Week 1 of the LCS gave us a lot to digest after ten intense games that have given us some upsets already. With a mix of coaching and roster moves throughout the offseason, it was difficult to determine team standings in the new LCS. After one week it is not any easier, though we have […]
Patch 9.2 introduced positional ranking for the ranked ladders in North America and Korea. This new rank system gives players a rank for each individual role, as opposed to the old system of having a single rank. So far the reception to this change has been negative. There are many problems people have with the […]
The second week of the LEC gave us some great games and yet another upset. With we have a much better understanding of where teams should be ranked heading towards week three. Some of the notable storylines to keep in mind will be the two extremes of the standings. One 4-0 team remains in G2 […]
Joshua “Jatt” Leesman made a startling announcement on the most recent episode of “The Dive” today. He told fans and audiences that he was leaving the esports scene to work on game development and balance. Because he is such a well-known figure in the scene, his departure is all the more shocking. As one of […]
With the LCS starting at the tail end of last week, we have finally seen all major regions play. With one week to go before Lunar New Year, we take a look at some of the best matchups. Don’t forget you can watch all these games through ESTNN TV, watch.lolesports.com or any of the respective […]
The second day of the first week of LCS is a wrap! Many teams are showcasing incredible potential with their new rosters, while some are struggling. Teams are still trying their best to start off on the right foot this split, and are giving viewers great games. Even though its early into the season, there’s […]
After a long off-season, the League of Legends Championship Series is finally back! With a ton of preseason roster changes, the ten North American teams are ready to get on the Rift. There are many exciting players along with equally exciting picks that are sure to make even the first day of LCS captivating. All […]
NA fans rejoice! The LCS is finally back this week, much like with the LEC the ESTNN writers are confident that they can predict the outcomes of the LCS. So thus a second part of the predictions unfolds, and we will see who is the superior LoL writer in ESTNN. Without further ado, let us […]
The start of the LEC proved to be exciting and full of surprises. We already witnessed some of our first upsets, and possibly have a better idea of the strength of teams. For a full recap of the first day click here. Fnatic has already surprised us with their 0-2 start, even though their match […]
Strengths The brand-new roster for the North American League of Legends team 100 Thieves offers a lot to the league in terms of power. They bring an anchor to the game in top lane where few other teams in the league can replicate. Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho has consistently proven himself to be a force to […]
League of Legends, as an esport, has a very dedicated competitive player base. Each season, millions of Summoners from around the world fight for glory and juicy LP. After a long three-month preseason, the time for Season Nine ranked is nearly here. Riot Games wants to amp up their players in these last few days […]
With the first week in the books, we look at what might be worth a watch, including the start of the LCS during the weekend. You can catch all these games on ESTNN TV, watch.lolesports.com or any of their respective Twitch channels. Sunday, January 20th 6 AM ET RNG vs. Suning Gaming: We start of […]
The first week of the LEC is wrapped up, and the standings are already different than many expected. This year four new teams have joined the league and show varying degrees of strength and success. Two notable names, SK Gaming and Origen, return to the scene and look to redeem themselves. Excel Esports and Rogue […]
LEC Kicks off the 2019 Season! The long-awaited first season of the LEC since rebranding from the EU LCS has finally arrived! Kicking off the European Spring Split of 2019 includes five games, all being a best of one series. The games today include FNATIC vs. SK Gaming, exceL eSports vs. Splyce, Schalke 04 vs. […]
With the newly rebranded LEC kicking off this week, the LoL writers here at ESTNN decided to try to predict the upcoming games and see who can come out on top at the end of the split. It will be interesting to see how close any of us can get to predicting all of these […]
Jersey Mike’s and Team Liquid have announced a sponsorship for the 2019 Season, continuing Jersey Mike’s marketing strategy of targeting League of Legends players and fans. Jersey Mike’s first foray into team sponsorships comes a season after they sponsored the NA LCS Summer Split (rebranded to “LCS” in December), offering prizes, in-game items, and Hextech […]
The NALCS Player Association announced late Monday evening, on Twitter a new rule has been set in place to protect all players involved within the league. This rule refers to a situation involving Johnny ‘Altec’ Ru, Adrian ‘Adrian’ Ma, and Kim ‘Fenix’ Jae-hoon who were all released, by Echo Fox, last summer split on the […]
TSM announced via Twitter that the starting jungler for the team, Jonathan ‘Grig’ Armao, will be missing the spring split due to “wrist issues.” This means that academy jungler Matt ‘Akaadian’ Higginbotham will be the starting jungler for the split. Akaadian was picked up by TSM in the offseason after his first season with OpTic […]
With a new season upon us I share with you this week’s most interesting games in the major regions of League of Legends. You can catch all these games on ESTNN TV, watch.lolesports.com or any of their respective Twitch channels. (All times are approximate times and are displayed in the Eastern Time zone. If you […]
A fan-favorite organization that just came away from one of the most impressive runs of any Western team in any League of Legends World Championship ever. An organization that hadn’t been in the premier European League of Legends circuit since their relegation in Season 5. And yet, somehow, these teams are rivals. And they’re going […]
It’s time. Griffin has seized the chance to redeem themselves against the team that denied them a Worlds appearance in their debut split. GenG had the opportunity to show their fans that they’re allowed to have some hope for next season – after the worst performance of a Korean team at Worlds since Season 3. […]
Damwon Gaming. That’s the name burned into everyone’s mind at this present moment in time. Whether it’s from word of mouth about their scrim prowess (NA heartthrobs Cloud9 had a few choice words around Worlds), or multiple analysts giving opinions about their path to the LCK 2019, Damwon Gaming are indeed the new kids on […]
Coming into this tournament, and this off-season, one would expect that the once and future kings of Invictus Gaming would comfortably secure a finals berth for themselves in China’s most prestigious independent event. And yet the path to their second consecutive title was rockier than any of us could have expected. Whether we could attribute […]
Honorable Mention: Rookie – League of Legends By: Ibriz Daya | LoL Expert Could it be anyone other than our World Champion midlaner? After joining Invictus Gaming in 2014 as part of the initial wave of the Korean Exodus, Rookie came into 2018 newly reinvigorated thanks to the addition of some outstanding supporting stars around […]
The Demacia Cup, Demacia Championship, whatever you want to call it, is indeed the pinnacle of the Chinese League of Legends offseason. Following a tumultuous Day 1 – best-of-1 is always an anything-goes type of format – we find ourselves with some clear-cut favorites to stake a claim for the title here. Here’s just how […]
The KeSPA Cup Day One The KeSPA Cup. A League of Legends competition viewed as superfluous by some but entertaining by so many more. After all, who wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to see some fantastic roster moves from the off-season in full effect? Hanwha Life Esports Following their most significant signings ahead of 2019 […]
The NA LCS (North America League of Legends Championship Series) will be the focus of an episode on Netflix’s new documentary. The documentary series will be titled 7 Days Out and will begin airing on December 21st. The trailer below will give you a brief idea of the documentaries tone. 7 Days Out will show […]
Earlier today, it was announced via Twitter that renowned football team and established LEC franchise FC Schalke 04 would be holding open tryouts for their secondary line-up heading into the 2019 season. The tryouts are open to any Europe West player that hit Challenger or Master during Season 8. The Academy lineup will compete in […]
The Chinese government’s new ‘Online Ethics Review Committee’ has banned Fortnite, PUBG, and seven other titles for “promoting incorrect values.” The main reasons were for how they depicted females, and for the use of blood and gore. Fortnite was likely banned due to the depiction of women, as the game doesn’t have blood or gore, but […]
Day One The annual League of Legends All-Star event kicked off on December 6th. Riot Games has hosted the event for many years following the Worlds Championship finals. Taking place in the eSports Arena in Las Vegas, NV, USA, the favorite League of Legends players from across the globe gather once more to meet in […]
With a fun-filled opening to this year’s 2018 All-Stars event, day two finally came around and with it, a continuation of yesterday’s tournaments and more memories to be made. The day will feature the finale of the Charity 2v2 tournament, another Tandem, and Nexus Blitz match, as well as both the round of 32 and […]
What Is Boosting? Firstly, what is ‘Boosting’? Boosting is when a gamer logs into another gamer’s account to play a ranked game to increase their ranking. Boosting has become a serious issue throughout major esports such as Overwatch, LoL, Dota 2 and CS:GO. The South Korean ‘Act on the Punishment of Alternative Game Act’ The […]
With a fun-filled opening to this year’s 2018 All-Stars event, day two finally came around and with it, a continuation of yesterday’s tournaments and more memories to be made. The day will feature the finale of the Charity 2v2 tournament, another Tandem, and Nexus Blitz match, as well as both the round of 32 and […]
The annual League of Legends All-Star event kicked off on December 6th. Riot Games has hosted the event for many years following the Worlds Championship finals. Taking place in the eSports Arena in Las Vegas, NV, USA, the favorite League of Legends players from across the globe gather once more to meet in a less […]
League of Legends superstar Lee Sang-hyeok, known better as “Faker”, has been inducted into the ESL Esports Hall of Fame. He is the first League of Legends player to be inducted into the Esports Hall of Fame. Faker was inducted via the first fan vote in the Esports Hall of Fame’s history. Faker is arguably the […]
It feels like only yesterday that Counter Logic Gaming’s beloved (yet criticized) midlaner Jae-Hyun “Huhi” Choi put on some stellar (draconic?) performances on Aurelion Sol, one of the many driving forces behind CLG’s ascension through the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational that found them second only to future returning World Champions SK Telecom T1. It was that […]
The Summoner’s Cup Has a New Home! The atmosphere of a community-driven event like the League of Legends World Championship is nothing short of breathtaking. With such a wide variety of events occurring at the tournament, it was very easy for many to take their eyes off of a certain underdog team. With the full […]
Goodbye EU LCS, hello LEC. After six years of the old name, a rebrand is bound to feel strange – and strange it does. After what was seen as the EU LCS’ most successful year since 2015 – having two teams in the Worlds semi-finals – was further accentuated by having an EU team actually […]
Riot Games has revealed their newest champion addition in Neeko: the curious chameleon, and with a kit loaded with creative outplay potential, she is here to shake up the rift. Neekos’ passive is Inherent Glamour, which allows here to become a clone of any allied champion regardless of their position on the map. This passive […]
The League of Legends offseason has started off with a bang. Cloud9’s starting mid laner Nicolaj Jensen has moved to Team Liquid. Jensen who has played LoL for Cloud9 since 2015, has been a key team member. Jensen helped Cloud9 reach the Worlds 2018 Semifinals, and the NA LCS 2018 Summer Split Finals. Jensen started […]
Preseason is well underway and so far there are two extremely exploitable changes I would like to discuss today. The first being the changes to the Kleptomancy rune, currently on the PBE klepto will proc twice after a spell cast, with this change I have been seeing a change in the top lane especially. Champions […]
According to GitHyp.com, this past weekends LoL Worlds 2018 added 50k viewers (+5%) when compared to 2017. The 2018 Worlds also set a new peak of 1.14 million concurrent viewers on Twitch. They also add that there was a decline from Worlds 2015 to 2016 of 6%, so this increase is a much welcomed sign for the […]
Riot games has recently announced the location of their World Championships for the next three years. This is a step in a new direction for the company, as in the past the decision seems to have been made last minute to the dismay of the fans wishing to attend. But with this move towards a […]
Today I would like to guide you through my thoughts concerning the performances of the various toplaners at Worlds that made appearances in the quarterfinals and beyond. Before delving too far into this, please be aware that the meta did evolve somewhat between some of these series – for example, Aatrox and Urgot were pick/ban […]
With Worlds wrapped up we can now look ahead to the preseason and all the changes that accompany it. While there is plenty to dig through and discuss, I want to start with the new outer turret plating system and its potential effects on the bottom lane. Bear in mind that from here on out, […]
With their victory over Fnatic, Invictus has completed the LPLs’ sweep of international tournaments in 2018. All respects to Fnatic for making it to the finals, a feat which any other EULCS team has yet to accomplish in recent years, however they were absolutely dismantled in this 3-0 sweep. And other than just being outmatched […]
2018. What a year for League of Legends – emerging strategies, top lane champion reworks, a faster metagame… Season 8 has been a fiesta of firsts, and the World Championship has been no exception. The first time North America has seen the semifinals of a League of Legends World Championship since Season 1. The first […]
With the Grand Finals for the League of Legends Championship coming up this weekend, now might be a good time to sit and reflect on this season and appreciate the journey we all took as players and fans. But something I noticed during my pondering was how very similar the two contenders for the Summoners […]
Last night the Trans-Atlantic war that is NA vs EU was waged in South Korea. However the battle was much more one sided than anyone anticipated. Game One This game was surreal to watch.It was like watching one of my solo queue teams trying to beat Fnatic. This term is over used, but Fnatic put […]
Day one of the League of Legends semi finals was a lesson that the best laid plans don’t always work, as G2 sought out to break the will and spirit of Ivictus’s youngest player, Theshy and Rookie proved that they are not threats to be ignored. At one point Theshy was averaging 1K damage per […]
Allow me to preface this article by saying that I expect the usual bans of Aatrox, Urgot, Alistar, Heimerdinger, and Tahm Kench to come through without further explanation required. The picks are either incredibly strong in and of themselves, or are well-known pocket picks for players in this series. I wanted to explain some […]
For the past several seasons Korea has been the king ruling over international League of Legends play. But this year the royal houses fell like dominoes, one after another, with the killing blow being dealt by North America’s Cloud9. And not since the Red Wedding has the death of a king been quite so jarring […]
I think that it’s safe to say that these were the most exciting, upset-rife, and overall chaotic group-stages we have ever had in a World Championship. Pleasant surprises accompanied bitter disappointment – many a heart aches for Vitality – and we’re left with the eight most formidable teams in the world right now. Four matches over […]
It all starts with a… win at the EU Masters. Caffeine and video game enthusiasts rejoice – an industry giant, Nestlé’s premier coffee brand Nescafé took the leap into the Spanish esports scene earlier this week, with a previously unheard-of sponsorship supporting legendary Madrid-based organisation MAD Lions E.C. A first for not only the esports […]
To say that Afreeca Freecs‘ performance has been a disappointment so far wouldn’t be a far stretch – and I’m not just speaking on behalf of everyone’s Pick ’ems. The almost-star studded roster qualified for Worlds this year off of championship points; a second-place finish in Spring accompanied by a later third-place berth in Summer […]
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to state that China’s first seed and fan favourite team Royal Never Give Up are miles ahead of the other teams in this group – and any other group in this tournament for that matter. Whether you take this to mean individual player skill or superior macro decisionmaking, it would […]
KT Korea’s only hope?!; it doesn’t seem so MAD to say that this group is close; RNG looking set to round out the perfect year; not sure which of Heimerdinger or Jiizuke is the more iconic face of the EULCS; C9 claiming one back for NA. KT Rolster‘s dominating performance over Team Liquid was a […]
ELEAGUE has joined forces with Riot Games to produce a one-hour League of Legends TBS special. The episode will air October 19th on TBS. The special is called Esports 101: League of Legends, and will help explain to the public how the game is played and discuss the esports scene. This will be the second special […]
Group Stage Predictions A: Flash Wolves (LMS1), Afreeca Freecs (LCK2), Phong V? Buffalo (VCS1), G2 Esports (EULCS3) B: Royal Never Give Up (LPL1), Gen.G (LCK3), Team Vitality (EULCS2), Cloud9 (NALCS3) C: KT Rolster (LCK1), MAD Team (LMS2), Team Liquid (NALCS1), Edward Gaming (LPL3) D: Fnatic (EULCS1), 100 Thieves (NALCS2), Invictus Gaming (LPL2), G-Rex (LMS3) Note: […]
The last tournament these teams attended together – barring last year’s Play-Ins – had both teams making the quarterfinals (Season 3 Worlds). It’s ironic that despite being essentially relegated to an apparently lesser region, Gambit Esports are the ones with more of their roster from their glory days intact. And yet, their performances this tournament […]
Here we are. The most important match in Japan’s League of Legends history so far, and just another notch in China’s belt. The winner of this series qualifies for the main stage of the League of Legends World Championship 2018. For a team that, in the past, choked in the Worlds Qualifier and had a […]
The League of Legends World Championship are underway in South Korea! The tournament will be played using a 24 team format consisting of three stages. The teams will be competing for a prize pool of $2,225,000. 1st place will take home 37.5 % of the total pot ($834,375). The three stages of the LoL World […]
Riot Games, the developer of League of Legends has announced a new arena in Seoul, South Korea. The new venue will be called LoL PARK. The venue will host the 2018 LoL World Championship play-in stage from October 1-4 and 6-7. The LoL PARK will host the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) starting in 2019. LoL Park Features […]
Sneaky (Zachary Scuderi | Clould9) clinched his sixth straight trip to the League of Legend World Championships. He has now passed Dyrus and Yellowstar, whom each hold five straight appearances. Sneaky also holds the record for most damage dealt at Worlds and damage per minute (dpm). Doublelift, Clearlove, sOAZ and Sneaky have each appeared in […]