League of Legends
League of Legends
G2 Esports approaches LEC playoffs bye after victory over Rogue
William Davis
G2 Esports is back on track in the 2019 LEC Summer Split. After a couple of questionable matches, the Mid-Season Invitational champions have returned to form. On Friday, G2 took an important victory over Rogue. G2 left behind the creative picks and locked in a standard composition. The early game was slow, with G2 taking time to farm instead of relying on their high-tempo offense. Rogue grew impatient and decided …
League of Legends
Cloud9 forms Teamfight Tactics team with former HotS players
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Cloud9 has announced its plans to enter the realm of Teamfight Tactics. Former professional Heroes of the Storm players Khalif “Khroen” Hashim and Juan “JSchritte” Freitas have been signed to represent the organization in the League of Legends autobattler. The reveal was made by Cloud9 on Twitter, with the players discussing the news after. “It’s good to be back! I have always loved this team and now they are like …
League of Legends
TSM to start academy jungler Spica in LCS summer playoffs
William Davis
Team SoloMid is starting Mingyi “Spica” Lu in playoffs. TSM chose Spica as the starting jungler for the 2019 LCS Summer Playoffs. Spica joined TSM Academy earlier this year and he made his LCS debut in week nine of the regular season. The decision took the community by surprise. Through the regular season, TSM alternated between Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham and Jonathan “Grig” Armao. Eventually, the team settled for Akaadian while …
League of Legends
Honda becomes the exclusive automobile partner of the LCS
Olivia Richman
Honda has ventured into esports once again, this time becoming the exclusive automobile partner for the League of Legends Championship Series. Beginning with the Summer Split Playoffs, Honda will not only sponsor the LCS, but also the LCS Scouting Grounds as well as the League MVP award. According to an interview with The Esports Observer, Riot’s head of esports partnerships Matthew Archambault was drawn to Honda because of their “commitment …
Riot Games’ late Worlds points changes to affect TSM and Cloud9
gabhernandez
League of Legends
Due to rule changes affecting championship points, Team SoloMid and Cloud9, both contenders for Worlds, have had their chances for qualification greatly impacted. Contrary to previous splits, 2019 spring ended without a third-place consolation prize. As a result, championship points for both of the semifinal losers were set to 40. However, Riot has decided to reinstate the consolation series for summer, allowing teams to compete for either 70 or 40 …
Teamfight Tactics patch 9.15b nerfs Karthus, Kayle, Pyke
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
The latest Teamfight Tactics patch is live, and Riot Games developers have implemented a few balance changes with the purpose of broadening the current meta. Players were excited to see the TFT patch 9.15b bring nerfs to Karthus and Kayle. Both of these high-cost units have been dominating the meta. In contrast, Runaan’s Hurricane got a big damage buff. Karthus’s ability damage has been lowered from 400/700/1000 to 350/600/850. More …
2019 LCS Summer Playoffs 2019 schedule and match-ups set
William Davis
League of Legends
It’s time for the 2019 LCS Summer playoffs. Ten teams competed in the regular season, but only six made it to the next stage. Team SoloMid, Clutch Gaming, Cloud9, Counter Logic Gaming, OpTic Gaming, and Team Liquid are competing for the 2019 LCS Summer title and the pass for the 2019 Worlds Championship. It all starts in the quarterfinals where the teams will play two best-of-five series. Only two move …
League of Legends patch 9.16 nerfs Corki and Azir on PBE
M Alzamora
League of Legends
Riot Games has previewed patch 9.16 for League of Legends, and with it will come much-needed nerfs to a pair of problematic mid laners. The changes are now being tested on the Public Beta Environment. Corki and Azir are among the notable champions receiving nerfs. These champions have dominated the mid lane meta thanks to their power and safety in the early game. Sejuani and Sylas have been a bit …
Riot Games shares ARAM win rates for Patch 9.15, future plans
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Riot Games has revealed the League of Legends champions with the best win rates in ARAM throughout Patch 9.15. According to a principal game designer from Riot, the best champion in ARAM during the last patch was Swain. The beefy mage had a 59.6% win rate thanks to his ultimate’s effectiveness in ARAM teamfights. His Nevermore ability also allows him to isolate opponents he targets. Patch 9.16, which is coming …
LoL Patch 9.16 bringing better matchmaking system to Teamfight Tactics
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Changes to Teamfight Tactics’ matchmaking system are in the works. Riot Games is known for taking players’ feedback to heart and this instance is no different. Designer Geoff Marsi announced a welcome shakeup to the autobattler’s game coordinator which will arrive in the 9.16 patch. “With the new system, it’ll be extremely unlikely to be matched against the same player (or the ghost army) multiple times in a row,” Marsi …
Huni thinks Clutch Gaming is ready to take on TSM in LCS playoffs
Olivia Richman
News
Clutch Gaming has scored a spot in the playoffs by defeating Golden Guardians, something not many expected. But the underdog team is already ready to take on their new quarterfinal opponent, Team SoloMid. WIN.gg sat down with top laner Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon to find out what making the playoffs means to the team. How are you feeling after that match? Huni: Of course, not bad. Not a bad start going into the …
Clutch Gaming’s Damonte on emotional win and making LCS playoffs
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
This weekend was quite important for Clutch Gaming. After beating the Golden Guardians, the team secured a spot in the LCS Summer Split playoffs. It was an emotional moment for Clutch Gaming, who many had written off earlier in the year. Now the team has their sights set on beating Team SoloMid in the quarterfinals. WIN.gg spoke with mid laner Tanner “Damonte” Damonte about the big day for Clutch. How …
Team Liquid’s Impact discusses beating TSM with glacial comp
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Team Liquid has a guaranteed spot in the LCS Summer Split semifinals thanks to their first place finish in the regular season. So they decided to have a little fun against Team SoloMid. Team Liquid played the off-meta glacial comp based on a commonly used composition from Teamfight Tactics. The crowd erupted when Jung “Impact” Eon-yeong locked in Volibear. The analysts also had fun with it, calling Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng and Jo “CoreJJ” …
Liquid run over TSM with TFT-inspired lineup ahead of LCS playoffs
William Davis
League of Legends
Team Liquid finished the regular season on a high note. The final day of the 2019 LCS Summer Split regular season was tense. While Team Liquid and Team SoloMid had their standings for the season locked up, they still faced off for an intriguing game that saw Liquid utilize a surprising composition. The match had no playoff implications, so Team Liquid locked in champions from Freljord. In a side-lane interview, Team Liquid …
TSM Broken Blade downplays loss to Team Liquid
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Team SoloMid may have just lost to Team Liquid’s troll comp in their latest match of the LCS Summer Split regular season, but they’re still confident about their playoff matches going forward. WIN.gg spoke with top laner Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik How are you feeling after your match today? I’m feeling pretty normal. No emotions really. It was a troll game. It had no impact on the standings. It still …
Cloud9 Nisqy expects to face Team Liquid in LCS Summer final
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Cloud9 had a good weekend at the LCS. The dominant team took down OpTic Gaming and Golden Guardians, securing a spot in the playoffs. Then 100 Thieves surprised fans by easily defeating CounterLogic Gaming, which gave Cloud9 a bye in the playoffs, sending them right right to the semifinals. WIN.gg spoke with Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer about his team’s strengths, who he thinks will be in the finals, and how North America …
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
League of Legends
League of Legends
League of Legends
