Legends of Runeterra Review
I’m going to be completely honest right off the bat I am not a huge fan of online competitive play, I’ve had to deal with enough ass-hats out there that don’t understand that not everyone can be a professional player. Now with that out of the way lets talk about the Online Collectible Card Game called Legends of Runeterra, by Riot Games. When I first saw news about this game I had flashes of HearthStone, and about how much I really don’t like to play HearthStone. The funny thing about games that don’t have an entry fee is that I’m more likely to take them for a spin if I get that itch.
As I think you can figure out I got that itch and decided to give the game a try. The first thing that you have to overcome with almost any game you play is how are you going to do against the learning curve, are you going to be able to cruise through the tutorials and master the game, or are there so many rules or maybe there’s not really a full tutorial and so you’re left with a sink of swim situation? Thankfully Legends of Runeterra goes the route of presenting “Challenges” to you so that you can learn all about the different cards and their special actions, skills, and effects. You do not have to complete all the Challenges, you can literally dive right into the game if you are feeling that brave. There of course will be come pre-made decks so that you don’t have to drown in the whirlpool that is trying to make a deck right off the bat.
There are several different modes that you’ll be attempt this game in. The first is of course the straight up versus with a deck that you have created (or one that was already there for you), you will be able to challenge an AI opponent, a casual opponent (not for honor glory, or of a just for the fun of it type of game, and of course Ranked which of course is where you can make a name for yourself moving up the rankings starting at the bottom of the pile in the “Iron Division” and try to make your way all the way to the “Master Division”. Full disclosure, at this point I’ve really only now dived deep into the Ranked play so I’m in the “Bronze Division” (Iron → Bronze → Silver → Gold → Platinum → Diamond → Master).
Another mode that you will be able to duel in is probably my favorite mode and that is Expedition. In this mode you will be drafting a deck from prearranged sets (usually of 3 cards at a time). You go through an initial 15 rounds of selections and then you’ll be on your way, hopefully to victory. You are aiming to win a total of 7 matches without ever losing 2 in a row, the only exception is the 7th match where you will only get a single change at. Also it is worth noting that you’re going to be able to add cards and trade cards during matches (Depending on if you won or lost and what match number you are currently at). At the conclusion of your Expedition you will be given a second round where you will start from scratch again. Once you have completed your second run you will be rewarded for the best of the two runs. You can take on this mode 3 times a week (I also want to point out that you’re going to need an Expedition Token each time), after you have attempted a total of 3 complete Expeditions (so 6 runs total) you will be able to play Open Play which is just single runs, no tokens needed, and the rewards are not that big at the end.
There are a couple of modes that were recently added that I’ve been playing around with too. The first is a mode called Gauntlet. In this mode you are to use one of your decks (there are sometimes restrictions enforced on what you can have in your deck), and you will try to win a total of 7 matches without ever losing 2 in a row (basically the same outline as an Expedition run, except your deck will be locked in and you can’t change it once you start). The Gauntlet mode only runs for certain amounts of time so you’re going to have to keep your eyes peeled on when it’s go time.
The last mode is called Labs, this is the mode where it feels like you’re doing a little bit of beta testing or perhaps game balancing testing. You will be given 4 Champions to start with and then you’ll be thrown into a game where you do not know your deck make up, and you won’t know what regions your opponent will be using. You will start in the 3rd Round of the game, and then you’ll play as though it was just a regular game, the first one to get their opponent’s nexus down to zero (or below wins).
I had my doubts about this game, but I’m hooked, and in a bad way. The only thing that stops me from going to a complete addict state is the fact that I have yet to cave in on playing it both on PC and mobile (I only play on PC). It might not yet have the following of HearthStone but I truly believe this is a much stronger, complex, and in the end much more enjoyable game than HearthStone.