Riot Games is finally making its debut in the CCG yard with their new game Legends of Runeterra, or LoR for the intimates. It takes place in the League of Legends universe where you can find all your favorite champions, as well as new secondary characters.
If it's a classic strategy card game in which you can build decks and compete against other players, Riot's developers have more than one trick up their sleeves. Here is a guide to explain the various mechanics of the game to get you started.
The board
The LoR board consists of a lane that can hold up to 6 cards at a time. A tower, called Nexus, is placed on each side to the left of the board. It represents the life of each player, which amounts to 20 points. A player loses when his Nexus is destroyed.
On the right side of the board, you can see the mana points, which start at 1 and increase by 1 point at the beginning of each round until they reach 10. This is where LoR's first specificity lies: next to the classic mana gauge is a small 3-point gauge. These 3 points are a kind of bank, i.e. you can accumulate up to 3 additional points that you will not have spent during your previous rounds.
The cards
The basic set of Legends of Runeterra contains 318 cards. There are three types of cards: Champions, Spells, and Creatures. The mana cost of the cards is at the top left. Below is the name of the card and the logo of the region/faction to which it belongs.
- Creature cards have points of attack (Power) and life (Endurance), and sometimes effect: it will be written under the name of the card as keywords.
- Spell Cards: There are three types of spells, Slow, Fast and Burst spells. Slow spells cannot be played during the combat phase or against an enemy spell. Fast spells act immediately after being played but can be countered by an opponent's Fast or Burst spell. Burst spells act immediately after being played and cannot be countered.
- Hero cards: each hero has a power of his own. He will be able to gain a level by fulfilling specific conditions. Thus, he gains at least 1 point of attack, 1 point of life and passive power.
Factions
The different regions of League of Legends are incorporated into Legends of Runeterra. Overall, six Regions of the Runeterra World are represented: Freljord, Demacia, Noxus, Ionia, the Shadow Isles, Piltover & Zaun. Each of these Regions is a card color.
A deck can be composed of one or more colors, knowing that the more different colors you use, the less chance you have of drawing cards that are synergizing with each other. The ideal (a priori) is a deck made up of a maximum of two colors.
Game Phases
A game phase takes place as follows:
- The Mulligan: you draw 4 cards. You can replace each of them with another randomly chosen card from your deck.
- The 1st Round: the icon on your side of the board will determine who attacks and defends in this round. The player on the sword side is in attack phase, so it is he who starts, and the player on the shield side in defense phase. Only the attacking player can inflict damage on the opposing Nexus.
- Each player draws a card at the beginning of the round.
- When you play a unit, it is placed directly in front of you.
- After playing a card, it is your opponent's turn to play. Be careful, he is still in the defense phase and therefore cannot attack. However, he can place units or play Slow or Fast spells.
- Once your opponent has finished his actions, it is back to you. You can now move on to the attack. To attack you must advance your unit on the lane.
- The attackers are announced, and the blockers can then be put in front of each other. The Fast and Burst spells can still be cast at this time, before dividing the combat wounds.
- Once the phase is over and the damage resolved, a new round begins and the roles are reversed. Your opponent goes into the attack phase and you into defense. The excess mana goes into the reserve. The mana gauge is increasing.
- When the two players pass their turn one after the other, the round ends and a new one begins.
Play before everyone else
Legends of Runeterra is now open for pre-registration on PC via the Legends of Runeterra website. A few lucky pre-registrants will be able to discover the game before the rest of the world. This preview patch will be available from October 16 to October 21. Another one will take place in November.
