League of Legends
League of Legends
LCK earns spot in Rift Rivals grand finals, looks to end curse
William Davis
The LCK has seeded directly into the Rift Rivals 2019 finals. Damwon Gaming, Griffin, Kingzone DragonX, and SK Telecom T1 combined for seven wins in the group stage. That tally puts the Korean teams in first place, followed by the LPL with five victories. The coalition of the LMS and VCS finished third with no wins. Since its creation in 2017, Rift Rivals has been the Achilles’ heel for the …
League of Legends
Teamfight Tactics update changes item drops, adds ranked play
Jared Wynne
Riot Games is making major changes to its new Teamfight Tactics game mode. Teamfight Tactics has only been live for about a week and players are going crazy for it. Riot pushed some major changes to the game mode on its PBE server. These changes include the introduction of ranked play, changes to item drops, and various champion balance changes. Ranked testing is now live on PBE. Currently, five matches …
League of Legends
MikeYeung joins Echo Fox, replaces Rush on LCS roster
Nina Forneloza
Talented American jungler Mike “MikeYeung” Yeung is back in the LCS after making a surprise move to Echo Fox from Team Liquid Academy. The announcement came in an entertaining video in which Mike is unveiled from a cardboard box simply labelled as merchandise. In a statement from Team Liquid, the esports organization thanked MikeYeung for his hard work. “Thanks for the hard work, dedication, and all the laughs Mike. Good …
League of Legends
Kingzone DragonX upsets FunPlus Phoenix at Rift Rivals, LCK starts 4-0
William Davis
Kingzone DragonX pulled off a major upset at Rift Rivals 2019. The LCK added another win to the scoreboard with Kingzone’s victory over FunPlus Phoenix. Though FunPlus stand as the LPL’s best, they seemingly didn’t stand a chance against a determined Kingzone. The teams locked in standard compositions with few innovations. In the top lane, Kim “Rascal” Kwang-hee stole Kled from mid laner Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang. This forced him to …
League of Legends
Twitch subscriber streams could violate TOS in popular games
Nina Forneloza
A new feature from Twitch, subscriber streams, will allow content creators to stream exclusively to those users who have paid a subscription to their channel. Users currently can watch any channel’s content for free, or can choose to subscribe to channels in order to access a small number of privileges. The decision has been met with mixed reactions. Some feel that subscription-only streams will reduce toxicity and unpleasant messages in …
League of Legends
Teamfight Tactics celebrates ranked mode with Showdown tournament
Olivia Richman
The first-ever Teamfight Tactics tournament has just been announced. Riot Games released an official press release for the first Teamfight Tactics event. Sixty-four Twitch streamers will battle for “bragging rights” in the game’s first competitive tournament on July 17 and 18. The two-day Twitch Rivals event has a $125,000 prize pool. The first day will feature two groups of 32 players, compting for a spot in the second day’s top …
League of Legends
Team Liquid is charting a path to global esports domination
Jared Wynne
Team Liquid deposed the mighty Astralis and stormed to the top of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive rankings this month following emphatic victories at IEM Sydney and DreamHack Masters Dallas. This sustained brilliance drew plaudits from competitive gaming fans and signalled the dawn of a new era in CS:GO. Yet it was just the latest in a long list of triumphs for Liquid, which is officially the most successful esports …
League of Legends
LEC crushes LCS in Rift Rivals despite strong showing from Team Liquid
William Davis
G2 Esports, Origen, and Fnatic are returning to the LEC as champions. Europe has won Rift Rivals 2019. The LEC representatives dominated the LCS teams and made a case for themselves as the top contenders for the 2019 World Championship. The three-day event was not fun to watch for North American fans. Throughout the group stage, the LEC destroyed the best teams from across the Atlantic and had firm control …
Origen Kold has some advice for NA teams after Rift Rivals
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Europe was crowned the Rift Rivals champions for the second year in a row. The grand finals saw Team Liquid defeat G2 Esports, but it wasn’t enough to hold back the LEC. Still, the performance made Origen realize that North America may have more to offer than the team previously thought. WIN.gg spoke with Origen’s jungler Jonas “Kold” Andersen about the LEC victory and his advice to North American teams after …
Team Liquid gets revenge on G2 Esports for MSI Finals at Rift Rivals 2019
William Davis
League of Legends
Team Liquid is helping to undo some of the reputational damage inflicted to the LCS at Rift Rivals 2019. Day two of the event started with an interesting rematch of the Mid-Season Invitational grand finals, with Team Liquid looking to take revenge upon G2 Esports. The matchup would have been compelling all on its own, but it had extra stakes in the form of Liquid trying dig the LCS out …
Mikyx and G2 Esports stun TSM with unorthodox lineup at Rift Rivals
William Davis
League of Legends
He might be a support player, but Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle carried G2 Esports to a massive victory over Team SoloMid. The Mid-Season Invitational champions once again showed their incredible versatility and victimized one of the LCS’s best in the process. After fielding a seemingly standard draft, G2 left TSM stunned after the picks and bans as they played their champions in surprising positions. Jungler Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski finally got a …
G2 Esports Mikyx discusses loss to Team Liquid, Bard, and pizza
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
G2 Esports had a fun day at Rift Rivals: NA vs EU. First, the European team faced Team Liquid and lost. But they lost in style. G2 had drafted a never before seen composition, including an assassin in the bottom lane. According to head coach Fabian “Grabbz” Lohmann, they did it out of boredom after dominating the previous day. He still noted that the team most likely had less than …
SK Telecom T1 scrape past KT Rolster in rivalry low point
William Davis
League of Legends
SK Telecom T1 has again gotten the better of KT Rolster. The telecom war is one of the longest running rivalries in esports. On week four of the current LCK split, SKT and KT clashed in an extremely important match for the two teams. Consistently negative results this season have been deeply affecting both SKT and KT, and it showed throughout this latest series. In game one, SKT started its …
Chiefs signed under ICON Esports, works towards Oceanic growth
Jared Wynne
League of Legends
The Chiefs are hitting the big time. The Oceanic esports scene is recognized as being among the fastest-growing and most dedicated in the world. Within that scene, Chiefs is considered a household name. The Chiefs Esports Club, competing up until now under “Chiefs,” was founded in 2014 and has since been a staple across nearly every esport title in Australia. Their teams are four times Oceanic Pro League Champions in …
Cloud9 gets crushed by G2 Esports to start Rift Rivals 2019
William Davis
News
G2 Esports started Rift Rivals 2019 with a win. The Mid-Season Invitational champions continue to dominate the international stage, kicking off the event with a convincing victory over Cloud9. The win kicked off what was a strong day one for the LEC side. Prior to the event, the G2 players hinted that they would utilize unorthodox picks and strategies. They delivered on their promise and showed the flexibility of the …
Kold and Patrik talk lane swaps, win over TSM, the rise of the LEC
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
European League of Legends teams have come to Los Angeles to prove that they’re the region to beat. The first day of Rift Rivals: NA vs EU was quite one-sided by the time Origen easily defeated Team SoloMid. But Origen didn’t want to win doing the same old thing. They took Rift Rivals as an opportunity to try out some brand new strategies, and they seemed to pay off immediately. …
Team Liquid team up with Marvel, reveal exclusive Avengers jerseys
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Team Liquid has just announced a brand new strategic partnership with Marvel Entertainment. The partnership was revealed at Rift Rivals: NA vs EU today. Team Liquid’s League of Legends team walked on the stage with custom designed Captain America competitive jerseys. While the one-of-a-kind jerseys were an immediate showstopper, that’s not all the partnership has in store. Over the next few months, Team Liquid will partner with Marvel to drop …
Rap Rivals has NA and EU face off before Rift Rivals tournament
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Although Rift Rivals doesn’t start until tomorrow, NA and EU are already duking it out in the form of an old school rap battle. The two regions were represented by hard hitting commentators who had some flow to dish out, along with some epic burns. For those of you still recovering from H1ghsky1’s Turner “Tfue” Tenney diss (click at your own risk), this may be just the medicine you need …
Riot Games partners with Nielsen to provide advanced sponsorship data
Fariha Bhatti
League of Legends
Consumer insights platform Nielsen has announced a new partnership with developer Riot Games that will see the company track sponsorship valuations and return on investment across multiple League of Legends competitions. Nielsen will be measuring brand exposure for sponsors across both the LCS and LEC throughout 2019 and 2020, as well as at international events such as the annual World Championship, the Mid-Season Invitational, and the All-Star event. Select Asian …
Top ranked player Revenge declares intent to go pro in the LCS
Fariha Bhatti
League of Legends
Moe “Revenge” Kaddoura is one of the best League of Legends players in North America, and now he is looking to take his skills to the LCS stage for the first time. Revenge is currently ranked 26th on the North American ranked ladder, a higher rank than those held by most of the current LCS players. He is also undoubtedly one of the most mechanically skilled players in the region, …
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.
