League of Legends
League of Legends
Worlds set new viewership record in the first day of play-ins
William Davis
It didn’t take more than one day of the 2020 League of Legends World Championship play-in stage until the viewership record of a Worlds play-in game was beaten by Team Liquid and MAD Lions. Team Liquid vs. MAD Lions peaked at 1,155,657 viewers according to Echarts and is therefore the most-watched play-in game up to now. The start of this year’s Worlds was heavily anticipated by fans who were all …
League of Legends
MAD Lions Shad0w on jungle Evelynn and his goals at Worlds
Jared Wynne
MAD Lions had a mixed first day at the 2020 World Championship. The team found victory versus Brazil’s INTZ of the CBLOL, but the win wasn’t as clean as some had expected. This would prove a grim omen for later in the day, as MAD Lions fell to Team Liquid in closing out the first day of competition. The team is still very much in the running to advance …
League of Legends
LGD vs. Unicorns of Love: Worlds play-in betting analysis
William Davis
The LPL fourth seed LGD Gaming will take on the kings of the LCL, Unicorns of Love, in the 2020 World Championship play-in stage. It will be a match between teams that would usually never face off against each other on Summoner’s Rift, but this is Worlds, where fans are treated with such rare matchups. Both sides know how to play aggressively, so fans might be in for a real …
League of Legends
Team Liquid runs over MAD Lions in Worlds 2020 EU vs. NA matchup
William Davis
Team Liquid beat MAD Lions in a confident fashion in the first EU vs. NA matchup of the 2020 League of Legends World Championship. The rivalry between North America and Europe started out with a clash between the LEC’s MAD Lions and LCS’ Team Liquid. MAD Lions went into the matchup as a favorite, with Liquid attempting to prove that LCS can play at a high level. They most definitely …
PSG Talon pulls off massive upset over LGD Gaming at Worlds 2020
William Davis
League of Legends
PSG Talon beat group favorites LGD Gaming in the first big upset of the 2020 League of Legends World Championship play-in stage. LGD were the clear favorites going into the match, as they are considered the best team in play-ins by many fans and experts. Despite all expectations, PSG Talon came out swinging with a great composition and took down the fourth seed from the LPL. What is even more …
Legacy Esports vs. INTZ is Worlds 2020’s first nailbiter
William Davis
League of Legends
Legacy Esports took down INTZ in the first real nailbiter at the 2020 League of Legends World Championship play-in stage. A game between the two little-known teams ended up becoming an intense, 40-minute battle that fans will remember. Plenty of kills, back and forth play, and intense team fights were on the menu but in the end, it was Legacy Esports who had the endurance to close it out. .@LegacyOCE …
Worlds 2020 kicks off with tough MAD Lions win over INTZ
William Davis
League of Legends
MAD Lions kicked off the 2020 Worlds Championship with a hardfought victory over INTZ. MAD started Worlds 2020 on a high note, but it wasn’t the easy ride the team expected. The CBLOL champions put in a good fight and had MAD against the ropes at several points on the match. The game started with the type of mistake no player wants to make at Worlds. Everything was set for …
Championship LeBlanc skin, Worlds 2020 content now available
William Davis
League of Legends
As the 2020 League of Legends World Championship approaches, Worlds content is now available on live servers. This includes Championship LeBlanc and much more. This year’s Worlds will have loads of rewards available for players who watch the official broadcast. Riot recently revealed that there will be watch missions throughout the tournament and drops enabled on the Twitch and YouTube streams. Fans can also earn rewards through the annual Pick’ems …
Tyler1 defeats Yassuo to win Twitch Rivals LoL Draft Showdown 4
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Team Tyler1 is the Twitch Rivals League of Legends Draft Showdown 4 champions. League of Legends streamer Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp was captain of Team Tyler1, which faced Hammoudi “Yassuo” Abdalrhman’s Team Yassuo in the grand finals series. Team Tyler1 beat Team Lohpally in the playoffs, while Team Yassuo defeated Team TFBlade in the semifinals. The finals were a back and forth series that saw Team Tyler1 take the first game. …
These are the biggest favorites to win Worlds 2020
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2020 World Championship is stacked with world-class teams this year, and there are several teams who could potentially make a deep run for the Summoner’s Cup. The new Worlds format with four teams from the LPL and LEC makes the competition at Worlds tougher than it has ever been. The LPL teams are looking to win the third trophy in a row, while the LEC teams want to finally …
Riot teases Dr. Mundo rework, 3 new champions in champion roadmap
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot has just released the last champion roadmap of 2020, teasing the new Dr. Mundo visual and gameplay update and some new upcoming champions. Pssstt! Want a sneak peek at the new champs and VGUs we’re cooking on? We’ve got a: ???? ️ Iron-willed criminal???? Rising star???? Possessive junglerAnd Mundo’s VGU goes where it pleases! Check out the newest Champion Roadmap ???? https://t.co/zgwsO9RoqL pic.twitter.com/kwAjv93FMi — League of Legends (@LeagueOfLegends) September …
MAD Lions vs. Team Liquid: Worlds 2020 play-in betting analysis
William Davis
News
The first match between North American and European teams at the 2020 World Championship will be between Team Liquid and MAD Lions on the first day of the play-in stage. Both teams have been performing well throughout the summer split and will now write the first chapter of the regional rivalry in 2020. Liquid qualified as the LCS third seed, while MAD Lions took the new fourth spot for the …
Doublelift roasted by LPL teams ahead of 2020 World Championship
William Davis
League of Legends
Team SoloMid’ Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng got completely owned by the LPL teams in a trash talk video promoting the event. The LPL teams released a video roasting their competitor at the 2020 World Championship and Doublelift received a personal message. “Doublelift, the only game you have left might be your trash talk game,” TOP Esports jungler Hung “Karsa” Hao-Hsuan said on the video. “Wait, you’re even wearing the trash you …
Jungle gap might be biggest challenge for G2, Fnatic at Worlds
William Davis
League of Legends
The League of Legends 2020 World Championship is almost here and all eyes are on the LEC and LPL teams, the two best-performing regions internationally in the past couple of years. For years, the LCK was considered the best regional league in the world. That perception changed in 2018 when a European team faced a Chinese squad in finals. Invictus Gaming versus Fnatic would only be the beginning of the …
Riot wants Sion and Urgot to become junglers in patch 10.20
William Davis
League of Legends
A detailed preview for the upcoming patch 10.20 has been revealed by lead gameplay designer Mark “Scuffy” Yetter, where Sion and Urgot are getting some buffs in the jungle. The patch doesn’t include many huge changes but is instead targeting some off-meta champions that might make their return to the meta soon. In the nerf section, strong picks such as Katarina and Karthus are getting some attention. 10.20 Patch preview …
FlyQuest introduces WorldQuest for the 2020 World Championship
William Davis
League of Legends
FlyQuest is heading to its first world championship and the organization is going to make the most of it with the introduction of WorldQuest. For the trees AND the seas! ???? ???? Introducing our #Worlds2020 campaign, WorldQuest! Let’s #ShowcaseGreatness together!???? : https://t.co/VwRspP8TOP pic.twitter.com/czSPPGnWvq — WorldQuest (@FlyQuest) September 23, 2020 FlyQuest is going to plant trees and replenish corals throughout the 2020 League of Legends World Championship. FlyQuest will be basing …
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
