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League of Legends is one of the most popular Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) titles in the esports industry. The game is big when it comes to events, viewership, and betting. Every year, the developer of the game, Riot Games host a variety of tournaments which are followed by millions of esports enthusiasts and gamers.
Teams from different regions in the world participate in the events to eventually qualify for one of the biggest tournaments in the eSports industry, League of Legends World Championship Series. There are some other third-party events that take place in the world of League of Legends. However, the odds in almost every match of those events are bad because only a couple of top tier teams participate. This article will cover the best LoL Leagues to bet on in 2019. We have compiled a list in order to help you make most out of your betting.
League of Legends Championship Series NA and EU
The North American League of Legends Championship Series (LCS NA) and the European League of Legends Championship Series (LCS EU) are divided into two splits: spring and summer. In both competitions, the 10 best teams in the region participate. Throughout the season each team faces twice against each opponent. In total, 18 games.
After a LoL league phase, the playoffs are disputed among the first six classified teams, in eliminatory best of five format. Apart from contesting a final to proclaim a winner, a duel is also held for the third place.
The LCS NA and LCS EU use championship points (also known as circuit points) for qualifying for the World Cup. An LCS team can reach the World Cup in different ways:
- The team that wins the summer split automatically enters the Worlds as the first classified in that region.
- The team that has scored the most championship points throughout the season has access to the second place.
- In the event that several teams are tied at the end of the summer split, the club that has achieved the most points during that split will take part in the tiebreaker.
- The final place for the World Cup will be determined by the Regional NA and EU Qualifiers. The winners of each will be the third classified from their respective regions.
League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK)
The League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) is the most important LoL leagues in South Korea. In the LCK, 10 teams compete against each other twice during the season. All matches are the best of three. At the end of the season, the last two teams participate in a promotion/relegation tournament, while the top five finishers play the playoffs.
In the playoffs, the fourth and fifth place are contested first in a game that follows best of three format. Then the winner faces the third and the winner face the second. The final of the playoffs, the best of five, faces the survivor of these duels against the first classified team.
As in the LCS NA and LCS EU, the LCK uses championship points to qualify for the World Cup.
A team from the LCK can reach the World Cups in different ways:
- The winner of the summer split automatically qualifies for the World Cup.
- The team with the most championship points (spring + summer) enters the Worlds as second place in the region.
- The last spot is determined by the Regional Qualifiers of South Korea. The winner also gets a ticket to the World Cup.
League of Legends Pro League (LPL)
The Tencent League of Legends Pro League (LPL) is by far the most popular League of Legends leagues in China. The LPL has 14 separate teams in two divisions of 7 each. Each team faces its division’s rivals twice during the season and once against the rivals of the other division. All the games in the league are the best of three. Winning a series counts as a victory (or a point).
After the regular league, the playoffs are held. The two teams that are higher in each division are automatically moved to the playoffs. The third team of each division plays against the fourth of the other, and the winners also go to the playoffs. The matches in this phase are the best of five, and a match is played to determine the third and fourth place (not just a final).
The first two classified in the LPL are classified for the group stage of the World Cup and the third for the opening phase.
Mid-Season Invitational (MSI)
Mid-Season Invitational League of Legends (MSI) is almost held in May every year. This event has 14 teams representing 14 different LoL leagues. The positioning of the regional classifieds will depend on their previous results in the MSI and World Championship.
The teams that have won the spring split will participate in the MSI in the following regions:
- Brazil (CBLOL)
- China (LPL)
- Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
- Europe (LCS EU), Japan (LJL)
- Korea (LCK)
- North America (LLN)
- South America (CLS)
- North America (LCS NA)
- Oceania (OPL)
- Southeast Asia (GPL)
- Vietnam (VCS)
- Taiwan
- Hong Kong
- Macao (LMS)
- Turkey (TCL)
The opening phase has 10 teams, which will imply that the other 4 will start in the group stage.
The two best of the groups in the opening qualifies for the next round, which will be eliminatory to the best of five series.
In the group stage, six teams will be measured in series at best from one to two matches. The best 4 will go to the elimination phase, where the format is the best of five.
Mid-Season Invitational always influence the positional of the regional qualifiers for the World Cup. The best regions of the MSI have the first four places of the group phase of the Worlds.
World Championship Series
The World Cup is the most prestigious League of Legends Championship. The championship has classified teams that fight for the supremacy in the game of Riot Games. This year, the event is taking place in South Korea with 24 teams initially contesting for the title of champion. Now we are down to top two teams only the fate of which will be decided in the grand finals of League of Legends World Championship Series at Incheon Munhak Stadium on Saturday, November 3.
In 2017, Riot Games modified the format of the event, dividing it into three stages: The Play-in phase, group stage, and knockout stage. We assume that, in the event of non-notification of changes, for this 2018 the same format is being maintained.
The strongest regions send some or all of their direct teams to the group stage, while other less powerful regions start in the Play-in.
The LCK sends three teams to the group stage, while the following leagues (LPL, LCS EU, LCS NA, and LMS) send two to the groups and another to the opening phase.
The following leagues bring a team to the Play-In phase:
- CBLoL
- LCL
- LJL
- LLN
- CLS
- OPL
- TCL
- GPL
How can they be classified? Proclaiming themselves as the champions of the summer split. However, a good performance in the MSI opens the doors to a second place in the World Cup in these regions.
Rift Rivals
Rift Rivals is an interregional competition in which the teams give their all to place their region at the top. The competition debuted last year in July and was also held in 2018. Therefore, it is safe to assume that Rift Rivals 2019 will also be held in the month of July.
This was the distribution of the five tournaments between regions in 2018:
- North America Europe – United States
- China vs. Korea vs. LMS – China
- Brazil vs. LATAM North vs. LATAM South – Brazil
- Oceania vs. Southeast Asia vs. Japan – Australia
- Vietnam vs. Turkey vs. Russia – Vietnam
The Rift Rivals teams are selected based on their classification in the spring split and are positioned for the event according to that classification.
All-star
To close the calendar year in League of Legends, the All-Stars are celebrated in a competition in which the teams are made up of the favorite players picked by fans. Fans vote for their favorites among the professionals of the best eight regional leagues (according to the World Cup results).
As in 2017, this year the All-Star will be in North America, although we do not know if Los Angeles will host the event.
The format has not yet been confirmed, but if you keep the one from last year it will be like this:
- Main event: eight teams, divided into two groups, seek to qualify for the knockout rounds with the aim of reaching the final and proclaim themselves champions.
- Tournament 1 vs 1: 16 players (two from each of the eight regions) are measured in single eliminations, at best one. The semi-finals and the grand finals are the best of three.
League of Legends is quite synonymous to its rival title Dota 2. The map structure, creep spawning, and the monsters are similar except the mechanics of both the games which heavily differ from each other. Learning how to play League of Legends is somewhat easy for the beginners. However, there are some key points in the game that every new player should be aware of. This League of Legends for Beginners Guide will not only comprehensively explain the role of every class of champions in the game, but also help you pick the best LoL odds in the betting industry.
Champions
Unlike many games, In League of Legends, you just have to control one character or champion, so it’s even more important to know the characters comprehensively. So, before you start a game you should either test out the champion in a game against bots (AI opponents) or at least read through the spell to have an idea of what he/she can do.
If you want to learn a new champion later, it makes sense to search the internet for guides on the various sites to get an impression of how to perfectly play the champion.
Classes
Depending on that, champions can be subdivided into the numerous different classes. So, if you want to understand the meta game and discussions in different forums, you should be able to know and distinguish these terms.
Carry
Carry is a game-changing champion. Of course, every champion is game-deciding in his own way, but carries are the ones whom everyone looks at. The word “to carry” means to wear, meaning the champion is there to carry his team and lead to victory.
LoL Carriers
In principle, a carry can be anyone, whether Blitzcrank, Gragas, Malzahar, Ashe or Corki. Therefore, a distinction is actually made here as follows: A carry is a Damage Dealer (DD), which is divided into AP Carry, or AD Carry. Champions like Malzahar, Swain or Vladimir are so-called AP-Carries. That is, they deal more magic damage than others and can quickly eliminate the opposing team. AP stands for Ability Power, which means that they scale with Ability Power (or their spells). They are also often dubbed as casters. AD Carries are champions like Ashe, Corki or Ezreal. They deal significantly more physical damage and scale very well with attack damage, meaning their damage comes mostly from auto attacks.
Supports
In League of Legends, supports are champions who support or heal their team through specific abilities and LoL items. These include above all Janna, Taric, Sona, and Soraka.
LoL Supports
There are a few more supporters, but in principle, these are the best. They each have healing spells and shields to support their team.
Supports usually spend their gold on tactical items like buying wards and get Map control for their team.Furthermore, supports take no minion kills, meaning they support their AD-Carry in the bottom lane and let him take all the Last Hits.
Tank
After supports and carry, we go to the kings of the top lane, namely the tanks or off-tank. The term off-tank is referred to the anti-carry, such as Mundo, Akali or Maokai.
LoL Tanks
It is essential to get as much farm as possible because often the top lane can decide the fate of the game. Especially Jarvan IV and Irelia are of course in the current Meta. At the same time, you cannot push too far, because the opposing jungler can come from behind, and take advantage of your careless positioning.
You can also think of a “tank” as a champion that can absorb the damage of the enemy and somehow attract the fire of the opponents. For example, Rammus, Shen, Cho’Gath or Malphite tanks. Their abilities make them accustomed to initiate a team fight and protect the team. The direct translation here illustrates the whole thing: they are “tanks”.
Champion Mechanics
Most champions need mana to use their spells. However, this does not apply to everyone, so in the following is briefly explained what you have to pay attention to:
Katarina, Garen, Tryndamere, Vladimir
These champions do not use mana or anything like that. Their spells are completely free (Vladimir has two spells that cost lives). They are limited only by their cooldown.
Mordekaiser, Vladimir, Dr. Mundo
Spells (partly) cost lives in these three champions. If you kill yourself with a spell because you have so little life, the spell cannot be performed until you regenerate the required health.
Renekton
This champion uses anger. His abilities also do not cost anything, but they generate rage and if you have over 50 rage your spells are boosted. He also gets rage with Auto Attacks.
Rumble
Rumble creates heat through its fire magic. As soon as he has over 50 heat, each spell deals out more damage, but if it comes to 100 heat it stops for a few seconds and deals a little more damage with its auto attack.
Akali, Kennen, Shen, Lee Sin
The three ninjas and the blind monk use energy. They have 200 energy and regenerate mana a lot quicker than the other Champions.
AD Carries
What do you have to learn when playing an AD-Carry? Well, in principle there is not much to pay attention while playing the AD Carry, but of course, there are a few things that will be explained below.
As soon as the game begins, it will be standard for you to go to the bot lane with a support who gives you all the last hits. On the other hand, if you go down to the lane with someone else in the bot lane, you cannot guarantee that you will get your last hits.
No matter if you go to the Duo-lane or Solo-lane, you have to pay attention to the minion in both ways. At the same time take care not to get harassed too hard. This requires some practice, especially as there are some champs who can quite possibly nuke you to zone you out and effectively keep the lane to themselves. Therefore, it is essential to know your champion inside out. Speaking of playing an AD carry, you have to be better in many situations, especially on the solo lane, than your opponent.
Caster
Caster is the one who goes to the mid lane. As a caster, it is much easier to farm than AD-Carry. The main reason is that you have a solo lane and you do not have to compete against two opponents. In addition, after a short time, you have the opportunity to farm with your spells. This gives you the opportunity to zone your opponent if you are either better than him or if you have a stronger champion and are superior to your opponent.
The fact that you have the solo lane also makes you much more vulnerable to ganks since it is difficult to secure the lane with wards there.
Of course, the enemy is just as prone to ganks as you are, so you can always ask for a gank if the opponent is too close to your own tower. Accordingly, it is vitally important not to use all of your spells for farming, as you will be fast at the enemy’s tower and will be an easy target for enemy ganks. However, if the creeps are pushing into the tower, you should use the spells to clear the wave and get the Last Hits.
Support
As a support, you have undoubtedly the simplest job in the game, nevertheless, there are also some things that have to be considered.
As a support player, it is only possible to go with the AD Carry on the bot lane. Here you let him get all minion kills and support whereas possible. Since you do not get any minion kills, it is essential to invest your gold in wards. In principle, you do not have to do more when playing this role. If sometimes you have enough money to buy an item that is nice, but getting the map control with your wards should be the first priority.
Janna, Sona, Soraka, Taric, Alistar, and Lux are some examples of great support champions.
Jungler
Jungler role in itself is really not difficult, but if you want to optimize it and really master it, the whole thing looks completely different and you really have to know a lot.
LoL Junglers
To effectively jungle you have to look at each champion’s speed, invasion, survivability, path / build, and ganking, and then decide if it’s worth chasing with him at all and then building on his strengths.
Often time in the League of Legends competitive scene, junglers are the ones which setup the teamfights. Jungler’s high farm-rate and level advantage over other champions makes it an excellent choice to setup the ganks.
Update
Despite falling out of quarterfinals at worlds this year, Uzi still made esports history by being the first professional esports player to be endorsed by the brand, Nike. Despite their early departure from worlds, Uzi made several domestic and international performances that stunned the world with both Chinese LPL Championships and claiming the Mid Season Invitational, a first for the long playing ADC, now cementing him as one of the best players to come from the region.
Nike is commonly known for being a worldwide organization whose focus has been on providing apparel and equipment for celebrities and athletes alike and now they will step into unfamiliar territory for the brand by siding with a professional League of Legends player. Nike may not be the first sports endorsement to make it into the esports space but it is undeniable that Nike is among the biggest.
Jian “Uzi” Zihao
Now Jian “Uzi” Zihao will stand beside Chinese actor Bai Jingting and NBA player LeBron James for a campaign entitled “Dribble and” to promote James’ documentary series “Shut up and Dribble.” For Uzi’s shirt it features the word carry referring to the common esports term, specifically more used is MOBA’s where a player is able to lead to a team to victory seemingly by themselves. A term Uzi knows all too well being the Royal Never Give Up star ADC and considered to be one of the strongest players in the world. Royal Never Give Up has obtained several other sponsors this year, notably both KFC and Mercedes-Benz.
James was quoted saying the documentary series looks to give insight into “a powerful inside look at the changing role of athletes in our fraught cultural and political environment.” To have esports recognized in this change along with traditional sports is quite the topic with itself proving that esports have come quite a long way from being what people perceived a bunch of kids playing video games for money, and is now realized and fleshed out to be a well respected competition which many people put in similar hours and work to prove to be the best much like traditional sports athletes do.
The Future of Esports Sponsorships
Along with chinese actor, the reach in China will be fairly significant considering the large Chinese league player base and Uzi being one of the most recognizable players in League right next to Faker. It isn’t stated whether or not this is a one off deal and this will be Nike’s only esports endorsement, but the future for the growing industry with this move definitely looks bright. If proven to be successful this can be a gateway for other brands to dip their toes into the esports space and put more money to continue to grow the scene.
23 May, 2019
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