League of Legends is trying to conquer everything from multiple genres of video games to TV show adaptations. Riot is dipping into the world of TCGs with Riftbound, a project that tries to translate the feel of capturing lanes to card game form.
Battlefield cards represent the lanes you fight over in a typical MOBA, and players score points by controlling them. League's huge library of champions is represented by Legend cards. The Legend you choose dictates what kind of deck you'll have.
There's even an in-game representation of ganking. Cards with the ganking ability can move from one battlefield to another to ambush enemies. As in the MOBA, it isn't enough to attack. You need to know when and where your attack will turn the tide of battle.
Of course, we have to address the Celestial in the room. LoL tried to battle Magic and Hearthstone not that long ago with its failed digital offering, Legends of Runeterra. Launched in 2020, it earned rave reviews and The Game Award for Best Mobile Game.
But that positive press didn't translate into players, so in 2024 Riot announced it would shift the game's focus to its single-player Path of Champions mode. With the wounds from LoR's death still fresh, many players feel betrayed by the announcement of this new card game.
If you were jonesing for a LoL TCG, you probably already played Runeterra. If so, do you have any interest in diving into another one this quickly? Also, do you trust Riot not to abandon this one? Unlike the digital product you could at least try for free, this is a paper product with no free-to-play aspects.
Players already expressed concerns about the initial art style of the cards, and how they looked rushed and a little cashgrabby. Riot has taken those concerns into account with reworked designs, but everybody saw the level of laziness it tried to get away with.