League of Legends
League of Legends
PSG Talon’s full lineup returns against Rogue, flops horribly
William Davis
Rogue brought play-in standouts PSG Talon back to earth in their opening games of the 2020 League of Legends World Championship group stage. 16 Kills to 0.Domination by @Rogue! #Worlds2020 pic.twitter.com/YczWb4OZdW — LoL Esports (@lolesports) October 3, 2020 PSG Talon had to maintain the momentum it gained from a spectacular play-ins stage, where the team managed to qualify directly despite playing with substitutes. LEC second seed Rogue was PSG’s first …
League of Legends
DRX gets out-drafted by Unicorns of Love, stomps them anyway
William Davis
DRX got out-drafted by Unicorns of Love, and still stomped their opponent in their first game of the 2020 League of Legends World Championship. DRX had a convincing first game at Worlds 2020. The LCK squad took down UoL, one of the teams to watch from the play-ins. DRX decided to draft a classic DRX composition, ignoring some of the meta trends that developed in the play-ins. The downside of …
League of Legends
Top Esports retains Worlds 2020 favorite status by smashing FlyQuest
William Davis
Tournament favorite Top Esports made its debut at the 2020 League of Legends World Championship with a dominant performance against FlyQuest. The Worlds 2020 main event has officially begun, starting with tournament favorites Top Esports against a relative underdog. Though some questioned Top Esports’ legitimacy as the favorites at the event after the shaky performance of LPL cohort LGD Gaming in the play-in stage, the team lived up to expectations …
League of Legends
Is Dragon Soul a real win condition for teams at Worlds 2020?
William Davis
The priority for Dragon Soul is in all-time low in the 2020 World Championship, but the buff keeps proving to be the strongest win condition in the game. Play-ins are over and we now have an idea of the meta heading to the World Championship main event. Marksmen in the mid lane, carry junglers, and roaming supports were some of the favorites in the first part of the tournament. Surprisingly …
News
K/DA to release EP ALL OUT, new song debuts at Worlds 2020
William Davis
The first EP from K/DA, entitled ALL OUT, has been made official. K/DA DEBUT EP [ALL OUT] // STREAM ON 11.06.2020#KDA #ALLOUT #CALLINGALLBLADES #COMINGSOON pic.twitter.com/wxdCwwwgEA — K/DA (@KDA_MUSIC) October 2, 2020 The popular League of Legends virtual pop group will continue its return with a complete EP that includes more new songs and special features. The EP was teased when the group returned with its latest song THE BADDEST in …
League of Legends
JD Gaming vs. DAMWON Gaming: Worlds 2020 betting analysis
William Davis
JD Gaming and DAMWON Gaming are clashing on day one of the 2020 World Championship. This highly anticipated match will offer a glimpse into the current state of the LCK and LPL squads. Hailing from the LPL, JDG is one of the big favorites to take the title of world champion, and it’s all because of Seo “Kanavi” Jin-hyeok. Kanavi is rated as the best jungler in the event field …
League of Legends
2020 Worlds Pass, skins hit League of Legends live servers
William Davis
The in-game event for the 2020 League of Legends World Championship has hit the live servers, and it includes tons of missions, new skins, URF, and a Clash event with exclusive rewards. The anticipated event will be running from October 1 to November 9 and will have a lot of in-game content to try out when the Worlds broadcast is not live. Players will be able to purchase new skins …
League of Legends
Top Esports vs. DragonX: Worlds 2020 betting analysis, odds
William Davis
Tournament favorites Top Esports will meet LCK second seed DragonX on the third day of the 2020 League of Legends World Championship group stage. Top Esports enters the tournament with high expectations surrounding them, even though it’s the first Worlds appearance for the organization. Young players such as midlaner Zhuo “knight” Ding and support Liang “yuyanjia” Jia-Yuan will need to withstand the pressure from fans and perform like they have …
UoL Nomanz: “I think we are really strong, even against TOP Esports.”
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Unicorns of Love surprised the world with its strong run through the 2020 League of Legends World Championship play-ins. Mid laner Yev “Nomanz” Yakshin’s made sure to put in a lot of preparation to help his team achieve this. Now, Nomanz and his squad are contemplating their Group Stage competition. They will be in Group D, facing DRX, TOP Esports, and FlyQuest. WIN.gg spoke with Nomanz about UoL’s Play-In journey …
The best Worlds 2020 Pick Em predictions
William Davis
League of Legends
This article covers the Worlds 2020 group stage. If you’re looking for Pick Em predictions for Worlds quarterfinals and playoffs, you can find them here! Now that Play-Ins are done, it’s time to get excited for the 2020 World Championship main event. This year, the rewards are not as interesting as the ones players available 2019. The player that earns the most points in the event will receive a Pick’em …
UoL proves that CIS is strongest wildcard region at Worlds 2020
William Davis
League of Legends
Unicorns of Love advanced to the 2020 League of Legends World Championship main event by knocking out Papara SuperMassive in a clean sweep. THE @UnicornsOfLove SWEEP THEIR WAY INTO THE #WORLDS2020 GROUP STAGE! pic.twitter.com/2kXFy33lH7 — LoL Esports (@lolesports) September 30, 2020 The last match of the Worlds play-in stage was a duel between two of the strongest wildcard regions. The LCL’s Unicorns of Love was looking to continue its dominant …
How will LGD do in the 2020 LoL World Championship main event?
William Davis
League of Legends
After a shaky start in the 2020 League of Legends World Championship, LGD Gaming qualified for the main event. LGD’s Worlds 2020 run didn’t go as the team expected but regardless of the results, the fourth LPL seed secured a spot in the group stage. LGD is getting seeded directly into group C where it will face Team SoloMid, Fnatic, and Gen.G. LGD was supposed to dominate play-ins and make …
Worlds 2020 play-ins are best ever thanks to TCL, CIS, and OPL
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Emerging regions have taken the 2020 League of Legends World Championsip play-ins by storm. Both groups appeared to be mostly decided before the tournament even began. Group A would see Team Liquid and MAD Lions secure spots in the next stage. LGD Gaming was predicted to top Group B with four smaller regional teams fighting for the last spot. But at the end of the round robin stage, the leagues …
Team SoloMid vs. Fnatic LoL Worlds 2020 betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
The first day of the 2020 League of Legends World Championship main event will include a highly anticipated match between western giants Fnatic and Team SoloMid. The two fan favorites will be jockeying for position, likely battling for second place as Korea’s Gen.G stands as the clear favorite in the group. That makes this a critical match for both teams as they look to gain an early edge on the …
New Odyssey, Halloween skins set to arrive in League of Legends
William Davis
League of Legends
The Odyssey skin line is making its return to League of Legends with five new intergalactic skins. In the latest Public Beta Environment preview, five new skins were revealed for the popular Odyssey skin line. Champions set to receive a fresh new look include Kha’Zix, Aatrox, Sivir, Twisted Fate, and Karma. PBE Preview: Odyssey’s back! ???? ???? Odyssey Kha’Zix???? ???? Odyssey Aatrox⭐ ???? Odyssey Sivir⭐ ???? Odyssey Twisted Fate⭐ ???? …
Sneaky’s crazy new catgirl outfit is his big return to cosplay
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi’s cosplays have been a bit minimal lately, like his recent e-girls and gamer girl-inspired looks, but that just changed. The former League of Legends pro revealed an elaborate, adorable, anime-themed cosplay on Twitter. With a long, white wig, cat ears, and a black and blue maid mini-skirt, Sneaky completely embodied Vanilla from Nekopara in her Race Queen getup. Sneaky’s cosplay was complete with a cat tail. Vanilla …
Uniboy speaks on PSG Talon’s shock Play-Ins run at Worlds 2020
Jared Wynne
League of Legends
PSG Talon is heading to the main event group stage at the 2020 World Championship despite having to play through the Play-Ins stage with multiple substitues, including Chen “Uniboy” Chang-Chu. Coming over from ahq Esports Club along with teammate Hsiao “Kongyue” Jen-Tso, mid laner Uniboy not only proved an effective substitute for PSG, he showed himself to be one of the team’s most reliable carries during a successful Play-Ins …
Riot reveals list of Mythic, Legendary items for 2021 preseason
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2021 preseason changes are ready to hit the Public Beta Environment and Riot Games has revealed a complete breakdown of the new item overhaul. Preseason PBE is today – before it drops we have a (quite long) article about all of the significant mythic and legendary item changes. I’ll be breaking down the major changes and our thoughts by class.https://t.co/vLojieoEvc — Mark Yetter (@MarkYetter) September 29, 2020 Riot has …
Armut carries SuperMassive to victory over MAD Lions at Worlds 2020
William Davis
League of Legends
Papara SuperMassive eliminated MAD Lions from the 2020 League of Legends World Championship after a close five-game series. #SUPWIN!@supmass eliminate Europe’s 4th seed! #Worlds2020 pic.twitter.com/kAvmmFXX4k — LoL Esports (@lolesports) September 29, 2020 It was all or nothing for both teams when SuperMassive and MAD Lions clashed in a best-of-five series at Worlds, resulting in a close nailbiter. SuperMassive entered the game as slight underdogs, despite beating MAD Lions earlier in …
Josedeodo can’t carry Rainbow7 past LGD Gaming at Worlds 2020
William Davis
League of Legends
Jungler Brandon “Josedeodo” Villegas couldn’t carry Rainbow7 in his match against LGD Gaming, and now finds himself eliminated from the 2020 League of Legends World Championship. Josedeodo stole the spotlight at Worlds with his outstanding performance in the jungle. Unfortunately, his individual prowess wasn’t enough to take his team further in the competition. Rainbow7 fell against LGD in the elimination round in 3-0 fashion and the Latin American team is …
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
Fnatic and TSM look weak ahead of day two at Worlds 2020
By
William Davis
League of Legends
Gen.G beat LGD Gaming, but can’t seem to keep up with Worlds 2020 meta
By
William Davis
League of Legends
DAMWON Gaming uses skirmishing style to destroy JD Gaming at Worlds 2020
By
William Davis
