League of Legends
League of Legends
2020 World Championship icons and emotes are live on the PBE
William Davis
Worlds icons and emotes have just hit the Public Beta Environment (PBE) together with patch 10.19’s balance changes. The 2020 World Championship is right around the corner, which means that the yearly Worlds icons and emotes will soon be available for purchase. Once again, it will be possible to rock your favorite team icon while flashing your favorite team’s in-game emote. 9/8 PBE Update: Worlds 2020 Summoner Icons & Emotes, …
League of Legends
T1 loses to Gen.G in LCK gauntlet, will miss LoL Worlds 2020
William Davis
T1 fought bravely for the last Korean spot in the 2020 World Championship but ended up falling to Gen.G in the last match of the gauntlet. T1 lost to Gen.G in a three-game series, without a real chance to fight back. T1 was strong early, but was outclassed in team fights in the later stages of each game. Gen.G has been great throughout the season, barely missing the summer split …
League of Legends
Riot reveals Mythic items and new item shop for next LoL season
William Davis
Riot recently revealed more information about the upcoming item overhaul for the 2021 preseason. The new update will include Mythic items and a number of new normal items as well. One month ago, Riot shared a first look into its preseason plans. They revealed a complete item overhaul that will add more diversity into different roles. In this most recent announcement, Riot shared information about Mythic items, which will be …
League of Legends
Riot wants to kill ADC Senna in last patch before Worlds 2020
William Davis
The preview for the 2020 World Championship patch has arrived and it includes some interesting buffs and nerfs that might have an effect on the Worlds meta. As per usual, lead gameplay designer for League of Legends Mark “Scuffy” Yetter has provided a list of detailed buffs and nerfs. 10.19 Preview with full changes:-We got some more 10.18 data and Talon and Nunu are actually not as strong as they …
League of Legends
Which teams are qualified for the 2020 LoL World Championship?
William Davis
The 2020 World Championship is right around the corner and all teams save for one have been decided. But who will be fighting for the Summoner’s Cup this year? Once again, teams from all around the world will compete to determine the best League of Legends team in the world. Originally, 24 teams were set to compete, but unfortunately Vietman’s VCS teams won’t be able to attend due to travel …
League of Legends
This is why Shen jungle works, as proven by TSM and G2
William Davis
Shen is known as a strong top laner with great early game dueling power and global presence, but the ninja is starting to see play in the jungle as well. But what makes Shen a strong jungler? Shen was picked up by Team SoloMid jungler Mingyi “Spica” Lu in the 2020 LCS Summer Split lower bracket final against Team Liquid. The pick came as a surprise to fans as well …
League of Legends
Team SoloMid wins the 2020 LCS Summer Split by defeating FlyQuest
William Davis
Team SoloMid is the 2020 LCS Summer Split champion after an intense five-game series against FlyQuest. TSM lived up to expectations and earned its first LCS title since 2017. Now, TSM is heading to the 2020 League of Legends World Championship as the LCS’s first seed and it’s guaranteed to avoid Top Esports, DAMWON Gaming, and G2 Esports in the first round. WE ARE THE BEST TEAM IN NORTH AMERICA …
League of Legends
LEC hits 1 million peak viewership for G2 vs. Fnatic finals match
William Davis
The LEC hit another milestone by reaching over 1 million peak viewers during the 2020 LEC Summer Finals match between G2 Esports and Fnatic. This broke the record for most-watched LEC match. It was only a matter of time before the LEC would hit the 1 million viewer milestone. An earlier playoff match between G2 and Fnatic saw viewership peak at almost 900,000 unique viewers. The finals showdown between them …
G2 Esports crushes Fnatic to win 2020 LEC Summer Finals
William Davis
League of Legends
G2 Esports is the 2020 LEC Summer Split champion after a 3-0 victory against Fnatic. This is the fourth LEC trophy in a row for G2, further solidifying the team as the kings of Europe. The clean sweep was almost a shot-for-shot remake of the spring finals, and leaves Fnatic not really looking like a real rival to G2. THE #LEC SUMMER 2020 CHAMPIONS: @G2esports! ???? pic.twitter.com/Shifs0ngjn — LEC (@LEC) …
G2’s Caps wins 2020 LEC Summer MVP Award after making LEC Finals
William Davis
League of Legends
G2 Esports mid laner Rasmus “Caps” Winther has been awarded the 2020 LEC Summer Split MVP Award after an outstanding performance during the entire split. The Danish mid laner achieved MVP status after two splits where teammate Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski took the award. This is the third time Caps has won most valuable player of the split, the other two came in LEC Spring 2019 and LEC Summer 2018. With …
What is CLG’s LoL roster going to look like in 2021?
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Counter Logic Gaming is coming off back-to-back bottom of the table finishes in the 2020 LCS Spring and Summer Splits. The organization has already released its coaches Kim “SSONG” Sang-soo and Weldon “Weldon” Green after the regular season ended, signaling big changes for the organization’s future. But what will those changes be? The team is looking at a potential rebuild across the board at all positions, but is locked into …
Riot Games reveals how new LoL champions are created
William Davis
League of Legends
League of Legends fans recently got an insight into the champion gameplay discovery process, through a dev post by lead gameplay designer Mark “Scuffy” Yetter. The process includes four key questions that have to be checked off when the Riot Games development team works on a new champion for the game. But will this continue to be possible in a game with over 150 champions? Gameplay thoughts for today:-Our “gameplay …
TSM destroys Team Liquid, advances to 2020 LCS Summer Finals
William Davis
League of Legends
Team SoloMid has qualified for the 2020 LCS Summer Split finals after taking down Team Liquid. TSM is one step closer to getting its first LCS title since 2017 and got revenge upon Liquid in the intense five-game semifinal series. With this result, Liquid qualified for Worlds as the LCS’ third seed, but will have to go through the play-in stage. hey @TLCoreJJ enjoy playins — Yiliang Peng (@TSMDoublelift) September 6, …
G2 beats Rogue in five games, secures LEC finals Fnatic rematch
William Davis
League of Legends
G2 Esports beat Rogue in an intense five-game series to secure the last spot in the 2020 LEC Summer Split final. This will be the fourth final in a row for G2, with a chance to win its fourth trophy in a row as well. Rogue places third in the split, which is the organization’s best LEC performance to date. G2 ADVANCE TO THE #LEC FINAL! pic.twitter.com/MubpDFYSA5 — LEC (@LEC) …
Why is Yuumi still hated after being nerfed into bad win rates?
William Davis
League of Legends
Feline enchanter support Yuumi has been thrown out of the meta for over five patches after several previous nerfs. Yuumi received a big nerf in patch 10.13 when Riot increased the mana cost of Zoomies (E), which greatly affected her sustain. Riot tried to balance her out by buffing Bop ‘N’ Block (P) in patch 10.15, but it was not enough to put Yuumi back at a balanced win rate. …
DAMWON Gaming wins 2020 LCK Summer Split, takes spot in Worlds 2020
William Davis
League of Legends
DAMWON Gaming is the 2020 LCK Summer Split champion and secured its pass to the 2020 World Championship. DAMWON took down DragonX with a clean 3-0 sweep and secured top seeding in the LCK. The three-game series was a League of Legends masterclass and DAMWON confirmed itself as the strongest team in South Korea. DAMWON’s top stars are jungler Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu, top laner Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon, and mid laner …
Everything you need to know about TFT Set 4: Fates
William Davis
League of Legends
Teamfight Tactics Set 4: Fates is coming to live servers on September 16 with patch 10.19. Here’s everything you need to know about the new TFT set, which includes game-changing mechanics as well as new Little Legends, arena skins, and much more. A new set adds new mechanics to the game, including Chosen, Cultist, Moonlight, and Warlord. Chosen units appear in the store and are two-star units that sell for …
Team Liquid support CoreJJ is the 2020 LCS Summer Split MVP
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2020 LCS Summer Split Honda MVP award goes to Team Liquid support Jo “Corejj” Yong-in after another impressive split. As we are entering the LCS finals weekend, the final summer split award has been announced. CoreJJ wins the award with 146 points, followed by Team SoloMid mid laner Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg as the runner-up with 111 points. Cloud9 jungler Robert “Blaber” Huang comes in at third with 44 points. …
Riot is looking to improve client performance in champion select
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games announced in a recent dev post that it will be looking to resolve champion select bugs and make the transition to the post-game lobby screen smoother for players. Through different surveys, developers at Riot have collected information to outline which client problems are the most important frustrating, according to players. Riot has previously worked towards improving the client bootstrap time and will now be focusing on the next …
Riot Games debuts trailer for new tabletop game Tellstone
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
“Play the player, dear. Not the game.” Tellstones: King’s Gambit is a tabletop game created by Riot that’s all about bluffing and memorization. The strategy game has had board game enthusiasts curious since Riot got the name trademarked in 2019. Now, the game’s developers have provided a narrative trailer for tabletop fans. The video already has more than 1.5 million views on YouTube. The trailer shows a young Cithria being …
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.
