League of Legends
League of Legends
Despite quarterfinals defeat, Cloud9’s Worlds run was real
Nicholas James
Cloud9’s quarterfinals run at the 2021 World Championship came out of nowhere. Cloud9 began and ended its time in Reykjavik with 3-0 showings, bookending a nail-biting performance in the group stage. With rumors of Perkz looking elsewhere, can C9 remain happy about its performance? Cloud9’s performance ended up being a miracle for savvy fans on Fandex as much as for the decorated roster. From the group draw, fans and professionals …
League of Legends
SwordArt leaves TSM one year into $6 million contract
Nicholas James
Worlds finalist Hu “SwordArt” Shuo-Chieh, has officially left TSM after one year of playing for the North American organization. SwordArt’s signing made headlines in 2020 when he signed a staggering six million dollar deal for two years of play in the LCS. His departure follows that of Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg from the organization, ushering in a new age for the North American titan. https://twitter.com/TSM/status/1454086640394252292?s=20 SwordArt made his name in League …
League of Legends
EDward Gaming vs. Gen.G: 2021 Worlds betting analysis
William Davis
The last semifinal of this year’s League of Legends World Championship will be a brawl between China’s EDward Gaming and Korea’s Gen.G. This matchup will be between two teams who have done very well thus far at Worlds 2021, but at the same time have shown some weakness and inconsistency. Given previous results at Worlds 2021 to date, EDG will be entering as the favorite after taking out defending MSI …
League of Legends
Where’s Jatt? NA’s favorite caster has uncertain future
Nicholas James
Joshua “Jatt” Leesman has long been a staple of North American League of Legends’ esports scene. From playing professionally to casting, to working on the balance team, to coaching Team Liquid, Jatt’s done it all. After his departure from Team Liquid in the middle of the 2021 LCS summer split, North American League of Legends’ resident renaissance man’s future has been kept mysterious. But fans keep asking, where’s Jatt? Jatt …
League of Legends
New LoL Prime Gaming rewards, sponsorships announced
Nicholas James
Amazon’s Prime Gaming has announced some big steps forwards for League of Legends esports sponsorships, as well as more rewards for League of Legends players with Amazon Prime accounts. Riot Games and Prime Gaming seem to be in it for the long haul, announcing more upcoming rewards than ever before across all of Riot’s games. Amazon’s upcoming rewards for November bring players lots of treats in the spirit of Halloween. …
League of Legends
DWG KIA vs. T1: Worlds 2021 betting analysis
William Davis
The four best teams still remain at the 2021 League of Legends World Championship, and the first two to hit Summoner’s Rift in the semifinals will be Korean rivals DWG KIA and T1. So far, these two Korean powerhouses have arguably been looking the strongest out of all the teams throughout the tournament. This is essentially a matchup that many would have liked to have seen in the grand final, …
League of Legends
Riot reveals Arcane soundtrack featuring Pusha T and Sting
Nicholas James
Riot’s flagship animated series, Arcane, is coming to Netflix in November and the company is whetting fans’ appetites by previewing the star-studded soundtrack for the show. The tracks were previewed in batches associated with each act of Arcane. The first act features “Playground” by Bea Miller, “Our Love” by Curtis Harding and Jazmine Sullivan, and “Goodbye” by Ramsey. The preview teaser features a burning dockside, as the first episodes are …
League of Legends
Was MAD Lions quarterfinals run tarnished by drama?
Nicholas James
Reigning LEC champion MAD Lions fell out of the 2021 World Championship in the quarterfinals after an 0-3 series loss to DAMWON KIA. In the short time since, an investor for MAD Lions has drawn fan backlash after criticizing bot laner Matyáš “Carzzy” Orság. MAD Lions were the only European roster to make it past the group stage of the 2021 World Championship. Shortly afterwards, a content creator and investor …
Riot bring nerfs to Yuumi and Graves in LoL patch 11.22
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games is about to push out the last patches of season 11, starting with an 11.22 patch that will be used to nerf some of the most oppressive champions in solo queue. Patch 11.22 won’t be a big one, but it will still have some important nerfs. The most notable one will be long-awaited nerfs to Yuumi, who has seen some high ban rates in solo queue recently. Yuumi …
How and why Team Liquid failed at Worlds 2021
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Team Liquid has been the unstoppable juggernaut of the LCS ever since the league franchised. However, recent years have seen TL supplanted by Cloud9, TSM, and even 100 Thieves. The former repeat champions have had a tough time claiming another trophy in 2021. Worlds 2021 was no different and despite the first-ever four-way tie in the competition, Team Liquid was unable to make the playoffs. What made Team Liquid fall …
Here are the semi-finals matchups for the League of Legends World Championship 2021
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Despite a reasonably close series expected between the North American and Korean sides, a swift 3-0 victory for Gen.G against Cloud9 now sees them move on to the semi-finals to complete the bracket draw. With Gen.G progressing, each semi-final matchup is now in place with no Western sides making the cut. The only European team to reach the knockout stage, MAD Lions was also beaten 3-0 by LCK opposition with …
Yuumi is the most-banned champion of LoL patch 11.21
William Davis
League of Legends
League of Legends patch 11.21 has brought a lot of new changes and a shift in the meta. One of the champions that are still considered way too strong for solo queue is Yuumi, who has seen some very high ban rates. After seeing Yuumi being utilized to great success at the 2021 World Championship, it has seemed to affect the state of solo queue. While Yuumi hasn’t been buffed …
Who will win the Worlds semifinals? These are the best Pick’Ems
Nicholas James
League of Legends
The Worlds 2021 quarterfinals are over and there’s only one more round of play before the finalists are decided. On one side of the bracket, two Korean superpowers compete for one slot to the finals. On the other, a resurgent Gen.G faces the LPL champions, fresh off a bloody five-game series against Royal Never Give Up. It’s important to gain bragging rights and cosmetic items with Riot Games’ Pick’Ems and …
How did 100 Thieves fail at Worlds 2021?
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Freshly crowned LCS champions 100 Thieves bested its North American competitors in the LCS summer playoffs. This meant taking home prime seeding to the 2021 World Championship and being North America’s strongest competitor on paper. But after falling out in the group stage, what went wrong for 100 Thieves? 100 Thieves had a dominant summer playoffs performance, demolishing Team Liquid 3-0 in the finals. The aggressive and proactive style that …
Only six fans have perfect Pick’em scores for Worlds 2021
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
The League of Legends 2021 World Championship has been a wild ride already. Every year, viewers can take part in the Pick’ems, a fantasy league of sorts hosted by Riot Games. At each stage of the tournament, participants select the teams that they feel will win, predicting the outcome of the entire tournament. Predicting correctly brings in-game prizes and bragging rights. It’s a way to make watching Worlds both interactive …
Cloud9 vs. Gen.G: Worlds 2021 betting analysis
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Worlds 2021 has become a roller coaster of upsets, tiebreakers, and one-sided stomps. The last quarterfinal yet to play out features North America’s last hope, Cloud9, against one of the LCK’s many remaining representatives, Gen.G. It’s time to see if Cloud9 can carry the LCS’ dreams on its shoulders or if Korean dominance returns with 3 LCK teams in the semifinals. Gen.G was the first seed scraping out of Group …
Teemo win rate has skyrocketed after patch 11.21 buffs
William Davis
League of Legends
After recent buffs to Teemo on League of Legends patch 11.12, his win rate has skyrocketed in solo queue. Teemo players have had a blast in solo queue since the release of patch 11.12, where Teemo saw big buffs to his blind duration on Blinding Dart (Q). These buffs have made the Swift Scout jump in solo-queue priority where his win rate is now at above 50% in both top …
DWG KIA vs. MAD Lions: Worlds 2021 betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
It’s time to find out whether MAD Lions can keep the European World 2021 dream alive or if DWG KIA will keep its journey for a back-to-back trophy alive in the third quarterfinal match of the knockout round. A Europe versus Korea matchup is about to unfold, but this time MAD Lions has taken over where the likes of G2 Esports and Fnatic are usually present. As the only LEC …
How to play Jhin like the LoL pros at Worlds 2021
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Jhin, the Virtuoso, is one of League of Legends’ most unique marksman champions, and with his recent dominance at Worlds 2021 many want to know how to play him. With only four bullets, a reload mechanic, and a static attack speed, Jhin requires a precise, measured playstyle different from other AD carries. Jhin’s high damage, ability to create opportunities for his team and deal damage from afar make him incredibly …
Who is Chovy? Korea’s best LoL player to never win at Worlds
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon is the prodigious mid laner for Hanwha Life Esports. To many, Chovy is a generational talent plagued by controversy and poor luck. To others, he’s an overhyped rookie who never achieved his potential. So who is the Korean all-star, and why does he manage to accumulate such a ridiculous amount of farm over the course of a game? The first time most fans will have seen Chovy …
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.
