When you hear the company name Riot Games, chances are that images of video games pop into your mind but you might want to edit that thought. During Riot's 10th anniversary, the company announced that it was actively working on a card game that would launch fairly soon. It wasn't long after that Legends of Runeterra became available for download and offered a refreshing take on the card game genre.
Summoning units, leveling up champions, and casting your abilities and spells have never been this fun as they are with Legends of Runeterra. To find out more about how to play the game, how to build a competitive deck, and how you can win more games, check out the article below.
The Basics of Legends of Runeterra
Legends of Runeterra is a card game developed and published by Riot Games. For those who have played other card games before, this mobile game is pretty easy to understand. New players won't be left in the dark as well as the objective of the game is simple enough.
Players of Riot Games' other game would be very familiar with the characters and lore of the game. Based on the League of Legends universe, Legends of Runeterra features almost all of the champions and further expands the lore of the game.
How to Play
Each player starts with 20 health points and the main goal is to reduce the enemy player's health points to zero. To do that, you will need to either summon units, champions, or cast spells that deal damage to your enemy's units and overall health points.
Players are given cards at the start of each round. Each player will have to spend mana to summon units or cast spells. As the game goes, more mana is available for each player so they can summon even more powerful units or cast more destructive spells. Players can also summon multiple cards at the same time within a turn as long as they can have the resources to do so.
Attacking is based on the attack values of each unit. Spells are also used to deal damage to either the opposing unit or directly to the player's health points. With so many combinations to choose from, players will have to define their play style to ensure that they deal the most damage, survive the onslaught of summoned units, or outwit your enemy with spells and turn the tables on your opponent.
Champions
Players can summon different units to either defend or deal damage to their opponents. But what truly makes Legends of Runeterra different from other collectible card games is that it has a unit called Champion. Champions are still units that players can control to attack their opponent.
The main difference between a champion and other units is that champions have special abilities that augment your entire playstyle and your deck. A champion can also level up while other units cannot. Each champion can level up depending on the conditions mentioned in the card.
Leveling Up Champions
With each champion having different level up conditions, it is up to the player to fulfill those conditions first and then build up their deck or the other way around. Sometimes, there are champion cards that level up even before you play them.
A good example of a champion card is Elise. Elise levels up when you have three or more spiderlings on your deck. Elise also has a special ability that allows her to summon a spiderling that also attacks when she attacks as well.
Keywords
One thing to note in Legends of Runeterra is keywords. Keywords are used to differentiate how spells and abilities affect another unit or champion. Players should familiarize themselves with keywords to form a strategy.
Some of the most common keywords include Stun, Recall, Play, and Drain. Stun means the unit stunned cannot block attacks from the enemy while Recall sends the champion back to the player's hand. Play happens when the card is summoned the effect immediately takes effect and Drain heals the Nexus or the health points depending on the amount.
Spells
Apart from keywords, players will also encounter different spells with different effects on the units and the player himself. There are a lot of effects but these are the most common ones. It includes Burst, Slow, Fleeting, Fast.
Burst spells are those that happen in an instant and most of the time, they deal heavy damage without giving time for the opponent to react. Fast spells can be activated at any time but also gives the opponent the time to react and play defensively. Slow spells are played when players are not in combat while Fleeting spells are commonly used at the end of each turn.
Tips and Tricks
While experience does play a big part in helping you win more games, players still need to put in the extra effort with their card knowledge, mechanics, combos, spell synergies, and other strategies to counter and defeat their enemies. Here are some of the best guides to build your best deck that can help you win more games.
Legends of Runeterra has a lot of major regions that represent different gameplays for the game. Each region is home to many different champions and characters in the game. Most of these regions often have a theme in them and players should try each of them to learn their play style.
Take the time to play all the regions available in the game so you would know each region's strengths and weaknesses as well as understand what makes them unique. In doing so, you get the chance to counter opponents that use such a playstyle against your deck.
Do Your Homework
As mentioned above, players who take the time to learn more about the game are highly rewarded. Legends of Runeterra is a game that offers a bountiful experience for players who are willing to do their homework. Read up on different effects, keywords, spells, cards, and everything else in between and formulate a plan or strategy when you go up against them.
Players are still fine even if they just learn how to play the game but if you truly want to get good in this game, invest more time to learn about and formulate your decks. There are a lot of strategies to explore in this game so go ahead and mix and match your deck and weigh the pros and cons for each.
Identifying Win/Lose Conditions
Win/Lose conditions are instances in the game when you can win or lose to your opponent. This means that you need to understand the strengths of your cards and when you can put them in play to ultimately win the game. On the contrary, a lose condition is a state in the game where your strengths begin to diminish and you run the risk of losing the game.
Identifying your win or lose conditions will help you plan your game accordingly. This means that you need to play around your win conditions to earn your victory or avoid your lose conditions as much as possible. Timing is essential when it comes to identifying your win or lose conditions.
For example, if you run a deck that has a late-game win condition, players will have to learn how to fend off aggression from the opponent as much as possible to get to that point in the game. Those who don't know how to identify their opponent's win conditions will suffer defeat. As soon as the match reaches the late-game stage, players who have a late-game composition can easily win the game.
Build Your Deck
Meta is a term used to define the best strategy to win more games. Often, the meta can shift so rapidly that building your deck around a set of cards can also mean changing your deck every so often. All you need to do to avoid this from happening is to build a core theme.
A core theme is your deck's identity. This means that your deck reflects your play style as a player. Whether you want to be a defensive player or an aggressive one, you will need to build your deck according to how you want to play the game.
Build your deck according to your play style and you should be able to go up against an opponent particularly well. There is no telling which specific deck of cards can trump every other deck. You will need to craft a deck that has a solid theme whether it is a late-game composition or an early-game composition that focuses on early aggression.
Conclusion
Legends of Runeterra is all about learning what kinds of cards you can and can't play around with. This means that players will have to be versatile. Strategies change for each match which leads to a lot of highs and lows for each player.
This means that Legends of Runeterra is a challenging game to play but ultimately, a fun mobile game that everyone can try out. Not only does Legends present a creative and fun take on the collectible card game, but the game also features a serious and competitive side that many hardcore gamers are looking for.
