League of Legends
League of Legends
Invictus Gaming goes to LoL World Championship without coach Karam
William Davis
Defending champion and LPL representative Invictus Gaming is not taking head coach Kim “Karam” Ga-ram to the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. Invictus Gaming has announced the roster and coaching staff going to the LoL World Championship and coach Karam was not included on the list. Instead, the team has listed Won “Mafa” Sang-yeon as the head coach. The announcement comes two weeks before the start of the event …
League of Legends
Veteran ADC Freeze looks to return to top levels of pro LoL
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
With the end of the latest competitive season, MAD Lions E.C. player Aleš “Freeze” Kněžínek is exploring new opportunities in the League of Legends pro scene. Freeze has shared a TwitLong stating that he’s going to be exploring his options during the offseason. The Czech League of Legends player is a veteran of the scene, having begun competing in 2012. After playing with now-disbanded teams H2K Gaming and Tempo Storm …
League of Legends
Clutch Gaming headed to Worlds with reverse sweep win over TSM
William Davis
Clutch Gaming is going to the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. The squad completed its miracle gauntlet run with a victory over Team SoloMid. In previous seasons, Clutch would’ve been the underdog in this series. However, throughout playoffs and the regional qualifiers, the team solidified itself as a true contender in the LCS. Now, Clutch is going to Worlds as North America’s third seed. They still have to go …
League of Legends
LEC Summer All-Pro team revealed, G2 takes every spot
William Davis
G2 Esports secured each of the five spots at the LEC Summer All-Pro team. For the first time since 2015, all the players in the All-Pro team are from the same team. The feat was previously achieved by Fnatic. Martin “Wunder” Hansen, Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski, Rasmus “Caps” Winther, Luka “Perkz” Perkovic, and Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle were voted as the best players in their respective roles this season. The result doesn’t …
League of Legends
League of Legends patch 9.17 to nerf Qiyana, buff Pantheon, more
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends patch 9.17 is scheduled to go live on August 28. Riot Games has shared what kinds of nerfs and buffs champions will likely receive this time around. As Riot is preparing for the new patch, the title’s lead gameplay designer Mark “Scruffy” Yetter shared on Twitter the list of champions that will be getting rebalanced. Qiyana is the only champion getting nerfed in this patch, while many …
League of Legends
League of Legends players in Southeast Asia lash out at Garena
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
The frustration of Southeast Asian League of Legends players is starting to reach a boiling point. Tens of thousands are expressing their dissatisfaction with Riot and its relationship with Garena. The Singaporean game company operates League of Legends in the region, and users from countries like the Philippines and Taiwan are growing more and more tired of Garena’s supposed mishandling of the game. In fact, so many are so frustrated …
League of Legends
Clutch Gaming makes another coaching change amid struggles
William Davis
Clutch Gaming has parted ways with head coach Brendan “mcscrag” McGee. Clutch is changing coaches yet again. Mcscrag is leaving the position after just one and a half splits spent in charge of the LCS squad. “Grateful for the opportunity to have worked with these players and wish them the best. I learned a lot this past year and look forward to applying it in whatever’s next,” mcscrag said on …
League of Legends
League patch 9.14 removes Aatrox resurrection, among other changes
William Davis
League of Legends patch 9.14 will be bringing some big changes to Summoner’s Rift, including the removal of Aatrox’s iconic revive ability. The Darkin Blade’s resurrection has remained the most consistent piece of his kit since his release. It previously was a part of Aatrox’s original passive, Blood Well, before it became a part of his new ultimate ability World Ender following a full rework of the champion in 2018. …
LCK topples LPL, finally comes out on top at Rift Rivals 2019
William Davis
League of Legends
The LCK finally won a Rift Rivals. After coming up short in the first two installments of the event, the third time proved to be the charm for Korea’s foremost League of Legends organizations. After four days of fierce competition, the Korean teams took home the top prize at the Jangchung Arena in Seoul, South Korea. The series finished after four exciting matches with the LCK taking a 3-1 victory. …
Tarzaned banned, receives two-week suspension for boosting
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Famed League of Legends streamer Tarzaned just received a two-week ban for account boosting. During a live stream, Riot Games issued Tarzaned the ban for allegedly boosting another account after a solo queue game. Tarzaned appeared suprised by the ban on stream and didn’t seem to know why it was happening at first, though he also seemed to recognize the reason for the ban after reading the notification. “It doesn’t …
Darshan parts with Counter Logic Gaming after five-year run
William Davis
League of Legends
Darshan “Darshan” Upadhyaya has parted ways with Counter Logic Gaming after five years with the esports organization. CLG made the announcement through social media as the team shared a video featuring highlights taken from Darshan’s career. Darshan joined CLG after leaving Team Dignitas in 2014. The top laner became one of the emblematic players in the organization, acting as a leader both in and out of the game. Darshan achieved …
LCS pro salaries are revealed, average salary raised by $200,000
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
League of Legends Championship Series Commissioner Chris Greeley revealed the average pro salary for pros in the North American region. And it’s a lot. “We work a lot to make being a pro LCS player an aspiration for our fans. Part of it is money,” Greeley said at GamesBeat Summit 2019. “A pro LCS player makes an average of $300,000 in guaranteed base salary, before any bonuses or prize pools.” …
Famed jungler Trick returns to Europe to join FC Schalke 04
William Davis
League of Legends
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
KT Rolster wins first LCK championship title
William Davis
League of Legends
KT Rolster won its first LCK title after defeating rookie organization Griffin in the grand final at the Samsam Gymnasium in Incheon. The summer season came to an end with the two powerhouses facing each other in one of the most anticipated finals in LCK history. Game one kicked off with some surprising picks for KT Rolster, including Victor for mid laner Son “Ucal” Woo-hyeon and Jinx for Kim “Deft” …
Riot Games teams up with Tyler1 for exhibition
gabhernandez
League of Legends
At the 2018 summer split finals, Riot hosted a showmatch that caused League of Legends fans everywhere to rejoice. The match featured League of Legends personalities including Imaqtpie, Voyboy, and even Tyler1 gracing the Oracle arena as part of a heated exhibition. After TSM earned victory over 100 Thieves in the NA LCS third-place match, the stage revealed Tyler1 and Riot Games’ Phreak standing together. Phreak is well …
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
FC Schalke 04 takes down Rogue and advances in the LEC summer playoffs
By
William Davis
League of Legends
LoL patch 9.17 brings major changes to Kayle and Aurelion Sol
By
William Davis
League of Legends
FC Schalke 04 takes out Team Vitality in 2019 LEC Summer Playoffs
By
William Davis
