League of Legends
League of Legends
Flash Wolves will miss the LMS playoffs for the first time
William Davis
For the first time since 2015, Flash Wolves will miss the 2019 LMS playoffs. It’s a sad day for Flash Wolves fans, as the team is missing playoffs for the first time in over four years. Flash Wolves was founded in 2013 and the team finally made it to the LMS for the 2015 spring season. The team is currently at the bottom of the standings with only two wins …
League of Legends
Xmithie explains Team Liquid’s loss to Cloud9, LCS playing faster
Olivia Richman
Team Liquid was unable to further their six-game win streak after losing to Cloud9 today. But despite the loss, Liquid is still in first place in the LCS Summer Split, maintaining their title as the best North American League of Legends team. Jake Kevin “Xmithie” Puchero, TL’s jungler, discussed his team’s loss and if they’re ready to take on other regions in the World Championship. Cloud9 were the last to defeat …
League of Legends
Cloud9 in playoffs with upset versus Team Liquid
William Davis
Cloud9 closed things out on Sunday with a major upset win over Team Liquid. Week eight in the 2019 LCS Summer Split was full of surprises. Just when Team Liquid was ready to lock up first place in the regular season, Cloud9 took a crucial game. Bot laner Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi is back with the team after a brief moment on the bench. In the match versus Team Liquid, Cloud9 drafted …
League of Legends
Contractz talks Golden Guardians improving, integrating FBI and Huhi
Olivia Richman
Golden Guardians dominated OpTic Gaming today, resulting in another win for the team this weekend. The underdog squad is well on their way to the playoffs, and well on their way to not being considered the underdog for much longer. Juan “Contractz” Garcia spoke with WIN.gg about his team’s slow rise up the ranks of North American League of Legends and why people are wrong to underestimate them now. How …
League of Legends
Cain and Reapered construct their LCS dream teams in interview
William Davis
Team Liquid and Cloud9 coaches Jang “Cain” Nu-ri and Bok “Reapered” Han-gyu drafted their North American dream teams. On InvenGlobal’s the “Reapered Show,” the coaches had a chance to sit down and discuss the state of the LCS. One of the sections was the “Have it My Way Draft” where they both got the opportunity to draft their LCS dream teams. Both coaches took part, with the only rule being that …
League of Legends
Cloud9 benches Sneaky against FlyQuest ahead of LCS Summer Playoffs
William Davis
Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi was benched in the match versus FlyQuest. Sneaky might be one of the faces of Cloud9 but his spot in the squad is evidently not secure. The bot laner remains a top tier player, but many believe his lack of impact has been hindering Cloud9’s chances in the 2019 LCS Summer Split. With that in mind, the team decided to switch things up in week eight. Cloud9 Academy player …
League of Legends
Riot Games under fire for helping China monitor players
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Riot Games is under fire from the Los Angeles Times for its participation in China’s increased surveillance of its citizenry. The Chinese version of League of Legends tracks how long its players spend in-game in order to limit the time minors spend gaming. The so-called anti-addiction system includes warnings to players when they’ve reached their daily playtime limit, denial of time-based rewards, and kicking players out of the game. This …
League of Legends
Fiddlesticks and Volibear to receive LoL visual game updates in 2020
gabhernandez
Responding to a poll held in May, Riot announced that both Fiddlesticks and Volibear will be receiving visual game updates. Volibear and Fiddlesticks have been outdated both visually and mechanically for years. Riot hopes to remedy that in 2020 with a VGU to strengthen their themes and solidify their direction as characters. Gameplay Designer Blake “Squad5” Smith hopes to amplify and highlight Fiddlesticks’ niche as the most terrifying champion in …
Splyce Gaming celebrates Christopher Street Day with rainbow jerseys
Nina Forneloza
League of Legends
Splyce has become the first team in LEC history to wear Pride-inspired jerseys on stage. The organization debuted their rainbow-adorned gear in their match against Team Vitality on July 26. Splyce swapped their traditional yellow, black, and gray jersey for one with a rainbow collar and logo. Splyce defeated Vitality in a chaotic 41-minute game that featured a total of 37 kills. Social media manager James “Stress” O’Leary discussed the …
G2 Esports beat Origen, look unstoppable in the 2019 LEC Summer Split
William Davis
League of Legends
G2 Esports seems unstoppable in the 2019 LEC Summer Split. The Spring champions destroyed Origen in a quick game that hurt their place in the standings and may have shaken their confidence moving forward. The win also adds to Origen’s eight-game active losing streak against G2. Top laner Martin “Wunder” Hansen locked in his first Kled of the season. This champion received some buffs in Patch 9.14 and is making a …
Teamfight Tactics 9.14B nerfs assassins, buff sorcerors, and more
M Alzamora
League of Legends
Teamfight Tactics has gotten another update following the release of patch 9.14. This one is 9.14B, and it brings further balance tweaks and bug fixes to the game. Assassin and Elementalist are getting slight hits, while Wild and Sorcerer will receive some love to bring them more in line with other traits. Beginning with Assassin, Riot Games is taking the tier-one critical strike damage bonus down from 150% to 125%. …
LEC partners with Prideletics to support The Trevor Project
William Davis
League of Legends
The LEC is partnering up with Pridelectics to support The Trevor Project. The European League of Legends tournament announced a partnership with apparel brand Prideletics. 10% of the proceeds from the esports pride t-shirt sales will go to The Trevor Project. Riot Games partnered up with Prideletics back in June and it’s now expanding the collaboration all the way to Europe. The League of Legends esports Twitter account shared a …
SKT takes down Gen.G, extends winning streak in LCK Summer Split
William Davis
League of Legends
SK Telecom T1 is on a six-game winning streak. The defending LCK champion started week seven with a decisive victory over Gen.G. Both squads have similar storylines in the LCK Summer Split, starting the season in forgettable fashion before kicking into gear in time to shoot for a spot in playoffs. In previous weeks, Gen.G defeated Griffin, SandBox Gaming, and Kingzone DragonX but the team couldn’t keep its momentum going …
Riot Games offers rewards to lapsed League of Legends players
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
League of Legends’ player base has been continuously growing over the years. However, this hasn’t stopped the game’s publisher, Riot Games, from offering rewards to encourage lapsed players to return. Although Riot hasn’t published official data on their active player base in recent years, analysts estimate the game has achieved 100 million active players this year alone. Regardless, Riot is now taking the initiative to bring inactive players back to …
sOAZ and GorillA leave Misfits amidst disappointing LEC season
Nina Forneloza
League of Legends
Misfits Gaming have made dramatic roster changes to their League of Legends team with only four weeks to go in the 2019 Summer Split. The organization announced on Twitter that it was parting ways with veteran top laner Paul “sOAZ” Boyer and star Korean support player Kang “GorillA” Beom-hyun. In a pair of tweets, Misfits thanked both players for their service and indicated that there was no bad blood. GorillA in …
EU Masters format and schedule revealed
William Davis
League of Legends
The EU Masters returns on September 9. The top teams from Europe’s 13 Regional Leagues are set for a clash in a three-week tournament. The squads are competing for the crown and part of the €150,000 prize pool. In the play-in stage, seven runners-up will compete for one of the three remaining spots at the main event. This stage runs from September 9 through September 12. The top three from …
LoL patch 9.14 introduces five game-changing mechanics
William Davis
League of Legends
League of Legends Patch 9.14 introduced five new mechanics that will impact the meta. Season 9 can be described in two words, dynamic and flexible. Now, more than ever, it feels like the list of viable champions is long and the flexing options are endless. However, the professional side of the game still has a short list of champions that offer the mobility, sustainability, and viability in different lanes to …
LoL patch 9.15 takes shape with many buffs and a few nerfs
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
League of Legends is getting new updates with Patch 9.15, set to go live on July 31. Mark Yetter, the game’s lead gameplay designer, has shared what the current plans are for this upcoming patch. The patch will bring a lot of balance changes. Evelynn, Rumble, Qiyana, and Karma will be getting nerfed. On the other hand, many champions will be receiving buffs. These include Lissandra, Malphite, Poppy, Graves, Lee …
CLG beats Cloud9, moves into second place in LCS Summer Split
William Davis
League of Legends
Counter Logic Gaming and Cloud9 are tied in second place in 2019 LCS Summer Split. Entering Sunday a game apart on the season, Cloud9 had its eyes set on solidifying second place in the standings and keeping step with frontrunner Team Liquid. Instead, CLG managed to take a key win off Cloud9 and put itself in a stronger position with playoffs looming. On CLG’s side, jungler Raymond “Wiggily” Griffin picked …
Doublelift, Rekkles, Bjergsen highlight all-time scores LCS and LEC
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Whether it’s the North American League Championship Series or the rebranded LCS, and European LCS or rebranded LEC, an overview of historical stats at the pro level shows that League’s professional scene has been dominated by a few top stars even since its beginnings. Zachary “mancloud” Hoschar, then known as mandatorycloud, had the highest number of kills at the end of NA LCS’ first split, through the 2013 Spring playoffs. …
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
FBI confident that Golden Guardians will be in the LCS playoffs
By
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Gen.G brings merch to United States by partnering with Meta Threads
By
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Team Liquid comeback over OpTic Gaming moves them closer to top seed
By
William Davis
