League of Legends
League of Legends
These are the teams for the 2021 LEC Spring Split playoffs
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
Rogue end the regular LEC split on a good note with win over Fnatic
William Davis
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. …
League of Legends
TFT set 5 adding new game modes, unique mechanics for Teemo
Steven Rondina
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 …
League of Legends
Schalke’s LIMIT outplays Crownshot on Alistar in last week of LEC
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
Riot creates shop easter egg based on LS’ item recommendations
William Davis
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” …
League of Legends
Doublelift returns to TSM as content creator and streamer
Steven Rondina
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 …
League of Legends
Renekton gets big nerf in LoL patch 11.6, Leblanc & Sylas buffed
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
Gen.G Rascal has the most solo kills globally in spring 2021
William Davis
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. …
Riot-created pro player accounts to be disabled after unfair MMR gains
Tokoni Uti
League of Legends
While professional players and League Partner Programme creators are often given accounts by Riot, unusually high LP gains since the start of the season have led to Riot disabling these accounts and issuing new ones in their place. Riot-created accounts tend to start at Diamond MMR, allowing known professionals to more quickly climb the ladder rather than “smurfing” their way from the bottom. However, fellow high-tier players had noticed that …
Yone player disconnects from the game, still outplays opponent
William Davis
League of Legends
Outplaying the opponent can be done in many different ways, but one Yone player ended up outplaying the opponent unintentionally after disconnecting from a game. Seeing an enemy disconnect in a solo queue game usually means a free kill, but it wasn’t the case when a Yone player in solo queue happened to disconnect in the middle of a fight. Instead of giving away a free kill, the enemies ended …
WildTurtle, Neo, and Lost all scored pentakill in week 5 of LCS
William Davis
League of Legends
Pentakills were on the menu during the 2021 LCS Spring Season week 5, with a total of three pentakills over the course of three days. It’s usually possible to find many entertaining matches in the LCS each week, but week 5 was something else as the bot laners went on a pentakill streak over the course of the weekend. Fans are usually happy to see just one pentakill, but a …
Alphari is statistically dominating the top lane after LCS week 5
William Davis
League of Legends
Team Liquid top laner Barney “Alphari” Morris is crushing his competition in the top lane during the 2021 LCS Spring Season. As the first LCS spring season is coming to a close, it’s time for the defending LCS Lock In champions Team Liquid to put in a final effort to finish at the top of the standings. After winning the LCS Lock In, Team Liquid has been inconsistent and not …
Team Liquid League of Legends team has health scare, plays at home
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Team Liquid’s League of Legends team is no longer able to compete from the Alienware Training Facility after a health scare. The Team Liquid LoL account shared that the squad will no longer be competing from the facility under the same roof due to a staff member testing positive for COVID-19. The organization didn’t specify who had tested positive for COVID, but stated that the individual would be getting tested …
Caedrel will guest the LCS next week, Kobe guests LEC
William Davis
League of Legends
The LEC and LCS will make a swap for the next week of games, with LEC’s Marc “Caedrel” Lamont and LCS’ Sam “Kobe” Hartman-Kenzler swapping places. As it was recently announced on the LEC broadcast, the analyst desk in both the LEC and LCS will see some changes for the next week. After becoming a regular part of the LEC broadcast in 2021, Caedrel will guest the LCS for the …
Esports community mad at TSM Dunc for insensitive Twitter meme
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
TSM is under fire, with some esports fans even demanding the organization be fined after it posted an offensive meme format on its Twitter. After losing a match in the LCS, TSM responded by posting a classic meme with a dark twist. It was an “Are you winning, son?” meme, but with the son hanging from the ceiling, his gaming chair knocked over. The joke was essentially that TSM wanted …
T1’s Teddy says it’s harder to build synergy with a 10-man roster
William Davis
League of Legends
Another player on T1 has addressed the recent criticism towards its 10-man roster and constant roster swaps. This time it’s bot laner Park “Teddy” Jin-seong. Teddy thinks that it has gotten harder to build synergy on T1 with the frequent roster swaps to the starting lineup, according to a recent interview he had with InvenGlobal. Teddy notes that he was also a part of the large T1 roster in 2019. …
G2 Esports dominates Rogue, takes 1st ahead of LEC playoffs
William Davis
League of Legends
G2 Esports is in pole position of the 2021 LEC Spring Split after taking down Rogue in week 7. After being neck-and-neck for weeks at the top of the LEC standings, G2 and Rogue have finally separated themselves from each other. Moving into the final weeks of the regular split, this match was crucial for both teams to secure the first seed going into playoffs. Unfortunately for Rogue, G2 Esports …
Riot is bringing more nerfs to healing in LoL patch 11.6
William Davis
League of Legends
Healing continues to be overtuned in the current League of Legends meta, and Riot will be bringing more nerfs to it in patch 11.6. Riot will be making nerfs to certain sustain items and runes for the upcoming patch 11.6, according to recent updates on the Public Beta Environment (PBE). While these changes are by no means final yet, it looks like life steal on several items will take a …
The week’s best value draft for the 2021 LEC Spring Split
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. Week 7 of the 2021 LEC Spring Split is coming up and that means it’s time to set a team that has the potential to go all the way and win. But building a …
ShowMaker regains top spot in LoL ranking, Jankos enters top 10
William Davis
League of Legends
The latest version of the League of Legends player ranking is out, and it shows a change at the top as well as some completely new faces in the top 10. Leagues around the world are closing in on the first playoffs of the year, after many exciting matches in store in the four major leagues. With this many matches playing out each week, a lot is still happening in …
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.
