League of Legends
League of Legends
New LoL champion Lillia revealed, Spirit Blossom event detailed
William Davis
League of Legends has revealed its 149th champion, who will be part of the Spirit Blossom event this summer. Lillia, the Bashful Bloom, is the newest champion to join Summoner’s Rift coming from Ionia. Over the weekend, an early look at the champion got leaked online. Fans started comparing Lillia with Neeko because of her innocent looks. Others called it a mix between Neeko and Hecarim. Lillia is a jungler …
League of Legends
League of Legends is raising the price of RP in some regions
William Davis
Riot Games is updating the prices of RP on July 15, and the change will affect several regions. Riot is increasing the global pricing of RP to account for tax laws, inflation, and other related issues. This update usually comes at the beginning of the year, but the developer decided to postpone it due to ongoing economic slowdows across the world. The regions that will see a straight increase in …
League of Legends
Licorice on C9: “We’re better in lane, more prepared…more skills”
Olivia Richman
Very few were surprised when Cloud9 came out victorious against Dignitas today. Cloud9 proved themselves to be unstoppable in the Spring Split and this season appears to be no different. But Eric “Licorice” Ritchie is still not thinking about Worlds. Not even the Summer Split Playoffs. He told WIN.gg that they are currently focused on just getting even better. How does it feel to come into the Summer Split and …
League of Legends
FlyQuest vs. Team Liquid: 2020 LCS Summer Split betting analysis
William Davis
FlyQuest and Team Liquid are meeting on Sunday in a battle for second place in the 2020 LCS Summer Split. Four weeks into the split, things are heating up the LCS. Right now, four teams are tied in second place with a 4-2 record. The frontrunner, to no one’s surprise, is a Cloud9 roster that remains undefeated. While Cloud9 has sole possession of the top spot, seven teams are in …
News
Is Team Liquid better now that Doublelift is off to TSM?
William Davis
Three weeks into the 2020 LCS Summer Split, it’s time to make a balance of Team Liquid’s season and how the team is faring without Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng. On April 26, Team SoloMid confirmed that Doublelift would be rejoining the organization as the starting ADC. It wasn’t a surprise, the rumors about this move started flying around by the end of spring’s regular season where Liquid finished ninth. Losing Doublelift …
League of Legends
100 Thieves drops Stunt, may also move Meteos from LCS roster
William Davis
100 Thieves fans are witnessing some serious dramatics with the roster changes announced by the team. Right after its defeat to Team SoloMid, 100 Thieves announced a drastic roster move. Jungler William “Meteos” Hartman and support William “Stunt” Chen are to be replaced by Juan “Contractz” Garcia and Philippe “Poome” Lavoie-Giguere, respectively. Next week for LCS, @poomelol and @Contractz will be our starting Support and Jungle, respectively. We’ll share a …
News
Meteos smack talks coach, GM after being benched by 100 Thieves
Olivia Richman
100 Thieves decided to bench William “Meteos” Hartman after a loss to Team SoloMid over the weekend and the jungler has expressed his opposition to the decision. “This is gonna sound like a troll post but just got word that I’m being benched after Week 3 summer again,” Meteos tweeted. “I’m not sure why I expected anything different.” That tweet has since been deleted, as was a follow-up tweet where …
League of Legends
Griffin gives up on LCK, won’t apply for franchise in 2021 season
William Davis
One big name in the LCK missed the deadline to apply for a spot in the new franchised league and won’t be returning in 2021. Griffin might be done with League of Legends. After months of controversy and being demoted to Challengers Korea, it seems like the story of this team is coming to an end. Griffin becomes the only team from either Challengers Korea or the LCK to not …
G2’s PerkZ taking break, sitting out in LEC Summer Split
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Luka “Perkz” Perković won’t be playing in the 2020 LEC Summer Split next weekend. G2 Esports notched a convincing victory over Fnatic in the third week of the Summer Split, but soon after the win Perkz announced that he wouldn’t be on the starting lineup next week. While he was happy with the performance, Perkz admitted that he was “having a bit of a hard time” dealing with stress. “I …
Team Liquid vs. Dignitas: 2020 LCS Summer Split betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
On Saturday, Dignitas will look to pick up its first victory of the split against Team Liquid. In the spring, Dignitas had a better performance and managed to take one win from Liquid. In the summer, the tables have turned and Liquid is looking much stronger. Top lane: Omran “V1per” Shoura Jungle: Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham Mid lane: Henrik “Froggen” Hansen ADC: Johnson “Johnsun” Nguyen Support: Zaqueri “aphromoo” Black Ahead of …
Immortals cuts ties with LCS head coach Zaboutine, general manager
William Davis
League of Legends
Immortals has made a drastic change ahead of week three of the 2020 LCS Summer Split. The organization revealed onTwitter that it has parted ways with LCS General Manager Keaton Cryer and head coach Thomas “Zaboutine” Si-Hassen. The decision comes after a poor, 0-4 start to the split. Thank you, @KeatonNA, and @Zaboutine. pic.twitter.com/1k9a9qGqEE — Immortals (@Immortals) June 25, 2020 “I don’t think this is the time to make speeches, …
Battlecast gets buff in TFT patch 10.13 after sorry debut
William Davis
League of Legends
Teamfight Tactics patch 10.13 brings some significant adjustments to the game mode’s newest traits and champions. The mid-set update added Battlecast and Astro as the new traits in TFT: Galaxies. Right off the bat, these traits proved to be strong and became an essential part of the meta. In comparison, Astro is performing better than Battlecast thanks to the Yordle we all love to hate, Teemo. Path 10.13 addresses the …
Pokémon UNITE looks like a MOBA, is inspired by League of Legends
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
“You may think you know Pokémon…but you’ve never seen a battle like this!” Earlier today, Pokemon released a teaser trailer for a new game. But this time it’s not about collecting Pokemon or using them to battle other trainers. Instead it’s a 5-on-5 real-time strategic battle game starring Pokemon from a variety of generations, including Pikachu, Charizard, Blastoise, Snorlax, Lucario, Gengar, Clefable, and Machamp. The League of Legends-style MOBA game …
This nerf to Yuumi will shut her down after LoL patch 10.13
William Davis
League of Legends
LoL patch 10.13 is heading to the live server with a necessary nerf for Yuumi, new Pool Party skins, and an update to report options. Summer will arrive in League of Legends on July 2 with five new Pool Party skins. Pool Party Jarvan IV, Pool Party Orianna, Pool Party Taliyah, Pool Party Syndra, and Pool Party Heimerdinger are the newest additions to the skin line. Each skin will sell …
Explaining the 2020 Summer Split watch rewards, drops, missions
William Davis
League of Legends
The Summer Split has officially started and the LoL watch rewards are back and better than ever before. Fans that watch professional play, no matter the region of the games watched, can opt in for exclusive LoL watch rewards. The watch missions are split into four tiers, and each tier has its own requirements and rewards. Tier one: Watch one game, earn a Hextech key, and a Hextech chest. Tier …
Riot won’t remove Little Legends from ARAM after refund dispute
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games is going back on its decision to remove Little Legends from ARAM, game director Andrei “Meddler” van Roon revealed on Twitter. On June 19, Riot shared its plans to remove Little Legends from ARAM with patch 10.15. According to the announcement, Little Legends ruin the visual clarity of the game and not many players were interested in buying these characters specifically for ARAM. On top of that, following …
These are the big changes coming to the LoL item shop
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games is planning on big changes for League of Legends in the offseason, and those changes start with the in-game item shop. Players will get to see a new item shop once the offseason rolls around November. According to an update by Riot, this change will address issues including multiple items having similar purposes, a lack of game-to-game variance in item builds, and the entire interface needing improvement. In …
C9 Jack calls out LCS for bad Player of the Week awards
William Davis
League of Legends
Cloud9 owner Jack Etienne is not happy with the Player of the Week awards in the 2020 LCS Summer Split. At the end of the weekend’s LCS broadcast, FlyQuest jungler Lucas “Santorin” Larsen received the Player of the Week award. FlyQuest finished the weekend with two victories and is now tied in second place with Evil Geniuses, Counter Logic Gaming, and Team Liquid. In week one, the award went to …
Invictus Gaming becomes first LoL team to score 10,000 kills
William Davis
League of Legends
Invictus Gaming is the first team ever to reach 10,000 kills in official matches, with over 20% of those kills coming from one player. In 2018, Invictus Gaming became the first LPL team to win a World Championship title. This year, IG became the first team to ever get 10,000 kills. Mid laner Song “Rookie” Eui-jin is responsible for over 2,000 of those kills. Rookie is the second player to …
Team Liquid coach Jatt has “a love-hate relationship with pressure”
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
After all of the drama and the many losses last season, Team Liquid finished in a miserable ninth place after multiple consecutive LCS titles. When Team Liquid announced former League of Legends commentator Joshua “Jatt” Leesman would be their new head coach, many fans wondered if he’d have the right skills to bring the flailing team back to their former glory. After a loss to Evil Geniuses in Week 2, Team …
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.
