League of Legends
League of Legends
Cloud9 are the first NA team in Worlds semifinals
gabhernandez
Cloud9 is going where no North American team has gone before. Cloud9 defeated Korea’s Afreeca Freecs in a 3-0 quarterfinal series, sending a North American team to the semifinals of Riot’s World Championship for the first time in the event’s history. Game one of the quarterfinals started with Cloud9 seizing the upper hand with unrelenting pressure. Afreeca Freecs attempted to slow down the game with a focus on …
League of Legends
TSM Signs Zikz as head Coach
Steven Rondina
TSM missed the League of Legends World Championship for the first time in the history of the organization, and there has been no time wasted in making changes. TSM has signed Tony “Zikz” Gray as head coach. Zikz will be replacing Kim “SSONG” Sang-soo, who served as head coach of TSM for the majority of 2018. Zikz has spent the past five years coaching Counter Logic Gaming. Zikz initially worked …
League of Legends
Invictus Gaming Defeats KT Rolster in Massive Upset
William Davis
Invictus Gaming has secured a slot in the League of Legends 2018 World Championship after defeating KT Rolster in a 3-2 upset. Despite maintaining a high level of play throughout the World Championship, IG ended the last day of the group stage with two defeats at the hands of Fnatic. Moving into the quarterfinals, IG was given the undesirable task of going up against Korean superteam and tournament favorite KT …
League of Legends
Nike Signs Partnership with Uzi
Steven Rondina
Nike has signed an endorsement deal with Royal Never Give Up AD Carry Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao. Uzi is featured in a new Nike advertisement alongside Basketball star Lebron James and Chinese actor Bai Jingting. The ad is for James’ “Dribble &” ad campaign supporting his upcoming documentary series, “Shut Up & Dribble.” This is the first time Nike has partnered with an esports athlete. Chinese esports organization Royal Never Give …
Cloud9 advance to Worlds quarterfinals
gabhernandez
League of Legends
Many had given up on Cloud9 after the team was placed in this year’s “group of death” at Worlds, but Cloud9 would not be denied. Cloud9 started the second round of group play at Riot’s World Championship with a 1-2 standing. Having just barely scraped through the play-ins and the North American gauntlet, things were looking bleak for the team. C9’s next kicked off against Korea’s GenG. The …
GenG drop out of Worlds group stage
gabhernandez
League of Legends
GenG are the first Korean team since 2013 to drop out of the group stage at Riot’s World Championship. Despite GenG’s roster consisting of the 2017 World Champions from Samsung Galaxy, their Worlds run fell flat and ended with a 1-5 final standing. At the start, Group B had been dubbed “The Group of Death.” With two western teams locked in with China’s RNG, the favorite to win …
100 Thieves defeat G-Rex in Group Stage clash
gabhernandez
League of Legends
To the surprise of some of the team’s own fans, 100 Thieves has taken a win from G-Rex in the group stage at Riot’s World Championship. The match rolled to a slow start with the first large scale fight not happening until 15 minutes in. But as the game progressed, Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black took over on his Thresh. There are not many supports that can make the plays required …
Ezreal is getting a rework in latest League patch
William Davis
League of Legends
One of League of Legends’ oldest champions is getting a visual and gameplay update in an upcoming patch. Ezreal was released eight years ago and has been one of the game’s most popular champions. He was the first character to be given an ultimate skin, and has seen consistent use in competitive play. All of Ezreal’s older splash arts have been updated to match with League of Legends’ current art …
Former NBA Star Chris Bosh steps into Esports with Gen.G
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
Former NBA pro Chris Bosh hasn’t played a game of basketball in over two years. Now, he’s stepping into a new role – esports advisor. Bosh was sidelined indefinitely in 2016 after blood clots forced him off the court indefinitely. The 11-time NBA All-Star has been searching for a new passion ever since. Gen.G co-founder Philip Hyun and Bosh have been acquaintances since before the establishment of the Overwatch …
G2 dominated by Supermassive in early Worlds shock
gabhernandez
League of Legends
In the first day of play-ins at Worlds, G2 Esports suffered a shocking defeat to Supermassive. Supermassive entered the game between the two teams with a seeming advantage in the draft. G2 went with a composition meant to find picks and engage advantageously, but Supermassive loaded their roster with defense in the form of Zilean and Tahm Kench for Lee “GBM” Chang-seok and No “SnowFlower” Hoi-jong. With these …
Cloud9 Open Worlds with Win Over Kabum
William Davis
League of Legends
Cloud9 started its journey in the World Championship with a win after defeating KaBuM! e-Sports in the first game of the play-in stage. The 2018 World Championship has officially begun, as the play-in stage opened on October 1 at the LoL Park in Seoul. Twelve teams are competing for the last four available spots in the main event. In Group A, Cloud9 kicked off the tournament with a win against …
Europe triumphant at Rift Rivals
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
Despite a back and forth group stage that saw only a single game’s difference between North America and Europe, the EU LCS representatives defeated their North American hosts in convincing fashion. The start of the final series was all stars and stripes, with Echo Fox taking the first game off Europe’s G2 Esports. But two Fnatic wins combined with a shocking upset of Team Liquid by Splyce was enough to …
League of Legends introduces new world map
Jared Wynne
League of Legends
Visitors to the page are greeted with a “begin exploring” button. Upon pressing it, a visitor is taken closer into the map, where the various factions of League of Legends lore exist. The warring kingdoms of Demacia and Noxus hold the majority of the largest landmass, and the frozen domain of the Freljord spans the north coast. The kingdom of Ionia is in the north east, and the archipelagos of …
Riot Games Reveals New esports arena in Korea
William Davis
League of Legends
With the 2018 World Championship approaching, Riot Games has revealed their new League of Legends stadium in Korea. LoL PARK is located in Seoul, South Korea, and stands out with its unique interior design. The stage floor centers around a cylindrical booth in which pro players will compete. This allows front row spectators to watch the action in close proximity to the players. There are also several large monitors that …
SKT keeps fighting for a spot in playoffs
William Davis
News
SKT and MVP met again in week five of the LCK Summer Split. Both teams entered the match with a negative record, putting them in 7th and 8th place respectively. 2018 has been a challenging year for both squads and this match was critically important for each of them. Game one started with an aggressive MVP squad pushing lanes whenever possible. SKT failed to react to MVP’s playmaking, but MVP’s earned …
Cloud9 dominates TSM and secures ticket for NA LCS final
William Davis
League of Legends
After a rocky start this summer, Cloud9 took down TSM in a five-game series to complete their comeback and qualify for the NA LCS final. Cloud9 started game one with Nicolaj “Jensen” Jensen and Robert “Blaber” Huang on the rift. Gold was even through most of the game. Both teams were aggressive and eager to fight, exchanging kill for kill. In the end, TSM had built up four drakes and …
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
