Legends of Runeterra - Card game by Riot Games

Tomorrow's the day if you were in the previous betas.
Friday for everyone else.



Video from earlier this month:

I'll try playing tonight but really waiting on Mobile.
Pre-register on Google Play to get a free poro: Legends of Runeterra - Apps on Google Play

I played for about 2.5 hrs last night, blasted through each tutorial for the xp then did Ranked. Started with the default Freljord/Demacia deck and then refined it into a Freljord/Ionia deck after opening a Yasuo.

I'll probably spend some $$ tonight so I can build a meta deck soon.
I had decent success, ranked up to the next tier.. I think Silver III?
Hard to tell what rank we start at... maybe it's Iron and I'm Iron III idk.

I'm not sure how I feel about the Shop yet, since I've yet to purchase anything, but it feels like they're trying to do a FortNite style shop, you can only purchase 18 Wildcards every week.

It's going to prevent people from dumping $100s to buyout an entire expansion, which maybe helps retention, but also means more frustration in building decks day 1.
I was watching Dog play and he was basically limited to 1 deck due to no purchasing power.
However, if you're someone that can buy Wildcards constantly, you could accumulate enough to buyout the next expansion when it releases...

It does mean possibly more $$ for Riot in the long run since by limiting purchases intentionally, it's going to make "some" people feel they need to buy that week's allotment of wildcards or else they fall behind. Also means the revenue stream is more consistent and doesn't spike every 4 months (Hearthstone).

Who knows how it'll shake out, maybe the freebies will be enough for most people.
Since i haven't spent my usual $50/ea on the last several Hearthstone expansions, I'll look to dump $50 tonight on LoR and go from there.

It takes 1500 shards to buyout the Wildcards (18) for the week.
Also the starter bundle seems worth it.

With regard to Deck building/meta decks... I couldn't find many active sites, I think this might be the most popular right now:

Another site to bookmark, has the Decktracker/Twitch plugin all the streamers are using

alright... well I guess it's noticeable that today all the newbies started.

Just went 10-1 in a 2hr 15min session.

Using a mostly hodgepodge deck.
Here's the list I ended with, just editing as I acquire cards..
I didnt spend $$ yet on this game, but used some Wildcards from chest to craft a few cards..
Crafted 2x Shatter / 2x Flash Freeze / 2x Rimetusk / 2x Yone (all commons/rares).

Deck Code:
CEAAECABAEAQSFAWFAXDENIIAEBASFA2DQPDCOBZAIBQCAQPDAQQKAIBCMQCMKJY



My 1 loss was to a spider deck that had the nuts draw, all the spider synergy/buffs out the gate.

There were some close games I felt I outskilled my opponent, the game feels so much more skillful than HS. Love it.
I'm sure it'll be just as frustrating during those 1-10 days.

My stream of the 10-1 run:


I downloaded & turned decktracker on after over an hour into it.

Valderen said:

Well I went 11-3 today in normal PVP, not ranked while trying to get a decent deck working. This is the deck I am using.

View attachment 245627

While the deck I made worked pretty well, I'm not happy with it, too many cards that I find I don't ever really get value from.

I'm satisfied with the Freljord cards so far, but I'm not sure Demacia is the good choice right now, although I really like using Laurent Bladekeeper to permanently give +2+2 to Braum which makes Braum really annoying. I like Vanguard Seargent that gives you "For Demacia" which a +3/+3 to all allies for this round, that's regularly useful. Judgment is also something I got good value from. Cithria Cloudfield is ok but could probably easily be replaced, Cithria the Bold and Redoubled Valor have brought no value though so far.

I really like Braum having the permanent attack buff that Laurent gives him, it makes him so useful, I think I'm giving too much by going with Demacia just to have him buffed.

I like the Frostbite theme, I need a 3rd Ashe though, I'm not pulling her out regularly enough, or have better draw to get her. Plenty of games I haven't drawn her.

I love playing a new card game, where you see tons of new stuff that people are trying, and it catches you by surprise because you're still new and not familiar with all the possible combos yet.

Click to expand...

I also went more toward Frostbite after opening an Ashe.
I finally crafted some cards and built this Control deck. Just finished a 6-1 run in Ranked. Up to Bronze III 48LP now.
I'm feeling pretty good with this list, will probably maintain it a while until it stops working.


CEAAECABAIBAYDY2EEYTQOIKAEAQGCITCQLB4KBJFI4AEAIBAETAGAICBEMB4






On paper it looks strange, idk, it was working. Originally I was trying an Ashe/Yasuo but I was really hurting in the early game, went 1-4 earlier today with different build. I loaded back up with Braum & some early game stuff and this is what I came up with.

I really like Zed a lot, I should probably get another copy in here.
Yasuo is kinda a weird inclusion, probably could remove him to tighten this up a bit more. Fast Attack is so good though imo.
1x Ashe in a Frostbite deck is kinda strange too...
It's certainly rough around the edges, all the other control cards seem to just work.

Rimetusk Shaman is so good
And if you get 13 mana you can do Harsh Winds > Winters Breath to remove 2 hard targets + any other 0 attack shit from Rimetusk.
It has enough balance to handle most shit... Braum can "challenge" hard elusive/key targets, there's enough buffers to give him some attack at times
A few elusive units
1x Dawn & Dusk that I've used many times on Zed, Empyrean and even 1x on Ashe. Anytime I draw Dawn & Dusk I seem to have a decent target to use it on... any fast attack target is good, Empyrean +Dawn & Dusk is practically an OTK (1x of each is rare to get though).

I'm seeing a lot more refined decks and didn't face nearly as much spider decks this run. Starting to see all the "meta" decks.
My 1 loss with this deck was ironically from another Freljord+Ionia deck, but different than mine, more early game stuff + braum buffs + big units.
In my 23 matches so far I've only faced 1 other Freljord+Ionia deck.

I'm 17-6 total so far, but 4 losses from when I was experimenting.

Valderen said:

Ravishing , nice deck and grats on the nice results with it.

i love Zed too, played him a lot in alpha, the Dawn and Dusk combo with him is really good. I like the Dawn and Dusk combo with Anivia since when it dies it becomes an Eggnivia, and back into Anivia if you are enlightened, so you get 3 on the board.

I agree with you about Rimetusk Shaman being extremely good, in one game yesterday I had one keep a buffed card that was like 21/9 at 0/9 for like 4 rounds before my opponent was able to kill my shaman.

I know I’m gushing about the game a lot, but I love how it’s designed, realized something recently that there’s no way to make the other player discard or draw cards, combine with the fact that there are very few ways to generate extra mana, and none that does so permanently and that there’s only a single counterspell. It means all games are essentially 2 players with the same ressources allowed to play their deck and battling it out on the board if that makes any sense.

Click to expand...

Agreed, the balance just feels right. And im definitely getting back that vibe I had during my prime hearthstone days.

I really can't wait for the mobile version.

Even the problematic HS cards you mention would probably work well in this game since we're allowed to react to almost everything.

Also their hero design is so much better than HS legendaries... the fact you can include multiple copies to reduce the rng factor of drawing a key card, but if 1 is in play the extras turn into a different ability, that's pretty awesome.

Also allowing 3 copies is interesting because right now im not sure if I should tighten my deck up to 3x everything or keep it 2x.. 2x allows me about 7 more different cards to help with flexibility. I can see 2x in more control decks like mine so far and 3x in aggro decks where you want super consistency.