PC Gamer - UK 2020-04)

You’dbeforgivenforrollingyour

eyes at the thought of a free-to-play

card game based on League of

Legends. The card genre is full of

these spin-offs. But Riot Games’ take

is full of clever innovations and tense

duels dictated by your

skill rather than how

much you spend.

SLINGING CARDS

With its colourful

aesthetic and good-

natured charm, it’s easy

to mistake Legends of

Runeterra, which

entered open beta last month, for a

Hearthstone knock-off. It takes the

familiar faces of Riot’s enormously

popular MOBA and adapts their

playstyle and abilities into a game

where your primary objective is to

build decks and play cards to reduce

your opponent’s hit points to zero.

Though it walks like Hearthstone,

Legends of Runeterra talks like a

simpler version of Magic: The

Gathering. That’s to its benefit, as

Runeterra avoids cribbing many of

Magic’s cumbersome rules in favour

of faster, more aggressive duels.

For example: there’s no

‘summoning sickness’. Freshly placed

creatures (called followers or

champions) can attack immediately

after being summoned and aren’t

tapped out after, letting them still

block during your opponent’s attack

phase. It virtually guarantees that

every turn both sides will take losses,

making those clever plays where you

bait your opponent or save a unit

from dying feel extra rewarding. It’s

hilarious (and devastating) to cast

Deny thinking I’m about to cancel my

opponent’s fatal spell only to have

them cast Deny on my Deny. I really

enjoytheback-and-forthof

Runeterra’s battles.

When interactions between cards

get complicated, the game has a

clever feature called the Oracle’s Eye,

which shows you what the board will

look like after a certain

attack phase or spell

has resolved. Not

having to double-check

your math or worry

that a certain chain of

abilities and spells

plays will play out a

certain way is a

godsend.

Some genius twists to combat

further distinguish Runeterra from

the pack. Most card games, for

example, punish you for not spending

all your mana in a given turn. In

Legends of Runeterra, however, up to

three points of my unspent mana are

preservedforthenextroundto be

usedexclusivelyonspells.

Thischangefeelsassubstantial as

TheElderScrolls:Legendshaving two

separateplayingboards.Being able to

playcardsona turnwhereit should

beimpossibletoplaythembecause I

storedmanaearlieris oneobvious

benefit,butI alsolikethatI’m not as

harshly punished by a bad opening

hand. It keeps Legends of Runeterra

feeling unpredictable and dynamic,

instead of one player snowballing the

match due to bad luck.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS

By far the most unique part of

Legends of Runeterra’s combat is the

champions. Each of the initial set of

24 is modelled after a character in

League of Legends, adapting their

playstyle to fit inside the rules of a

card game. Braum, for example,

regenerates health and gets to choose

which enemy unit blocks him,

making him a great tank.

Each one also levels up after

meeting certain conditions, often

gaining more power and new abilities

that make them formidable.

When Zed attacks, for example,

he creates a shadow clone of himself

with the same attack and health that

is also attacking. If he or his clone

manage to directly hit an opponent

twice, Zed levels up so that his

shadow clone now also shares any of

Zed’s special keyword abilities, such

as his Quick Attack.

Triggering these special abilities is

a ton of fun, especially when you

fulfil the requirements to level up

your champion at the same time.

Each one has their own level-up

animation that really drives home the

idea of these cards transforming into

something much more dangerous

and powerful. When Darius levels up,

for example, he uses his iconic axe to

hook the camera and pull it in close.

Seeing these flashy animations

repeatedly play out again and again

does get a little tiresome, but I love

how much flair and tension they add

to each round.

NEEDTOKNOW

WHATISIT?

A generousfree-to-play

cardgamebasedon

LeagueofLegends

EXPECTTOPAY

Free

DEVELOPER

Riot Games

PUBLISHER

In-house

REVIEWED ON

GTX 1080Ti, Intel

i7-8086K, 16GB RAM

MULTIPLAYER

Yes

LINK

playruneterra.com

It keeps

Runeterra

feeling

unpredictable

and dynamic

I

don’t think I can stomach buying another booster pack after

playing Legends of Runeterra. It’s a necessary part of physical card

games where cards often have real-world value, but their

prevalence in digital card games is just an excuse to sell the worst

kind of lootboxes. It’s enough to make anyone cynical. But thanks

to a generous reward system that avoids booster packs altogether, Legends

of Runeterra is one card game that’s easy to love.

A DIFFERENT LEAGUE

Generous and innovative, LEGENDS OF RUNETERRA is a great alternative to Hearthstone.

By Steven Messner

THE KEYWORD MAKES THE CARD

A run-downofunitabilitiesandtheireffects

BARRIER

Negates damage once this round.

CHALLENGER

When attacking, choose your blocker.

DOUBLE ATTACK

Strike twice, with the first hit happening before usual combat.

ELUSIVE

Can only be blocked by other Elusive units.

EPHEMERAL

Is destroyed after attacking or at the end of the round.

LAST BREATH

Triggers an effect after dying.

TOUGH

Reduce incoming damage by one.

Legends of Runeterra

REVIEW