League of Legends
League of Legends
LEC brings on NEOM as new partner, talent lash out against move
William Davis
The LEC recently announced NEOM as its new main partner for the 2020 LEC Summer Split, and that announcement was followed by a lot of criticism from both LEC staff and the community. NEOM is based in Saudi Arabia and will be the home and workplace for millions of citizens. The project is backed by the Saudi Arabian government and its vision is to build a city based on a …
League of Legends
Fiora, Jax, Yasuo are about to get big buffs in patch 10.16
William Davis
League of Legends lead gameplay designer Mark “Scuffy” Yetter has revealed the first sneak peek for patch 10.16, and there are many different nerfs and buffs planned for the game. 10.16 Patch Preview with changes:Not 100% final, but getting close. We have a good meta, so a lot of small changes is our approach to diversify without destroying it. pic.twitter.com/lVHTXdTu10 — Mark Yetter (@MarkYetter) July 28, 2020 The next patch …
League of Legends
The rise and powering up of Karthus in Season 10
Jared Wynne
Karthus has become one of the premier mid, jungle, and bot lane picks in patch 10.14. Thanks to the steady jungle experience buffs and the reversion of some ill-advised nerfs to the champion, this hyper-scaling mage has risen from the ashes. Karthus was one of the hardest hit champions after the preseason 10 jungle experience nerfs. By reducing jungle experience and decreasing neutral monster spawn timers, Riot effectively nerfed the …
League of Legends
These are the worst champion picks in LoL patch 10.15
William Davis
A lot is changing in the current meta after patch 10.15, especially with the addition of the game’s newest champion, Lillia. While the recent patch included many buffs, we also saw Riot give some heavy nerfs to some of solo queue’s hard hitters. We will be taking a look at some champions to avoid in solo queue. All statistics provided in the article are taken from Platinum elo games and …
League of Legends
Yassuo gets charity stream canceled after offensive comments
William Davis
Twitch streamer Mohammad “Yassuo” Abdalrhman had his charity stream canceled after wishing a teammate cancer live on stream. A clip of Yassuo recently started trending on social media where he wishes cancer upon an allied Diana player and her whole family after the player struggled in a solo queue game. While the Diana did play poorly, Yassuo completely lost it in the end-game lobby resulting in some inappropriate insults. Yassuo …
League of Legends
Will the LCS and LEC soon be exclusive to Twitch or YouTube?
William Davis
Esports journalist Travis Gafford recently made a video in which he explained why the LCS and LEC might make exclusive streaming deals in the near future. His prediction is based on recent initiatives from League of Legends developer Riot Games, which has introduced franchising to its leagues and rebranded LoL Esports to better gather all of its competitive leagues under one roof. Riot has been putting renewed effort into guiding …
League of Legends
G2 Esports vs Rogue: 2020 LEC Summer Split betting analysis
William Davis
Rogue and G2 Esports are playing Saturday in the battle between the first and sixth place teams in the 2020 LEC Summer Split. The LEC has this ongoing narrative of the elite three, the trio of teams that are always at the top and are likely to reach finals every split. That elite three consists of Fnatic, G2, and Origen. People talk about these teams and put their money on …
League of Legends
Deft reach 1,500 kills in LCK, trails only Uzi on all-time list
William Davis
DragonX bot laner Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu has reached a huge new milestone after hitting 1,500 total kills in the LCK, and is now challenging the newly retired Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao for the most kills by any League of Legends professional. The record was set after a win against KT Rolster, in which Deft managed to carry his team through a reverse sweep. Deft secured a total of 14 kills in …
LoL introduces Spirit Bonds, a new interactive experience
William Davis
League of Legends
The Spirit Blossom festival has started in League of Legends, and it brings a new interactive experience for players. Players are getting the opportunity to interact with their favorite champions like never before through Spirit Bonds. Many have compared the experience to a League of Legends dating simulator, but it seems to be much more than that. Spirit Bonds give players the chance to create a relationship with the spirits …
CLG vs. TSM: 2020 LCS Summer Split betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
Counter Logic Gaming and Team SoloMid are playing in week seven of the 2020 LCS Summer Split. CLG versus TSM is not the rivalry it used to be. The teams that were once considered the top organizations in North America are now on a redemption journey, trying to establish themselves as contender in the LCS. Spring was a catastrophe for CLG, the team that finished tenth and had to make …
IWillDominate loses LPP status, can’t co-stream on Twitch
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Popular League of Legends streamer Christian “IWillDominate” Rivera has been removed from Riot’s League of Legends Partner Program. IWillDominate reveived a message from LPP stating that he’s now on probation from the League Partner Program due to some of his recent comments not aligning “with the current values of the LPP or Summoner’s Code.” That resulted in him being removed from the LPP Discord, no longer having access to League …
These are the best champions to play in LoL patch 10.15
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games made several substantial changes in patch 10.15 to shift the game’s meta. As a result, players are already asking who are currently the best champions to play. Patch 10.15 Highlights!Read the full patch notes ????????????https://t.co/HLChnAcXun pic.twitter.com/60vJENdFcS — League of Legends (@LeagueOfLegends) July 21, 2020 The best champions are different depending on the elo. In low elo we usually see different champions succeed compared to high elo and professional …
Hashinshin permanently banned from Twitch for grooming minors
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
After months of sexual assault and rape accusations against popular Twitch streamers, the platform seems to be taking serios action against some of those accused. Esports insider Rod “Slasher” Breslau tweeted earlier today that League of Legends content creator Robert “Hashinshin” Brotz has been permanently banned from Twitch for grooming a minor. In the tweet, Slasher states that a source told him that one of Hashinshin’s victims had made a …
Riot Games debuts new League of Legends esports branding
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games recently introduced a complete rebrand of LoL Esports, including a new visual identity throughout all professional leagues in the League of Legends ecosystem and new streams of officially branded content. Riot Games wants to bring esports to more people than ever before through the new LoL Esports branding. The company’s plan is to build a global esports ecosystem that will include all 12 regional leagues around the world, …
Meteos officially leaves 100 Thieves after public drama with team
William Davis
League of Legends
Jungler William “Meteos” Hartman has parted ways with 100 Thieves, the team confirmed through Twitter. Meteos is officially out of 100 Thieves, again. On June 29, 100 Thieves decided to bench Meteos and replaced him with 100 Thieves Academy jungler Juan “Contractz” Garcia. Right after the announcement, Meteos went on a Twitter rant and complained about the move. Meteos deleted the tweet right away, after receiving some backlash. The following …
LoL patch 10.15 removes rank restriction from flex queue
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games is lifting the rank restrictions for flex queue with patch 10.15. Starting with patch 10.15, players of all ranks will be free to play together in flex queue games. The system follows the same logic used for Clash, where players who join the tournaments can do so without limitations due to rank. When players are climbing in ranked games, the system has limited which ranks can play together. …
C9 Westrice says TSM is the second best team in the LCS
William Davis
League of Legends
Cloud9 assistant coach Jonathan “Westrice” Nguyen said during a recent stream that he rates Team SoloMid as the second best team in the LCS today. During the stream, Westrice was asked for his opinion on the current strength between the top LCS teams. Westrice put a lot of emphasis on TSM and their recent player swap in the support position, subbing in Erik “Treatz” Wessén to replace Vincent “Biofrost” Wang. …
This pro uses his hands and feet to play bot and support himself
William Davis
League of Legends
Playing bot lane in solo queue can be a struggle when you don’t know your laning partner. French streamer César “Wakz” Hugues took matters into his own hands and decided that he could play both roles by himself. A clip of Wakz playing two champions at the same time started trending on social media which showed him playing Lucian with mouse and keyboard, while Yuumi was played with his feet …
FunPlus Phoenix announces Khan roster move after losing streak
William Davis
League of Legends
Big changes are coming for the FunPlus Phoenix roster in week eight of the 2020 LPL Summer Split. FunPlus Phoenix is not currently having a good time in the LPL. The reigning world champion is on a four-game losing streak that has led to an emergency roster move. FPX has decided to bench top laner Kim “Khan” Dong-ha and to instead start Kim “GimGoon” Han-saem. GimGoon last played for FunPlus …
These are the best NA Academy players ready to take on the LCS
William Davis
League of Legends
It’s time to take a look at the most promising players from the 2020 North America Academy League, players who might be the ones to dominate the LCS or even the world stage in the future. The competition in NA Academy has increased in the last couple of splits, as several players have been promoted to the LCS with success, including Edward “Tactical” Ra and Colin “Kumo” Zhao. The league …
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.
