Do you enjoy League of Legends but hate the gameplay? Try playing Legends of Runeterra!
I promise, I'm not a paid shill. I'm just an average lurker who wishes more people knew about this game.Game: Legends of Runeterra
I have repeatedly installed/uninstalled League of Legends and Wild Rift. I really like the characters, skills, and visuals. The world building and the different regions. But I just can not bring myself to dedicate 30 minutes to walking, killing minions, and death timer. Mobas just aren't for me.
While searching on reddit for f2p cardgames, I found Legends of Runeterra (LoR). LoR is a competitive card game also made by Riot. It is based in the world of Runeterra, the same world as League of Legends. I have been playing this game for the past few months and really like it.
Gameplay
Like other card games, you place down unit cards and spell cards. Your goal is to reduce the enemy's nexus health to 0.
In LoR, players take turns. Player A plays a card, and then player B plays a card. If the opponent plays a unit, I can immediately respond to it. Do I snipe it with my mystic shot before they attack? Do I play my own unit to defend? Or should I save the unit for my next attack?
This makes the gameplay so much more interactive. In other games, such as Hearthstone, PTCGO, Yu-Gi-Oh, etc, players take turns playing like 10 cards before it's the other player's turn (exaggerated). In my opinion, very boring. Best described in this ProZD video.
I really enjoy the various ways champions have been ported to the card game. For example, Yasuo decks revolve around stunning units. Ashe decks revolve around frostbiting units. If Senna dies, Lucian evolves and becomes a stronger version of himself (and vice versa). If Fiora kills 4 units, she immediately wins the match (inspiration from her ult). Zed summons shadows. Jinx shoots a big rocket that hits the enemy nexus and units. I can go on and on.
Note that you even don't have to know anything about League to enjoy this game.
F2P?
This game is insanely f2p. I repeat, INSANELY F2P. You get cards just by playing the game. You can easily make a top meta deck without paying $. If you have enough shards (card dust), you can create any card you want. The best way I've seen this described is that in LoR, you obtain cards to play matches, not the other way around.
Monetization is cosmetics, such as champion skins, board skins, card backs, and guardians (a small decorative animal that appears on your board). But if you're impatient, you can also spend money to buy cards. Again, paying $ is not necessary at all.
PVP
This is probably LoR's main gamemode. You can play matches against other players in ranked or non-ranked. In ranked, you climb the ladder and face opponents in your tier. Just like League, you get League Points when you win. This is where metas form and you can test out your decks here.
PvE
Don't like competitive? Tbh, I'm the same. Playing against other people stresses me out (unnecessarily). Thankfully, LoR has a PvE roguelike gamemode. It reminds me of Slay the Spire. Each node has an enemy and then after the fight, you can pick a card to add to your deck for that run. You also get relics/powers to make your matches stronger. I enjoy this gamemode because it allows me to create really nice synergies.
For example, one power says "When you damage the enemy nexus, grant the top ally in your deck +1|+1." Another power says "When you summon an ally, deal 1 to the enemy Nexus." Combine these two powers and you get a really strong run!
Conclusion
I hope this review gave you some insight into LoR. If this game interests you.
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