League of Legends
League of Legends
TSM rebrand to TSM FTX after landmark crypto deal
William Davis
Team SoloMid has signed a title deal with cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX. The successful multi-game organization has been rebranded as TSM FTX. Early reports put the value of the agreement at $210 million. The deal will last for at least five years and includes several marketing efforts in addition to the title change. The announcement comes as Team SoloMid begins expansion efforts into new developing markets. Southeast Asia, South America, and …
League of Legends
Cloud9 vs. 100 Thieves: 2021 LCS Summer betting analysis
William Davis
100 Thieves will attempt to take down defending LCS champion Cloud9 in its opening match of the summer split. Cloud9 will return to the LCS after an action-packed MSI event where the LCS representatives sadly didn’t do as well as many would have hoped for. Now that Cloud9 is back in the LCS, it will fight to defend its trophy and get back in shape. To try and stop that …
League of Legends
Kick off the 2021 LCS Summer Split with Clout Fantasy
William Davis
The LCS is finally back and will bring fans more games than ever before throughout the upcoming summer split. To spice the games up a little more, Clout Fantasy is here to raise the stakes and provide a little more entertainment to the games. For fans who haven’t heard about Clout Fantasy, it’s about time to learn. Clout Fantasy is an esports fantasy app, providing fantasy games for League of …
League of Legends
Riot is aiming to release two new items and rework Sanguine Blade
William Davis
New items might be coming to League of Legends this summer. In a recent Ask Riot blog, players got a look into two new potential items and a rework to Sanguine Blade. One of the items will be a Legendary tank item, to help counter fed carries and split pushers. The other one is a support Legendary item, that will be focused towards enchanters. Lastly, Riot will be reworking Sanguine …
League of Legends
Team Liquid vs. TSM: 2021 LCS Summer betting analysis
William Davis
The 2021 LCS Summer Split kicks off with an absolute classic between Team Liquid and TSM. It’s finally time for the LCS to return and it will start off with a banger between Liquid and TSM. Both teams fought among the top teams during the spring split but were ultimately defeated at the Mid-Season Showdown. For TSM, it was Liquid who knocked them out in a 3-1 match in the …
League of Legends
2021 LCK Summer Split to be played offline, with audience
William Davis
All LCK teams will return to in-person play when the 2021 LCK Summer Split kicks off on June 9. Besides having the teams return to LoL Park to play in an offline environment, competition will be opened up for a live audience as well, per LCK reporter Ashley Kang. This means that the LCK as a whole is slowly returning to normal, starting with the opening match between Fredit BRION …
League of Legends
How to get a pentakill with just one Q from Mordekaiser
William Davis
Wombo combos in League of Legends can be very satisfying to watch and this Mordekaiser pentakill is no exception. In a recent trending clip on social media, a Mordekaiser gets a pentakill with just a single Obliterate (Q). He was helped tremendously by an allied Diana, who managed to land a five-man Moonfall (R) to line up the opposing team perfectly. With the help from Diana, the Mordekaiser was able …
League of Legends
LEC veteran Cabochard joins Karmine Corp as new top laner
William Davis
A familiar face will be joining the French LFL league for the summer split, as Karmine Corp has picked up LEC veteran Lucas “Cabochard” Simon-Meslet. The last time Cabochard played competitively was with Vitality last year. He left in December 2020 after spending five years with the organization. After a break in the recent spring split, the 24-year-old top laner is ready to compete again and this time it will …
Cloud9 drops Zven, promotes K1ng for 2021 LCS Summer Split
William Davis
League of Legends
Cloud9 will be entering the 2021 LCS Summer Split with big changes to its bot lane and coaching position. In a recent roster update, Cloud9 announced that Calvin “K1ng” Truong will act as the starting bot laner for the team while veteran Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen will be playing for the academy roster to start off the split. Furthermore, Kim “Reignover” Yeu-jin will take a step back to become the assistant …
Treatz swaps to jungle for SK Gaming as TynX steps down
William Davis
League of Legends
SK Gaming will be making some last-minute changes to its LEC roster ahead of the summer split. It came as a surprise to everyone when SK Gaming recently announced that Kristian “TynX” Hansen will no longer be the starting jungler for the team. Instead, support player Erik “Treatz” Wessén will be role swapping to jungle temporarily during the 2021 LEC Summer Split. This leaves an open spot in the support …
Challengers Uprising Season 3 is heading into its last group round
William Davis
League of Legends
Challengers Uprising Season 3 has kicked off and is now moving into the last round of the group stage. With two rounds concluded of the group stage thus far, some teams are already out of contention. The teams who won’t make it into the playoffs are Revival, Maryville University, and Radiance. The remaining 13 teams still have a shot at making the playoffs, some with much better chances than others. …
The best Mordekaiser build in League of Legends for season 11
William Davis
League of Legends
Players are finally getting accustomed to the new items in League of Legends after the big rework for season 11. The plethora of new items has opened up new build paths for almost every champion in the game, including Mordekaiser. Even though Mordekaiser is rarely seen in professional play, he is still a popular pick to dominate the solo queue ladder. At even the highest ranks, Mordekaiser is fielding solid …
Former MAD Lions jungler Shad0w reportedly joining LGD Gaming
William Davis
League of Legends
Former MAD Lions jungler Zhiqiang “Shad0w” Zhao is looking at a potential comeback to the professional scene, as he is reportedly joining LGD Gaming in the LPL. After taking a break in the most recent spring split, the young jungler might be making his debut in the top Chinese competition. Shad0w has Chinese residency, which means that he can join the league without taking up an import slot. After Shad0w …
These are all of the new updated Dr. Mundo skin splash arts
William Davis
League of Legends
Dr. Mundo is getting a big update in the upcoming LoL patch 11.12, which means that all of his skin splash arts are also getting a makeover. The full VGU of Dr. Mundo was recently announced by Riot, presenting changes to his abilities as well as his overall looks. As one of the oldest champions in the game, the goal for Riot has been to get Dr. Mundo up to …
Fnatic signs Adam as new top laner for 2021 LEC Summer Split
William Davis
League of Legends
It’s finally official that Fnatic will be fielding former Karmine Corp top laner Adam “Adam” Maanane as its starting top laner for the upcoming 2021 LEC Summer Split. The rumors surrounding Adam joining Fnatic started weeks ago, but now it’s finally official. After a great split with Karmine Corp in the French LFL, Adam will now make his debut in the LEC this summer. Not only will he play his …
Riot reveals complete Dr. Mundo rework, release date revealed
William Davis
League of Legends
The highly anticipated Dr. Mundo VGU is finally landing in League of Legends with patch 11.12. After a long wait, fans now have access to the complete Dr. Mundo VGU which will be available for testing on the upcoming Public Beta Environment (PBE) patch. After testing is done, the Madman of Zaun will be available on live servers with a new look and updated abilities. The abilities will include a …
New Viego bug can cast different spells three times at once
William Davis
League of Legends
Viego has been going through a rough time with many game-breaking bugs and now a brand new one has been discovered. In a recently discovered bug, Viego is able to cast certain spells three times at once. This is done through an interaction with Kha’Zix and makes it possible to cast spells such as Blitzcrank’s Rocket Grab (Q), Jinx’s Super Mega Death Rocket! (R), and much more in a cone …
Damonte doesn’t receive LCS offers, to focus on making content
William Davis
League of Legends
100 Thieves and Tanner “Damonte” Damonte have mutually decided to part ways ahead of the 2021 LCS Summer Split, leaving the young mid laner without a team. This was recently announced by 100 Thieves and followed up with a video from Damonte himself. In this video, the 23-year-old mid laner explains how he hasn’t received any LCS offer for the coming split. Damonte also explains how he won’t pursue any …
Riot introduce LCS Watch Party Program including Doublelift, LS
William Davis
League of Legends
The LCS co-streaming program will be getting a big update and rebranding ahead of the 2021 LCS Summer Split. For the past few splits, select content creators have been able to co-stream the LCS to build a community around the biggest LoL league in North America. Riot is now taking another step in supporting these content creators by introducing the LCS Watch Party Program. This program will include some big …
The 2021 LCK Summer Split return date is now set
William Davis
League of Legends
With the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational now done, fans won’t have to wait long before League of Legends’ top regional leagues to return. One of the most anticipated leagues to follow will be Korea’s LCK after DWG KIA lost the MSI final to Royal Never Give Up. Many people expected DWG KIA to take home another trophy, but this didn’t happen. This leaves a lot of questions surrounding DWG KIA, 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.
