League of Legends
League of Legends
Origen upsets Fnatic to set LEC finals rematch with G2 Esports
William Davis
Origen is ready for round two against G2 Esports as the team made it to the LEC spring finals after a victory over Fnatic. OG is getting a second chance against G2 but the squad first had to go through Fnatic. Coming into this match, many favored Fnatic considering the dominating performance the team had in the final weeks of the regular season. In game one, Fnatic opted for Sona …
League of Legends
SK Telecom signs a new partnership with Riot Games Korea
William Davis
SK Telecom and Riot Games Korea have announced a new sponsorship deal. SK Telecom, the parent company to popular League of Legends team SK Telecom T1, signed a new partnership agreement with Riot Games Korea. As part of the new deal, the telecom company now holds the rights to broadcast the LCK on its own video service, oksusu. The broadcasting is set to start on April 13 during the 2019 …
League of Legends
Famed jungler Trick returns to Europe to join FC Schalke 04
William Davis
LEC team FC Schalke 04 has signed four-time EU LCS champion Kim “Trick” Gang-yun. Schalke is adding a new name to its LEC roster, as Trick is making what the team hopes will be a triumphant return to Europe. Known primarily for his time at G2 Esports, Trick first made a name for himself in the European pro scene. Wearing G2’s uniform, the jungler competed in the 2017 Mid-Season Invitational …
League of Legends
The Weeknd invests in OverActive Media, owner of Splyce and Defiant
William Davis
Popular Canadian R&B musical artist The Weeknd has invested in OverActive Media, the parent company of Splyce and the Toronto Defiant. Splyce currently has a professional League of Legends team in the LEC, the top tier of pro League competition in Europe. The organization also boasts a pro Call of Duty team, a Rocket League team, a Smite team, and a StarCraft team. While Splyce also owns the Toronto Defiant, …
League of Legends
Riot Games gives in to fan outcry, changes prestige point acquisition
William Davis
Riot Games is adding a new method for gaining prestige points in response to community complaints. Product manager Adriaan “KenAdamsNSA” Noordzij took to the League of Legends community boards to share Riot’s early plans in revising prestige point acquisition. The first major change is the ability to simply purchase a bundle containing 100 prestige points, allowing the player to trade those points in for a prestige skin. The second is …
League of Legends
SK Telecom T1 survive three scrappy games, beat Kingzone DragonX
William Davis
SK Telecom T1 is looking ready for the LCK Spring Split final after a win over Kingzone DragonX. The Kingzone team that rolled over Damwon Gaming in the previous round could not take a single game from three-time world champion SKT. The 3-0 victory puts SKT in the final against the number one team from the regular season, Griffin. In game one, jungler Moon “Cuzz” Woo-chan locked in Vi. This …
League of Legends
Team Liquid gets back on track with semifinal sweep of FlyQuest
William Davis
Team Liquid is set to contest its third consecutive LCS final after taking down underdog FlyQuest. Team Liquid is ready to defend the team’s title in St. Louis where they will face Team SoloMid. A decisive win over FlyQuest put an end to questions about whether or not Team Liquid was still in good playing shape. In game one, Team Liquid showed an unusual strategy with bot laner Yiliang “Doublelift” …
League of Legends
TSM edges Cloud9 in exciting semifinal series, heads to LCS final
William Davis
Team SoloMid confirmed its pass to the grand final in St. Louis after pulling a reverse sweep against Cloud9. The action-packed series finished after five exciting games that showed the best of both teams. Cloud9 got ahead early with two consecutive wins. The squad went for creative picks like Taric and Sona in the bottom lane, and game two was one of the best games of the season for jungler …
Amazing parts ways with Schalke, seeks return to playing role
William Davis
League of Legends
Maurice “Amazing” Stückenschneider is parting ways with FC Schalke 04, the former strategic manager announced through Twitter. Amazing might be returning to active play on the rift, as the jungler is looking for a new home after finishing his contract with Schalke. Amazing started his career in 2012 with the since-disbanded Absolute Legends team. In 2014 he played with Team SoloMid. The jungler found great success in North America and …
G2 roll over Origen, book tickets to LEC final in Rotterdam
William Davis
League of Legends
G2 Esports is the first team confirmed for the LEC final in Rotterdam after a devastating victory over Origen. G2 is putting the negative results of the late season behind and showing why they are the number one team in Europe. The squad had three weeks off between the end of the regular season and round two of the playoffs, more than enough time to recover from recent losses. Many …
Riot Games end Rift Rivals in many regions around the world
William Davis
League of Legends
League of Legends’ Rift Rivals has effectively been canned for many of the world’s regions. In a press release on the Oceania League of Legends site, Riot Games declared it would be discontinuing all but two of the Rift Rivals regional tournaments. Competitions between North America and Europe, as well as LPL/LCK/LMS events, will continue. Events featuring other regions including Oceania, Japan, and more will not be returning. Riot Games …
TJ Sports opening training camp for Chinese LoL prospects
William Davis
League of Legends
TJ Sports has launched a training camp for new League of Legends talents in China. Tencent and Riot Games are opening a new training camp through their joint venture, TJ Sports. The application process began on March 18 when players were first given the chance to register. The three different selection processes will run through April 20. One of the selection events will take place at the internet coffee bar …
Fnatic continues LEC playoff roll with wild win over Splyce
William Davis
League of Legends
Fnatic is looking unstoppable in the LEC Spring Playoffs as the defending champion took down Splyce in round two. Fnatic came into the match highly favored after a convincing win against Team Vitality. Despite being the underdogs, Splyce put on a fight and exposed some of Fnatic’s weaknesses. In game one, Splyce tried to surprise Fnatic with a Zoe pick in the bottom lane. The strategy didn’t work and Fnatic …
Kingzone DragonX stomp Damwon Gaming in LCK Spring Playoffs
William Davis
News
Kingzone DragonX is moving to round three after demolishing Damwon Gaming in three quick games. Kingzone is not playing around. The squad had one of the strongest performances of the season against Damwon and are now advancing in the LCK Spring Playoffs. Game one was all about the team fights. Kingzone drafted a team fight composition and executed the strategy to perfection. Damwon was relying on Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon to …
JD Gaming upsets Team WE as LPL playoffs get underway in China
William Davis
League of Legends
In a development few saw coming, JD Gaming took down Team World Elite in a stunning 3-1 upset in the LPL playoffs. Game one quickly looked to be in favor of JDG. Support player Zuo “LvMao” Ming Hao opened up the series with two quick kills on Rakan before the five minute mark. LvMao’s team then followed his lead and held a 4-0 lead in kills before 10 minutes ha …
League of Legends is rewarding Twitch Prime users with free loot
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
For a limited time, Twitch Prime users can unlock a new Summoner’s Crown capsule. From now until May 14, League of Legends players can link their Twitch and League of Legends accounts to receive a permanent champion skin, a ward skin, and a summoner icon. “We’ve had one, yes. But what about a second Summoner’s Crown Capsule?” the official Twitch account tweeted out. Twitch also encouraged followers to reply with …
Selfmade is rookie of LEC spring split, Guilhoto named top coach
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games announced jungler Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek as the LEC Rookie of the Spring Split and André “Guilhoto” Guilhoto as LEC Coach of the Spring Split. The votes are in and after a highly competitive season, SK Gaming’s jungler Selfmade was crowned the region’s top rookie. Selfmade received 123 points, surpassing Fnatic mid laner Tim “Nemesis” Lipovšek with 55 points and Splyce mid laner Marek “Humanoid” Brázda with 53. During …
Chovy named LCK MVP as Griffin dominates spring split awards
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games Korea has announced Griffin’s Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon as the regular season MVP of the LCK Spring Split, as the mid laner narrowly surpassed bot laner Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu. After an intense regular season, Chovy was crowned as the MVP of the season with 1,300 points, equivalent to 13 MVP awards. The mid laner was tied through the majority of the split with Deft from Kingzone DragonX, who finished …
Faker the only esports player on Forbes 2019 Asia 30 Under 30 list
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok was recently named 30 Under 30 in Forbes Asia 2019 list. Named among athletes, musicians, and artists, Faker was the only esports player on Forbes “entertainment and sports” category. “Nicknamed god of computer game ‘League of Legends,’ Faker is generally regarded in the gaming community as the greatest LoL player of all time,” reads the official description. The listing goes on to list the 22-year-old gamer’s accomplishments, …
Butcher’s Bridge in ARAM, Urgot and Kayle nerfed in LoL patch 9.7
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
The latest League of Legends update brings changes to several runes, a handful of items, a dozen champions, and gives ARAM a big shakeup. Patch 9.7 has launched in the game and is highlighted by the return of Butcher’s Bridge in place of ARAM. It also brings larger overhauls to champions Kayle and Urgot. Butcher’s Bridge returns for the third year in a row, surfacing for the first time since …
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
Riot Games plans big changes to the League of Legends item shop
By
William Davis
League of Legends
Reapered coach of the split, V1per rookie of the split for LCS spring
By
William Davis
League of Legends
Team Liquid was the most viewed esports organization in 2018
By
Olivia Richman
