PCGamer: "LoR has quietly become the best multiplayer card game"

From https://www.pcgamer.com/legends-of-runeterra-has-quietly-become-the-best-multiplayer-card-game/ :

Quote From Article

League of Legends spin-off Legends of Runeterra was already a great card game when I first reviewed it last year. It borrows enough from Magic: The Gathering to be familiar, while also innovating with fantastic ideas like mana that can be banked for later turns and powerful Champion cards with unique abilities that also level up as a reward for playing to a specific strategy. But, hoo boy, has it changed a lot in the year since—and all for the better. It's gotten fantastic new game modes, hundreds of new cards with unique abilities, and a progression system that still is ridiculously generous. I just want to shout it from the rooftops: Legends of Runeterra is the best multiplayer card game. Flat out. 

How is this post-worthy? It's just a random opinion piece. If someone like Kibler or another person who had weight their words said this, I would be shocked.

Edit: This came off ruder than intended. I apologize.

It's a forum and OldManSanns wanted to post it. What's the problem? 

For me, yes it has.

I play both. And HS in my view is lot better

I've always considered MtG the better game. and i still do. Doesnt mean im playing it, quiet the contrary, f2p model is something that needs to be balanced and yes LoR takes the cake there but then u need to compare other aspect as well.

At the end of the day HS is in a great spot specially for the last year or two even with the whole DH op thing and the tavern pass scandal. being able to adapt quickly and improve and coming up with new stuff is what makes a game great and HS is pulling out all the stops on that one.

I don't think that it's fair to criticize magic for it's monetization and give HS a pass because it's in a better spot now. Like years of blizzard milking it's fanbase didn't happen. 

Quote From Grumpy000

I play both. And HS in my view is lot better

Me too, i prefer the aesthetics of Hearthston

Quote From HuntardHuntard

How is this post-worthy? It's just a random opinion piece. If someone like Kibler or another person who had weight their words said this, I would be shocked.

/shrug. I found it to be an interesting, well-written article that I thought worth reading and sharing with others. I am sorry if you didn't find it so too.

I also agree that it's not as news-worthy as if Kibler/Dog/Firebat/Trump/etc had said it, but if that had been the case I'd probably write up a full-on article and just not a short forum post. And while it is "a random opinion piece", it's also an unsolicited and unprompted endorsement on a pretty major gaming magazine/site which I think carries more weight than just a personal blog/Twitter/YouTube/etc. It actually came up on my Google News feed. :-)

@OldManSanns, I took my first dive into LoR before the nerfs in HS and just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to you for the super helpful 7 tips article!  I have all my regions at Lvl 4, a few at Lvl 8, and just got my first Lvl 13 weekly chest :)

Personally, I've found the gameplay refreshing and challenging as it reminds me of MtG which I haven't played for about 25 years (in terms of blocking, burst spells, etc.).  I've mainly been playing Labs as I learn all the different keywords (thx to Challenge Mode), but I've been impressed so far.  And the card artwork on mobile looks awesome so it's got that going for it too, which is nice :D

Quote From HuntardHuntard

How is this post-worthy? It's just a random opinion piece. If someone like Kibler or another person who had weight their words said this, I would be shocked.

TLDR: OldManSanns plays taunt, me still go face ;)

I've played something like 4-5 ccg's. LOR's biggest strength right now is:

A (it borrows ideas from everyone) things like Gwents turn passing mechanics, hearthstone mana, mtgs card design and League's champion design.

B (longterm balance) every set and region will essentially remain in a tug of war from now till the end of time

C (100% ftp) maybe you slap down a 20 for a board or a battle pass but thats totally optional paying beyond that makes 0 sense when all you need to do is open the game once a week for 2 free Champs.

Its greatest weakness however is that the amount of excitement that comes from a new set being released isn't at the heights of mtg with things like Kaladesh, Domibaria, War of the Spark. I'm not sure how LOR can fix that but I'd it does it will probably be the best CCG.

Writing strictly as a spectator, I'm afraid LoR is not greater than hearthstone - let alone being the best card game. Better monetization model, more accessible, and having more stuff to do - That can't be denied that LoR definitely has hearthstone on the ropes on all these. But for those watching it, and for those trying it out for the first time, hearthstone is much superior.

I've been watching hearthstone tournaments all the way back to its first unofficial world champion. Looking at the game now, its almost still as clear as it was back then. Wording is largely simple, the mechanics simple, and the game as a whole has a cunning simplicity to it that any viewer able to do basic mathematics would be able to more or less know what's going on, and who's winning, etc.

LoR, however, suffers from its readability. I can never truly understand what's going on, because there's a dozen of keywords that aren't very clear to anyone who hasn't read the glossary pages. What on earth does 'deep' mean anyway, for example. I watched a few videos and came out absolutely bewildered sometimes, because there's turns, then there's spell turns, etc. I'm not necessarily always sure whos winning too, because it almost always like nothing is happening and suddenly your opponent loses half his hp.

I'm going to be watching that LoR tournament with great interest. But if I come out of there knowing nothing of what's going on without having to go to LoR's keyword glossary pages yet again, then I'm fairly certain the game has a long way to go before it can 'quietly become the best multiplayer card game'.

(can someone confirm if the keywords in LoR explain itself when you scroll past them, Im not sure)

Quote From dapperdog

(can someone confirm if the keywords in LoR explain itself when you scroll past them, Im not sure)

Yes they do.

I played Hearthstone for years and I just started playing LOR 2 months ago. If you dive right in competitive ranked play, like I did at the start, all the keywords can be a bit overwhelming at first (surely because i played 75% of the tutorial months ago) but you get used to them pretty quickly.

I still play Hearthstone too and I think it's in a great spot at the moment (if you got a good collection already) but I'll still prefer LOR at the moment.
There is not much talk about the game mode Expeditions but that's the mode I love the most. I always like arena in Hearthstone but lately it isn't that good anymore. Expeditions is better than arena ever was though! I love the deckbuilding style (you chose packages instead of cards) and I played some really memorable matches!

And as said before, it's incredibly FTP friendly! I just calculated that after 2 months of play I already have + can craft 55% of all the champions (LOR's legendaries) in the game! I can easily craft/play every existing tier 1/2/3 deck already.

Saying that game is better because it's easier to understand for those who don't play it is hardly an argument, but more importantly that definitely not true. Hearthstone keywords may be more simplistic but the game still have ton of wacky RNG effect that makes confusing watch, I still remember seeing Yogg-Saron being played and going : " WTF is happening ? "

And yeah LOR keywords do explain themselves :

I've played HS. MTG, LOR. I just see that HS is better than LOR on simplicity, and to be honest that doesn't make it better to me.

I've put so many time on HS but to me it just become so boring not be able to interact with the other player turn at all.

That point (more or less it comes from MTG) is what makes me love the game. Also of course that you can have in a much faster way a collection to play competitive.

Also another thing to point out, the LOR app for Android it's the best by far. 

In terms of competition/streaming: normally the people who watch the championships are casual players that should understand the rules of the game, so I don't see any problem to have a little bit more of complexity to the game. 

Not gonna talk to much about MTG on digital, it's so sad that you need to pay to play some modes or to have a decent collection to be honest.

Just to finish, taking in account the lore and the graphic/animations I still go with LOR, HS have loose the opportunity to bring more lore to WOW world.

Sorry don't want to sound too unfriendly :3 that's just my opinion and of course everybody prefer more some things than others! Peace out!

I like hearthstone a lot more. LoR is more generous with it's rewards, but that is about where the appeal ends. I don't like the UI or setup for the menu, collection manager etc. I don't like how many keywords and regions there are. I don't like how fast Riot makes new cards. I don't like the turn/rounds system. And just in general I don't think the game play is fun. A lot of these things are subjective and if you like them that's fine. The main point I am trying to make is that LoR simply isn't for me and I just have more fun playing Hearthstone.

I’ve played Hearthstone since open beta and the game has devolved into a bit of a joke tbh. I do think it’s great to watch, like somebody has said, but playing the game has become fairly tedious due to card generation, RNG, and excessive card draw.  I do hope Blizzard sort it out as the game can be fun, but for the past half a year or so (maybe longer I took a break) the game has been dominated by tempo decks and highroll combos, neither of which have satisfying interactivity in HS

I’m not going to claim LoR is the best digital card game, but after testing the major games it’s the one that stood out to me for a variety of reasons, and the game I chose to replace HS.

LOR is the bigges CRAP EVER SEEN....AND RIOT, THESE SON OF BITCHES can suffocate of this unbalanced piece of shitgame

Playing CCG since the releas of the first Pokemon cards and the rise of the Yugi franchise, I totally agree. (Yes I am that old)
LoR is a fantastic game and has merged everything I would love about a CCG together.

Quote From KANSAS

I like hearthstone a lot more. LoR is more generous with it's rewards, but that is about where the appeal ends. I don't like the UI or setup for the menu, collection manager etc. I don't like how many keywords and regions there are. I don't like how fast Riot makes new cards. I don't like the turn/rounds system. And just in general I don't think the game play is fun. A lot of these things are subjective and if you like them that's fine. The main point I am trying to make is that LoR simply isn't for me and I just have more fun playing Hearthstone.

Would you say that LoR has too many keywords "in a vacuum" or that the game is just too complex for newcomers and those playing it as a supplement to Hearthstone/MtGA/etc? In other words: if every other digital CCG shut down tomorrow and LoR was now the only game you could play, would that change your opinion?

I frame my question like that because you also critique the amount of regions, but if we draw the comparison between LoR regions (currently 9, will grow to 10 this fall) and HS classes (currently 10, possibly will grow in the future), HS is actually more complex in this regard. Please note that I don't consider this to be a logical inconsistency -- it is a totally valid opinion to think of playing HS as the status quo and to frame your evaluations of other games from the practical viewpoint that you already know and play HS rather than the theoretical viewpoint of if you were starting both games from scratch. Honestly, that's probably the reason why I haven't tried out Mythgard myself despite hearing such great things about it. I'm just curious if you were giving that statement about the LoR keywords objectively or subjectively based on your preference to play HS.