We already know that Legends of Runeterra will be adding more existing, and possibly new, regions to the current selection. After datamining some images in the client, we may have discovered a brand new combination region, like Piltover & Zaun. Here's what we found.
It's a little difficult to see in this image, but none of the new regions have line strokes around them, so I would guess these are not the finalized ones that will be active in-game. I don't know if the order of images has any significance here, because they were not named or numbered, but could Bilgewater be the first new region to be released?
There are a couple of interesting things about these images. The first is that there's a crest for Zaun, which is already paired with Piltover in existing regions. Does this mean that we are going to see cards specifically from Zaun or is this just a placeholder image leftover from initial testing before they decided to combine the two specifically for Legends of Runeterra?
The next, and most interesting, thing that sticks out is the mystery crest for a region that doesn't currently exist in League of Legends. I have a couple of theories about this.
- It's a new crest for a combination region, like Piltover & Zaun.
- It's a brand new, redesigned crest for an existing region. The Void would make the most sense.
- It's an outdated image used for testing purposes.
From those options I think the first one is the most likely to be true. If it's a combination of two existing regions, which ones would it be for? You may notice in the image that Ixtal and The Void are nowhere to be found. That makes them the most likely candidates to belong to this unknown crest. I'll share some of my thoughts on how this makes any sense.
At first glance it doesn't look like elements of each image are there, but neither does the Piltover & Zaun crest, if you're just trying to combine them. The Piltover & Zaun crest looks like it retains some of the gear aspects of the original Piltover, but appears to be a city with another structure inside of it. That's exactly the relationship between Piltover & Zaun, since one is built on top of the other. In that respect the image has some logic to it, so I tried to think of how an Ixtal & The Void combination would work as well.
If you're Shurima or Ixtal I don't think either one of you wants to be this close to The Void.
When you look at Ixtal and The Void on the map you can see they are neighbors, although technically there's a small patch of Shurima between them. It still makes sense geographically that you would combine them. There is also a history between the two regions with the mages of Ixtal surviving encounters with The Void and afterwards, distancing themselves from the rest of the world. Another key factor is the number of Champions available for each region. Currently, Ixtal has six Champions, which is the least of any other existing region, and The Void has eight. Pairing Ixtal with another region would almost certainly happen, regardless.
Pictured here: the Cardinal Arcology, the Magma Acrology, and the Water Arcology.
Ixaocan has several Arcologies, ancient structures built deep within the jungles of Ixtal, which serve as home to thousands of inhabitants and school for the teachings of elemental magic, which is central to their culture. They live secluded from the rest of the world and use strong magic to prevent outsiders from gaining access to their hidden city. You'll notice that each Arcology has some type of gemstone floating above the structure. This could easily be the oval shape in the center of the unknown crest.
I wonder if The Eye of Sauron knows he has a younger brother?
Above is pictured Vel'koz, a Champion from The Void. The oval shape at the center of the unknown crest could be a reference to this terrifying creature. His armor could also be the three streaks on either side of the crest.
The Void and Voidborn creatures can take various shapes, with no two alike. They consume everything around them.
The outer ring of the crest and the three prongs on each side could also be a representation of how The Void manifests itself in Runeterra.
What are your thoughts about the new crest? Do you think my reasoning is sound or did I miss something that perhaps makes more sense? Do you have a completely different theory than mine? If so, please share it in the comments section below!
Comments
While I'm exited for all these new regions, I'm still confused as to why a combo region exist in the first place. Aren't Piltover and Zaun usually fighting against each other? Every other region has an aesthetic theme that ties them together, but with P&Z, not so much. You've got futuristic technology, robots made out of garbage, brilliant scientists, children living in poverty, random explosions, and Teemo...for some reason. I wouldn't be surprised if the region we have now is a placeholder, because these things don't belong together. I feel like they could split this region apart since there are so many Piltover and Zaun champions already.
As for Ixtal and The Void forming one region, this could be possible since the champion selection is so low. However, it would still be another mismatch from an aesthetic point of view. You have one side all tuned in to nature and the other that's just a bunch of horrific monsters out of your nightmares. Not to mention, it would be strange to see Rengar and Kha'zix fighting along side one another. If there's any region Ixtal would form a combo with, I think it would be Shurima. I feel as though The Void is TOO unique to be combined with any other region.
At first I was confused about Teemo and Heimerdinger in P&Z as well they are bandle city in origen as they are yordles.. but they currently operate in P&Z..
Teemo is dealing mushroom weaponary (and turns out it's some kind of drug too) in zaun and heimerdingeBADCARDNAMEr is both operating in piltover and making a T-hex weapon in Piltover underground
I find it weird about teemo.. since there is a Bandle city expansion planned and there are not too many yordles.. guess they could do the same treatment to other champions and change their "operation" region to a region that is NOT their origin..
like they could make sylas part of freljord as he is operating there according to lore, although being a Demacian as origin.
P&Z are very similar is that they are high tech regions which are really fighting all the time.. one is "Futuristic magic tech" vs "Steam punkish tech" some piltover and zaun champions have been in one city or another in more instances than any other region.
The void will probably have a disposable unit in voidlings and have a consume theme can't wait for them to be part of the game..
Also I don't think the lack of champion pool is a problem for a region.. the shadow isles have like 7 champions currently originated there.. they could add for example corrupted senna, or nocturne or fiddle if they felt like it.
On that image they have a separate crest for zaun so maybe eventually they will separate them
Honestly I struggle to understand why they conflated the regions in the first place. Each of the release regions only has four champions associated with it, after all, so unless they're trying to keep them all even over the long term - which is tremendously unlikely for the Void unless they start inventing new champions - they could easily make them separate. The only explanation I have, really (aside from the evenly-numbered thing) is that they really struggled to translate champions into cards and so went with their four best designs
That was my thinking too.
piltover and zaun are two sides of the same coin: the rich futuristic town with high tech robots,human and robots hybrids, and brillant scientists {piltover} and the poor town with the chembarons genectic mutants and low-life thiefs and toublemakers and some weaker tech {zaun}
they make perfect sense together because they are the tech of runeterra this is their main theme {and explosions but this is a jynx thing}
hope you get my point this region will always be together.
Except you could say the exact same thing about Demacia and Noxus.
Except Zaun and Piltover are literally in the same area. Zaun is the undercity around Piltover. Zaun and Piltover is a battle of class warfare, Piltover being the rich, Zaun being the poor. Noxus and Demacia are in completely separate areas fighting for conquest of each other's lands due to conflicting ideologies. You could not say the same about Zaun and Piltover.
Sure, they're geographically co-located. But geography isn't really something you will, or indeed can really notice in the context of a card game. The point of the post I'm replying to is indicating that they're similar-but-opposites in exactly the same way Demacia and Noxus are, with geography not coming into it at all - so yeah, my post remains valid.
alright, now I'm just confused
especially about Ixtal...because that region currently has a single champion and we know next to nothing about what it'S actually about (aside from harboring the regional mobile-knockoff lookalike)
Well according to the site Qiyana, Malphite, Neeko, Rengar, Nidalee, and Zyra are all Ixtal champs so there's some room there. As for what it actually is it seems like jungle and dragons plus the element chair or whatever.
oh okay, I wasn't really that invested in the lore anymore and didn't remember that they converted Kumungu into Ixtal.
Guess Malphite had to be put somewhere.
And although Ivern is listed as an Ionian he might come in the Ixtal group as well since he fits the theme and knows about the events that happened there
Oh, I wonder if this will be an expansion or core-game added within beta
Multiple expansion sets will release this year and it could be one of the new regions added.
Are they going to be adding 5 regions in one exp? That doesn't seem right
No. They just have the images already in the client. It makes sense for testing purposes. We should still only see one new region with each expansion.