week after reports began circulating that the Danish bot laner was heading to the LCS for the 2020 season, TSM confirmed the news on its official YouTube channel with a humorous video. Kobbe first started competing in professional League of Legends in 2014, bouncing around between a number of different organizations before spending the 2015 season with Team …
League of Legends
100 Thieves forming new bot lane duo with Cody Sun, Stunt
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
100 Thieves is reportedly buying out Sun “Cody Sun” Li-Yu’s contract from Dignitas and looking to have him lane alongside William “Stunt” Chen from 100 Thieves Academy, according to ESPN’s Jacob Wolf. The move would bring Cody Sun back to 100 Thieves after being released by the team at the end of the 2018 season. He was replaced by Bae “Bang” Jun-sik, who has since moved on to join Evil Geniuses for …
League of Legends
C9’s Licorice blames himself for bad relationship with Sneaky
Olivia Richman
The past few weeks have been busy for LCS teams, as more trades, signings, and departures continue to be announced. One recent move that shocked League of Legends fans was fan-favorite AD carry Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi possibly leaving Cloud9 after six years on the squad. The popular cosplayer stated on stream that “some people” didn’t want to play with him anymore, and many felt Eric “Licorice” Ritchie was the teammate he was …
League of Legends
Dardoch joins Team SoloMid for the 2020 LCS season
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Team SoloMid has confirmed the rumors that surfaced a few days ago and officially signed Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett as its jungler for the 2020 League of Legends Championship Series. TSM shared the news of Dardoch joining the new roster on Twitter, saying it was a long time coming and welcoming him to the team. The jungler is getting a new opportunity to prove his worth after playing the 2019 season …
These are the best League of Legends champion picks in 9.23
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
League of Legends was updated with the preseason patch on November 19. The patch 9.23 implemented big changes to the Summoner’s Rift, together with changes to items, runes, jungle objectives, and more. Although the patch wasn’t about balance changes, new features impacted the gameplay and started clearing out the looks of the preseason meta. The champions that are dominating the Rift are Darius on top, Ekko in the jungle, Katarina …
Xmithie rejoins Immortals after being dropped by Team Liquid
William Davis
League of Legends
Immortals has announced the first member of its 2020 team and it’s a blast from the past. Jake “Xmithie” Puchero is rejoining his former organization. The North American jungler was part of the team in the 2017 NA LCS Summer Split. With Xmithie on its roster, Immortals finished in second place that split and went to compete in the 2017 League of Legends World Championship. “Among all the LCS players Jake …
T1 welcomes Cuzz, re-signs Effort after Clid leaves for Gen.G
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Just a day after League of Legends fans were hit with the shocking news that T1 jungler Kim “Clid” Tae-min had departed the team to join Gen.G, T1 announced on Twitter that it has come to terms with Lee “Effort” Mun on a new deal to keep the player on the team. Additionally, the organization confirmed that Mun “Cuzz” U-Chan will be joining the roster as the new starting jungler after splitting off from DragonX. …
Macaiyla says LoL ban unfair because Tyler1’s behavior is much worse
William Davis
League of Legends
Popular Twitch streamer and Instagram model Macaiyla is making an appeal to have a banned League of Legends account restored. She says that the ban, which was for toxic behavior, is illegitimate because her actions were no worse than those of her boyfriend, streamer Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp. Macaiyla’s LoL account “HYPUHS” was banned over a year ago. A chat log was included in the streamer’s ban message citing her toxicity. …
Golden Guardians adds Closer from the TCL, GoldenGlue from C9
William Davis
League of Legends
Turkish jungler Can “Closer” Çelik and North American mid laner Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer have joined Golden Guardians as LCS starters. Golden Guardians is starting to make moves in the offseason. The team recruited Closer and Goldenglue as the new starters for the LCS roster. Closer recently took part in the World Championship with TCL champion Royal Youth. Goldenglue joins the team after playing for Cloud9 Academy. The decision to sign …
CLG recruits Crown while Ruin returns for one more year in LCS
William Davis
League of Legends
Mid laner Lee “Crown” Min-ho has joined Counter Logic Gaming for 2020, while the team also confirmed the return of top laner Kim “Ruin” Hyeong-min to the starting roster. Crown is staying in the LCS. The mid laner was officially transferred from Immortals to CLG where he is taking over the mid lane. Crown will replace Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage, who decided not to renew his contract with the team. Crown …
100 Thieves adds Meteos, Ssumday back to LCS roster for 2020
William Davis
League of Legends
Jungler William “Meteos” Hartman and top laner Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho are back in the 100 Thieves LCS roster for 2020. 100 Thieves revealed two members of its LCS starting roster, Meteos and Ssumday. 2020 will be a bit of a homecoming for these two players as they will return to the main roster in the spring. Ssumday spent most of 2019 playing for 100 Thieves Academy. In the summer, the …
TFT Patch 9.23 resets ranked, adds True Damage Little Legends
William Davis
League of Legends
The TFT ranked system is back with Patch 9.23, the first update since the release of Set 2: Rise of the Elements. In Patch 9.22, TFT changed completely. Set 2 introduced new units, synergies, and classes. Riot Games gave players two weeks to adapt and then relaunched the ranked system with a hard reset. Everyone is back in Iron and must play five games to determine their starting point in …
FlyQuest signs IgNar as new support for the 2020 LCS season
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
South Korean League of Legends player Lee “IgNar” Dong-geun has joined FlyQuest as the team’s new support, the organization announced on Twitter. After having played the 2019 season with the German team FC Schalke 04 Esports, and the fourth-place team in the 2019 LoL European Championship Summer season, IgNar is moving to North America. From one of the best teams in the LEC, IgNar is transferring to NA to play …
Riot fines Cloud9 for breaking LCS rules over player equity
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
News
Riot Games’ Lol Esports staff shared on November 20 that Cloud9 is getting fined due to the organization’s equity plan, which violates the rules of the League of Legends Championship Series. Cloud9 needs to pay a total of $175,000 in fines in addition to removing and repaying stocks that their players hold in the organization. C9 issued stock to seven of their players, which would’ve been fine prior to 2017 but has …
Evil Geniuses buys out Bang from 100 Thieves for 2020 LCS
William Davis
League of Legends
According to a report by ESPN, Bae “Bang” Jun-sik will join Evil Geniuses’ League of Legends team for the 2020 season. The newest team in the LCS paid an undisclosed sum of cash to 100 Thieves for the former World Champion AD carry. He joins fellow recent additions Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen and Tristan “Zeyzal” Stidam, who were acquired by Evil Geniuses from Cloud9. Evil Geniuses seems committed to putting together …
Clid, Rascal, and Bdd sign with Gen.G for 2020 LCK season
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Gen.G has announced that Kim “Clid” Tae-min, Kim “Rascal” Kwang-hee, and Gwak “Bdd” Bo-seong have been signed to the organization’s League of Legends roster for the 2020 LoL Championship Korea season. News of Rascal leaving DragonX and Bdd splitting off from KT Rolster wasn’t a shock to fans. Far more surprising was the reveal that T1’s jungler was splitting off from the organization after a highly successful 2019 season. Clid was part of the SK …
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.
