League of Legends
League of Legends
LoL Worlds 2019 main event groups schedule, highlight matches
William Davis
The 2019 League of Legends World Championship is hours away. The biggest League of Legends competition of the year is set to start on October 12 with the main event group stage. Fnatic and SK Telecom T1 will be responsible for kicking off the tournament, followed by a clash Royal Never Give Up and Clutch Gaming. The group stage is a double round-robin that will run from October 12 through October …
League of Legends
Are Asian teams dominating practice ahead of LoL Worlds main event?
William Davis
The 2019 League of Legends World Championship main event is right around the corner and the teams are getting ready to represent their regions. Asian teams in particular are shining ahead of the event. According to G2 Esports’ jungler Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski, the Asian teams are stronger than they anticipated. Team Liquid’s bottom laner Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng echoed his sentiment, saying that those teams are in another level. The play-in stage …
League of Legends
Patch 9.20 brings new High Noon skins for Ashe, Darius, Hecarim
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends has gotten updated with the patch 9.20 that presented players with new High Noon skins for Ashe, Darius, and Hecarim, along with a number of champion balance updates. The introduction of new High Noon skins has further enrichened the lore of League’s alternate universe. From October 10, League players are able to purchase three new High Noon skins with Ashe, Darius, and Hecarim joining the cowboy theme. …
League of Legends
Riot Games could be teasing new champion Senna on PBE
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
An update to League of Legends Public Beta Environment (PBE) added a visual feature to the map that players believe to be a teaser for Senna, Lucian’s wife previously trapped in Thresh’s lantern. It’s been almost four months since Riot Games released Qiyana, the lastest champion introduced to League. Players are expecting a new champion soon, and Riot might just be teasing one here. YouTube user “Eldimarix” shared video footage …
League of Legends
LoL Worlds 2019 group stage Pick’em predictions
William Davis
The 2019 League of Legends World Championship main event is right around the corner. With the play-in stage now complete, the 16 teams that will compete under League’s brightest spotlight have been decided. The groups have been seeded and fans can get a feeling for what sort of odds their favorites are facing. As with past years, Riot Games is encouraging fans to keep up with the action with the …
League of Legends
Splyce beats Unicorns of Love, heads to LoL Worlds main event
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
The final series of the League of Legends 2019 World Championship play-ins was contested by the LCL’s Unicorns of Love and the LEC’s Splyce. The European favorites came out on top of the series with a 3-2 score, but the Unicorns didn’t go down without a fight. The first game of the series seemed to be well in hand for Splyce. First blood with a gank under Unicorns’ top lane tower …
League of Legends
Hong Kong Attitude secures a spot in LoL Worlds 2019 main event
William Davis
Hong Kong Attitude secured a spot at the 2019 League of Legends World Championship main event with a victory over Isurus Gaming. The LLA’s finest are heading home after taking a 3-1 loss to HKA. Both of these teams had a shaky showing in the first part of play-ins. While HKA now advances to the main event, the win wasn’t quite impressive enough to feel bullish about their chances there. …
League of Legends
Huni brings Ezreal to the top lane at LoL World Championship
Nina Forneloza
The first two play-in teams have earned their seats in the 2019 League of Legends World Championship group stage. DAMWON Gaming defeated Lowkey 3-1, while Clutch Gaming defeated Royal Youth 3-0. In game three of the Clutch Gaming series, the team used their final two picks to add Lucian and Ezreal to their draft of Rek’Sai, Thresh, and Syndra. This was the second time they went with a double AD carry …
Worlds analyst’s mic cut after giving LowKey Esports ridiculous advice
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
“Just don’t lose. Kill all their bases. Then you can’t lose. It just won’t happen.” That was League of Legends commentator Christy “Ender” Friederson’s advice for LowKey Esports as the camera panned away from him at the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. October 7 and 8 have four best-of-five matches to determine the four teams that will advance to the Worlds main event. VCS second seed LowKey Esports was …
Clutch heads to LoL Worlds 2019 main event by beating Royal Youth
William Davis
League of Legends
Clutch Gaming is advancing to 2019 League of Legends World Championship main event after styling on Royal Youth en route to a clean 3-0 victory. Clutch Gaming is improving North America’s chances of winning at LoL Worlds, with the LCS’ third seed now qualified to the main event. There were questions surrounding Clutch after their performance in the play-in group stage, with Clutch struggling against Unicorns of Love. Their performance …
Damwon Gaming beats Lowkey, heads to LoL Worlds 2019 main event
William Davis
League of Legends
Damwon Gaming secured its spot at the 2019 League of Legends World Championship main event with a dominating victory over Lowkey Esports. The first series of the Knockout Stage went as everyone predicted it would. After a rocky start, Damwon regrouped and obliterated Lowkey for a 3-1 series win. The series showed different sides of Damwon and highlighted how hit-or-miss it can be. While the team was the absolute king …
Pantheon, Xayah see highest pick/ban rate at Worlds 2019 Play-Ins
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
The first phase of League of Legends 2019 World Championship play-ins is behind us and eight teams have advanced to the knockout stage. The 27 games played thus far saw Pantheon being a constant presence, a strong variety of overall picks, and some strong performances by standout players. Pantheon has been a force on the Rift ever since his rework, even getting some buffs along the way. This is why …
Damwon Gaming undefeated in LoL Worlds 2019 play-in group stage
William Davis
League of Legends
Damwon Gaming is the only team to go undefeated in the 2019 League of Legends World Championship play-in group stage. Damwon’s LoL Worlds 2019 run is going according to plan, as the team secured two victories and became the only team in the play-in to finish undefeated. In the second half of the round-robin, Damwon took down Flamengo eSports and Royal Youth in a dominant fashion. Both matches had …
Royal Youth upsets Flamengo, advances at LoL Worlds 2019
William Davis
League of Legends
Royal Youth pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the 2019 League of Legends World Championship play-in and has qualified for the Knockout Stage. Royal Youth achieved a great result as the Turkish team took down Flamengo eSports twice and punched its tickets to the best-of-five. The result comes after losing two games in the first half of the group stage. This young team challenged SuperMassive eSports’ supremacy …
LoL Worlds 2019 Play-in Knockout Stage schedule, matches revealed
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2019 League of Legends World Championship play-in group stage is over and the teams are ready to compete in the Knockout Stage. After four days of intense competition, upsets, and tiebreakers, the final seeding has been decided. 12 teams entered the play-in stage and only eight made it to the Knockout Stage. Now, the teams are moving to best-of-fives that will determine the final four teams that qualify for …
Clutch Gaming wins tiebreaker, takes first seed in LoL Worlds 2019
William Davis
League of Legends
Clutch Gaming secured first place in Group A at the 2019 League of Legends World Championship play-in. So far, Clutch’s journey at Worlds would best be described as a rollercoaster. The squad came into the tournament as North America’s unlikely hero, a team that overcame adversity and took down the LCS’s giants. If they were able to take Team Liquid to five games and reverse sweep Team SoloMid, a bunch …
Nuguri, ShowMaker bring Klepto build to 2019 World Championship
William Davis
League of Legends
Damwon Gaming solo laners Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon and Heo “ShowMaker” Su brought a couple of surprising builds and runes to the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. Damwon finished day two of Worlds undefeated after taking down Flamengo eSports and Royal Youth. On the first game of the day versus the Turkish team, Nuguri and ShowMaker went for an unexpected set of runes. In the top lane, Nuguri locked in …
LoL patch 9.20 nerfs Qiyana, Blitzcrank, buffs Shaco, Viktor
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
League of Legends patch 9.20 brings nerfs for Qiyana, Blitzcrank, and Pantheon, as well as buffs for Shaco, Garen, Victor, and more. Patch 9.20 is scheduled to go live on October 9. League lead gameplay designer Mark “Scruffy” Yetter revealed that the patch will introduce minor balance changes to a few champions as well as larger updates to others that haven’t received significant attention from Riot Games in a long …
Clutch Gaming defeats Mammoth, survives in LoL Worlds 2019
William Davis
League of Legends
Clutch Gaming secured a spot in the Knockout Stage after a victory over Mammoth Esports in the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. Clutch found the victory they needed to make it to the Knockout Stage. Earlier in the day, Clutch fell for the second time against Unicorns of Love. The defeat put Clutch’s place in the next round at risk, but the North American team came out on top …
Unicorns of Love beat Clutch Gaming again in LoL Worlds Play-ins
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
The third day of the 2019 League of Legends World Championship day began with the LCS’s Clutch Gaming taking on the LCL’s Unicorns of Love. The two teams already clashed on day one, with UoL taking an upset win over CG. Today’s match saw the same outcome. In the picks and bans phase, Unicorns of Love went for a winning draft. Besides banning Skarner as Lira’s comfort pick, the team …
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.
League of Legends
Doublelift gets first quadra kill at Worlds 2019, Liquid beats Damwon
By
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot tries to explain hesitance to name Hong Kong Attitude at Worlds
By
William Davis
League of Legends
Faker debuts at LoL Worlds 2019 with perfect KDA, SKT beats Fnatic
By
William Davis
