By the decade League of Legends studio Riot Games announced a number of new products designed to expand and deepen the Game universe. Here is the fighting and “Diaglade”, and the animated series that will tell about the youth of Jinx and Wai … But if these projects are at an early stage of development, then a collection card game Legends of Runeterra You can feel now.

It would seem a failure experience Artifact proved that the binding to the popular Moba does not guarantee success in the already divided market. However, Legends of Runeterra has every chance not to repeat the sad fate of the predecessor.

The first reason: the balance between complex and casual

If in Artifact, KKI wound innovations like three fields and crews, then Lor (sonorous and easily memorable reduction) goes along a reliable path, beaten Hearthstone And MTG Arena. The field is only one, the cards habitually come into the hand of the deck, the player’s task is to demolish all Mister X Casino the health of the enemy nexus: here the card armies protect not heroes-commander, but their structure.

The round consists of three phases. First, players put up creatures on the battlefield and conjure spells, and you can immediately throw it into battle called up the creatures – no hibernation at the first move, as in the brainchild Blizzard. Then the user is offered to either transfer the move, avoiding skirmishes and accumulating strength, or immediately attack his counterpart … unless, of course, at that moment he is allowed to initiate a fight. Be that as it may, at the beginning of the next move, the opponents change places: the attacker goes into defense, and the defender gets the opportunity to first hit the enemy.

This is what the start of the game looks like

Spells were divided into three types: slow, instant and fast. Slow – the most slaughter, but conjure them for a long time, so that the enemy can soften, or even completely cancel the consequences of the attack. Instant ones are noticeably weaker (in any case, when it comes to damage on enemy forces), but their action cannot be reflected: they are triggered here and now, opening the spaciousness for unexpected pods. Fast – something average: they hurt it, but not catastrophically, and protecting them from them is quite real.

A set of spells is ready to annie enemy warriors

Mana is completely restored at the beginning of the course, and the maximum pool increases by one point with each round. There is also a reserve of magical energy, which can only be spent on spells: mana, not spent by the player until the end of the course, is sent there. Only three points allow you to save, but this is already a considerable help-there will be the opportunity to fry the enemy with the “last spark” of the luxury for 6 mana, when only 3 remains in her bullet.

Hereinafter – art that flaunts on the maps. The artists tried, you can not say anything!

Naturally, the game on the League of Legends cannot do without champions. This is a separate type of map, they have unique skills and their own spell set. Heroes can be pumped and strengthened by fulfilling certain conditions: one will receive a level-up when he is damaged, the other-if there are no cards in the player’s hand, the third-if you create spells for six or more mana.

At the same time, the strengthening of some characters at first glance seem to be almost Chiters. For example, pumped Fiora automatically wins the party, killing four opponents!

If you immediately rush into battle, in all these phases and rules is no wonder and get confused. However, training smoothly introduces the player to the course of business, and even if you poke at random, after a couple of the loser, it is easy to understand the rink. LOR is more difficult to master than Hearthstone, but easier than MTG; She has something to surprise long -standing fans of the genre, but it will also be easy for beginners to delve into. Unusual mechanics are a fair price for what Lor attracts true strategists. Namely…

The second reason is: the spaciousness for interesting tactics

The game has six fractions (local analogue of flowers from MTG): Demassia, Knoxus, Ionia, Freelord, Geproughs, as well as the United Cities-States Piltover and Zaun. Everyone has fifty -three cards at the start; You can take representatives of one or two regions in the deck, and each has its own characteristic features and strengths. Someone Buffet and heals allies, someone poison the enemy with poisons and arranges pods, someone knows how to immobilize and freeze the units of the enemy. At the same time, the role of the Great Bere Random is minimized: when protecting, you can always arrange your fighters in the right order so that the attack of the mighty enemy trindamy does not have to reflect the weak, and only a few spells are hit for random purposes.

Even fluently viewing cards, you immediately notice effective combinations. For example, some spells hurt all creatures on the field. Pick up a deck of units to them, which pump, having received damage – and an unpleasant surprise to the opponent is provided. And if you add to this the hero that it becomes stronger, losing allies?.. And this is only within the same faction – competent unions of the two regions open much more opportunities.

The unique features of the champions suggest one of the simplest ways to win: to protect and pump their heroes, as soon as possible killing the enemy. This is related by Legends of Runeterra with Moba … Only here, unlike the League of Legends, it can easily fall without the participation of champions. There are also many strong creatures among ordinary units, so relying on the heroes is not a panacea, but a contestic is found on any tactics. The more interesting!

Reason is the third: the game will come in not only the fans of the League of Legends

Of course, first of all, the project is designed for fans of League of Legends – and they will pleasantly surprise them how organically familiar heroes were adapted to the mechanics of KKI. Jinx Sharashit through enemies with rockets, Timo treats with poisoned mushrooms, Trash attracts the units with a chain, choosing exactly who to block or attack. To compare the card heroes with the Moba champions and understand where the legs of a particular chip grow from – a separate entertainment, and the recognition element, of course, is played by Lor in hand.

For players who are not familiar with the Universe, spectacular animations, beautiful art and touching animals-poles, who were seated along the edges of the field. It’s nice to look at all this, even if you have no idea who these people (and animals!). And it is not at all necessary to know what abilities the champion in LOL had to win for him in Lor: the signatures on the cards will explain in advance how this or that hero is good.

By the way, by the way, it will be possible to buy clothes and change the appearance – and, as they assured the presentation of the game, the studio expects to receive profit from the new KKI mainly due to customization. It’s even easy to believe in this … although the next point has its own nuances.

The reason is fourth: competent monetization

There will be no paid boosters in Lor. Yes, no sets for which you pay real money. All packages with new cards are opened for experience points: they are awarded both for victories and for defeats, although they give, of course, more for victory. You play a lot – you get access to the treasury, where additional awards are distributed once a week. Well, if you really want to purchase a particular unit in a deck, it will be allowed to exchange it for a “crazy card”, an analogue of the Joker from MTG.

Small cards, unlike everything else, are bought – both for the in -game currency and for rubles – but you can buy no more than three per week. On the one hand, this is a reasonable method of combating Pay to Win – and at the same time with an annoying random, when the booster may not get caught at all what was hoping to get. On the other hand, a tricky way to keep users in the game, forcing them to equalize regularly and a little.

Judge for yourself: sooner or later additional cards will appear in Lor, among which there will probably be many strong and method. The easiest way to get hold of updates as soon as they are introduced into the game is to slowly save “Slaltered Cards”. This is not more than three in the store, and as much as you like in the inventory. I bought forty pieces – and when the update comes out, the new deck is in your pocket. At the same time, laying out a small amount of once a week psychologically easier than to fall off at once five thousand. If you recall the treasures, we get excellent motivation to constantly go into the game without throwing it for many months.

On the other hand, all cards can be obtained for free – it is only a matter of perseverance and time. How ordinary players will lag behind those who invest real means in the game can only be judged after the release. So at the moment, monetization really looks very competent: soft and unobtrusive.

The reason is the fifth: Lor takes the best from competitors

When creating its own kKI, Riot had many examples before: both successful and not very. Now it seems that the studio really took into account other people's mistakes, not forgetting to take into account adequate decisions.

From MTG they took phases, different types of spells and unclosed units, which made the game deeper and more complicated by Hearthstone – but removed the lands, simplifying the mechanics and reducing the threshold of entry. The function of the “eye of the oracle”, which will show the outcome of the fight, so that you do not have to calculate everything in the mind, is clearly inspired by Artifact: they also prompted how the clash of the units will end. From Shadowverse borrowed the evolution of cards on the battlefield. Mix all this, remove the elements that players dislikes the most (like paid boosters and random), add the worked out universe and a couple of fresh gameplay solutions – we get Legends of Runeterra. What is not a recipe for success?

A full -fledged closed beta starts at the beginning of 2020, so Riot has a little time to eliminate shortcomings. On the other hand, Legends of Runeterra is simply not visible, in any case, while while. It will be possible to judge the balance and other subtle matters only by Beta, and the viability of the game without a donation – and then later. In the meantime, LOR gives the impression of a pretty, smart and promising project, which may well compete with competitors, or even lure part of the audience from them. And, unlike Artifact, he is able not only to please the fans of the League of Legends, but also to lure the runterra of people into the world, which had not been in it before.