Legends of Runeterra is an online game, where you battle with other players using card decks, that is based on the video game League of Legends. The game was released in 2020, and since then, it has received a lot of updates that have added hundreds of new cards, as well as cosmetics.
Legends of Runeterra is a game where the player can build a deck that is made up of 40 cards, with up to six cards featuring champions, who are the playable characters from League of Legends. The deck can only include cards from up to two out of ten different regions, which puts a limit on the flexibility of certain decks. The main goal of the game is to get the opponent’s nexus health to zero, by either using spells or dealing damage with units.
One region in the game is called Ionia, a place that is highly spiritual and where there are a lot of spells, and for that reason the cards from the Ionian region are based around prolonging the game and giving you a lot of space for defense.
The opposite of that region would be Noxus, which has a lot of units that are based around hitting the nexus, as well as spells available for doing so. Noxian decks are mainly aggressive and do not offer much defense.
By combining cards from both Noxus and Ionia, you can make a deck that is both high on offense and high on defense. But you must always maintain a balance between the cards that will actually help you win the game and the cards that will just prolong it from happening.
Instead of going on defense with Noxus, you might as well double down on offense and use cards from the Bilgewater region, which is a slaughter dock with a lot of pirates and plundering. By combining those two regions, you have a deck that is mainly about dealing damage and making it as tricky as possible for the opponent to prevent that damage.
Champions are the main selling point of this game, and they all have a level-up condition which will improve their durability and strength, as well as empower their abilities. You must build your decks around these champions, who usually act as the main win condition, or in some cases, they simply increase the value of your other win conditions.
An example of a champion is Katarina, a low-cost unit with high attack. The way she levels up is by dealing damage and surviving, and when that happens, you can “rally” and attack again. This type of champion is used to help with the win condition, because you will have a quick way to start another devastating attack and overwhelm your opponent with more units.
Furthermore, if you care more about the lore of the game, there are a lot of “what if” interactions between cards that will happen. For example, if you summon a champion Draven, and then summon the yordle Teemo, a small mystical furry creature, Draven will make a hilarious response. Other than those kinds of funny interactions, there are many more that offer more insight into the world of Runeterra.
With each passing year, more and more cards and champions are going to be added to the game, all of which will improve the overall experience, as well as add many more badass characters that you will be stoked to play around.
The quality of the game, as well as the love and support that comes from both the developers and the players, will ensure the longevity and popularity of Legends of Runeterra for many years to come.
