[Kesan Pertama] Legends Of Runeterra - A Great Start

Riot Games recently unveiled to the public their massive expansion into genres outside of MOBA. One of them is a digital Trading Card Game (TCG) game named Legends of Runeterra.

Shadowverse, Magic The Gathering Arena, Hearthstone, Gwen are titles that have established their own identity and made them unique and innovative. All this I found in Legends of Runeterra. After a few days of trying the game, I see that Riot Games’ venture is expanding franchiseand not just trial and error. Although still in beta stage, Legends of Runeterra has successfully established its identity in today’s digital TCG game world.

Turn Setting

Legends of Runeterra clearly bears some resemblance to its predecessor TCG titles. Both in terms of regulations and mechanics. The unique aspect of this game is centered on the turn arrangement. In one round, both players will be assigned roles, one player will attack and the other player will defend.

The attacking player (marked with the sword logo in his playing area) is allowed to summon the unit first. Then followed by the defending player (marked with the shield logo). Then continue until the defending player passes and the attacking player determines the attack order.

From here on, I felt awkward because I was used to the Magic The Gathering format, which had more rigid turn arrangements.

After a few games it’s finally clear why Riot Games is using this mechanic. This determination of the turn of attack allows each player to adjust their field according to their turn. The attacking player, of course, controls how fast he attacks. But at the same time, both sides could fairly manage the form of attack and form of defense and it all happened in one round. This mechanic speeds up the gameplay and also makes both players proactive and not sitting idle waiting for fate.

Cards And Decks

Making a deck is clear so highlights in the game TCG and Riot Games have several solutions for the players to be able to more quickly form the deck they want. There are 3 types of cards in Legends of Runeterra: Follower (ordinary unit that can’t level up), Champion (special unit that can level up, usually characters from the game League of Legends) and the last spell card.

Mechanics and Champion cards will be the main focus in the process of making decks in this game. Different from Magic which concentrates the focus of the deck on the resource type, Legends of Runeterra centered on the region. Currently there are only 6 regions with their own unique mechanics and playstyle.

Shadow Isle as an example. This region focuses on cards to summon “Ephemeral” followers and can only usually be summoned easily. But only lasted for 1 round before finally disappearing. But just like the Token unit in MTG or Noxus with “Overwhelm” (Trample, if in MTG), this unit has attack damage that can penetrate enemy defenses and attack Nexus.

Of course, this variation is not big considering the game has not even entered the closed beta stage. But in 3 days, quite a lot of variations of unique decks were formed.

Microtransaction

Riot Games adapted a slightly better system for getting cards. Each game will earn experience points and coins. Experience Points can be used for weekly progression while your coins are used to buy Wild Cards. Apart from being obtained from the game, Coins can also be purchased using real money.

The weekly progression will give you a random pack of cards as a reward as long as we keep playing and accumulating exp. points. Not only that, at the end of the week we will also get 3 chests containing packs whose quality we can continue to improve as our game progresses.

The more often we play in 1 week, the better the quality of the vault chests we will get at the weekend. This still rewards hardcore players, but at the same time doesn’t exclude casual players.

Presentation

Packaging is one of the most integral things in a TCG game and Riot Games managed to amaze me with its charming artwork. Each region looks unique and every card associated with that region, does not deviate from the theme.

The Shadow Isle cards look gloomy against a black and gray background. However, it contrasts with the follower’s design, which is mostly light-colored spirits and ghosts.

This is reflected in each region and what’s even better, all the cards have full images that can be viewed simply by clicking on the eye logo.

Quality and attention to detail are also not just focused on the cards. In the game several cards interact with each other. One of Senna’s Follower cards, Sentinel of Light will interact with Lucian’s cards when they meet on the game board. Riot Games’ commitment to bringing sound and interaction to every card makes every game feel alive.

Every possible Champion card level up has special animation. This alone was enough to motivate me to try many decks and Champions. I really can’t wait to see the visual effects of another Champion’s level up when the game comes out.

Closing

Broadly speaking, I feel Legends of Runeterra not only will it be a tough competitor to big names like MTG Arena or Heartstone. They also bring their own qualities that make this game unique and able to give fans a very high playtime potential thanks to the mechanics and variety.

Legends of Runeterra also become the entrance for gamers who have never touched this genre at all. The presentation quality brought by Riot Games should be applauded. I believe the world that Riot Games has long built for League of Legends we can see through a new perspective through Legends of Runeterra next year.

Excess:

Captivating Presentations both Audio and Visual.
Very Cool Level Up Animation.
Quick Attack is only for attacking.
Barrier can only withstand 1 attack.
Spell orbs provide very high gameplay and tactical potential.
Very detailed tutorial but not boring.
Weekly Progression makes Grinding useful.
The Attack Token has the potential to be a great source of strategy and tactics.

Deficiency:

Unable to set attack rules, this affects the “Support” mechanic.
Can only attack enemies with 6 followers.
Not so many alternative ways to win (Only 1 Card at this time).
Reversal/Denial Card that is only centered in one Region.
Writing effects are still ambiguous.

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