League of Legends
League of Legends
Golden Guardians retool with Hauntzer, Froggen, Olleh
gabhernandez
Golden Guardians have undergone a promising roster overhaul after taking last place in both splits of the 2018 season. In the top lane, the Guardians picked up Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell from TSM. Hauntzer was well known for his dominance as a native top laner against top lane imports such as Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon. Hauntzer’s skill proved itself out even among star teammates like Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg and Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng. Unfortunately, …
League of Legends
Deft, Pawn, TusiN replenish Kingzone DragonX
William Davis
Kingzone DragonX will be starting three new players in 2019 after the departure of its starting roster. New faces are joining Kingzone DragonX for the new LCK season. Former KT Rolster players Heo “PawN” Won-seok and Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu are joined by former Afreeca Freecs support Park “TuSin” Jong-ik as now members of the team. The organization shared the news through social media after it was confirmed that Gwak “BDD” Bo-seong and …
League of Legends
New champion Neeko brings subterfuge to League
William Davis
Riot Games has revealed its newest champion, Neeko, the curious chameleon. Riot has hinted that an upcoming champion could disguise itself and trick the enemies, the developer did not disappoint the fans. ABILITIES Neeko’s passive, Inherent Glamour, is what really sets her apart. She can disguise herself as an allied champion, including a fake health bar representing that ally’s current health. The illusion lasts until she casts Blooming Burst (Q) …
League of Legends
Cloud9, Overwatch, and Fortnite win at The Game Awards
Fariha Bhatti
Overwatch, Fortnite, and League of Legends were among the big winners at the 2018 Game Awards. The Game Awards is the largest annual game awards ceremony in the video game industry. A panel of more than 60 experts nominated over 100 games for various awards, including multiple esports titles. Blizzard’s FPS Overwatch was named “Esports Game of the Year” after being nominated alongside Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, Fortnite, and …
Caps and Mikyx complete new G2 roster
William Davis
League of Legends
Rasmus “Caps” Winther and Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle have joined G2 Esports, the organization announced through social media. After weeks of speculations, it was confirmed that Caps and Mikyx are the new members of G2. That is not the only surprise, as according to the team popular mid laner Luka “Perkz” Perković is transitioning to the bottom lane. After a successful year with Fnatic, Caps decided to change sides and start …
Echo Fox, CG complete roster swap with Huni, Rush, more
William Davis
League of Legends
Echo Fox and Clutch Gaming have announced the transfer of multiple players between the two LCS organizations. Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon and Tanner “Damonte” Damonte are leaving Echo Fox and joining Clutch Gaming. In return, Echo Fox will welcome Colin “Solo” Earnest, Apollo “Apollo” Price, and Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent. In addition, Echo Fox signed former KT Rolster jungler Lee “Rush” Yoon-jae and welcomed back mid laner Kim “FeniX” Jae-hun. The team also announced Kim …
KT Rolster hope BDD is the missing piece to their puzzle
William Davis
League of Legends
Defending LCK champions KT Rolster announced Gwak “BDD” Bo-seong and No “SnowFlower” Hoi-jong as new members of the team for the upcoming split. KT Rolster is known for two things: a fierce rivalry with SK Telecom T1 and rosters designed to win championships. The super team conquered the LCK during this past summer but failed to show good results at the 2018 World Championship. In 2019, the team is changing strategies with …
Peanut completes Gen.G roster
William Davis
League of Legends
Gen.G Esports has announced Han “Peanut” Wang-ho as the team’s new jungler. Gen.G is keeping changes to a minimum for the new season, as the team signed Peanut as the new jungler and kept the rest of their existing roster intact. After releasing Lee “Crown” Min-ho, Kang “Ambition” Chan-yong, Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in, and Kang “Haru” Min-seung, the team was expected to sign multiple players. Instead, Gen.G is turning to the remaining …
Faker returns as SKT rebuilds roster for 2019
William Davis
League of Legends
Former world championship team SK Telecom T1 announced that star player Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok is staying with the team. SKT will be full of new faces in 2019. After a mediocre year, the organization appears ready to take over the LCK again. The team released seven players to rebuild the roster around Faker. Kim “Khan” Dong-ha and Kim “Crazy” Jae-hee are the two top laners for SKT. Khan is leaving KINGZONE …
Ucal joins Afreeca Freecs as new mid laner
William Davis
League of Legends
Afreeca Freecs announced Son “Ucal ” Woo-hyeon as the team’s new starting mid laner for 2019. After releasing four members of the team, Afreeca Freecs has started building up its roster. The first addition is young mid laner Ucal. The 17-year-old started his career with KT Rolster as a sub. By the end of 2017, he was promoted to the starting roster. Ucal replaced the experienced Heo “PawN” Won-seok, who had …
Bang and Huhi complete 100 Thieves roster
William Davis
League of Legends
100 Thieves announced its new roster for 2019, including Choi “HuHi” Jae-hyun and Bae “Bang” Jun-sik. The Thieves are getting ready for their latest heist with two new members on the roster. Mid laner Huhi is leaving Counter Logic Gaming after three years and reuniting with former teammate Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black. Bang is venturing into North America for the first time in his career. The bottom laner left SK Telecom T1 after five …
CoreJJ brings world championship experience to Team Liquid
William Davis
League of Legends
Team Liquid announced former World Champion Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in as its starting support for 2019. CoreJJ is returning to North America, this time wearing the colors of domestic champion Team Liquid. After three years spent competing in the LCK and a World Championship victory to his credit, CoreJJ decided to switch regions once more. The support player started his career in 2014 playing for two different smaller organizations in Korea. He …
GorillA and sOAZ headline new Misfits roster
William Davis
League of Legends
Misfits announced its roster for the LEC spring split in 2019, and the team surprised the fans with the signing of Korean support Kang “GorillA” Beom-hyeon. Paul “sOAZ” Boyer, Nubar “Maxlore” Sarafian, Fabian “Febiven” Diepstraten, Steven “Hans Sama” Liv, and GorillA will be the starting five for Misfits next year. Misfits is getting ready for the new season in the LEC with a roster full of stars. After previously announcing they …
Jensen leaves Cloud9 for Team Liquid in transfer shock
William Davis
League of Legends
Danish mid laner Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen is leaving Cloud9 and joining Team Liquid. In a surprising roster move, Jensen was announced as the new mid laner for Team Liquid. Jensen joined the NA LCS in 2015, and has since become an emblematic player for the team alongside Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi. Jensen will replace Eugene “Pobelter” Park. Jensen started his career in 2012 but quickly ran into difficulties as he was banned …
TSM brings in a new coach for 2019
William Davis
League of Legends
Team SoloMid announced former Echo Fox Academy coach Peter Zang as the new head coach for the TSM Academy squad. The Chinese coach is no stranger to the NA LCS, as he worked for Team Liquid as a coach back in 2015, and now he’s is looking to help take TSM back to its former glory. Zang started his career as a coach with LMQ, a Chinese team since disbanded. After a brief …
SK Telecom T1 release more than half of League roster
William Davis
League of Legends
SK Telecom T1 have released seven players, including iconic bottom duo Lee “Wolf” Jae-wan and Bae “Bang” Jun-sik. After one of the worst years in the organization’s history, SKT decided to make drastic changes and released seven of ten contracted players. The biggest surprise is the departure of Bang and Wolf, two players that had became synonymous to SKT. Bang and Wolf joined SKT in 2013 and played as a duo …
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
