League of Legends
League of Legends
Alphari is statistically dominating the top lane after LCS week 5
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
Team Liquid League of Legends team has health scare, plays at home
Olivia Richman
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 …
League of Legends
Caedrel will guest the LCS next week, Kobe guests LEC
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
Esports community mad at TSM Dunc for insensitive Twitter meme
Olivia Richman
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 …
League of Legends
The week’s best value draft for the 2021 LEC Spring Split
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
ShowMaker regains top spot in LoL ranking, Jankos enters top 10
William Davis
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
G2 Esports is closing in on DWG KIA in the LoL team rankings
William Davis
The League of Legends team rankings are still very competitive, with G2 Esports closing in on DWG KIA at the top. DWG KIA is still defending the top spot on the team ranking, but G2 is starting to climb after its recent dominance in the LEC. It will still take some effort to knock down the world champions from the throne, but a couple of bad games could change everything. …
League of Legends
These are the strongest teams in the European Regional Leagues
William Davis
The European regional League of Legends leagues are booming like never before, and we’ve put together a list of some of the strongest teams from these competitions. Even though the LEC takes most of the attention in Europe, the regional leagues are also competing at a high level. The best teams from the regional leagues will ultimately qualify for the first EU Masters tournament of 2021, where both glory and …
Riot reveals new Battle Academia skins for Caitlyn, Yone, more
William Davis
League of Legends
New skins are coming to League of Legends, and this time it’s from the Battle Academia skin line. Riot will be adding five new cosmetics to the game as well as an extra prestige edition. This time it’s the Battle Academia skin line that will get some love, with skins for Caitlyn, Wukong, Yone, Garen, and Leona. On top of these will be a prestige edition skin for Leona, who …
Riot is planning to upgrade Xin Zhao’s abilities
William Davis
League of Legends
Xin Zhao is looking to get an overhaul in the near future with updates to all of his abilities, opening up for more range and ability power scaling. As revealed by gameplay design director Mark “Scuffy” Yetter, Xin Zhao is getting a little upgrade, after he has been struggling in terms of power on Summoner’s Rift lately. The Seneschal of Demacia is looking to get adjustments for all five abilities, …
DWG KIA is 1st team to clinch spot in 2021 LCK Spring playoffs
William Davis
League of Legends
Defending world champion DWG KIA is locked in for the 2021 LCK Spring Split playoffs after mathematically securing a spot. After another flawless week for DWG KIA, the team is now on a nine-match winning streak and is starting to add some distance from the rest of the LCK field. With an 11-1 record, DWG KIA is already locked in for the playoffs despite having four weeks of the regular …
2021 Mid-Season Invitational gets new format, dates revealed
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2021 Mid-Season Invitational will happen and fans now know when, where, and how it will take place. #MSI2021 is coming. Who will Break Out? Pack your parkas, because League of Legends’ greatest pro players are about to showdown in Iceland! This sprawling, epic landscape will set the stage for big moves & rising legends. Dates: May 6-22. pic.twitter.com/besQKwW3AW — LoL Esports (@lolesports) March 1, 2021 After missing out on …
Riot Korea under fire for copyright striking LCK YouTube content
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
The League of Legends community is frustrated with Riot Korea for how restrictive the company officials are being with LCK content. Before the 2021 season, the LCK announced that it “couldn’t reach a broadcasting rights agreement” with YouTube, meaning the matches would only be available for viewing on Twitch for English-language viewers. Many fans were frustrated with their lack of viewing options and pointed out how LCK’s Twitch viewership hasn’t …
Sneaky’s latest cosplay brings gamer girl fantasy to life
Olivia Richman
News
Former League of Legends pro Zach “Sneaky” Schuderi revealed a cosplay late last night that will have more than just Cloud9 saying “you’re so hot, brother.” “Any gamers?” Sneaky coyly tweeted, showing off some photos from his latest cosplay photoshoot. Sporting pink pigtails and a cropped off-the-shoulder hoodie, Sneaky looked like the streamer of everyone’s dreams. Any gamers? ????: @squarenoodles ????: Lynn pic.twitter.com/UjT6nQZxz4 — Zach Scuderi (@Sneaky) February 28, 2021 …
G2 Esports locks up LEC Spring Playoffs spot by beating Fnatic
William Davis
League of Legends
G2 Esports is guaranteed a spot in the 2021 LEC Spring Split playoffs after taking a dominant victory over longtime rival Fnatic. After losing the first match of the LEC season to Fnatic, G2 Esports had to step up and show that they’re still the big brother. Based on pure momentum from previous weeks, G2 entered the match in a much better place, but this LEC rivalry is in a …
G2 Esports players dominate the all-time LEC kill leaderboard
William Davis
League of Legends
Ahead of the sixth week of the 2021 LEC Spring Split, Riot shared the all-time LEC kill leaderboard, and it’s largely dominated by G2 Esports players. The LEC has hosted some of the best players in League of Legends history, but some have acquired more kills than others. Looking at the all-time kill leaders in Europe, several names of great veterans can be found but also a few fresh faces. …
Riot speaks on whether it will add more bans to champ select
William Davis
League of Legends
Getting more bans in champion select is in high demand among some League of Legends players as the game grows bigger, and Riot has decided to address the matter. In a recent Ask Riot blog, Riot gave an answer to why there hasn’t been added even more bans to champion select and why it’s unlikely that players will see it in the near future. Riot previously changed the champion select …
Uzi officially leaves RNG, joins multi-channel network
William Davis
League of Legends
Former RNG bot laner and veteran Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao has officially parted ways with the esports organization. After being away from the competitive scene for over a year, Uzi has now left his home at RNG to seek new opportunities elsewhere. After retiring, Uzi has been pursuing streaming and will continue to do so at “小象大鹅”, which is a multi-channel network that will hopefully help Uzi boost his streaming career. …
T1’s 18-year-old jungler Oner remains undefeated in LCK
William Davis
League of Legends
T1 is bringing out another upcoming LCK star by debuting Moon “Oner” Hyeon-joon. The young jungler is currently undefeated after four games. After waiting for weeks, the last piece of T1’s 10-man LCK roster got his debut against Liiv SANDBOX just a few days ago. Oner is the last of the five young players T1 has added to the team in 2021 to debut and, so far, he has been …
Is Senna the most versatile bot laner in League of Legends?
Nicholas James
League of Legends
As Season 11 of League of Legends moves along, one champion has become a monster in competitive play and has turned into a massively flexible pick. Senna has been a staple in professional play since her release but may have just transcended to a new height this season. As of right now, the champion is one of the highest-picked bot laners and can be flexed between support and carry roles …
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.
