League of Legends
League of Legends
Suning continues its surprising Worlds 2020 run, takes down TOP Esports
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
Who are the biggest LCK free agents ahead of franchising?
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
G2 Esports vs. DAMWON Gaming peaks at over 2.7 million viewers
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
TSM’s Doublelift reveals he considered retiring alongside Bjergsen
Olivia Richman
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 …
League of Legends
Uzi addresses his retirement and if he will ever return to professional play
William Davis
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
League of Legends servers keep failing around the world
William Davis
North America is the most recent victim of Riot Games’ server issues. On October 19, players in the West Coast couldn’t login for several hours and Riot didn’t have an answer for them. It’s not the first server to go down without a warning and it might not be the last. Players in North America experienced for the first time what the EUW players experience every other week. The server …
League of Legends
The history of Vel’Koz in professional League of Legends
Nicholas James
Vel’Koz has seen a slight resurgence in the 2020 World Championships. As the meta has turned towards more mages in the mid lane, the one-eyed monster from the Void has seen some play at the event. Mid laners have been forced deeper into their champion pools and are also searching for a counter to Lucian. The champion has only seen sporadic professional play since its introduction in 2014 and has …
League of Legends
Reports say J Team could be replacing eStar in the LPL
William Davis
A former championship team might be switching regions and joining the LPL in 2021. According to different sources on Chinese platform Weibo, Taiwanese organization J Team might be in the process of acquiring eStar’s slot in the LPL. J Team is owned by actor and singer Jay Chou and sponsored by the Taipei City Government. J Team joined the LMS in 2016 when the team acquired Season 2 world championship …
LCS scouting grounds will be held virtually in 2020
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Riot has announced a format update for the 2020 Honda Scouting Grounds. Honda Scouting Grounds was announced in June as a way to celebrate competitive League of Legends. The tournament will begin Satuday, November 14. Players participating in the competition have the chance to be scouted by esports organizations in the LCS. The event’s selection period was June 24 through September 30, with invites sent to the top players and …
The League of Legends client continues to be full of bugs
William Davis
League of Legends
League of Legends fans tend to disagree on a lot of things, but there is often a mutual agreement among players that the client contains way too many bugs. The LoL client has been a talking point for years, with many players complaining about all sorts of bugs. Some bugs are pretty harmless, while others have caused players to lose games and even ranks. New bugs sometimes appear during patches …
G2 Esports vs. DAMWON Gaming: Worlds 2020 betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
Four teams remain at the 2020 League of Legends World Championship. G2 Esports and DAMWON Gaming will clash in the first of two semifinals matches. The semifinal looks to be tough for both parties but as the tournament favorites, DAMWON is expected to take home the win. DAMWON went through the group stage smoothly, absorbing only one loss to China’s JD Gaming. They played even more convincingly in their quarterfinals …
Diamondprox is now a free agent after parting ways with Gambit
William Davis
League of Legends
The legendary jungler Daniel “Diamondprox” Reshetnikov has left Gambit Esports after playing for the organization the past four years. End of an era ???? Today @tehDiamondz is leaving our team and is entering free agency pic.twitter.com/ks91x0OZhU — Gambit Esports (@GambitEsports) October 22, 2020 Diamondprox was a part of the first Gambit lineup back in 2013, when the organization entered League of Legends after picking up the legendary Moscow5 squad. In …
SK Gaming’s Trick open to LCS and LEC opportunities in 2021
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
SK Gaming jungler Kim “Trick” Gang-yun announced that he is likely going to be with a different team next season. “I’m still contracted to SK. I’m allowed to explore my options,” Trick tweeted. He noted that he’s also open to offers from teams in Europe and North America, meaning Trick may be in the LEC or LCS next season. I’m still contracted to SK, I’m allowed to explore my options. …
Is TSM making changes in the bot lane for the next LCS season?
William Davis
League of Legends
After a disappointing showing at the 2020 World Championship, Team SoloMid will once again have to evaluate its international performance and the future of the team’s roster. Even though TSM recently won its first LCS trophy in three years and qualified for Worlds 2020, there was still a lot left to be desired for the North American squad after going 0-6 in the Worlds group stage. The problems were many …
These are the biggest LCS free agents in the 2020 offseason
Nicholas James
League of Legends
While North America and the LCS are no longer in 2020 World Championship contention, there is still big news to be had for the region going into its offseason and free agency period. Big roster shuffles seem imminent this year as Oceanic players have been given domestic status and organizations such as Immortals and Counter Logic Gaming are in need of major rebuilds. Players can explore options while still under …
FORG1VEN will be looking to join a team ahead of the 2021 season
William Davis
League of Legends
The veteran bot laner Konstantinos-Napoleon “FORG1VEN” Tzortziou is allowed to discuss offers with new teams for the 2021 season. Off contract by 18th NovemberAllowed to discuss offers from nowCC: [email protected] @H2KRich yada yada bald fraud yada yada 7 years McD yada yada impostor yada yada dont check comments edgy teenagers on sight hi bye — FORG1VEN (@FORG1VENGRE) October 21, 2020 FORG1VEN made his return to the big stage after joining …
Zed and Samira to receive nerfs in the last patch of season 10
William Davis
League of Legends
The League of Legends season is coming to an end and so are the patches. Lead gameplay designer Mark “Scuffy” Yetter recently presented a detailed preview of the last patch of the season, patch 10.22. The patch is mainly focusing on some light champion adjustments for Annie, Ashe, Jinx, Brand, and Nasus. The details on the adjustments were already presented and added to the Public Beta Environment (PBE) for players …
FunPlus Phoenix’s Doinb criticizes G2 Esports’ Worlds 2020 showing
William Davis
League of Legends
FunPlus Phoenix mid laner Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang doesn’t think that G2 Esports is as good this year in the 2020 League of Legends World Championship due to unfavorable meta shifts. Right after the quarterfinal series between Gen.G and G2, Doinb took the opportunity to do a match analysis. During this, he explained why he believes G2 doesn’t look as good this year. “Why is G2’s performance not as good as …
Tyler1 gets upset at a fake Korean fan after signing to T1
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Streamer Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp signed with T1 as an official content creator last week, and it didn’t take long for this move to make an impact. According to the Korean organization, Tyler1 already has a lot of fun content in the works to help T1 gain an audience in the United States. Currently, T1 is a big name particluarly in South Korea, in part thanks to veteran League of Legends …
Will Aphelios return to power after patch 10.21?
William Davis
League of Legends
League of Legends went back on the heavy nerfs to Aphelios and injected some life back into this marksman with patch 10.21. After being out of the meta for five patches, it seems like the Weapon of the Faithful got some ammunition back. Aphelios is the most recent victim of the League of Legends balance team. Every time Riot Games deploys a new champion, it tends to be overpowered, players …
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.
