League of Legends
League of Legends
FunPlus Phoenix tops LPL after beating world champ Invictus Gaming
William Davis
FunPlus Phoenix has continued to dominate the LPL with a decisive victory against current world champion Invictus Gaming. FPX consolidated its place as the number one team in the Chinese LPL with a reverse sweep against IG. FPX is one of the biggest surprises of the 2019 season to date and is looking like a strong contender for the LPL spring title. The LPL is a region known for constant …
League of Legends
TSM pushes through late game to best Echo Fox
William Davis
Team SoloMid continued to climb in the LCS standings with a victory over Echo Fox. Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik had yet another outstanding performance that contributed to TSM’s victory. Making his debut in the LCS, jungler James “Panda” Ding made sure Echo Fox had a stable early game. Every time TSM’s Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham tried to get aggressive, Panda was ready to respond. At the same time, he was able …
League of Legends
G2 remain atop LEC after scrappy win over Rogue
William Davis
G2 Esports found a win against Rogue, but it was a bigger fight than fans expected. The battle in the 2019 LEC Spring Split continues, this time featuring the first and last-place in the standing. The match showed a new side of G2 and mid laner Rasmus “Caps” Winther. As expected, Rek’Sai was a priority pick for G2. The jungle champion received some significant buffs in Patch 9.4 that made …
League of Legends
SK Telecom and Comcast Spectacor create new esports giant
Olivia Richman
Comcast Spectacor and SK Telecom have announced the creation of T1 Entertainment & Sports, an esports entity that will operate out of Philadelphia, Seoul, and Los Angeles. SK Telecom is home to three-time World Champion League of Legends team SK Telecom T1. Comcast Spectacor owns the Overwatch League’s Philadelphia Fusion, who played in the grand finals last season. T1 will continue to have teams compete in Overwatch, League of Legends, …
League of Legends
Team Liquid signs new and exclusive deal with Twitch
Olivia Richman
Team Liquid has announced that Twitch as the esports organization’s sponsorship sales partner. The team called the partnership “their most ambitious crossover” yet. The multi-year sponsorship sales agreement involves Twitch working with brands to create unique partnerships with Team Liquid. The streaming service will help brands enter the pro gaming industry through partnerships with the esports giant. This is the first time Twitch has signed a direct managing deal with …
League of Legends
G2 get back on track with quick triumph over Schalke
William Davis
G2 Esports kicked off the sixth week of the LEC Spring Split with a dominant victory over Schalke 04. After a small setback in taking their season’s first loss against Origen last week, G2 continues to rule the LEC. Schalke could not contain Rasmus “Caps” Winther and the rest of the G2 squad, as G2 was able to claim the victory after just 23 minutes. In the laning phase, Schalke …
League of Legends
Riot Games launches new official LCS store
William Davis
Riot Games’ official LCS store is now live, coinciding with the ongoing 2019 LCS Spring Split. The store was developed by esports merchandising company We Are Nations, who first partnered with the LCS in 2018. The shop’s stock includes LCS-branded shirts and hoodies as well as team jerseys. Customers can choose from either a team’s general jersey, a specific player’s jersey, or a custom lettered jersey with the purchaser’s chosen …
League of Legends
Faker quadra kill keys SKT win over rival KT Rolster
William Davis
SK Telecom T1 came out victorious in the first telecom war of 2019, one of the oldest esports rivalries in esports. Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok reminded fans why he is considered among the best players in the world. The mid laner secured a quadra kill 30 minutes into the second game to secure the clean 2-0 sweep for SKT. The telecom war is one of the most anticipated events in the …
RP in League of Legends is going up in price for most of the world
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Riot has announced some changes to its Riot Points system, which will go into effect in March. The main in-game currency for League of Legends will have its price increased in several regions to account for new tax laws and inflation. According to Riot, the company reviews global pricing annually, but this year they’ve seen more changes than usual in the affected regions. The United States has recently added a …
Controversy surrounds all-female pro League team
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
League of Legends Continental League team RoX banned five support champions in the draft phase against all-female opponents Vaevictis Esports, a sexist joke that drew attention to how problematic the team was to begin with. Even though Vaevictis seemed amused by the joke while on stage, an ensuing Reddit thread about RoX’s stunt was locked due to “an overwhelming amount of sexist comments.” Before the lockdown, a Reddit user noted …
TSM ends the undefeated dream for Team Liquid
William Davis
League of Legends
Team Liquid is no longer undefeated. The defending champions went down to Team SoloMid after having amassed a perfect 7-0 record. TSM broke that record and finished week four with two victories. TSM showed a dominant performance against a Team Liquid that found itself without answers. Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham left his passive jungling style behind, pressuring Jake “Xmithie” Puchero out of his own jungle. In the top lane, Sergen “Broken …
Cloud9 manage methodical victory over Rush and Echo Fox
William Davis
League of Legends
Cloud9 took a dominant victory over a hesitant Echo Fox to claim second place in the LCS standings. Cloud9 started week four on a high note in defeating Echo Fox. The World Championship semifinalist showed a methodical game against an Echo Fox roster that has at times struggled.. The star of the match was young support Tristan “Zeyzal” Stidam on Alistar. Zeyzal had a strong presence in the map with …
SKT overcome Kingzone DragonX Frostmancy strategy
William Davis
League of Legends
SK Telecom T1 started the new lunar year with a victory against Kingzone DragonX to secure third place in the LCK. It’s a new year and a new meta in the LCK, as the Korean league is back after a week of celebrations. Despite the chaotic new meta, SKT managed to pull a reverse sweep against Kingzone. Game one went in favor of Kingzone through the use of the “Frostmancy” …
LCS officials admit fault for creep blocking rule confusion
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
LCS commissioner Chris Greenley has taken responsibility for the rule controversy that shook the League community after 100 Thieves used creep blocking to their aid in a recent win over Clutch Gaming. Creep blocking is an in-game mechanic that allows players to walk in front of the game’s first waves of minions, slowing down the incoming waves from reaching the opposing team. This tactic creates an imbalance in the lane …
LCS host Dash to dye hair if Team Liquid goes undefeated
Olivia Richman
News
Team Liquid has to win just 12 more games and LCS host James “Dash” Patterson will dye his hair. Team Liquid is undefeated in the spring split with a 6-0 record. This includes an opening victory against their biggest rivals, Cloud9. This strong start to the season had Dash tweeting about Team Liquid’s successful three weeks, joking that “those Team Liquid guys are pretty good.” This prompted an immediate response from …
Vaevictis sign five female players for new LCL pro team
William Davis
League of Legends
In a surprising move, Russian organization Vaevictis Esports has signed an all-female roster for the 2019 LCL Spring Split. The move comes after Riot Games Russia announced its plans to franchise the LCL in 2020. In January, Vaevictis announced a new roster that would compete in the 2019 LCL Open Cup. This tournament is organized by Riot Games Russia and takes place at the same time as the LCL regular …
Fnatic Rising looks to continue Fnatic legacy in UK
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Fnatic is looking to dominate the United Kingdom League of Legends Championship with new team Fnatic Rising. Jordan “Shikari” Pointon, Daniel “Dan” Hockley, Matthew “xMatty” Coombs, and Tom “Prosfair” Willis are four Brits in the UKLC lineup who will be repping the black and orange. Their fifth and newest member is Sweden’s Felix “MagiFelix” Bostrom. The newly formed team will be based out of the Fnatic HQ’s new practice facilities …
Liquid remain unbeaten after fending off FlyQuest challenge
William Davis
League of Legends
Team Liquid found another to continue undefeated in the 2019 LCS Spring Split. The defending champions finished week three with six victories to zero losses, putting the side two points ahead of the second place Cloud9. On Saturday, Team Liquid faced FlyQuest, one of the strongest teams in the season so far. The game started with aggressive early trades, as FlyQuest showed a desire to engage and collected first blood …
Riot Games struggles with sexism, harassment, and identity
William Davis
League of Legends
While Riot Games has dedicated itself to battling in-game “toxicity” in League of Legends, the famed developer is having a difficult time confronting similar behaviors at its own workplace. Toxicity is commonly referred to in the gaming community as actions that create an unhealthy environment for other players. Riot Games actually popularized the term as a response to consistently negative player behaviors in its game. As Riot has made a …
LCS broadcaster Jatt retires, moves to development team
William Davis
News
The LCS is losing one of its top broadcasting talents. Popular League of Legends commentator and former pro player Josh “Jatt” Leesman has announced he is departing the esports scene to become a game designer at Riot Games. The prominent League personality revealed that he would be leaving LCS shoutcasting during a recent episode of the League of Legends esports podcast, “The Dive.” Jatt described how he had originally joined …
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.
