League of Legends
League of Legends
Cloud9 beats TSM, faces 100 Thieves in LCS Lock In semifinals
William Davis
Cloud9 has secured a place in the semifinals of the 2021 LCS Lock In tournament by taking down Team SoloMid. Cloud9 and TSM met in the first round of the knockout stage, for one of the most anticipated possible matches of the event. Despite the hype around this series, it didn’t go exactly as the audience expected. C9 and TSM, who were expected to dominate the LCS this year, had …
League of Legends
Here’s how to build the newest LoL champion Viego
William Davis
The Ruined King Viego has made his entrance to League of Legends and is already popular in solo queue, but what is the best way to build him? With Viego arriving in LoL, players are starting to find out how to build and play him in the most optimal way possible. As Viego isn’t available in professional play yet, there are many builds and a lot of different variants can …
League of Legends
Fnatic flop against Misfits in 2021 LEC Spring debut
William Davis
Fnatic is off to a rough start in the 2021 LEC Spring split, as the team debuted with a defeat against Misfits. Fnatic’s new roster couldn’t live up to expectations and dropped its first game of the season, to everyone’s surprise. Misfits, a team that most analysts predicted to perform poorly, took control of the game and never gave Fnatic a chance to recover. Fnatic put together a composition that …
League of Legends
Rekkles, G2 Esports take down MAD Lions in LEC 2021 opener
William Davis
The 2021 LEC season has finally begun and it started with a bang where G2 Esports took down MAD Lions. Fans from all over the world tuned in when the 2021 LEC season kicked off with an exciting match between G2 Esports and MAD Lions. With over 230,000 viewers tuning in, G2 Esports and new ADC Martin “Rekkles” Larsson took down the new MAD Lions squad with aggressive, disciplined play. …
League of Legends
LCS teams jump into top 10 in 1st LoL team rankings of Season 11
William Davis
A slew of offseason roster swaps has resulted in a very different top 10 League of Legends team rankings. It’s a new season and teams from all around the world are gearing up to battle in their respective leagues and make a run for the 2021 World Championship. To keep track of the best teams in the world and how they’re projected to perform, here is the first iteration of …
League of Legends
ShowMaker tops first LoL player rankings of 2021
William Davis
It’s a new year for League of Legends and the professional season is already up and running. Here is the first LoL player ranking of 2021. After a long offseason break, the LoL rankings are back. Fans have seen a lot of roster changes in the offseason and it’s now finally time to see which organizations managed to make the best decisions. Many players will return to Summoner’s Rift after …
League of Legends
T1 vs. KT Rolster: 2021 LCK Spring Split betting analysis
William Davis
T1 and KT Rolster are meeting on January 24 for round one of the Telecom War in the 2021 LCK Spring Split. The Telecom War needs no introduction. The rivalry started during the days of pro StarCraft: Brood War and is now going stronger than ever. On Sunday, fans will watch as these long-time adversaries meet for the first time in 2021. Both teams had similar starts in the season …
League of Legends
KT Rolster TusiN announces his retirement from pro League
William Davis
Former KT Rolster and Afreeca Freecs support Park “TusiN” Jong-ik has announced his retirement. TusiN is retiring after six years of professional play in his career. The iconic LCK support shared a statement through his Facebook account, where he explaind that he would be transitioning to a streaming career based on AfreecaTV and YouTube. “I haven’t been on social media for a while. I’ll be retiring. I debuted when I …
Udyr in pro LoL? Jungler picked by DRX Pyosik in LCK match
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Udyr the spirit walker was picked recently in the LCK. He was chosen by Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon in the second game of a DRX series against Nongshim RedForce. Pyosik gave Udyr its first appearance in the league in almost 1,800 days. He also delivered the champion its first win of the season. The champion has not been discussed recently as a potential pick in the LCK, or in any other …
Former Cloud9 star Zeyzal joins 4 ex-LCS on new amateur team
William Davis
League of Legends
Florida-based organization SolaFide Esports has signed a not-so-amateur roster to compete in the new North American amateur circuit. Niship “Dhokla” Doshi, Winston “Winston” Herold, Jean-Sébastien “Tuesday” Thery, Apollo “Apollo” Price, and Tristan “Zeyzal” Stidam are now competing on the amateur level under SolaFide’s banner. The team is currently competing in the Risen Champions League, a tier-two tournament for amateur organizations and collegiate teams. The team of former pros advanced to …
TSM’s Swordart becomes top-ranked LoL player on NA Server
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Hu “SwordArt” Shuo-Chieh, the most expensive player in the LCS and the support for TSM, has reached rank No. 1 in the North American server. The player climbed the ladder on his side account with the handle Swordart77777. On this account, Swordart has an impressive win rate on Maokai and Alistar of over 80%. The Taiwainese player also has a win rate over 60% for signature heroes such as Pantheon, …
Riot previews 10 new LoL skins including Lunar Beast cosmetics
William Davis
League of Legends
League of Legends will celebrate the upcoming Lunar New Year with a load of new cosmetics for the game. It was recently revealed by the LoL Korea Facebook page that Riot will be releasing a total of 10 new cosmetics for the game. Six of these skins are for the new Lunar Beast skin line, which was revealed earlier this month. The other new cosmetics are for Talon, Syndra, Zyra, …
FPX Tian is taking a break from competitive LoL due to health reasons
William Davis
League of Legends
FunPlus Phoenix jungler and former world champion Gao “Tian” Tian-Liang recently announced that he will take a break from competitive League of Legends After beating Rogue Warriors in a 2-0 fashion to start out week three of the 2021 LPL Spring Split, Tian has decided to take a temporary break due to mental strains. According to Tian, the match against Rogue Warriors was one of few matches that he enjoyed …
CLG Finn gets his visa approved, but Broxah is still waiting
William Davis
League of Legends
CLG will soon see its new top laner Finn “Finn” Wiestål arrive in Los Angeles to compete with the team. After failing to get his North American visa in time for the LCS Lock In tournament, Counter Logic Gaming’s new top laner Finn has finally gotten it approved and will be joining up with his new team soon. Finn joined CLG in the offseason after making it all the way …
Armao is proving himself after helping out Liquid in LCS Lock In
William Davis
League of Legends
Jonathan “Armao” Armao has helped Team Liquid tremendously during the LCS Lock In so far, but is he worthy of another chance in the LCS? With the start of the 2021 LCS season, several European players have had their visas delayed and didn’t make it for the first-ever LCS Lock-In tournament. One of those players was Liquid jungler Lucas “Santorin” Larsen, who had to sit out the first week of …
This is the history of Akali in professional League of Legends
Nicholas James
League of Legends
For yet another season, Akali has been on the permanent ban list for most professional teams in many regions. The champion has been a power pick across multiple metas and seasons, always relevant and important for teams to either take away from the opponent or to pick for themselves first. The rogue assassin has been a constant presence since her rework in Season 8, which gave her some versatility in …
Former LoL pro and analyst Krepo hints at return to streaming
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Mitch “Krepo” Voorspoels, former professional League of Legends player, caster, and analyst, announced via Twitter that he will return to streaming soon after taking a four-year hiatus from social media, Twitch, and public life in the League of Legends community. Hello pic.twitter.com/qHSRwczeOj — Mitch Voorspoels (@Krepo) January 17, 2021 Krepo was known as a support player for Evil Geniuses and Elements before transitioning to a broadcast role in 2015. He …
LEC reveals 2021 on-air talent including Caedrel, Foxdrop
William Davis
League of Legends
The LEC will be the last of the four major regions to kick off the 2021 season, and it will be with a lot of familiar faces on the on-air team. The LEC will return for 2021 with 10 hungry teams and an on-air team ready to provide some good content for all League of Legends fans. Not only have the top LEC teams done well internationally in the past …
LNG Esports remains undefeated in the LPL led by Tarzan
William Davis
League of Legends
One of the newest South Korean additions to the Chinese LPL Lee “Tarzan” Seung-yong has gotten off to a perfect start with his new team LNG Esports. LNG ends its first week of the 2021 LPL Spring Split with a 2-0 score at the top of the leaderboard. In a busy and eventful week, LNG managed to take down both the former world champions from Invictus Gaming followed up by …
Team Liquid’s Santorin has arrived in NA to play the LCS Lock In
William Davis
League of Legends
After issues with a North American visa, Team Liquid’s new jungler Lucas “Santorin” Larsen has finally arrived in Los Angeles and can join his team in the LCS Lock In. Liquid recently announced that Santorin wouldn’t be making it to the start of the LCS Lock In tournament, which resulted in Liquid having to start former Team SoloMid jungler Jonathan “Armao” Armao instead. Luckily, Santorin has now officially arrived 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.
