League of Legends
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 …
League of Legends
LoL introduces Spirit Bonds, a new interactive experience
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
CLG vs. TSM: 2020 LCS Summer Split betting analysis
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
Riot Games debuts new League of Legends esports branding
William Davis
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, …
League of Legends
Meteos officially leaves 100 Thieves after public drama with team
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
LoL patch 10.15 removes rank restriction from flex queue
William Davis
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. …
League of Legends
C9 Westrice says TSM is the second best team in the LCS
William Davis
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 fans not happy with Riot’s new loot drop system
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
League of Legends fans are not too happy with Riot’s new LEC and LCS drops. In the past, League of Legends players received emotes, icons, and other in-game rewards for watching LEC and LCS matches. On June 4, Riot outlined their new and improved drop system, which would offer skin shards, chromas, prestige points, Clash tickets, and even promotions from Riot’s brand partners. Introducing Drops for League of Legends Esports:https://t.co/ZeNyniTmFs …
TL Tactical on C9: “I’m sure we’ll eventually be able to beat them”
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Team Liquid has dethroned Cloud9 as the top team in the LCS standings. Liquid advanced to a 10-2 record after defeating 100 Thieves, a far cry from their Spring Split performance. Jungler Edward “Tactical” Ra may be new to the team and to the LCS, but he’s proven himself worthy time and time again. WIN.gg spoke with the recent Team Liquid Academy graduate to talk about his time on the …
C9’s Blaber says EG still not a threat after losing to them
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Cloud9 just lost another LCS match, this time to Evil Geniuses. After an almost spotless LCS Spring Split, the League of Legends community can’t help but speculate as to why Cloud9 has seemed a bit shaky these past couple of weeks. But Robert “Blaber” Huang told WIN.gg that there’s nothing to worry about just yet. C9 is still on top. How are you feeling after the match today? Blaber: I …
Cloud9 vs. Evil Geniuses: 2020 LCS Summer betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
Evil Geniuses and its new roster will take on Cloud9 in week six in the 2020 LCS Summer Split. Cloud9 is no longer undefeated in the LCS. The spring champion dropped its match against 100 Thieves in the biggest upset of the season so far. One defeat is all it took to make Cloud9 look vulnerable and teams are more than ready to make round two of the regular season …
LoL, Fortnite, Valorant briefly shut down by Cloudflare outage
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
One of the world’s largest internet hosting entities abruptly shut down, leading to widespread panic and memeing across the internet. A huge number of internet users were left with nothing to do after Cloudflare experienced a sudden outage. This shut down the servers powering a slew of video games, social media platforms, and large websites. Breaking: A large outage took down Cloudflare, a website hosting, network and internet security provider. …
Hashinshin responds to accusations of grooming a minor
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
The League of Legends community is calling for streamer Robert “Hashinshin” Brotz to be canceled after the highly ranked LoL player and popular streamer was accused of grooming a minor. Pro player Maya “Caltys” Henckel came forward today with allegations against Hashinshin, telling her followers that he had groomed her when she was 15-years-old. She hesitated about coming forward with her story for fear of being known primarily for “being …
MAD Lions vs. G2 Esports: 2020 LEC Summer Split betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
G2 Esports will look to bounce back against MAD Lions in the closing match of week five of the 2020 LEC Summer Split. Things are looking rough for G2 this split. The team that was accustomed to smashing the competition is now struggling to defeat the lower tier teams in Europe. MAD continues its uphill climb and is fighting against Rogue for sole possession of the first place. The tables …
Nexus Blitz returns to League, new tooltip plans explained
William Davis
League of Legends
According to League of Legends game director Andrei “Meddler” Van Roon, Nexus Blitz is set to go live in patch 10.15. League fans have been eagerly awaiting the return of the limited-time game mode and now it finally seems to be the time for its return. The game mode will be live during the Spirit Blossom event and will be available for play over the course of two patches, Meddler …
The best players in each role in the 2020 LEC Summer Split
William Davis
League of Legends
As the LEC enters its second round robin, it’s worth looking at which players have made the biggest impact in the league thus far. The competition in the 2020 LEC Summer Split has been historically high, with both rookies and veterans showcasing why Europe is considered one of the strongest League of Legends regions today. Note that all statistics cited are relative to each player’s respective role. Highest gold differential …
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.
