Legends of Runeterra is one of seven projects that Riot Games has in the oven to accompany the success of League of Legends. A card game based on the universe of the popular MOBA that seems to have everything it takes to stick its head out where Valve's Artifact lost it.
Legends of Runeterra is late but homework done, and where the rest ended up succumbing to Hearthstone's good work, Riot Games may have found the Blizzard TCG stalemate a perfect time to strike.
One of those fairground attractions that cannot be compared to the gigantic structure of a theme park, but that nevertheless invites you to take a walk after another through the fun and exciting of a trip with an also formidable artistic section.
To experience, the usual route in which there are ups and downs with sections that make you raise your hands and others that bore you waiting for the adrenaline rush you were looking for when entering, the only thing that can really be held in your face is no know how to play all his cards well.
The inception, with a tutorial miles away from the genius Blizzard pulled out of its day, is clunky, slow, and too segmented to make you believe you're not constantly going hand in hand.
Separated into different portions, the game struggles to make you understand the key concepts of each segment, but it does so by including cards and effects that you don't know yet, making the journey a little more complicated.
Being clear the intention that this is a game suitable for all audiences, for fans of the genre, for fans of League of Legends and for those who have nothing to do with one thing or the other, it is time to put the batteries in that sense.
After the first three tutorials, I am emboldened enough to enter a public game. As a child I played Magic and in addition to Blizzard I have been through Gwent, The Elder Scrolls: Legends and even MTG Arena, so it was inevitable to think that I could handle it.
What I found, as expected, was a beating in which I was hit from all sides and I did not see where the blows were coming from. A reason more than enough for me to lower the fumes and go through the catalog of cards, and some additional tutorial, to see what I was going to have in my hand and what I could face.
Heroes that evolve depending on certain conditions, for example hitting the enemy twice, low-level creatures with no more mystery than the game's core abilities, and instantaneous or slow-acting spells, form a perfect combination that already from this initial phase give way to a great experimentation in combos.
Far from going all out and having your goal very clear, Legends of Runeterra forces you to consider the many scenarios that you can have in front of at all times. Part of that give and take that for them wants to be the characteristic sign of the proposal.
In each round one attacks and the other defends, but far from doing it all at once, the combat is resolved in a coming and going in which you take down creatures, the opposite responds, you put them to attack, the opposite responds, you try to control the attack to minimize or maximize the damage, the opposite responds...
His greatest achievement is to ensure that, at the same time, you have the constant pressure of what to do in each play and the tranquility that, no matter how badly it paints the situation, you have the opportunity to turn it around.
Even when you come across one of those misnamed "dirty" decks (I look at you, Teemo), the feeling of turning the tortilla and ending that combo that the other has not seen coming is tremendously satisfying.
With a good handful of cards to hold onto to research it's easy to see parallels to any other game on the market, so I go for what I know best and go for something aggro full of creatures and with few spells.
I don't know what strategy Riot Games will follow when managing its business model, but at least in the one that presents this test, I have had zero problems creating a deck to my liking without having an iota of need to go through the box. In fact, I have left over jokers to create other cards and I have enough crystals for when I run out of that first option.
The progress system, being able to change from one group of cards to another at will to pursue those that best match your style, is agile and generous in equal parts. So it has been inevitable to have the feeling that Legends of Runeterra is going to have an easier time controlling the commitment of its players than filling its coffers.
With the game already more than controlled and a deck that for now has given many joys, I have exceeded the progress of the prologue and have started that of one of the regions. I'm not sure what will happen when I complete them all and what plan Legends of Runeterra has to make up for that lack, but right now the only thing that worries me is getting back on the roller coaster and taking one more lap.
