League of Legends
League of Legends
Cloud9 releases Nisqy ahead of rumored roster changes
William Davis
Cloud9 has confirmed the departure of mid laner Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer. Hours before the start of the free agency, Cloud9 has officially released Nisqy from its roster. Nisqy joined Cloud9 ahead of the 2019 season and was part of the roster that saw Cloud9 win its first domestic title since 2014. In 2019, Cloud9 attended the World Championship. The squad was supposed to repeat this feat in 2020 after a …
League of Legends
The history of Viktor in professional League of Legends
Nicholas James
Viktor has recently received a light rework in patch 10.23. His Machine Herald has had his Hex Core removed to make the transition to the new item system smoother. To compensate for the loss, Riot has given him better starting ratios and a new passive to upgrade his abilities. Viktor has always been a very specific pick in professional League of Legends. His previous Hex Core passive made him strong …
League of Legends
100 Thieves reportedly getting FBI, Closer from Golden Guardians
William Davis
A big deal between 100 Thieves and Golden Guardians is reportedly underway. During the offseason, 100 Thieves has verbally agreed to pick up Ian “FBI” Huang and Can “Closer” Çelik from Golden Guardians, according to Travis Gafford. Sources: Golden Guardians and 100t have verbally agreed to transfer the contracts of Closer and FBI when the trade window opens tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/Y7FLCiRjK3 — Travis Gafford (@TravisGafford) November 15, 2020 Both players are …
League of Legends
New items see Amumu, other tanks dominate 2021 LoL preseason
William Davis
Tanks are making a huge comeback in the 2021 preseason so far, topping the charts for the highest win rates across solo queue. The big item overhaul has brought a lot of love to the tank champions in League of Legends, maybe a bit too much. Tanks are currently sitting at the highest win rates in the game, and it’s mainly because of the new items. Seven tank champions are …
League of Legends
Suning accused of buying votes for All-Star 2020
William Davis
2020 World Championship finalist Suning Gaming is being accused of tampering with the All-Stars event voting. Fans are looking suspiciously at the voting for the All-Stars event after Suning players got an alarming number of votes in a short period of time. The votes put the Suning players at the top of the standings, causing fans to start claiming foul play. Despite its success at Worlds, Suning is not a …
League of Legends
Team Liquid adds Kold and Spawn to 2021 LCS coaching staff
William Davis
Team Liquid has revealed the newest additions to the coaching staff. After confirming the departure of coach Jang “Cain” Nu-ri, Team Liquid announced who is joining the staff. First up is former Origen coach and caster Jonas “Kold” Andersen. “Kold was actually a positional coach for Broxah during Worlds so we actually go to work a little. He watched some of our scrims, he was part of our reviews and …
League of Legends
Vici Gaming’s Leyan fined 3 months salary for abusing preseason bug
William Davis
It has not been a good start to the preseason for Vici Gaming jungler Lu “Leyan” Jue after he abused a crucial jungle bug in solo queue. The Chinese jungler used a game-changing exploit in solo queue on Graves. The bug allows junglers to kill neutral jungle camps in just one shot. This means that both the Baron and Dragons can be killed in the blink of an eye, giving …
League of Legends
Woman threatens lawsuit, saying Riot based Seraphine on her
Olivia Richman
A woman named Stephanie is claiming the newest League of Legends champion, Seraphine, is based on her and that she might take legal action against Riot. According to Stephanie, a Riot employee she briefly dated in 2019 decided to use her appearance and personality to create the the character who was recently prominently featured alongside virtual band K/DA. Riot has denied the allegation, saying that Seraphine was “independently created by …
How the jungle has changed in the 2021 preseason patch 10.23
William Davis
League of Legends
It wouldn’t be a League of Legends preseason without changes to the jungle. With the introduction of the 2021 preseason in patch 10.23, the jungle has seen some changes for both the monsters and items. The primary changes have been made to the jungle items, as Riot has aimed to remove the mandatory jungle items while still keeping different Smites in the game. Riot has also introduced some adjustments to …
T1 snatches DAMWON Gaming coaches Zefa and Daeny, LS not signed
William Davis
League of Legends
After weeks of speculation, T1 has announced its coaching staff for the 2021 LCK season and to everyone’s surprise, it doesn’t include Nick “LS” De Cesare. T1 introduced its new coaching staff, starting with General Manager Choi “Polt” Seonghun. The head coach for 2021 will be none other than former DAMWON Gaming head coaches and current world champions Lee “Zefa” Jae-min and Yang “Daeny” Dae-in. Zefa returns to T1 after …
DAMWON Gaming adds former T1 coach kkOma after Worlds victory
William Davis
League of Legends
2020 World Champion DAMWON Gaming has announced Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun as its head coach for the 2021 season. DAMWON is making moves ahead of the 2021 season in the newly franchised LCK, and keeping things exciting even before the start of free agency with the addition of the heavily credentialed coach. No other head coach in the world has a resume like kkOma’s, with the former T1 head coach owning …
Cloud9 set to add G2 Esports’ Perkz for 2021 LCS season
William Davis
League of Legends
G2 Esports bot laner Luca “Perkz” Perković seems to have a new home for the 2021 season. Perkz will likely be joining Cloud9 for the 2021 LCS season as the team’s new mid laner. Cloud9 has come to terms on a deal with both G2 and Perkz that would bring in the Croatian superstar, according to ESPN’s Jacob Wolf. Even though the deal can’t be finalized until November 16 when …
This is why T1 fans are so upset about a potential LS signing
William Davis
League of Legends
On November 2, T1 support Lee “Effort” Sang-ho allegedly leaked by accident the signing of Nick “LS” De Cesare as the team’s new head coach. What started as an innocent mistake has turned into a gruesome case of harassment by hordes of T1 fans. For most western fans, this is coming out of nowhere, but LS and the Korean fans have some difficult history. It all started in 2019 when LS …
Team Liquid drops coach Cain ahead of LCS free agency start date
William Davis
League of Legends
Team Liquid has parted ways with coach Jang “Cain” Nu-ri, the organization announced on Twitter. Cain won’t be part of Team Liquid in 2021, the head coach is parting ways with the organization. Cain joined Team Liquid in 2017 and is leaving after three years and four LCS titles. Cain, alongside assistant coach Kang “Dodo” Jun-hyeok, were key to the organizations’ success in 2018 and 2019. With Cain as a …
The best ways to use the marksman Mythic items on LoL patch 10.23
William Davis
League of Legends
It’s time to take a look at some of the new Mythic items. The big preseason patch has hit the League of Legends live servers, which means that players will have to get used to all the new items and build paths that come with it. As the new Mythic items have entered the game, there are a lot of new and big items that players will have to get …
Fnatic reportedly adding YamatoCannon for LEC 2021 season
William Davis
League of Legends
After parting ways with SANDBOX Gaming, Jakob “YamatoCannon” Mebdi seems to be heading to Fnatic as the team’s new head coach for the 2021 LEC season. According to ESPN’s Jacob Wolf, YamatoCannon will be Fnatic’s new head coach in 2021 and will replace Alfonso “Mithy” Rodríguez. who has been with the team since December 2019. Mithy’s future is reportedly undecided but it seems possible that he could end up as …
Can JD Gaming stay on top of China during the 2021 LPL season?
William Davis
League of Legends
JD Gaming had the best year in the organization’s history in 2020, but can the team stay on top of China and the LPL next year when some of its best players become free agents? After winning the 2020 LPL Spring Split, making the final in the summer, and qualifying for the 2020 World Championship, JDG had an impressive year that they can be proud of. Going into 2021, the …
Xerxe and Immortals sea the deal, pending Riot approvals
William Davis
League of Legends
Astralis’ jungler Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir is in the process of signing a contract with Immortals, several sources have reported. Soon after announcing the signing of head coach André “Guilhoto” Guilhoto, Immortals is about to secure a new jungler. According to a report, the jungler and the organization agreed on the terms of the contract and the move will be official on November 16. Xerxe is exiting Astralis, formerly known as …
Misfits looking to add Rogue’s Vander for 2021 LEC season
William Davis
League of Legends
Polish veteran support Osker “Vander” Bogdan looks to be heading to Misfits for the 2021 LEC season, according to ESPN’s Jacob Wolf. Sources: @MisfitsGG are finalizing a buyout agreement with @Rogue for @Vanderlol, which is expected to be completed next week.In 2020, Vander had a stellar year on Rogue, becoming one of the #LEC top supports. Rogue, though, promoted @trymbilol a few weeks ago. — Jacob Wolf (@JacobWolf) November 11, …
PowerOfEvil will likely replace Bjergsen on TSM for 2021 LCS season
William Davis
League of Legends
Team SoloMid might have found it’s new mid laner for the 2021 LCS season. The team is going to sign Tristan “PowerOfEvil” Schrage according to ESPN’s Jacob Wolf. Sources: @PowerOfEvilLoL notified @TSM Tuesday that he will sign with the team as their new mid laner at the opening of the League of Legends Free Agency window on Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. ET.PowerOfEvil chose TSM over @EvilGeniuses, who have been …
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.
