League of Legends
League of Legends
Aux talks T1 upset, new format, and the meta at MSI 2023
Tokoni Uti
Following JD Gaming’s MSI 2023 upper bracket final win over T1, we spoke to former LPL and current LCK caster Dan “Aux” Harrison. We asked for his thoughts on the series, tournament meta, double-elimination, and working with Huni. WIN.gg: What are your immediate thoughts on the JDG vs T1 series? Absolute banger. I feel like it delivered, and the fact that there’s potential for a rematch – I think the …
League of Legends
MISSING and Oner open up on the 2023 MSI experience
Tokoni Uti
JDG’s Lou “MISSING” Yun-Feng and T1’s Mun “Oner” Hyeon-jun spoke to the media after the former won out in their hotly anticipated MSI 2023 upper bracket matchup. JD Gaming took the series in a 3-2 battle that had little to split the sides on paper beforehand and even less to separate them on the day. The LPL winners now qualify for the tournament’s grand final, while T1 will drop to …
League of Legends
T1 falls to loser’s bracket in MSI 2023
William Davis
T1 stumbled in the semifinal match against JD Gaming and is now relegated to the loser’s bracket at MSI 2023. Things are heating up at MSI 2023. The top four, consisting of eastern teams only, saw its first massive clash in the semifinals, with T1 facing tournament favorite JDG. While many expected JDG to be the winner, T1 put up a good fight and took the series to game five. …
League of Legends
An interview with UK casting duo Nymaera and Initialise at MSI 2023
Tokoni Uti
UK casting duo Sam “Initialise” Hapgood and Alex “Nymaera” Hapgood talked to WIN.gg prior to the highly-anticipated upper bracket grand final between T1 and JD gaming. Here is their insight mid-MSI 2023. The 2023 Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) is in full swing, now down to only four teams competing for the coveted trophy. The lower bracket games are still in motion, but all eyes are on T1 and JD gaming, the …
League of Legends
T1 breaks record with 17 minutes win at MSI 2023
William Davis
T1 is breaking records at MSI 2023. In the match against MAD Lions, the LCK’s representative established the record for the second-fastest game at an international event. Game three in the series between T1 and LEC’s number one seed MAD Lions at MSI 2023 was nothing short of a rollercoaster. After securing two victories in a dominant fashion, T1 put an end to the series with a win in under …
League of Legends
MSI 2023 Bracket Stage full schedule and predictions
William Davis
After six days of intense competition, everything is ready for the Bracket Stage at MSI 2023. The schedule is set, and soon we will have a new MSI champion. Eight teams competed in Play-Ins, but only three secured a spot in the next stage of the competition. Bilibili Gaming, G2 Esports, and Golden Guardians join the five teams already pre-qualified for the Bracket Stage. In the MSI 2023 Bracket Stage, …
League of Legends
Mythic Items rework brings back old LoL items
Nicholas James
The midseason patch is coming to League of Legends, and it’s bringing a new version of Mythic Items, bringing back some items from League of Legends’ past as well. Riot Games announced during a Dev Talk video that they weren’t happy with the state of Mythic Items. Riot tends to be a very responsive company to problems with characters or mechanics. To fix this, the Mythic Item roster has been …
League of Legends
Mercedes-Benz gives Faker a free car as part of T1 sponsorship
Olivia Richman
Being the most popular and respected esports player in the world definitely pays off. Just ask Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, who just got a brand new electric Mercedes-Benz. T1 recently signed a sponsorship deal with the luxury car brand Mercedes-Benz. The iconic South Korean team will now feature the car’s logo on their jerseys at the Mid-Season Invitational and beyond (until 2025). But there are some interesting aspects of the sponsorship …
Riot shows new LoL map design for 2v2v2v2
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Riot Games has shown off initial designs for the new LoL map created for the upcoming 2v2v2v2 deathmatch mode coming to League of Legends. It’s been a long time since a new map was added to League of Legends. The last new map was the Nexus Blitz map, an experimental game mode that’s still on hiatus pending changes. This new map would be the locale for League of Legends’ upcoming …
The Ivern midscope could give everybody his ability
Nicholas James
League of Legends
The Ivern midscope update has been confirmed, and it sounds like one of his most iconic mechanics might be given to every other champion in the game as a part of it. Riot Games has been leaning more into midscope updates rather than full visual gameplay updates as of recently. Midscope updates are gameplay-focused modernizations for champions. This mostly affects champions who have core design issues or older champions that …
New Ivern rework abilities revealed on PBE
Nicholas James
League of Legends
The Ivern rework has hit the Public Beta Environment for League of Legends with exciting new abilities for Ivern. League of Legends’ friendliest tree is getting brand-new abilities, and they’ve just been released on the testing servers. Ivern’s been in an awkward place for a long time, and this midscope update will hopefully solve his issues. From his new passive to new shields, these are Ivern’s new abilities. Ivern’s abilities …
Everything we know about new LoL champ Naafiri
Nicholas James
League of Legends
The next League of Legends champion to be released is Naafiri, a Darkin assassin with some exciting new abilities. The next addition to League of Legends’ ever-expanding roster of characters is Naafiri, an assassin character who will focus on roaming and macro play. Riot Games has started to drip-feed details about her to fans of League of Legends, from her thematic to hints about her gameplay. With so much being …
Jax visual update will fix one of LoL’s oldest champs
Nicholas James
League of Legends
There’s a Jax visual update coming down the pipe to match his gameplay-focused Midscope update, and it’s breathing new life into a very old champion. Jax hasn’t had a lot of love in League of Legends since his initial release. He’s one of the oldest champions in the game, and his design still holds many relics of League of Legends’ old world. Once a weapon master made to wield a …
4,500 champion voice lines vanished in LoL
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Riot Games recently updated fans on its plans to repair and refresh the game, and this included admitting that over 4,500 champion voice lines had disappeared from the game. League of Legends has an absolutely massive roster of characters. The roster is so big that it’s rapidly closing in on 160 unique champions. Given that League of Legends is a MOBA, the only real chance to characterize the champions is …
Who is the Veiled Lady in The Mageseeker?
William Davis
League of Legends
The Mageseeker: A League of Legends Story offers a new look into the League of Legends lore. Not only do players get the opportunity to explore Runeterra, but they will also learn more about certain champions. Who is the Veiled Lady in The Mageseeker? The answer will surprise you. When you start playing The Mageseeker, players are introduced to the Veiled Lady and its faithful followers. You can find shrines …
April Champion Roadmap previews next 3 champions
Nicholas James
League of Legends
The April 2023 Champion Roadmap has arrived, and we have tons more information about the next three League of Legends champions. Champion Roadmaps are Riot Games’ chance to update fans on the developer’s plans for adding new characters to the MOBA. After the release of Milio, the Gentle Flame, Riot Games is updating fans yet again on what’s coming soon. From new Darkin assassin Naafiri to bloodthirsty jungler Briar, and …
Everything we know about new champion Briar
Nicholas James
League of Legends
One of the next champions added to League of Legends will be new bloodthirsty champion Briar, and we’ve collected all the hints about her. In the first Champion Roadmap of 2023, a new gothic jungler was teased with art of a Castlevania-esque castle straight out of a gothic horror story. The building was clearly Noxian and the story talked about a “hangry” new jungler who would be added after Darkin …
Here are Amazon Prime Gaming LoL rewards for May
Nicholas James
League of Legends
The League of Legends Amazon Prime Gaming rewards for May are here, here’s how you can receive the rewards as well as what to expect. Amazon Prime and Riot Games have several ongoing collaborations in which subscribing to Amazon’s premium subscription service gives the player several free rewards in the game every month. Some fans were worried that Prime Gaming rewards were going away in League of Legends after January’s rewards seemed …
G2 Caps reaches rank 1 on EUW server
Nicholas James
League of Legends
G2’s Mid Laner Rasmus “Caps” Winther has reached the heights of the European solo queue, hitting rank one after a subpar playoff run for the organization. G2 Caps has hit the top rank on the Europe West, or EUW, server in League of Legends ranked play. With the offseason in full swing, as teams prepare for MSI 2023, competition is fierce for the top spot. With a 55% win rate …
MSI 2023 Play-In schedule revealed
William Davis
League of Legends
We are days away from MSI 2023 and we have the schedule for the Play-In Stage, including the seeding. MSI 2023 is introducing some major format changes. In this year’s edition, teams starting in the Play-In Stage will play a double elimination bracket instead of going through a single round-robin. The Play-In Stage consists of eight teams playing for three spots at the Bracket Stage. All matches are to 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.
