League of Legends
League of Legends
Cody Sun will likely play in Academy for the 2021 season
William Davis
After officially leaving 100 Thieves on November 9, the bot laner Liyu “Cody Sun” Sun is currently without a team going into the 2021 season. In a recent video, Cody Sun explained his journey through the offseason so far and how he has struggled to find LCS offers. He said that one LCS team was interested right after he became a free agent, but that it fell through because the …
League of Legends
Thorin blacklists Fnatic’s Bwipo amid ongoing League drama
William Davis
Duncan “Thorin” Shields has blacklisted Fnatic’s top laner Gabriël “Bwipo” Rau after a recent public disagreement. Thorin is making sure to never invite Bwipo back to any of his podcasts. The decision came after Bwipo publicly disagreed with one of Thorin’s take on The Crack Down. According to Thorin, the real reason why T1 refused to sign Nick “LS” De Cesare as its head coach is because the caster is …
League of Legends
New Battle Queens LoL skin line revealed for Rell, Qiyana, more
William Davis
Riot has revealed a brand new skin line called Battle Queens that will likely arrive on live servers before year’s end. The new line will include new skins for Diana, Janna, Katarina, Qiyana, and new LoL champion Rell. The skin line was recently teased by Riot in a short video posted on social media, that included five symbols. These symbols seem to relate to the five new skins, which are …
League of Legends
Riot reveals newest champion Rell, the Iron Maiden
William Davis
Rell will be the newest addition to League of Legends and Riot has recently revealed the first information about her abilities. The Iron Maiden will be a support tank, which players expected after several teasers throughout the past few months. To add on to those leaks, Riot has now officially revealed her splash art and short clips and descriptions of her abilities. Rell, The Iron MaidenThis heavy-armored battle maiden rides …
League of Legends
Esports Awards sees G2 Esports, Team Secret stand tall
Steven Rondina
The 2020 Esports Awards are done and dusted, with the full list of winners standing as follows: Esports Game of the Year- League of Legends Content Creator of the Year- UpUpDownDown Coverage Website of the Year- The Esports Observer Supporting Agency of the Year- CSA Publisher of the Year- Riot Games Play of the Year- İsmailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş Mobile Game of the Year- Freefire Creative Team of the Year- Paper …
League of Legends
C9 Jack says Perkz could have been paid seven digits more but chose C9
William Davis
Luka “Perkz” Perković could have been paid seven digits more than what Cloud9 has offered him, but he chose the most competitive option. Cloud9 founder and CEO Jack Etienne recently talked about the transfer of Perkz and how the talented mid laner turned down a lot of money to play for C9 in the 2021 LCS season. In an interview with Duncan “Thorin” Shields, Etienne opened up about the process …
League of Legends
Riot Games teases new LoL champion, likely a tank support
William Davis
While 2020 is coming to an end, Riot still has one champion left to be released and a new teaser suggests that it is close. “Hurt someone enough, and they just might hurt you back.” pic.twitter.com/r3hnklT0aU — League of Legends (@LeagueOfLegends) November 21, 2020 The teaser shows a quick glimpse of what seems to be a weapon. The weapon, which appears to be a lance, likely belongs to the new …
League of Legends
Can 100 Thieves make the former Golden Guardians roster work?
William Davis
100 Thieves’ roster for the 2021 season is looking oddly familiar. The organization confirmed the signing of mid laner Tanner “Damonte” Damonte and support Choi “huhi” Jae-hyun, for a total of four former Golden Guardians players. In the 2019 offseason, many believed that Golden Guardians wouldn’t achieve much with its roster. The team qualified for playoffs in both splits and had an overall solid performance. Now, 100 Thieves has acquired …
Worlds 2020 star Josedeodo joins FlyQuest for 2021 LCS season
William Davis
League of Legends
After countless rumors, Argentinian Brandon “Josedeodo” Villegas has officially joined FlyQuest ahead of the 2021 LCS season. The jungler will play in a major league for the first time in his career after a year with Rainbow7 that saw him compete in the 2020 World Championship. Josedeodo managed to make a name for himself at the tournament, establishing himself as an exceptional individual talent. The Man. The Myth. The Legend. …
Here’s how to compete in the TFT Set 4 NA Qualifiers
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games has revealed the dates for the TFT Set 4 North American qualifiers, a series of competitions for the best Teamfight Tactics players in the region. North American TFT players are getting a new chance to compete with the TFT Set 4 NA qualifiers and, there will be four three-day qualifiers: Qualifier one: November 20-22 Qualifier two: December 18-20 Qualifier three: January 29-31 Qualifier four: February 26-28 Players that …
Orome reportedly joins BT Excel after playing at Worlds 2020
William Davis
League of Legends
Former MAD Lions top laner Andrei “Orome” Popa will reportedly take a step back for the 2021 season by joining BT Excel, according to Esportmaniacos. Orome was promoted to the MAD Lions starting top lane position for 2020 and overall had a good first year on the big stage. MAD Lions went against all expectations and became a threat to the top teams in both the spring and summer splits. …
Alphari and Santorin join Team Liquid for 2021 LCS season
William Davis
League of Legends
Team Liquid has completed its 2021 roster with former Astralis top laner Barney “Alphari” Morris and former FlyQuest jungler Lucas “Santorin” Larsen. Team Liquid just added its two final pieces to the 2021 roster. Alphari joins after a disappointing year with Origen, which is now known as Astralis. Santorin parted ways with FlyQuest after a bittersweet appearance at the 2020 World Championship, where he and his team upset Top Esports …
Cloud9 confirms Perkz as starting mid laner for 2021 LCS season
William Davis
League of Legends
Cloud9 has confirmed the signing of former G2 Esports ADC Luka “Perkz” Perković as its starting mid laner for the 2021 season. Shortly after G2 announced Martin “Rekkles” Larsson as its starting bot laner, Cloud9 confirmed the signing of Perkz. These are the two most talked-about and most influential transactions of the offseason thus far. Perkz is leaving G2 after more than five years with the organization. This move will …
Rekkles officially joins G2 Esports for 2021 LEC season
William Davis
League of Legends
A few days removed from his departure from Fnatic, it’s now official. Martin “Rekkles” Larsson will be joining G2 Esports for the 2021 LEC season. The Swedish bot laner joins G2 after more than five years with Fnatic, transitioning to a G2 Esports lineup that has been steady since coming together in 2018. Rekkles and the rest of Fnatic have been the biggest rivals of G2 Esports in years, but …
Former T1 coach Kim returns to LPL with Bilibili Gaming
William Davis
League of Legends
Former T1 head coach Kim “Kim” Jeong-soo is going back to the LPL after signing with Bilibili Gaming. After getting fired abruptly by T1 when the team failed to qualify to the 2020 World Championship, coach Kim has found a new home. The coach will return to the LPL, where he earned his first World Championship title as a coach with Invictus Gaming in 2018. Coach Kim is known for …
Sylas is now the worst champion in League after 2021 preseason
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2021 LoL preseason patch has brought a lot of overpowered stuff to the game, and some champions are suffering under the new changes. Players have experienced a lot of imbalance on patch 10.23, with certain tank junglers reaching 60% win rates while using some of the new stronger items in the game. Meanwhile, other champions are being punished at the other end of the spectrum, primarily champions who can’t …
Doublelift contemplates leaving TSM, retirement in 2021
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
League of Legends veteran Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng is thinking of leaving TSM if the team doesn’t successfully acquire support player Hu “SwordArt” Shuo-Jie. According to a report from ESPN writer Jacob Wolf, Doublelift is contemplating leaving the North American team if it doesn’t sign a “top foreign support.” This could be SwordArt, Doublelift said, or another quality international support player. TSM was first reported to be signing SwordArt on November …
Crownshot won’t be playing in LEC or LCS in the 2021 season
William Davis
League of Legends
Former SK Gaming bot laner Juš “Crownshot” Marušič won’t be on any LEC or LCS team for the 2021 season, the player announced on Twitter. Crownshot will be the next prominent name that won’t get a spot in one of the major western leagues for 2021. The popular bot laner has been with SK Gaming for two seasons after he was picked up from the MAD Lions in the Spanish …
League of Legends to retire Prestige points in 2021
William Davis
League of Legends
League of Legends is retiring the Prestige Points system in 2021. Starting on July 2021, Prestige Points will be removed from League of Legends. Instead, the game will implement a new system through which players will be able to obtain exclusive and rare content. This new system will be revealed at a later date, but it doesn’t mean that prestige skins will be removed from the game. There are still …
Riot is looking to buff crit ADC in LoL Patch 10.25 and much more
William Davis
League of Legends
While patch 10.24 is not even on the live servers yet, Riot has already presented the first preview of patch 10.25. During the preseason, Riot is trying to be as proactive as possible to let fans know what is going to happen in the game. As of right now, the preseason has brought a lot of bugs and imbalance that Riot will look to fix as soon as possible. Patch …
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.
