We've got a whole new way to customize our favourite cards in Cosmic Creation! Riot has introduced Prismatic Card Styles which is a way to upgrade your old cards into flashier versions.
The best part? Once you upgrade one card, all other copies of that card will be upgraded to prismatic as well - even the ones you obtain later! Unlike other games where you have to get a premium copy of each card, such as the Golden cards in Hearthstone or parallax styles in MTG Arena, Riot has made these more accessible as is tradition in Runeterra.
- Once a card is upgraded to prismatic, there is no undo button - be careful!
- In the future, Riot is planning on adding a toggle option to display prismatics for individual cards.
- There will be even more ways to customize collections next year.
Development picture of Prismatic Styles. Will update once we see them live.
Prismatic Essence
Prismatic Essence is a new resource that can be obtained to create prismatic card styles.
You will earn Essence through the following ways:
- Opening Primatic Chests
- Opening Prismatic Pouches
- Completing Quests
Each rarity of cards will require a different amount of Prismatic Essence. You can optionally use Riot Coins to upgrade cards as well, completely bypassing the need for Prismatic Essence.
Prismatic Chests
Prismatic Chests are a new type of box that can be opened containing card styles themselves and some Prismatic Essence. They are earned by completing new "Card Style Quests", which are separate from dailies, and at the end of a ranked season in your rewards.
Like other chests in Runeterra, the Prismatic Chests also have rarities to them which means the better quality the chest, the higher the rewards. Chests you receive at the end of a ranked season will be of better quality based on how well you do in the season.
- Essence Pouch - Contains only Essence
- Common Prismatic Chest - Essence + At least 1 Prismatic Common
- Rare Prismatic Chest - Essence + At least 1 Prismatic Rare
- Epic Prismatic Chest - Essence + At least 1 Prismatic Epic
The Rare and Epic Chests also have a chance at giving you a Prismatic Champion, the most expensive prismatic card style to create. The chance is higher in Epic chests. Here's a chart showcasing the rewards for playing ranked.
As you climb up, you can see the rewards get better. Essence pouches, although a good start, only gives you Essence and don't provide you with the styles directly which means you should make every effort to climb that ladder!
Cosmic Creation - Patch 1.16
Looking for more coverage from the Cosmic Creation patch?
- Big Changes Coming to Labs in Runeterra's Cosmic Creation Patch - 3 Labs Live At Once!
- Runeterra's Cosmic Creation Expansion Introduces Prismatic Card Styles
- New Store Cosmetics Coming in Runeterra's Cosmic Creation Expansion Patch
- Runeterra Patch 1.16 - Cosmic Creation! New Keyword, Card Styles, Region Road Updates, Expeditions, and More!
Comments
Awesome. Having just quit Hearthstone, I'm looking forward to my game having more to collect.
Leaving Hearthstone was a good decision.
How did you even stay that long to a clearly inferior title managed by a company doing nothing more than reselling old concepts on higher powerlevel content and call that amazing because they actually just want to invest low effort for maximum profits - just like every other activision partner?
I'm really curious what drives players to still play Hearthstone.
Well, based on the way you worded it, I’m not sure if you actually want to know. But answering for myself, I’ll say that Hearthstone is fun and still feels fresh. I’ve only been playing the game for 2 years, so I can’t blame anyone who has been playing for 6 years and has decided that they’re bored. I’m sure I’ll be done with the game long before then! But the key thing is, if I enjoy the game for years and then eventually move on, I’ll consider that to be a success. I won’t stick around on Reddit to complain that a years-old hobby got boring.
Runeterra is a very cool game. In theory, I feel like I should enjoy it more than Hearthstone. But in practice, it’s started to feel like a grind for me. I’m not sure whether it’s because the game demands more time than Hearthstone, or because the archetypes feel more repetitive, or if the XP-based rewards system is just less compelling, or what. (If it’s the XP system, then Hearthstone is in trouble, too.) But whatever the reason, I burned out after completing the Spirit Blossom Festival and never really got into it again. The last time I played was 2 weeks ago - By any objective measure, it was an exciting game, with both sides taking the advantage multiple times before the end. But I realized halfway through that I just didn’t care. I haven’t played since, though I’ll be giving the new expansion a try. Hopefully it’s fun for me again.
I know this probably isn’t a satisfying answer for you. I can’t put my finger on why one game stayed fun and the other didn’t. But I’m glad that so many people are enjoying Runeterra. I want everyone to find the games they like, whether or not they match my tastes.
Now that is what I call a good and detailed answer, thanks for that.
I am admittedly a clear opponent of blizzard as a company which gives a false Image of being one's best buddy. It is overprizing it's products and underpaying their employees. With the blitzchang suspension they ultimately shown that they don't give a damn about the interests of their western customer base.
However these points aren't about Hearthstone's gameplay but the gameplay was also often very lame because blizzard leaned way more into clear finisher-cards which you most often only played around by being fast-> playing aggressive decks. Those aggressive decks got old very fast and were mostly highroll-dependant. Not to mention the fact that "premium" constructed cards and limited trash were very clearly separated in terms of powerlevel, so that trying to build offmeta decks to beat metadecks was most often not a thing at all because the "playable cardpool" was smaller while having a larger total cardpool than in LoR ...
And about LoR feeling more grindy: i don't know if you play meta decks or not but in case you do: the key to wreck the ladder is coming up with the niche deck that your opponent will not be ready for because it's answers make no sense against the meta. And indeed LoR is way more consistant and repetetive in order to make "playing and building right" a factor.
If you like it more random go with other games that on the flipside won't allow you to hold winrates above 70% at a regular basis, the choice is yours.
Thank you for your reply. You figured out much more about how I play Hearthstone than I thought I was saying in my post!
I am generally ok with Hearthstone’s randomness. As someone who’s played a lot of board games, I’m comfortable with a wide range of randomness and strategy in my games, and I can see the pros and cons to different levels. I can go play Caylus or Terra Mystica when I want a strategic, RNG-free experience, and I think of all CCGs as fairly random. It always sounds strange to me when Magic or Runeterra players imply that less randomness is automatically better, because apparently they don’t know that Go is an option.
I appreciate that Hearthstone embraces the randomness and that skilled playing involves anticipating or responding to the random events better than your opponent. Some games will be outside my control, and maybe if I was gunning for top 50 Legend that would be an issue. But the games are 5-10 minutes and playing well means that I win 55% of the time, so it works great. Hearthstone games give me a lot more variety even when I play the same deck over and over. Every evening, I’ll end up with a story I want to tell a friend about. That never happens in Runeterra.
(That also helps to justify - somewhat - the “bad” cards that Hearthstone includes in the game. I’d never put Generous Mummy in a deck, but I still need to find a way to get some value out of it every day or two. On the other hand, She Who Wanders never appears in my Runeterra games.)
Your point about building off-meta decks in Runeterra is a good one. I’m not good at deck-building - my strengths are mostly in efficient, tactical play - so that may be one area where I’m not suited for Runeterra.
I also think it’s weird that people accuse Hearthstone of being too focused on finishers. My decks may have win conditions, but most of the time the winner just outmaneuvered the other player by gaining board control or chipping away. Runeterra decks are much more dependent on specific Champions or Epics to close out the game.
Anyway, I’m off to try Cosmic Creation this evening. Wish me luck!
Honestly, my biggest thing is just that Hearthstone is so pay-to-win.
Runeterra says, hey, we want you to have the cards. Have fun playing.
I've already spent more money on Runeterra than I have on Hearthstone in five years. Because I felt appreciated and actually wanted to.
The money I put into Hearthstone works out to about the same as a Netflix subscription. With that, I’m able to play with 4-6 decks every expansion, and I definitely get more out of it than I do out of Netflix.
The price is enough that I’ll have to drop the game as soon as it stops being my favorite. Runeterra’s price may work in its favor in the long run, because you don’t lose much ground if you stop playing for a while and then come back.
A lot of people say they HAVE to spend $300+ per year on Hearthstone, and I’m not sure what they’re doing differently than me. Do they feel like they need to build more decks than I do?
Anyway, I always feel bad for the people who seem to be paying lots of money and not enjoying it. I want to assure them that it’s worth it for me but not for them, and it’s ok for them to quit and find a game they’d like better, but it’s hard to say that online without sounding snarky.
Great way to monetize for people who want more bling, I know I don't anyway but it's good for the economy.
Also a great way to earn them if you don’t plan to spend money on it. I think this is a cool system. (I’m not sure if I like the appearance of the cards yet, but I definitely like the way they can be earned.