League of Legends
League of Legends
Former MAD Lions jungler Shad0w reportedly joining LGD Gaming
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
These are all of the new updated Dr. Mundo skin splash arts
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
Fnatic signs Adam as new top laner for 2021 LEC Summer Split
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
Riot reveals complete Dr. Mundo rework, release date revealed
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
The 2021 LCK Summer Split return date is now set
William Davis
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
Sneaky returns to cosplay with a wild new spring bunny outfit
Olivia Richman
Zach “Sneaky” Scuderi is back with a hot new cosplay. Whether the League of Legends veteran is dressing up as a popular champion or just slipping on some skimpy undies, the gaming community can’t get enough of Sneaky’s cosplaying. This time around, Sneaky put on a pastel purple wig, a flashy blue corset-style unitard, and some floppy bunny ears. Sneaky also sported an adorable white tail, but that’s not what …
League of Legends
MSI 2021 final between RNG and DWG KIA sets new viewer record
William Davis
The five-game nailbiter between Royal Never Give Up and DWG KIA in the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational broke a viewership record. A whopping 1.8 million viewers tuned into the MSI final concurrently, breaking the MSI peak viewership record from 2019. During the 2019 final between G2 Esports and Team Liquid, 1.7 million viewers tuned in at the peak but that record has now been broken. The record was matched during the …
League of Legends
RNG takes out DWG KIA in 5 games to become MSI 2021 champion
William Davis
Royal Never Give Up is the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational champion after taking down DWG KIA in a five-game final. After weeks of competition, the MSI 2021 winner finally had to be crowned. The finals came down to the pre-tournament favorites DWG KIA and RNG, setting up viewers for a great show. And a great show it was, as the two teams went toe-to-toe over five intense games. For the first …
The 16 teams for Challengers Uprising Season 3 are decided
William Davis
League of Legends
The North American academy and amateur circuit is in full swing for the summer split, and it all starts with Challengers Uprising Season 3. Challengers Uprising is the first of three tier 2 events in the summer split that lead up to the Proving Grounds qualifiers, where academy and amateur teams clash to show their skill and hopefully see players make it into the LCS. So far, the Challengers Uprising …
5-game thriller sends DWG KIA to MSI 2021 final, MAD Lions out
William Davis
League of Legends
World champion DWG KIA has secured the last spot in the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational final after beating MAD Lions in an intense five-game seriesames. To defend the MSI trophy for Europe, MAD Lions had to take out the reigning world champion DWG KIA in the last semifinal of the tournament. After facing off twice during the rumble stage, it was clear that DWG KIA would enter as the clear favorites …
Worlds 2021 final to be held in Shenzhen on November 6
William Davis
League of Legends
The League of Legends World Championship is headed back to China in 2021, this time with the final taking place in Shenzhen. After the 2020 World Championship was toned down a couple of notches due to travel and audience restrictions, Riot will look to make the upcoming Worlds event bigger than ever. The grand final will take place in the Universiade Sports Centre in Shenzhen on November 6. The stadium …
Watch this Nautilus secure a kill with a crazy trick recall
William Davis
League of Legends
The unexpected Dredge Line will always be the deadliest one, as one tricky Nautilus showed in a recent game. A trending clip on social media shows a Nautilus fooling the enemy bot lane into thinking he had recalled. With this simple trick, Nautilus stealthily remained in the lane and baited the enemy into a fight. This resulted in those enemies getting a bad surprise when Nautilus used Dredge Line (Q) …
RNG secures 1st spot in MSI finals by defeating PSG Talon
William Davis
League of Legends
The first finalist of the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational is the LPL’s Royal Never Give Up, who beat PSG Talon in the first semifinal match. After a lot of best-of-one games at MSI, fans finally got to see some of the best teams in a best-of-five format today. The first semifinal was between RNG and PSG Talon, which ended up being an amazing matchup. In the end, it was the LPL …
DWG KIA vs. MAD Lions MSI 2021 betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
The second semifinal of this year’s Mid-Season Invitational will be played between defending world champion DWG KIA and European challenger MAD Lions. A best-of-five series between the LCK and LEC has been anticipated ever since the 2020 World Championship and now it’s finally here. While it will be a new representative from the LEC in MAD Lions, it’s looking to be a great match that will add to the rivalry …
Someone tries to sell SKT T1 Faker’s name, Riot won’t let them
William Davis
League of Legends
The popularity of T1 mid laner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok is by no means decreasing in South Korea, as his former summoner name was recently put up for sale. A whopping $39,000 was the asking price for Faker’s previous name of SKT T1 Faker. This name belonged to Faker on the Korean LoL server before the organization rebranded to T1. Since then, the name has seemingly been grabbed up by another …
RNG vs. PSG Talon MSI 2021 betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
The first semifinal of the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational is between two teams that have been closer than expected at the year’s first international tournament. With Royal Never Give Up still being one of the clear favorites to win MSI 2021, PSG Talon could make it hard for them in the semifinals after finishing the rumble stage with some impressive performances. Having to play with a bot lane substitute all the …
Is GALA the best player at the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational?
William Davis
League of Legends
Royal Never Give Up bot laner Chen “GALA” Wei has been a treat to watch at the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational so far and is rocking some of the best stats among all competing players. After joining RNG in June 2020, GALA has been on an upward trajectory individually. After just two splits with the organization, many would now consider GALA as one of the best bot laners in the LPL, …
Cloud9 Fudge lead top laners in kills after MSI 2021 Rumble Stage
William Davis
League of Legends
Despite not making it to the semifinals at the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational, Cloud9 top laner Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami is leading in kills among all top laners at the tournament. To everyone’s surprise, Fudge has been one of the absolute best performers for Cloud9 throughout the tournament. Some would even argue that Fudge has been the best player representing North America during MSI 2021, which makes the upcoming split even more …
Riot might shift jungle meta again on patch 11.11 and buff Teemo
William Davis
League of Legends
A new League of Legends patch is right around the corner, bringing nerfs to some of the new meta junglers. Teemo also has a rare appearance in the patch notes. In the recent preview for patch 11.11, gameplay design director Mark “Scuffy” Yetter reveals a detailed look at the upcoming changes. While all changes are still a work in progress, it seems that some of the strong AP junglers will …
Just how good is Ninja at League of Legends? We investigate
William Davis
League of Legends
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins is mainly known for streaming Fortnite and other shooting games, but he has recently been bitten by the League of Legends bug. And the question League players immediately want answered is whether he’s any good at the popular MOBA. After years of content creation mainly around Fortnite, Ninja has taken another step in his career and has started to stream League of Legends on the side of …
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.
