League of Legends
League of Legends
Destiny loses Twitch partnership for “encouraging violence”
Olivia Richman
Popular streamer Steven Kenneth “Destiny” Bonnell II has lost his Twitch partnership for “encouraging violence.” Destiny is a variety streamer with over 576,000 followers on Twitch. He’s well known for playing League of Legends, although he’s been found in the Just Chatting category in recent broadcasts. Although there has been no official statement from Twitch on the partnership matter, Destiny did note earlier today that the streaming platform had emailed …
League of Legends
G2 Jankos asked to shut down his Twitch stream from Shanghai
William Davis
G2 Esports jungler Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski did his first stream after arriving in Shanghai, but he was quickly asked to shut it down after streaming for just over an hour. Teams are beginning to arrive in Shanghai, where the 2020 World Championship will soon be held. All players and staff were sent for 14-day quarantines right after arriving, which means that players will have a lot of time on their …
League of Legends
League of Legends players are torn over end of Clubs feature
Olivia Richman
The League of Legends community has mixed feelings about Clubs being shut down. Riot Games has announced that it is shutting down its in-game Clubs feature for League of Legends “in the near future,” which will most likely be around the end of the year. This feature allows LoL players to find one another within the game, queuing up with people who may not already be on their friend list. …
League of Legends
Riot reveals new skin plans for the remainder of 2020
William Davis
Riot Games has provided a big update on skins for the remainder of 2020 in a new dev post. Riot has been releasing more skins each year and is planning to continue that trend. In the recent dev post, it was announced that Riot is expecting to exceed its goal for new skins through 2020. The original goal was to create 120 new skins, but it looks like the number …
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
Caps calls G2 the greatest EU roster ever, but is it really?
William Davis
After G2 Esports won its fourth consecutive LEC trophy, Danish mid laner Rasmus “Caps” Winther spoke very highly about his team, calling it the best European roster ever. In an interview with Skysports, Caps said that he thinks it’s fair to call G2 the greatest European rosters after both domestic and international success in recent years. “I think it’s fair to say we’re the greatest EU roster – we obviously …
DAMWON Nuguri diagnosed with collapsed lung heading into Worlds
William Davis
League of Legends
DAMWON Gaming top laner Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon was diagnosed with a collapsed lung following the team’s win against DragonX in the 2020 LCK Summer Split final. The LCK summer champions didn’t get to celebrate their victory for long before top laner Nuguri reported that he was feeling short of breath and had chest pains. He was quickly checked into a hospital and diagnosed with pneumothorax, a collapsed lung. He underwent …
These are the best champions for LoL’s One for All game mode
William Davis
League of Legends
Temporary game mode One for All is live now as part of the PsyOps 2020 event, and we have assembled the best champions to use in conquering Summoner’s Rift. One for All will be available through October 5. One for All is one of the oldest game modes in League of Legends, as it was first released in 2013. The mechanics of this mode are simple. Players go through a …
Which teams are qualified for the 2020 LoL World Championship?
William Davis
League of Legends
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 …
This is why Shen jungle works, as proven by TSM and G2
William Davis
League of Legends
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 …
Team SoloMid wins the 2020 LCS Summer Split by defeating FlyQuest
William Davis
League of Legends
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 …
LEC hits 1 million peak viewership for G2 vs. Fnatic finals match
William Davis
League of Legends
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) …
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.
