League of Legends
League of Legends
How Suning went from a mediocre LPL team to a Worlds finalist
William Davis
Suning has undergone huge improvements the past year, taking them to the 2020 League of Legends World Championship final despite low expectations. Going into Worlds 2020, very few people expected something big from Suning. Coming out of the LPL as the third seed is no easy task, but teams such as Top Esports, JD Gaming, and G2 Esports were expected to beat them on any given day. The young squad …
League of Legends
Quickshot and Vedius will cast Worlds 2020 final, Sjokz to host
William Davis
The biggest esports match of the year is approaching and will have some of the best on-air talent available covering it, but it won’t be covered by as many casters as in years past. The 2020 League of Legends World Championship final will be cast by none other than Trevor “Quickshot” Henry and Andy “Vedius” Day. The analyst desk will be hosted by Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere and will include such …
League of Legends
What is Fnatic planning for its LEC team this offseason?
William Davis
Offseason rumors are floating around left and right around Fnatic. After finishing top eight in the 2020 League of Legends World Championship, Fnatic’s offseason has now begun. The team took heavy favorites Top Esports to five games. Very few expected Fnatic to put up a fight against the LPL champions, but Fnatic exited the tournament looking stronger than it did entering. Despite the decent performance at Worlds, there are still quite …
League of Legends
K/DA releases new single MORE featuring Seraphine
William Davis
K/DA is ready with another song from their upcoming EP, leading up to its anticipated performance at the 2020 League of Legends World Championship final. The virtual pop group’s newest song, “MORE,” is featuring the vocal talents Madison Beer, SOYEON, and MIYEON of K-Pop group (G)I-DLE. Furthermore, the song features former K/DA member Jaira Burns, Lexie Liu, and the newest League of Legends champion Seraphine. It has been known that …
League of Legends
Riot teases 2020 Worlds final opening ceremony
William Davis
The 2020 League of Legends World Championship opening ceremony is going to be wild. The big Worlds final is only a few days away and Riot is slowly starting to tease the matchup as well as the ceremony leading up to the game. This year’s opening ceremony will feature the virtual League of Legends pop group K/DA, assisted by the newest champion Seraphine. Furthermore, the ceremony will have names such …
League of Legends
New Battlecast and Resistance League of Legends skins revealed
William Davis
Riot Games has five new skins ready to go for the last weeks of the season. It’s time for some brawlers to receive a new skin. Riot has presented a new Battlecast skin for Nasus and Zac, while Yorick, Jayce, and Singed will get new cosmetics from the Resistance skin line. The five new skins are expected to hit the Public Beta Environment very soon. PBE Preview: Battlecast New engines …
League of Legends
Doublelift talks about TSM’s 0-6 performance at Worlds 2020
William Davis
After coming back from the 2020 League of Legends World Championship, Team SoloMid bot laner Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng has had some time to reflect on his and his team’s poor results. After TSM got knocked out of the Worlds group stage with a 0-6 record, there has been a lot of time for the players to reflect on the results and what went wrong. After returning to North America, Doublelift …
League of Legends
Bjergsen leaves TSM’s roster, heads into coaching with strong legacy
William Davis
Newly retired mid laner Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg ends his career with some impressive LCS stats. Not only has the former Team SoloMid captain been a leading figure of North American League of Legends for years, but he also has a resume that very few around the world can match. Shortly after the announcement of Bjergsen retiring as a player, Lolesports released some interesting stats for his LCS career. Most fans already …
Astralis reportedly eyeing Jeskla, promisq, and Zanzarah for LEC
William Davis
League of Legends
With Astralis set to phase out the Origen brand in the coming weeks, the organization is set to make some big changes to its LEC roster ahead of the 2021 season. According to Esportmaniacos, Astralis is looking to pick up mousesports’ Jesper “Jeskla” Strömberg and Hampus “promisq” Abrahamsson, while AGO ROGUE jungler Nikolay “Zanzarah” Akatov will get his LEC debut and replace Andrei “Xerxe” Dragomir. The new bot lane would replace …
Team Liquid is reportedly close to signing Alphari
William Davis
League of Legends
After a lot of speculation about the popular top laner Barney “Alphari” Morris, it seems that he might be going to Team Liquid. According to ESPN, the European pro is close to signing a multi-year deal with Team Liquid. The LCS team has been known for importing amazing players and Alphari might be the next in line. If the deal goes through, Alphari will replace former world champion Jung “Impact” …
Only 12 perfect Pick’Ems remain after the Worlds 2020 semifinals
William Davis
League of Legends
Only 12 participants remain in contention for a perfect Pick’Em going into the 2020 League of Legends World Championship final. It’s been an incredible 2020 World Championship event so far, with many great storylines. The two best teams remain at the tournament with DAMWON Gaming and Suning competing for the Summoner’s Cup. This means that the final round of Pick’Ems is left, and only 12 people have the chance to …
Worlds 2020 Pick’Em final prediction
William Davis
League of Legends
After weeks of world-class League of Legends, it’s time for the big 2020 League of Legends World Championship final, where a live crowd will be attending at the Pudong Soccer Stadium in Shanghai. The two teams competing are LCK’s dominant DAMWON Gaming and the LPL third seed Suning, who has surprised everyone throughout the tournament. The Worlds final also means the last step in this year’s Pick’Em where fans from …
Suning continues its surprising Worlds 2020 run, takes down TOP Esports
William Davis
League of Legends
Suning did it again. The LPL underdog defeated TOP Esports and is advancing to finals in the 2020 World Championship. Suning pulled off yet another major upset and is advancing to face DAMWON Gaming in finals. Underestimated by everyone, Suning keeps proving that it’s a worthy opponent as the team has taken down yet another LPL team. This is the first victory Suning gets over TES since 2019. Suning keeps …
Who are the biggest LCK free agents ahead of franchising?
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2020 World Championship is not over yet, but offseason rumors are already flying around. On November 16 the free agency period starts in Korea, but it won’t be like previous years, because it’s the first year for the LCK as a franchised league. Early in the year, the LCK announced its plans to transition into a franchised model in 2021. The selection process is over and the league will …
G2 Esports vs. DAMWON Gaming peaks at over 2.7 million viewers
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2020 League of Legends World Championship semifinals turned into the most-watched match of the year. The semifinal between DAMWON Gaming and G2 Esports had the highest peak viewership at this year’s Worlds event, despite not even going to all five games. The match had been hyped up on social media all week. It all culminated with a peak viewership of 2,713,380 according to Echarts. This is almost 300,000 viewers …
TSM’s Doublelift reveals he considered retiring alongside Bjergsen
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
North American League of Legends veteran Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng was very close to retiring from competitive play. Team SoloMid’s Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg announced his retirement from pro LoL after playing the MOBA professionally since he was 17 years of age. He stated that he will now become TSM’s head coach. This news shocked fans around the world, including Bjergsen’s teammate Doublelift. Doublelift admitted on Twitter that he considered retiring for …
TSM’s Bjergsen steps away from playing, becomes new head coach
William Davis
League of Legends
Team SoloMid’s longtime mid laner Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg has officially retired as a professional player. Bjergsen has been the face of TSM for many years and solidified himself as one of the greatest players in LCS history. He has been playing professionally since he turned 17 in 2013, but will now exit Summoner’s Rift and act as TSM’s new head coach after playing for the team for seven years. The …
DAMWON gets revenge over G2 Esports, knocks them out of Worlds 2020
William Davis
League of Legends
DAMWON Gaming got its revenge against G2 Esports after taking them down in the 2020 League of Legends World Championship semifinals. The World’s 2020 semifinal between G2 and DAMWON was probably the most hyped matchup of the year after both teams performed at a world-class level throughout the tournament. The semifinal started out with a lot of action as expected. Both teams engaged in skirmishes in all lanes, with DAMWON …
Suning vs TOP Esports: Worlds 2020 betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
TOP Esports and Suning are clashing in the semifinals to determine who will be representing the LPL in the final stage of the 2020 World Championship. TES and Suning are playing on the second day of semifinals, and the winner will advance to the finals for a chance to keep the Summoner’s Cup in China. Year after year, the LPL sends a new batch of great teams to Worlds, and …
Uzi addresses his retirement and if he will ever return to professional play
William Davis
League of Legends
It doesn’t seem impossible that the legendary bot laner Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao will make a return to professional League of Legends. The former Royal Never Give Up bot laner retired back in May due to health issues. It came as a shock to many that such a prominent name in the League of Legends scene would retire this early, but the Chinese bot laner had to listen to the medical …
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.
League of Legends
Gilius renews his contract with FC Schalke 04 for the 2021 LEC season
By
William Davis
League of Legends
Should Perkz leave G2 Esports? Would G2 be the same without him?
By
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Suning vs DAMWON Gaming 2020 World Championship betting analysis
By
William Davis
