League of Legends
League of Legends
DAMWON Gaming destroys DRX in Worlds 2020 quarterfinals
William Davis
DAMWON Gaming is advancing to the semifinals in the 2020 World Championship after taking down fellow LCK squad DRX. DAMWON did it again. The LCK summer champion took down DRX on a series that ended with a clean 3-0 score. DAMWON is moving forward in the competition, while DRX is heading back home. There were no surprises in this match, not even how easy it was for DAMWON to destabilize …
League of Legends
DAMWON Gaming vs. DRX: 2020 World Championship betting analysis
William Davis
DAMWON Gaming and DragonX are kicking off quarterfinals in the 2020 World Championship in the rematch of the LCK summer finals. It’s been 38 days since the last time DAMWON and DRX played against each other, but it feels like a lifetime ago. DAMWON destroyed DRX in the LCK summer final and made it look like it was easy. One month and eight days later, DRX will look to strike …
League of Legends
Gen.G Ruler wants to make his games at Worlds “more intense”
Jared Wynne
The 2020 World Champoinship is about to enter its playoff stage, and as fans eagerly await the results, Gen.G’s star player is basking in the moment. Bot laner Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk has already seen great success in his pro League of Legends career. Ruler is a former world champion, having won a title at the 2017 World Championship with Samsung Galaxy. But after a disappointing performance at Worlds 2018 and …
League of Legends
Will Perkz and G2 Esports reach the Worlds final again in 2020?
William Davis
G2 Esports is looking to play in back-to-back Worlds finals, but is it even realistic considering the team’s performance thus far? G2 has been a bit shaky throughout the group stage at Worlds 2020 and didn’t manage to advance to the playoffs as the first seed. Alongside Suning, Team Liquid, and Machi Esports, group A was considered the “group of life,” and there was no doubt that G2 had to …
Deficio will be the new director of Misfits Gaming Europe
William Davis
League of Legends
Misfits Gaming Group (MGG) recently announced that Martin “Deficio” Lynge will be its new director of Misfits Gaming Europe. The former League of Legends color casters and general manager for Origen will be responsible for strategic growth and development of the LoL department at Misfits. He will also be responsible for identifying future opportunities for the EU team, according to the organization. Welcome to Misfits, @Deficiolol!2021 is going to be …
Suning vs. JD Gaming: 2020 World Championship betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
Suning and JD Gaming are meeting in the quarterfinals at the 2020 World Championship. The dream of two Chinese teams in the finals is dead. All three squads that made it out of groups were seeded into the same side of the bracket, and one of them is going home early. Suning and JDG will play in quarterfinals, and only one can make it through. The LPL follows a single …
League of Legends Wild Rift coming to iOS, revealed by Apple
William Davis
League of Legends
League of Legends Wild Rift will be coming to iOS, as Apple revealed during a recent iPhone 12 event. It came as a surprise to many fans when Wild Rift was featured on the official Apple event stream during the announcement of the new iPhone 12. During the short sequence, it was announced that Wild Rift will be available on iOS, while the iPhone 12 will run the game with …
Is new LoL champion Seraphine just a better version of Sona?
William Davis
League of Legends
Seraphine and Sona might be a bit too similar, both thematically and in their ability kits, according to many League of Legends fans. The reveal of new League of Legends champion Seraphine got fans complaining on social media about how much she reminded them of Sona. Now that she is out for testing on the Public Beta Environment (PBE), are they really so similar, and will Seraphine take Sona’s place …
Should TSM keep Treatz instead of Biofrost after Worlds 2020?
William Davis
League of Legends
Team SoloMid support Erik “Treatz” Wessén recently announced that he is exploring new opportunities for the 2021 season. Although I’m still under contract until November 16, I’ve been given permission by TSM to explore my opportunities for 2021.You can reach out to me via email [email protected] or via DMsLooking for positions in LEC/LCS.Retweets appreciated ???? — Erik Wessén (@TreatzLoL) October 13, 2020 Treatz had a great year at TSM, where …
YamatoCannon parts ways with SANDBOX Gaming after just 6 months
William Davis
League of Legends
Coach Jakob “YamatoCannon” Mebdi has chosen not to re-sign with LCK organization SANDBOX Gaming. SANDBOX announced through social media that the organization and the European coach mutually agreed to part ways. SANDBOX and YamatoCannon cited personal reasons for the coach’s decision not to re-sign with the organization. I’ve chosen not to re-sign with @SBGaming_KOR – I will be forever grateful for everything and I will elaborate further in the future. …
The LEC fines Astralis in surprise competitive ruling
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Astralis isn’t off to a good start in the League of Legends world. The LEC has handed down a competitive ruling stating the organization broke multiple offenses, news that came soon after Astralis announced the Origen rebrand. While League of Legends fans were excited to see Astralis join the LEC under a new name, today it turned out the organization isn’t ready or healthy enough for this esports scene. The …
League of Legends fans notice bug during Worlds 2020 matches
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
A Worlds 2020 viewer noticed something concerning while watching matches in groups. League of Legends players are now calling on Riot to fix a bug before the quarterfinals begin. One viewer noticed that when players attack a jungle plant using the Umbral Glaive item, the plant won’t respawn. This immediately concerned the LoL community because that allows the red side to have blast cone access to the dragon pit much …
Is Senna best played as an ADC or as a support?
William Davis
League of Legends
Senna was Riot’s first attempt at a support marksman when she was released in November 2019. But should she only be considered for the bot lane carry position now? Senna has been a good meta pick since her release, but has mostly been succeeding in the bot lane position. Players created the “fasting Senna” strategy, where she plays alongside a farming support that takes all the lane’s gold while she …
After first look at Seraphine’s abilities, fans are not happy
William Davis
League of Legends
With the newest League of Legends champion Seraphine hitting the Public Beta Environment (PBE) soon, fans have gotten a first look at her new abilities. Seraphine has been teased over the past few months through social media and has been known to be the next champion for a while now. She is expected to be a new mage support, with a music theme very similar to Sona. Seraphine has also …
Riot Games reveals this year’s Season 10 ranked rewards
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games recently gave a look into this season’s League of Legends ranked rewards, including Victorious Lucian, loot capsules, and more. The current ranked season will end on November 10 at 07:59 GMT, according to Riot. The ranked rewards will afterward be distributed within two weeks to all players that have unlocked ranked rewards throughout the year. Season 2020 ends November 9th! And (as if you needed more reasons to …
Ex-Griffin jungler Tarzan will move to the LPL for 2021 season
William Davis
League of Legends
Former Griffin jungler Lee “Tarzan” Seung-Yong announced on social media that he will be playing in the LPL starting next season. Tarzan @Tarzan_0823 is headed to #LPL.In a heartfelt letter, he announces he will be playing at @lplenglish starting from 2021. He will be pausing his personal stream to focus on team practices. (cont) pic.twitter.com/GAjriKIigo — Ashley Kang #Worlds2020 (@AshleyKang) October 12, 2020 Tarzan has been taking a break from …
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
League of Legends
League of Legends
League of Legends
