With renowned glory and the status symbol of a legend, it’s hard to distinguish teams and eSports players from their colleagues from Soccer, Basketball or Cricket.
Not only they are earning millions of dollars from lucrative tournaments, but they are also idols for younger generations of gamers.
On this page, we are going to introduce you to our favourite eSports teams of all times. They may not be the best performing teams in all games and competitions, yet their influence can be measured in millions of new players around the globe.
Once we’re done with mutual picks, we are going to focus on our personal favorites – League of Legends and Dota 2. But in this part, we’ll give a twist to the entire story. Those teams are a perfect starting point for newcomers in the world of eSports betting.
- Cool, but how’s that possible?
According to our previous betting experience, those are the teams you can rely on. While they are the top-performing teams in major championships, they might not win all the time. However, we find their game somewhat predictable, so as a bettor with at least essential experience and decent game knowledge, you’ll know what to expect.
So let’s start.
Top 5 eSports teams of all times – A mutual selection
The final selection of best eSports teams was nothing but an easy choice. We went through numerous revisions, comparisons and a bit of conflict now and then.
Also, what’s important to mention is that we focused on teams as the entire gaming organisations, and not only specific rosters.
#5 T1
T1 or previously known SK Telecom T1 is a legendary organisation from South Korea. Their most notable success was in League of Legends; however, their rosters cover many other games and sports.
Funny enough, besides eSports, under the same parent organisation you will find teams in Football, Baseball, Basketball and men’s and women’s Handball.
This organisation’s roots in eSports were set back in 2003 in Starcraft. They took over Team Orion with Lim Yo-hwan as a team captain.
Speaking of success, T1 won three League of Legends World Championships in 2013, 2015 and 2016. In 2017 they ended up with silver, and in 2019, they had a seat in semi-finals.
Their current LoL roster features some of the legendary players such as mid-lane dominator Faker. He has been with T1 since season 3 in 2013 – the year when they earned the first gold medal on Worlds.
Many critics find the mid-lane clash from the same year’s finals as one of the most iconic plays in the history of League of Legends.
Recently they started spreading onto Battle Royale hits such as Fortnite, Apex Legends and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, yet the success isn’t anywhere near to LoL (yet).
#4 Cloud9
The Cloud9 comes from North America. Back in 2013, former TSM manager Jack Etienne bought the Quantic Gaming teams for $15,000, and that’s how the era started.
Fast forward a couple of years, and now we have a global eSports giant that’s worth over $310 million.
This is also the most valuable eSports company, with more than 90 active players and six primary games. Those games are League of Legends, Overwatch, Fortnite, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Rainbow Six Siege, and Clash Royale.
However, with resources that high, we might expect their rosters to spread to other missing games as well.
The success of C9 comes mostly from LoL, a game where they made outstanding results and the title that introduced them to the world of eSports. They have been present in every League of Legends World championship since 2013, and in 2018 they reached the semi-finals.
Speaking of other sports, in CS:GO they represented the United States on the world standings, beating FaZe Clan at the ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018.
During the Season 7 of Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS), roster from Cloud9 made a notable success, taking home the bronze medal.
#3 Virtus.pro
The team is mostly known as one of the greatest teams in the history of CS:GO. Despite the many ups and downs throughout the career, Virtus.pro managed to climb the top lists and tournament ladders ever since.
And if we take into the consideration that Virtus.pro is present on a global scene since 2003, for sure we are going to grant them some bonus points. In the modern history of CS:GO, they are known as the organisation with the longest standing roster.
Besides CS:GO, this well-established Russian esports organisation showed a decent success in the CIS region in Dota 2. They didn’t make it to The International finals yet, but their roots originate from the original Dota 1, and thus the respect for Virtus.pro.
#2 Fnatic
Fnatic is a British eSports organisation with equal worldwide success in League of Legends, Dota 2 and CS:GO.
Picking one game where Fnatic excels is truly a challenging task. In CS:GO, they are a real symbol of success. They started in 2012, yet their strongest years were 2015 and 2016 with multiple Major wins, including ESL Katowice and Cologne.
They are the holders of the longest legendary status streak, with 12 majors in a row. The title Legendary is given to a team that goes beyond the group stage at the Major tournaments.
League of Legends is where Fnatic made history, as they were the first team ever to win the League of Legends World Championships. That was back in 2011, and until then, Fnatic was runner-up in 2018, and in 2013 and 2015 they reached the semi-finals.
And the last game that’s missing from the great three is Dota 2. Here they didn’t achieve the same success as in CS:GO or LoL, yet they are far from unsuccessful. As soon as the organisation picked the Asian team in 2015, the victory followed.
In 2016, they ended up being fourth at The International. The team didn’t stop over there, and they can be seen on the biggest Dota 2 championship each year.
The lucrative success from these three games opened up the way for other eSports titles, and now they have rosters in Fortnite, Fifa, Street Fighter V and many more.
#1 Team Liquid
The first and the only team that we agreed about, even before we started working on this page, is Team Liquid. They went far beyond the casual boundaries, as the players and fans around the world often associate Team Liquid with the entire eSports and the gaming industry.
Although there are organisations with more success in particular games, when we look at eSports as a whole, Team Liquid is the definite leader.
The first professional players signed the contract with Team Liquid for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. In 2012 they bought American Dota 2 team, and that’s where the global domination started.
Later on, they merged with Team Curse, expanding their portfolio to League of Legends, Street Fighter and Super Smash Bros.
Nowadays they offer rosters in more than 18 games, including even Tekken 7, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, Valorant and Rocket League.
Team Liquid is the third most profitable eSports team, according to Forbes. Their estimated value exceeds $200 million and active roster packs over 65 active players in different eSports titles.
During the two-decades-long history, Team Liquid positioned themselves as a dominant player both in the fields of gaming and business.
Dota 2 teams to bet on – as picked by Madison
As Dota 2 was pretty dynamic in the past season, the betting was riskier than ever before.
However, as the global standings are somewhat stable, I focused on two of the current top standing teams – European Team Secret and Chinese PSG.LGD.
Betting on the match winner or an outright bet isn’t very smart for PSG.LGD, as they have a recently assembled roster. However, I’ve seen a potentially profitable bet on some more complex and specific markets.
For example, predicting a First Blood or the team who will slay the Roshan first was mostly successful, due to the distinctive play of PSG.LGD.
On the other side, we have a rock-solid Team Secret with Puppey as a captain. Puppey has been an essential part of the Team Secret since August 2014.
With Team Secret, the risk is at a minimum, and trying out a handicap bet for them often leads to success and a decent profit.
Also, as you progess with in-game and Dota 2 betting knowledge, you’ll be able to predict more difficult scenarios just as we mentioned above. Some of those scenarios aren’t easily available to generic bookmakers and their databases, so you could utilize the opporutnity of higher odds for a scenario that’s likely to happen.
For example, general teams’ standings are widely known and predictable. However, the difference comes when you wager on a market that’s not as widely known.
League of Legends team to bet on – as picked by Amelia
As soon as they rebranded their identity in 2019, and acquired a new roster, the domination started. More importantly, they didn’t win every match and game out there. Yet, in the past two years, you somehow know what to expect from them – at least when it comes to advanced betting strategies.
If we look at the season of 2019 and 2020, the League of Legends team that I would place every bet on is undoubtedly TES, also known as Top Esports.
They started the 2020 World Championship together with DRX from South Korea, FlyQuest from North America and Unicorns of Love from Russia. The group phase didn’t seem challenging for Top Esports, but fans anyways expected the first place in the group from this Chinese giant.
In the end, TES didn’t take gold from 2020 Worlds, yet after the unexpected finals, we’ve found our favourite League of Legends team to bet on during 2021.
Logically, that promising team is DWG KIA (previously DAMWON Gaming). During World 2020, they defeated local competitor DRX and global rival G2 Esports. To crown the entire event, they kicked Suning with the score of 3-1, taking the Summoner’s Cup back home – to South Korea.
They also started the 2021 season as a strong favorite, and as far as I’m concerned, I’ll be sure to place a winning wager on DWG.
Local favourites – top eSports teams from Australia
Renegades is the top-earning eSports team originating from Australia, yet for a long time, they are not considered to be an Aussie team.
Instead, the title of local’s favourite goes to Dire Wolves and Chiefs eSports Club.
Dire Wolves showed significant success in League of Legends, with two Worlds placements and four Oceanic Pro League titles.
However, the last season wasn’t as successful for them. They lost to Legacy eSports, an Australian team that secured a seat to the Worlds 2020.
Another notable mention goes for Chiefs eSports Club. Besides League of Legends and CS:GO, where they had the most success, they have teams in Rocket League, Fortnite and Street Fighter V.
They were born when the roster of Team Immunity left the initial organisation. Exodus Gaming was their first name, eventually leading to renaming to Chiefs eSports Club.
From the moment when they formed a team, the roster remained unchanged for 608 days. The crew responsible for setting the foundation included Swip3rR, Spookz, Swiffer, Raydere, and Rosey.
Conclusion
Is there a better gaming-related conversation starter than comparing your personal favourite eSports team?
On this page, you can get to know us better, and see if we share the same opinion. As our gaming journey started a while ago, we prefer teams with strong history such as Virtus.pro and Fnatic. They paved the roads of the eSports industry, inspiring many new players to join the competitive scene.
Additionally, when it comes to betting on our games of choice, LoL and Dota, we have some safe bets as well. Teams that earned a significant portion of the overall profit from betting are Team Secret, PSG.LGD and Top Esports.
They demonstrated stable gameplay throughout the season, and most of the bets we placed were winning ones.
We encourage you to do the same and find an eSports organisation that will become your lucky star.
And don’t forget, if you’re aiming for a winning bet – make sure to know the team inside-out.
