League of Legends
League of Legends
FORG1VEN is returning to competitive League of Legends in 2020
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Veteran League of Legends player Konstantinos-Napoleon “FORG1VEN” Tzortziou has announced his free agency for the 2020 competitive season after having spent recent years on hiatus due to mandatory military service. FORG1VEN announced his leave for mandatory duty in the Greek military in February 2016 when he was competing as an ADC for H2k Gaming in the European League of Legends Championship Series, later rebranded as the LoL European Championship. After an …
League of Legends
Riot Games holds Rise of the Elements Invitational for TFT Set 2
William Davis
Riot Games has announced the Rise of the Elements Invitational to celebrate the launch of TFT Set 2. On October 30 and 31, 16 of the most popular streamers from around the world will compete in the Rise of the Elements Invitational. The competition commemorates the launching of TFT Set 2 that is scheduled to go live with patch 9.22. William “Scarra” Li, G2 Esports’ Rumay “Hafu” Wang, Jeremy “Disguised …
League of Legends
Griffin’s former GM facing new lawsuit amid cvMax drama
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Following public accusations of improper roster moves, now-former Griffin general manager Cho Kyu-Nam is facing separate troubles. According to Inven Korea, Cho is being sued for approximately $21,000 by an unknown party. The plaintiff in the suit, who is an acquaintance of Cho’s that doesn’t usually conduct business in esports, came forward with the lawsuit after catching wind of the ongoing issues surrounding Cho and the organization. The drama stems from their …
League of Legends
FPX, Fnatic, iG, Griffin start 2019 LoL Worlds Knockout Stage
William Davis
The 2019 League of Legends World Championship Knockout Stage kicks off on Saturday with two exciting matches. Rookie team Griffin will go against defending world champion Invictus Gaming. On the second series of the day, LPL champion FunPlus Phoenix is facing Fnatic. The Knockout Stage is a single-elimination best-of-five disputed on October 26 and 27, live from Palacio Vistalegre in Madrid, Spain. The opening match promises to be a banger. …
League of Legends
Amazing has some bright ideas for improving NA LoL and LCS teams
Nina Forneloza
Maurice “Amazing” Stückenschneider, the jungler for 100 Thieves, has given his own views on how to make the North American region stronger in League of Legends. In the 2019 League of Legends World Championship, no team from the LCS managed to qualify out of the group stages of the tournament. This result marks the first time no North American team has progressed to the quarterfinals since 2015, and only the …
League of Legends
Patch 9.21 brings new Halloween skins, several buffs and nerfs
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends was recently updated with patch 9.21 on October 22, bringing new Halloween-themed skins, a good number of buffs, and a smaller number of nerfs for the game’s champions. Kayn has had it a bit rough lately, especially in the early game, which is why patch 9.21 buffed Reaping Slash’s damage, although it did also lower its bonus damage to monsters. Another champion that has been underperforming is …
League of Legends
Team Liquid’s Doublelift speaks out on elimination at Worlds 2019
Nina Forneloza
Team Liquid AD carry Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng has spoken out against criticism of his teammates after Liquid’s disappointing group stage exit in the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. Before the tournament, Team Liquid were seen as the best chance for the North American region to perform. They reached the finals of the Mid-Season Invitational and swept both splits in the LCS. But at Worlds, they finished the group stage …
League of Legends
TFT Set 2 Rise of the Elements adds new elemental class and more
William Davis
Riot Games has shared the first glimpse into TFT Set 2: Rise of the Elements, and the changes were first announced during the 10 Years celebration. Riot partnered up with content creators from around the world to show the first look into the TFT Set 2: Rise of the Elements. The new era of TFT will introduce new champions, origins, classes, and new elements to the board. The board will …
MonteCristo offers advice to NA, LCS teams to improve after Worlds
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
No North American teams were left by the end of the World Championship group stages, leaving the LCK, LEC, and LPL to duke it out in the upcoming Knockout Stage. No LCS teams making it to that stage of Worlds hasn’t happened since Worlds 2015, and League of Legends fans are still wondering if there’s a reason NA had such a weak performance this year. Overwatch League analyst and former …
Riot sends personal thank you notes to Honor 5 LoL players
William Davis
League of Legends
League of Legends is currently celebrating its 10th birthday and Riot Games is commemorating the occasion by offering all players a slew of in-game rewards. That said, a small, special group is getting a personal shoutout from the publisher. Some honor level 5 players on the NA servers are receiving emails from Riot Games personally thanking them for their sportsmanlike behavior. Many of those who received the honors shared the …
LoL Worlds 2019 knockout Pick’em predictions
William Davis
League of Legends
24 teams started in the 2019 League of Legends World Championship, but only eight are left in the race for the Summoner’s Cup. With the group stage now complete, the surviving teams head to Madrid, Spain to compete in the Knockout Stage. So far, the World Championship has been an exciting event with upsets, incredible plays, and plenty of fan chants for Team SoloMid. Out of all of the teams competing …
LoL Worlds 2019 Knockout Stage matchups revealed
Nina Forneloza
League of Legends
The League of Legends group stage is over and the final eight teams have been determined. Right after Invictus Gaming routed Team Liquid in the final group stage match, Alfonso “Mithy” Rodriguez moved from the analyst desk to the stage to draw the quarterfinal matchups. All three teams from the LCK and LEC made it to the quarterfinals, alongside two squads from the LPL. No LCS team made it to …
Team Liquid eliminated from Worlds 2019 after loss to Invictus
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Ahq e-Sports Club and Team Liquid are going home after an unsuccessful run in the 2019 League of Legends World Championship group stage. Ahq failed to win a single game in Group D, while Liquid’s 3-3 score wasn’t enough to advance further in the tournament. They sit back and watch as the rivals in their group, Invictus Gaming and Damwon Gaming, both move on to the playoffs. Group D played …
Damwon, Invictus Gaming advance to Worlds 2019 Knockout Stage
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Damwon Gaming and Invictus Gaming are advancing to the 2019 League of Legends World Championship Knockout Stage after taking the top two spots in group D. The race was an incredibly close one. Damwon earned its spot fairly comfortably with a 5-1 record, but the second spot was decided in the final game which saw Invictus Gaming defeat Team Liquid. It has been a tough road for both teams, but things …
Fans of Clutch, RNG react differently to elimination from Worlds 2019
William Davis
League of Legends
On October 19, Royal Never Give Up and Clutch Gaming were eliminated from the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. It marked the first time RNG failed to make it out of the group stage and the last games for Clutch as a brand. RNG and Clutch were part of the “group of death” alongside SK Telecom T1 and Fnatic. The group was highly competitive until the final game of …
SK Telecom T1, Fnatic survive Group of Death at LoL Worlds 2019
William Davis
League of Legends
SK Telecom T1 and Fnatic secured a spot in the 2019 League of Legends World Championship Knockout Stage. SKT and Fnatic are the two teams to come out of the group of death. SKT secured first place early in the day with a dominating victory over Clutch Gaming. The LCK champion stumbled earlier against Fnatic and had to wait until its final game to lock in the first seed. …
Riot Games investigates Griffin after accusations from cvMax
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games Korea has launched a full investigation into the contract conditions of JD Gaming’s jungler Seo “Kanavi” Jin-hyeok. The decision comes after a series of worrying statements from Griffin’s former head coach, Kim “cvMax” Dae-ho. Griffin’s behind the scene drama continues. In September, the organization announced that it had mutually agreed to part ways with cvMax. But what seemed to be an amicable end to their relationship has quickly turned …
2020 LCS broadcasts to be offered as in-flight entertainment
William Davis
League of Legends
LCS fans can watch matches in their home theater, on their phones, and soon they’ll be able to watch while soaring through the sky. Riot Games has announced a partnership with in-flight entertainment company Panasonic Avionics. This agreement will have Panasonic offer plane passengers the opportunity to access LCS and Academy games in a near-live format. “Coming soon, aircraft equipped with Panasonic’s in-flight entertainment systems will have access to LCS …
True Damage, the next LoL virtual band skins, have leaked
William Davis
League of Legends
A new League of Legends virtual band will be arriving during Worlds 2019, according to recent leaks. “True Damage” is the third band based in the world of Runeterra, following pop group K/DA and rock band Pentakill. Its lineup includes Yasuo, Ekko, Qiyana, Akali, and upcoming champion Senna. The group’s musical genre hasn’t been confirmed, but the True Damage skins give off a kind of cyberpunk street performer vibe. True …
League of Legends player with every skin gets special Your Shop
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Riot Games offers discounts on skins periodically through a program called “Your Shop.” Six skins the player doesn’t own will be offered at rates between 20-70% off their face value. But what happens when a League of Legends player already owns every skin in the entire game? One Reddit user shared the message they received when that exact situation happened. “You did it. You bamboozled Discount Bot. It looks like …
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.
