League of Legends
League of Legends
Nuguri, ShowMaker bring Klepto build to 2019 World Championship
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
LoL patch 9.20 nerfs Qiyana, Blitzcrank, buffs Shaco, Viktor
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
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 …
League of Legends
Clutch Gaming defeats Mammoth, survives in LoL Worlds 2019
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
Unicorns of Love beat Clutch Gaming again in LoL Worlds Play-ins
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
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
Play-In stage shows first glimpse into World Championship meta
William Davis
Day one of the 2019 League of Legends World Championship is over and it showed a glimpse into the meta for the main event. League of Legends received three different updates since the end of the regular season in the various regions. Patch 9.19 was chosen as the World Championship patch. The changes in previous patches were not big enough to completely modify the meta, but certainly had an impact …
League of Legends
k1ng pulls first baron steal of Worlds 2019 vs Clutch Gaming
William Davis
MAMMOTH bottom laner Calvin “k1ng” Truong pulled off the type of play that every jungler hates to see in one of the best moments of the 2019 League of Legends World Championship thus far. In the match versus Clutch Gaming, MAMMOTH struggled to find their footing. The team was coming off a decisive victory over Unicorns of Love and was surprised to find a very different Clutch Gaming than the LCS …
League of Legends
New Mac OS update may end League of Legends client installations
Nina Forneloza
Developer Riot Games has announced that Mac users might not be able to download League of Legends after the latest operating system update. Mac users will be receiving an update to their devices’ operating systems at some point during the month of October. Riot Games has announced that once the new OS 10.15. update named Catalina has been installed, a user may no longer be able to install the League …
League of Legends
Splyce destroys Isurus Gaming, stays undefeated in LoL Worlds 2019
William Davis
Splyce secured first place with a victory over Isurus Gaming in the 2019 League of Legends World Championship play-in stage. Splyce is determined to make it to the main event and the LEC representative used that motivation to dominate Isurus from the LLA for its second victory of day one. So far, Splyce is undefeated and will look to end the group stage without dropping a game. Isurus Gaming opened …
Clutch Gaming bounces back over MAMMOTH at LoL Worlds 2019
William Davis
League of Legends
Clutch Gaming finished day one of the 2019 League of Legends World Championship play-in with a victory over MAMMOTH. Clutch bounced back after losing the first game of the day against Unicorns of Love. In its second game, Clutch showed a new look that allowed them to take a key victory over MAMMOTH from the OPL. Against Unicorns of Love, Clutch played an aggressive style that was easy to …
Unicorns of Love upsets Clutch Gaming to start LoL Worlds 2019
William Davis
League of Legends
Unicorns of Love opened the 2019 League of Legends World Championship with a major upset over Clutch Gaming. The play-in stage kicked off on October 2 with an opening match between Unicorns of Love from the LCL and Clutch Gaming from the LCS. Clutch came into the match as the favorite but Unicorns of Love had another thing in mind. In picks and bans, Unicorns of Love surprised with …
Splyce starts LoL Worlds 2019 with convincing victory over DFM
William Davis
League of Legends
Splyce destroyed DetonatioN FocusMe in their first match at the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. Splyce is off to a good start at Worlds 2019, as the LEC representative took down DetonatioN FocusMe in a fast game. DFM innovated with Nocturne in the mid lane while Splyce kept it simple with a standard composition. Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir started the game with a gank in the bottom lane and …
LoL World Championship play-in schedule with Clutch, Splyce, more
William Davis
League of Legends
We are hours away from the 2019 League of Legends World Championship getting underway, and if you’re wondering when the games officially begin, we’ve got you covered. This year the tournament starts in Berlin, Germany, where the teams have been boot camping for the past month. The play-ins and group stage will be played in Berlin starting on October 2. Each region is sending its bests teams to take part in …
Esports Awards caster finalists include PapaSmithy and MonteCristo
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
The finalists for The Esports Awards’ caster of the year award have been announced with the public vote going live. This years’ finalists include casters of League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Call of Duty, Overwatch, and more. The twelve casters that made the list are: Matthew “Sadokist” Trivett, Indiana “Froskurinn” Juniper, Christopher “PapaSmithy” Smith, Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles, Henry “HenryG” Greer, Clint “Maven” Evans, Clayton “CaptainFlowers” Raines, Matt “Mr X” …
Nuguri games hint at Klepto meta for 2019 World Championship
Nina Forneloza
League of Legends
DAMWON Gaming top laner Jang “Nuguri” Ha Kwon is preparing for the 2019 League of Legends World Championship that will begin on October 2 with group stage matches. This is the ninth World Championship tournament and DAMWON Gaming’s first trip to the biggest League of Legends tournament of the season. DAMWON qualified for the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) in the 2019 LCK Spring Promotion Tournament and finished fifth …
SK Gaming drops Pirean after disappointing LEC summer split
Nina Forneloza
League of Legends
SK Gaming has decided to part ways with the League of Legends team’s mid laner, Choi “Pirean” Jun-sik, after struggling through the inaugural season of the newly franchised LEC. In a tweet, the German organization thanked Pirean for his service to the team and for his positivity. “Thank you for being part of our first year’s #LEC journey, being the leader of the boys and surrounding us with your positivity …
Esports Awards finalists include 2019 LoL Worlds contenders
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Team Vitality, 100 Thieves, NRG Esports, Team Liquid, Fnatic, eUnited, G2 Esports, and Cloud9 are the finalists for organization of the year in The Esports Awards. With The Esports Awards fast approaching, the finalists for each category have been announced, and fan voting is now open. The organization of the year category features a number of industry leaders, particularly those who have a permanent League of Legends franchises. Team Vitality …
Team Yassuo beats Team Tyler1, Europe tramples NA in Twitch Rivals
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
The Twitch Rivals show matches featuring some of League of Legends’ most popular streamers saw Team Europe and Team Yassuo come out on top. The matches were played at TwitchCon 2019 in San Diego, California. The first set of games featured a team of European streamers taking on their North American counterparts. The second set, named Rumble on the Rift, pitted teams led by Tyler “tyler1” Steinkamp and Hammoudi “Yassuo” …
Top 10 players at the 2019 League of Legends World Championship
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2019 League of Legends World Championship is right around the corner. 24 teams from all over the world are gathering in Europe for the most important event of the year for competitive League of Legends. This year is full of narratives about struggles and overcoming obstacles. Every team has something different to prove at the tournament, from first-timers to the domestic giants. Over 100 players will attend the event …
TCL player accuses Galatasaray of not paying him for months
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Turkish Championship League team Galatasaray is being accused of not paying their League of Legends team. In a TwitLonger titled “GS Esports is not paying their players,” former Galatasaray player Barış “Tolerant” Çepnioğlu accused the organization of witholding his pay for four months. Tolerant began by apologizing to fans who supported him during his time with Galatasaray, which ended in April. But he felt he had no choice to release …
League of Legends World Championship event pass hits with Ryze skin
William Davis
League of Legends
The League of Legends Worlds pass is available now. To celebrate the 2019 League of Legends World Championship, Riot Games released the World pass and missions. Players from around the world can enjoy the event that will be available through November 19. The World Championship event started on September 26 with a pass that goes for 1,650 RP, or roughly $12. Purchasing the World Championship pass grants one commemorative …
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.
