If you've ever thought that League of Legends would make for a good card game, it seems like your wish is being granted. Riot announced Legends of Runeterra, a card game set in the world of the popular MOBA.
Each match sees you in possession of a single champion card, which can level up and gain new abilities as the match advances. You're going to want these abilities, as they can help you turn the tide of battle and defeat your foes, or do something weird like give you a "new way to win", according to the video riot put out. Each champion will come from a different region, with six champions and regions to start with. The regions serve as decks, giving you different cards that you can play, and you can mix and match cards from each region to make something unique.
The game tries to stand out by reworking how normal turns work. Instead of having to go through rounds where you can only do a set amount of actions, rounds can last as long as needed. Every time a player plays a card, the other player immediately gets a chance to play a card as well. Instead, each round one player will be the attacker and the other the defender, and who the player attacking and defending is swaps every round. You also get a special ability called Oracle's Eye, which attempts to predict opponents moves and tries to give you an idea on how to react.
As you win matches you'll earn more cards. Riot notes that occasionally you can even earn a "wildcard", which you can turn into any card in the game that you may want. There will, of course, also be two currencies, with shards that you can earn in-game or coins that you can buy as a microtransaction. You can also dive in the the weekly vault, giving you a bunch of new cards for free every week.
So who can you play as in the game? The starting six champions are as follows:
- Yasuo
- Jinx
- Lux
- Darius
- Braum
- Thresh
Don't see your favorite there? No worries, more heroes and cards will be added over time, as can be expected. Riot is in for the long term here.
Legends of Runeterra will be launching in 2020 for PC, iOS, and Android devices as a free to play game. You can pre-register for the Android version on the game's website right now.
How do you feel about Legends of Runeterra? Think it will go the same way as Valve's infamous Artifact? Or does Riot have a better chance? Let us know in the comments below!
