Most people think of digital trading card games like Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering, some of them maybe Yu-Gi-Oh or Gwent. So far, no one would have thought to associate the MOBA giants League of Legends with this genre. That should change very soon thanks to Legends of Runeterra. We took a closer look at the new Challenger on the card throne.
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of League of Legends Riot Games let several bombs burst: In addition to a multiplayer shooter and a spanking game in the LoL universe, the developer studio also announced the digital trading card game Legends of Runeterra. Back then, there was still a lot of skepticism among the fans, because after all, this genre is currently well covered with games like Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering. Is the attempt to gain a foothold in this competitive field worth it?
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Riot Games answers this question with a clear and confident "yes". After all, behind her work is the proven framework of League of Legends – including the heroes and other characters known from it. So that could work. But Legends of Runeterra definitely has something more to offer – and it does.
Neither Hearthstone nor Magic
One thing we need to clarify beforehand: during our trial games, we had to deal with a very early version of Legends of Runeterra, which was only accessible to a select group of players – and only in a relatively short period of time. Therefore, not all contents, features and game modes were included, which should be available for the official launch next year. For this reason, we can only roughly estimate some aspects of the game, but in no way ultimately classify or even rate.
So let's take a closer look at what we were already allowed to try. Legends of Runeterra is a digital trading card game, which in its features reminiscent of the major competitors. It does not completely reinvent the wheel, but has some interesting aspects to offer. As usual, two players face each other in the games, whose goal is to defeat the opponents. In that case, doing enough damage to the enemy's nexus will ultimately destroy it.
To do this, players use their cards not only to start their own attacks, but also try to prevent the opponent's. The players put together a deck of over 300 cards before the game. The coincidence of drawing the cards plays a certain role. Each card costs a certain amount of mana, whose stock increases with increasing duration. So far, so well known from other games of this genre.
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But already in the moves, the first differences are apparent. Although the players are alternately in turn, but can only perform one action per unit time. Say: Even if you are currently acting as an attacker, your opponent can perform actions in your turn and thus react more directly. Especially for the Hearthstone players among you this should be a bit strange at first. Nevertheless, this system has a clear advantage: it makes the game much more dynamic than the Blizzard competitors and provides more depth. Because you are forced to always ponder (several moves) in advance and predict how the opponent might react to your individual actions. As complex as Magic: The Gathering will not be, but definitely more varied and tactical than Hearthstone.
Champions seldom come alone
Also interesting: You can save unused Mana in a Reservoir to have a larger pool in the next turn. Although you can use this "parked" mana exclusively for spells, it still allows for some interesting gimmick that might surprise your opponents. Besides, you are not only allowed to mix several copies of one of the champions into your deck, the heroes also have a great level mechanics. If you perform certain actions during a game, the champions in your deck will rise in level and will now have better values or more powerful skills.
Fiora is particularly fierce in this respect: if she defeats four opponents without dying herself, she immediately wins the current game. However, according to Riot Games, such OTK mechanics (One Turn Kill) are less common than Hearthstone & Co., in order to avoid too much frustration for the players. But even these examples alone clearly show that Legends of Runeterra has enormous potential to bring as varied as challenging games on the screen. At this point we do not want to conceal the fact that some decks turned out to be pretty strong during our rehearsal phase, but the balancing of the game is far from finished, so there is a lot to do and will be up to the release.
Riot Games, the makers of League of Legends, have announced a strategy card game with Legends of Runeterra.
It will also be interesting to see how the proposed payment model works in practice. Unlike Hearthstone, for example, Legends of Runeterra will not be able to buy random content card packs for real money. Instead, you can use wildcards to specifically unlock certain cards, but the number of available wildcards per week is limited. Ideally, this system should ensure that at least a majority of players expand their card pool at a similar pace and that real money plays a much less important role in this regard.
Also praiseworthy is the planned reward system: Almost all actions or progress in Legends and Runeterra bring you experience points. The more you collect, the more rewarding is the weekly vault. The more you play, the more you will be rewarded – a good approach that has yet to prove itself in practice.
The presentation of Legends of Runeterra is already making a decent impression. The animations are sometimes a bit lengthy, but the interaction of graphics and sound works properly, the design influences of League of Legends are not to be overlooked.
