League of Legends
League of Legends
Fnatic still winless at Worlds 2021 after loss to PSG Talon
Tokoni Uti
European heavyweights Fnatic are now 0-3 in Worlds 2021 after the end of the first group stage round-robin. After previous losses to Hanwha Life Esports and Royal Never Give Up in its opening games, the LEC’s Fnatic slid to 0-3 after a loss to PSG Talon. While the first two losses were largely expected, the team’s third loss against what should be the weakest opponent in the group is a …
League of Legends
Spin Master launches line of League of Legends figurines
Nicholas James
Toy manufacturer Spin Master is partnering with Riot Games to create a line of figurines based on League of Legends characters. The first line will feature champions including Zed, Darius, Thresh, and a slew of others from Piltover and Zaun. The Champion Collection is a series of individual and package-deal figurines depicting some of League of Legends’ most iconic characters. While Darius, Zed, and Thresh make an apperance, the bulk …
League of Legends
Wild Rift Patch 2.5 adds Veigar, Caitlyn, Jayce, more
Nicholas James
Riot Games continue to invest in its mobile expansion of League of Legends, Wild Rift. Caitlyn, Jayce, and Veigar all enter the fray in its latest patch. Changes to Rift Herald, a new guild system with PvP competition, oupdates to Wild Pass, new skins, and matchmaking tweaks mean plenty of change is on the way with patch 2.5. Riot released a preview of its upcoming patch 2.5 for on YouTube, …
League of Legends
Secret Cinema Arcane experience comes to Los Angeles
Nicholas James
Riot Games has been shoveling coal into the hype train for its upcoming animated series Arcane. As a part of these efforts, a thematic live experience has been unveiled for fans in Los Angeles, California. Riot is teaming up with Secret Cinema to bring Arcane to life for Californian viewers. The experience appears to be themed around the undercity of Zaun, and leans into the escalating class conflict between it …
League of Legends
All Chat disabled in all matchmade queues starting patch 11.21
Nicholas James
Riot Games is making their biggest move yet to combat in-game toxicity in League of Legends. The developer announced today that as of patch 11.21, All Chat will be disabled in all matchmade queues. For as long as League of Legends has existed, All Chat has been a feature. Riot has clearly weighed the pros and cons and decided that All Chat provides more negatives than positives for player experience. …
League of Legends
YamatoCannon talks Fnatic Bean, his NA curse, and smooth vocals
Nicholas James
Fnatic head coach Jacob “YamatoCannon” Mebdi took time out of his busy day at the 2021 World Championship to chat patches, dream matches, roster moves, and vocal exercises. Fnatic lost its first game of the Worlds 2021 tournament to Hanwha Life Esports, but YamatoCannon remains in high spirits. He gives us an optimistic and insightful glimpse into Fnatic’s mindset at the 2021 World Championship. WIN.gg: Patch 11.18 brought a lot …
League of Legends
T1 tops DetonatioN FocusMe for first Worlds win in 708 days
Tokoni Uti
T1 tops DetonatioN FocusMe for first Worlds win in 708 daysFaker’s T1 returned to the World Championship stage in explosive fashion After missing out on the biggest League of Legends event of 2020, the LCK’s T1 started its Worlds 2021 run with a dominant win over Japan’s DetonatioN FocusMe.The legendary organization, with 3 World Championship titles to its name, were rather fortunate to begin their campaign against arguably the weakest …
League of Legends
G2 Esports announces Rekkles, Wunder, and Mikyx likely out in 2022
Nicholas James
Carlos “Ocelote” Rodriguez Santiago announced on Twitter that Martin “Wunder” Hansen, Martin “Rekkles” Larsson, Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle are set to leave G2 Esports before the start of the 2022 season. The G2 Esports owner confirmed that the majority of the organization’s starting roster is leaving in the near future alongside the coaching staff and the majority of the team’s support staff. This comes after multiple rumors that big changes were …
Nemesis sparks fan backlash over Fnatic Upset comments
Nicholas James
League of Legends
The day before Groups Day 1 began, the LEC’s Fnatic announced that Elias “Upset” Lipp will not be playing in the tournament. Fnatic’s statement made clear it was a family emergency. In response, former Fnatic player and current streamer Tim “Nemesis” Lipovšek made tone-deaf comments doubting the veracity of Fnatic’s explanation, causing some backlash. https://twitter.com/FNATIC/status/1447342826317139969?s=20 Fnatic tweeted on October 10 that Upset was having an “urgent family matter” that meant …
LNG Esports’ bot lane died just 4 times in Worlds 2021 play-ins
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2021 League of Legends World Championship play-in stage is over and it was with pure dominance from LNG Esports, especially in its bot lane. Even though the LPL’s fourth seed only got to play four games before qualifying directly to the main event, it was the LNG players who dominated many statistics despite the small and intense sample size of games. Over the course of these four games, the …
New 100 Thieves Worlds hype video features Lil Nas X
William Davis
League of Legends
North America’s best hope for Worlds is giving K/DA a run for its money. 100 Thieves has teamed up with rapper and songwriter Lil Nas X for a new Worlds hyper video. The video features new visuals for “That’s What I Want” from X’s latest album Montero. The Worlds hype video includes footage from around the 100 Thieves Cash App Compound in Los Angeles. The 2021 LCS champions are the …
Team Liquid vs. MAD Lions: Worlds 2021 betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
Western League of Legends fans have been waiting patiently for another EU versus NA matchup and now it’s finally happening on the first day of the Worlds 2021 group stage. The match will be between the LCS runner-up Team Liquid and defending back-to-back LEC champion MAD Lions. These two teams have very different play styles and those will clash in group D where both are fighting to get one of …
Who will win in the Group Stage? Worlds 2021 Pick’Ems
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Play-Ins are over and the group stage is about to begin in earnest, which means it’s time to do another round of Pick’Ems for Worlds 2021. Group stage Pick’ems are going live and WIN.gg is here to help you win points and earn bragging rights amongst your friends. A fully correct Pick’ems yields some serious in-game swag with cosmetics galore. We’ll also help you scope out teams on Fandex set …
Beyond Gaming’s Maoan banned from Worlds 2021 by Riot Games
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Beyond Gaming midlaner Chien “Maoan” Mao-An has been suspended from the 2021 World Championship and may be on the shelf for much longer than that. Allegations surfaced after the fourth day of the Play-Ins, accusing him of leaking Beyond Gaming’s draft strategies to help someone in betting on the series. According to a tweet from caster Jenny “Reirachu” Lee, Beyond Gaming’s owner, Xue “DinTer” Hong-Wei said they would be firing …
Who is Alphari? Team Liquid’s top lane titan with no titles
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Barney “Alphari” Morris has been hailed as one of the greatest western top lane players to load into a League of Legends match. Origen’s lone bright point for many splits, the hyped import came to North America with staggering salary rumors. Yet, between his time spent in the LEC and LCS, Alphari still doesn’t have a domestic or international title to his name. What are Alphari’s origins, and what can …
FunPlus Phoenix vs. DWG KIA: Worlds 2021 betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2021 League of Legends World Championship main event will kick off with a bang when two former world champions clash. It will be a match between defending world champion DWG KIA and 2019 world champion FunPlus Phoenix, who will be opening play in the group stage. This best-of-one match will set the tone for the tournament and potentially be one of the most competitive matches in the entire stage. …
DetonatioN FocusMe is first-ever LJL team to reach Worlds groups
Nicholas James
League of Legends
DetonatioN FocusMe has made League of Legends competitive history by becoming the first Japanese team to reach the World Championship group stage. The LJL has fought for a long time to be recognized as a competitive region on par with its more recognized peers. DFM defeated the LCS’ Cloud9, securing themselves first seed out of the group and a spot in the group stage. Worlds has always promised upsets aplenty …
LoL Preseason 2022 reveals new dragons, items, and more
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Riot Games isn’t sitting on its laurels in October, and the League of Legends developers have announced sweeping changes to the game heading into Preseason 2022. From new dragons and items to mastery changes, there are some wild changes in store for League of Legends players. Riot’s “LoL Pls” series always promises an exciting preview of upcoming changes to Summoner’s Rift. The recently released preview seems to be more of …
Fan favorites PSG Talon face uphill battle at Worlds 2021
Nicholas James
League of Legends
The Worlds 2021 play-In stage is nearly done, and all eyes are moving towards the group stage. With Hanwha Life Esports expected to advance and get seeded into Group C, underdog PCS representative PSG Talon is facing dire odds. PSG Talon took the League of Legends world by storm with an upset top-4 finish at the Mid Season Invitational 2021. This performance earned the PCS region a direct seeding in …
Darius buffs, Amumu nerfs, Bewitching skins in Patch 11.20 notes
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Worlds 2021 may have only begun, but League of Legends’ live servers are already moving forward from it with patch 11.20. The patch notes were released today, boasting a short list of impactful changes. With a lot of quality-of-life buffs for champions in 11.18, some of the top performers are being nudged back down the hierarchy. League of Legends’ saddest mummy is being made just a bit sadder, with damage …
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.
