League of Legends
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. …
League of Legends
League of Legends fans not happy with Riot’s new loot drop system
Olivia Richman
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 …
League of Legends
TL Tactical on C9: “I’m sure we’ll eventually be able to beat them”
Olivia Richman
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 …
League of Legends
C9’s Blaber says EG still not a threat after losing to them
Olivia Richman
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 …
League of Legends
Cloud9 vs. Evil Geniuses: 2020 LCS Summer betting analysis
William Davis
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 …
LoL breaks new viewership records with 2020 LEC Summer Split
William Davis
League of Legends
The LEC registered a massive growth in viewership in the first half of the 2020 LEC Summer Split. According to statistics shared by Riot Games, the first half of the LEC summer had 108% more hours watched, for a total of 13,454,941 hours. The LEC also registered its highest viewership peak ever in the regular season with 479,784 viewers. On the content side, the LEC has over 1 million views …
Riot releases Yone trailer, new champion reported to launch soon
Jared Wynne
League of Legends
Following the announcement of the newest League of Legends champion Lillia, Riot Games is not wasting any time getting this year’s Spirit Blossom event underway.Riot has released a trailer for yet another champion: Yasuo’s greatly anticipated brother, Yone. With the amount of buzz surrounding Yone’s release, which includes more than a few leaks regarding the champion’s appearance and in-game lore, Riot has all but officially confirmed him as League of …
Treatz subs in for Biofrost as TSM looks for answers in LCS
William Davis
League of Legends
Erik “Treatz” Wessén will be the starting support for Team SoloMid while Vincent “Biofrost” Wang will be playing for the organization’s Academy team. For this week’s #LCS games, @TreatzLoL will be subbing in for @Biofrostlol. Biofrost will take his place in Academy for the time being. pic.twitter.com/tsieJRgx4y — TSM (@TSM) July 15, 2020 TSM has had a rocky year in the bot lane after changing their bot laner twice, and …
Evil Geniuses to start Huni and Goldenglue in LCS Summer Split
William Davis
League of Legends
Evil Geniuses will be starting top laner Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon and former Golden Guardians mid laner Greyson “Goldenglue” Gilmer during week six of the 2020 LCS Summer split. According to a report by ESPN, EG has signed a seven-day contract with Goldenglue and will be starting him alongside Huni next weekend in the LCS. In week six, Evil Geniuses is facing Team Liquid and Cloud9, their toughest opponents this season. …
Riot wants to finally nerf Aphelios out of play in patch 10.15
William Davis
League of Legends
Aphelios is set to receive a big nerf on his Crescendum and Infernum guns in patch 10.15. Lead gameplay designer for League of Legends Mark “Scuffy” Yetter released a patch 10.15 preview showing big nerfs to Aphelios. Aphelios takes the spotlight in the latest patch preview. The highly contested champion will receive several nerfs to decrease his damage output. Q – Crescendum turrets activation delay 0.25 > 0.35 seconds Q …
AOC says League of Legends has prepared her for internet trolls
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
While United States President Donald Trump has at times sought to blame societal ills on video games, house representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is looking to further embrace them. AOC took to Twitter to let her 7.5 million followers know that she reached rank Silver 3 in League of Legends during the quarantine. My small quarantine accomplishment: made it to Silver III ???? — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 14, 2020 At the …
Origen adds former Vitality player Jactroll, replaces Destiny
William Davis
League of Legends
Origen is adding a new face to their roster for week 5 of the 2020 LEC Summer Split, following a shaky start to the split. The team has acquired Jakub “Jactroll” Skurzyński to replace Mitchell “Destiny” Shaw in the support position. The move comes after a lackluster performance from Origen, who currently sit at fifth place in the LEC. We are pleased to welcome @Jactroll as a 6th member of …
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.
