League of Legends
League of Legends
Viego will be disabled throughout the 2021 LEC Spring playoffs
William Davis
Viego will continue to be disabled throughout the 2021 LEC Spring Split playoffs because of bugs that remain unfixed. It has been over two months since Viego first entered League of Legends, and he is yet to make his debut on the competitive scene. Usually, Viego would be enabled in pro play just a couple of weeks after his release, but this hasn’t been the case. Because of several game-breaking …
League of Legends
Riot gives full preview of eight new Space Groove skins for LoL
William Davis
League of Legends is about to get groovy as the new Space Groove skin line will hit Summoner’s Rift quite soon. In a recent Public Beta Environment (PBE) preview, Riot gave a full look at eight new Space Groove skins. The skins will include cosmetics for seven different champions, with a special prestige edition for Lulu. The other champions included in the new skin line are Blitzcrank, Nunu, Nasus, Rumble, …
League of Legends
MagiFelix extends his contract with Astralis, Nukeduck released
William Davis
Astralis mid laner Carl “MagiFelix” Boström has extended his contract with the organization for the remainder of 2021. In a recent announcement by Astralis, MagiFelix is announced to be staying with the team for the remainder of the 2021 LEC season. MagiFelix joined the team in February as a replacement for former mid laner Erlend “Nukeduck” Holm, who had to step down due to personal reasons. As the 2021 LEC …
League of Legends
Alienware pulls LoL sponsorship after sexual harassment allegations
William Davis
A report says that Alienware will reportedly no longer be a global League of Legends esports partner following sexual harassment allegations made against Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent. According to a report at Dot Esports, Alienware is terminating its global esports sponsorship with Riot Games 10 months early. Alienware reportedly cited its concern with Riot Game’s public image following the recent allegations and previous cases where Riot has been caught …
These are the 2021 LCS Mid-Season Showdown teams
William Davis
League of Legends
Six weeks have gone by in the 2021 LCS Spring Season regular split, and now only the Mid-Season Showdown is left, where the best teams will fight for the trophy. The 10 LCS teams have been cut down to six for the Mid-Season Showdown. The showdown is what fans know as the playoffs, but with a new name after the format changes for 2021. The Mid-Season Showdown will find the …
These are the teams for the 2021 LEC Spring Split playoffs
William Davis
League of Legends
Eight weeks of regular-split games have gone by, and the six best teams in the 2021 LEC Spring Split are now ready for the playoffs. The LEC has proven to be more competitive than ever, with teams from top to bottom able to beat each other. Fans have experienced the continuous dominance of G2 Esports, but with Rogue right behind as a serious contender. Young teams such as SK Gaming …
Rogue end the regular LEC split on a good note with win over Fnatic
William Davis
League of Legends
Rogue dominated the last match of the 2021 LEC Spring regular split by taking down Fnatic and throwing them out of the top four. Going into the match, Rogue didn’t have a whole lot to play for after G2 Esports secured first place with a win against SK Gaming. The G2 victory locked in Rogue for second place, which didn’t give them more than honor to play for against Fnatic. …
TFT set 5 adding new game modes, unique mechanics for Teemo
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
Riot Games has teased what’s coming in Teamfight Tactics’ fifth set. TFT Fates is wrapping up in the near future and with the end of set 4.5 will come TFT: Reckoning. As one would expect, TFT: Reckoning will toss out many of Fates’ mechanics, champions, origins, and classes in favor of a new group inspired by “the battle between good and evil.” TFT designer Stephen Mortimer discussed some of the …
Schalke’s LIMIT outplays Crownshot on Alistar in last week of LEC
William Davis
League of Legends
Schalke 04 support Dino “LIMIT” Tot ran away with all the glory in his team’s win against Vitality after outplaying Juš “Crownshot” Marušič on Alistar. The last week of the 2021 LEC Spring Split has a lot of great storylines to follow, but the best play of the week might have already happened in Schalke 04’s critical win over Vitality. In the dominant win by Schalke, LIMIT managed to outplay …
Drafting the best team for the final week of LEC Spring
William Davis
League of Legends
Want to get some skin in the game with your favorite esports players? With our partner DraftKings, you can do just that. Click the link here to see their full slate of esports contests! Eligibility restrictions apply. See draftkings.com for details. The LEC is heading into its last week of the regular season, which means that it’s time to draft the last fantasy LEC team before the playoffs start. When the playoffs …
Watch this former world champion win a 1v1 with just one hand
William Davis
League of Legends
Playing League of Legends with one hand is a challenge for most, but former Gen.G top laner Lee “CuVee” Seong-jin managed to make it work in a recent solo queue game. During a stream, CuVee managed to get first blood in a solo queue match while using his phone. CuVee made the play with just one hand, showing that he still has great skill despite being retired. Just two minutes …
Riot shares the thought process behind choosing legendary skins
William Davis
League of Legends
Understanding the thought process behind which champions are being chosen for new skins can be hard, so Riot recently gave players an explanation. As more champions are being added to League of Legends every year, it’s getting harder to provide all champions with new skins. This has resulted in certain champions being without new skins for years, making fans of those specific champions frustrated. In a recent Ask Riot blog, …
Riot creates shop easter egg based on LS’ item recommendations
William Davis
League of Legends
The new in-game shop in League of Legends has a lot of fun easter eggs and one of them is dedicated to the popular content creator Nick “LS” Cesare. In a recent stream, LS discovered that an easter egg for the in-game shop has been dedicated to him and some of the items that he is known for talking a lot about. The easter egg appears when searching “Last Shadow” …
Doublelift returns to TSM as content creator and streamer
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng is back in action. Sort of. The League of Legends star is returning to TSM, but not to compete in the 2021 LCS. Instead, he has signed a deal with his former organization to represent TSM as a streamer and content creator on a full-time basis. The news was revealed with a video published by TSM. We’re incredibly excited to welcome @Doublelift1 back to #TSM as a …
Renekton gets big nerf in LoL patch 11.6, Leblanc & Sylas buffed
William Davis
League of Legends
The detailed preview for the upcoming League of Legends patch 11.6 is out, with big nerfs to some of the game’s heavy hitters in both solo queue and professional play. Another big patch is underway for League of Legends, according to gameplay design director Mark “Scuffy” Yetter. The latest preview brings a lot of changes to both champions and items, some bigger than others. Some of the most notable nerfs …
Gen.G Rascal has the most solo kills globally in spring 2021
William Davis
League of Legends
Gen.G top laner Kim “Rascal” Kwang-hee is currently leading the solo kill leaderboard globally as all regions are closing in on the spring playoffs. With a total of 19 solo kills so far this season, Rascal is on top of the leaderboard. In general, Korean players are dominating this statistic. This is likely due to the fact that the LCK plays a best-of-three format, giving players more games to play. …
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
League of Legends
League of Legends
League of Legends
