Lab mode is VERY fun, and feels like a decent way to get my head better around keywords and such while I continue to delay actually facing other players.
Thus far, Targon seems to have my fave mechanics and theme, so I swapped my region to that, even if it's a shame to lose out on the extra XP offered by others
The only thing pissing me off about Lab Mode rn is that you get to a point where you R E A L L Y need Landmark removal because the whole Scars thing is just BRUTAL.
I'm super sad because I got this absolutely hellish deck where I got the "Everbody's dragons" and that one Dragon lady champ on a deck with Aphelios, Lux, and a bunch of --spell cost abilities, so I'm slapping down all this 0 cost stuff and everyone's dragons, and I managed to beat Scars... at 3 HP, at which point Sejunai was like "lol"
Highlights from a discussion on Swim's channel with a Riot dev (copy/pasted from Reddit):
I recommend watching the full stream on swims channel / youtube if he uploads it. this is just highlights for me but I may have missed some points that people may find interesting as well.
Void comments - is that with only 7 champions, if Void is even printed as a region, it will not be in the form players expect.
A lot of hints as to what the 10th region is have been disseminated among cards. Dovagedys said the biggest one hasn't been found to his knowledge, and that it's not Xenotype researcher.
riot increased funding/staff (people thought lor was failing)
goal confirmed of adding all champions into the game
expansion release will stay as current but will feel better since this region was worked on before the game was released hence was not made for 3 split releases but the next will be.
tf nerf incoming / more moon boy nerfs "maybe" on monday
insight into the metrics used to buff/nerf cards
goal to return to a 2 week balance patch cycle instead of the 1 month major patch. (not a current goal so don't expect it soon, they will notify when they get something in place)
watcher's stats may be like that for a reason. Dovagedys said he doesn't exactly know, that it could be for gameplay reasons related to the rest of the Shurima block, or that it could have narrative sources linked to the lore of Lissandra that haven't been revealed yet in any of the League games.
ledros + timelines was not something that the testers knew about but its not high on nerf priority because players lose with it more than win.
patches feel lagged because app store wants the patch 2 weeks in advance to make sure it does not break anything / out in work to translate changes other languages. ( they have the technology to live hot fix something, though its mostly reserved for game breaking card interactions so far, e.g. Sejuani lvl 2 effect and Zephyr Sage. But they will use it for balance if they deem it necessary. (thanks for further info Lareyt)
next will be a big year for Lor even without more regions (regions confirmed to be capped at 10)
card complexity will continue to increase over time (less straight forward champs like zed) but they will always be some for new players who join the expansion.
Lablanc seen to be a relative success, she is simple but the cards that are used in the her deck add to her flavor and are more complex e.g using black rose spy / mimic
feel free to add anything else in the comments.
thanks for extra clarification Nightstroll and Dovagedys
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Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
So some hot takes after playing the game a bunch over the past few days:
1. Hearthstone using the Warcraft IP did a ton of heavy lifting for me. I'm not surprised but I have like no understanding who any of these characters are as I've never played LoL.
2. Jesus tap-dancing Christ they are just pouring cards and shards and shit down my throat holy goddamn
3. The way they do Arena or Expeditions or whatever they call them is really good and I like it a lot. They've given me 3 free tokens so far this week and I went 6 and 4 in my last run so I'm at like rank 8 for a weekly chest currently.
4. I'm kinda not a fan of them having 4 (that I've seen so far) different speeds for spells to be cast in. I'm getting the hang of it but I find it super annoying how easily I can misread a card and fuck up a whole round or attack turn with it. I'm also not super clear on when my windows are for casting burst spells half the time, can I do it after they pick blockers? Can I do that with Fast spells? I always feel so unsure even though I know the answers to these questions.
5. Sometimes there's just too much goddamn shit going on. Like my opponent will play two cards and then there's like 15 interactions that take place and they all glow a million colors and I dunno what the fuck is going on and there's not enough time to decipher it. This probably improves as I play more but it feels like entirely too much bullshit currently.
So some hot takes after playing the game a bunch over the past few days:
1. Hearthstone using the Warcraft IP did a ton of heavy lifting for me. I'm not surprised but I have like no understanding who any of these characters are as I've never played LoL.
2. Jesus tap-dancing Christ they are just pouring cards and shards and shit down my throat holy goddamn
3. The way they do Arena or Expeditions or whatever they call them is really good and I like it a lot. They've given me 3 free tokens so far this week and I went 6 and 4 in my last run so I'm at like rank 8 for a weekly chest currently.
4. I'm kinda not a fan of them having 4 (that I've seen so far) different speeds for spells to be cast in. I'm getting the hang of it but I find it super annoying how easily I can misread a card and fuck up a whole round or attack turn with it. I'm also not super clear on when my windows are for casting burst spells half the time, can I do it after they pick blockers? Can I do that with Fast spells? I always feel so unsure even though I know the answers to these questions.
5. Sometimes there's just too much goddamn shit going on. Like my opponent will play two cards and then there's like 15 interactions that take place and they all glow a million colors and I dunno what the fuck is going on and there's not enough time to decipher it. This probably improves as I play more but it feels like entirely too much bullshit currently.
Overall, I'm having a good time.
I actually never played Warcraft, so I went into Hearthstone the same way you're going into LoR right now. Of course, I never played LoL either, so I have no attachments to the units/Champions in the game. That being said, some of them have really grown on me. There's a lot of humor and personality in them, which I attest to all the extra dialogue and interactions in the game.
Eventually, you'll be full of cards and the rewards will continue, but only now they'll be spilling all over the floor. But yeah, it's so incredibly jarring after years of Hearthstone.
Expeditions are so well done. The bucket system is great, giving you multiple losses in a run, and two for the price of one is amazing. I try and get in one run per week as a palate cleanser from Ranked.
The spell speeds are confusing, but you'll get used to them eventually. I do wish they'd change the color of Focus speeds to green so they stand out more from Slow spells. Generally speaking, this is how spell speeds work:
Burst: Play anytime on your turn. Does not give your opponent a chance to react. Note! You cannot activate a Burst spell after attacking, UNLESS your opponent commits blockers. So if you put 15 damage in units into attack a 16 damage Nexus, you can't play that Burst spell unless they get a blocker up.
Fast: Playable anytime on your turn. Enemy can react with Burst/Fast spells of their own. You can play multiple Fast spells (example 2 Mystic Shots) before handing over reaction to the enemy.
Slow: Playable anytime on your turn, except for combat. Enemy can react with Burst/Fast spells of their own. You can only play one Slow spell at a time and you can't play Fast spells with them (you can react with Fast spells though).
Focus: These are hybrid spells that are weird. You can cast them like Burst spells (no enemy reaction), but you can't cast them in combat or as a response to an enemy spell. I learned this the hard way by holding a Gem for combat to heal my attacker for a good trade, only to find out that doesn't work.
Anyway, glad you're in the game now. It'll take a while, but you'll get the flow of things before you know it. Keep at it and ask any questions you want!
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Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
Also, I thought of a few more neat interactions you might run into; Burst summons.
Right now, there are only 3 cards that summon units at Burst speed; Risen Mists, Arise!, and Jury-Rig.
The strength of these cards is subtle, because they allow you to create units without handing initiative over to your opponent. This means you can have an empty board or whatever, and suddenly have a big open attack out of left field.
When Risen Mists was revealed, a lot of people scoffed at a 4 mana, summon a Mistwraith as a meme card. But creating 1-2 Mistwraiths out of nowhere for a surprise open attack. You can also use it defensively to surprise kill off a big unit with a buffed up Mistwraith.
Of the three cards, you'll only see Jury-Rig and that won't be that often. Jury-Rig is mainly used as discard fodder, but makes for a great little 1/1 blocker in a pinch.
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Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
I think a way to think about the Attacking, Defenders assign no blockers, so you don't get a chance to play bursts in response, is that...
...Well, okay, so you're basically putting a Attack action on the stack. If your opponent passes taking any response to it, they're not adding anything to the stack, and so they want the attack to resolve. If they assign at least one blocker, they are adding a block action to the stack, and so you can respond to the Block action with your own fast or burst spells.... or not, pass, and things resolve.
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I've run into a mistwalker SI aggro deck. Risen mists is used in it I'm pretty sure. That deck is dumb how fast it can kill you if you get a slow hand.
Also, I thought of a few more neat interactions you might run into; Burst summons.
Right now, there are only 3 cards that summon units at Burst speed; Risen Mists, Arise!, and Jury-Rig.
The strength of these cards is subtle, because they allow you to create units without handing initiative over to your opponent. This means you can have an empty board or whatever, and suddenly have a big open attack out of left field.
When Risen Mists was revealed, a lot of people scoffed at a 4 mana, summon a Mistwraith as a meme card. But creating 1-2 Mistwraiths out of nowhere for a surprise open attack. You can also use it defensively to surprise kill off a big unit with a buffed up Mistwraith.
Of the three cards, you'll only see Jury-Rig and that won't be that often. Jury-Rig is mainly used as discard fodder, but makes for a great little 1/1 blocker in a pinch.
Yeah, the run where I ended up getting 6 wins (my 7th was robbed from me by an emergency causing me to concede) was an all sand deck (I don't know the regions by heart yet, sorry), and I was using Arise like crazy.
I think a way to think about the Attacking, Defenders assign no blockers, so you don't get a chance to play bursts in response, is that...
...Well, okay, so you're basically putting a Attack action on the stack. If your opponent passes taking any response to it, they're not adding anything to the stack, and so they want the attack to resolve. If they assign at least one blocker, they are adding a block action to the stack, and so you can respond to the Block action with your own fast or burst spells.... or not, pass, and things resolve.
every time you pass over to the opponent you're saying "So does that happen?" and if they say "yeah that happens" you don't get a chance to go "woah woah wait i wanted to change it"
Not having any luck finding this: is there a deck tracker / replay / library tracker for Android? I'm seeing a lot of apps being called deck builders but unless they use the cards at my disposal they're worthless to me.
Not having any luck finding this: is there a deck tracker / replay / library tracker for Android? I'm seeing a lot of apps being called deck builders but unless they use the cards at my disposal they're worthless to me.
I've never seen any deck trackers that work with mobile, only PC. Were there ones that worked in Hearthstone? It seems strange to imagine two apps open at once on my iPhone.
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Hearthstone Deck Tracker (the hsreplay one) had an Android version called Arcane Tracker. There was no iOS tracker.
Mobalytics has a deck tracker that I tried a year ago in beta and found very buggy, but it's been a year and has probably improved. I believe it is PC only though. https://lor.mobalytics.gg/en_us/deck-tracker
Hearthstone Deck Tracker (the hsreplay one) had an Android version called Arcane Tracker. There was no iOS tracker.
Mobalytics has a deck tracker that I tried a year ago in beta and found very buggy, but it's been a year and has probably improved. I believe it is PC only though. https://lor.mobalytics.gg/en_us/deck-tracker
Yeah, I use the Mobalytics one on PC and it works a lot better now. Would recommend as it does all the tracking you need, be it in-game stuff, match history, and/or deck builds. It also has a neat "push to client" feature where you can skip the deck import step. Convenient!
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Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
Not having any luck finding this: is there a deck tracker / replay / library tracker for Android? I'm seeing a lot of apps being called deck builders but unless they use the cards at my disposal they're worthless to me.
I've never seen any deck trackers that work with mobile, only PC. Were there ones that worked in Hearthstone? It seems strange to imagine two apps open at once on my iPhone.
Yeah, like Yilias said, Arcane Tracker, it was awesome. It uploaded replays to hsreplays and showed you your decks. Only thing it didn't do was import your library for uploading to any of the various deck building websites (it could only see what was on your screen and interpret that, two apps being able to dig into each other's data is an Android security no-no. But easy remedy for that was to just run a library tracker on desktop like once a month (since, y'know, 99% of my pulls turned into dust).
Here I may have to put my old Surface to work. I don't use Windows for anything at home, and the Lutris scripts for this game are....uh...not promising.
In other news, I found out through my latest 6-win Expedition that this game has dragons and they have Rage and that Screeching Dragons are fucking amazing. I'm quickly reminded of how much I loved this guy:
Like I could just sit there and om nom units all day long I don't even care if I win.
Hey, won my first Lab, with Lucian! Secondaries were Ashe and Tryndamere; had the passive that raised health to match power on attack, which is SILLY on Tryndamere.
Go Hard:
0 cost (because of Spellslinger global buff)
Shuffle 2 copies of me into your deck whenever you cast me (on top of the cards already existing functionality)
When cast, cast me again onto the same target
Draw 1 when cast
I fucking steamrolled the last 2 levels purely on casting Go Hard over and over and over again. Being able to cast Go Hard at no loss of mana or cards in hand and while putting a silly number of the damn things into my deck was crazy enough. But then I got the double cast and I literally went straight to Pack Your Bags in just 2 casts and just crushed everything over and over again on the same turn.
I had started an MF run and added Elise just to get a quest done and I was actually doing well rushing them down and then I got this combo and it was just silly.
I looked at the in-game collection tracker and noticed I was only missing blues and greens. I had a lot of green wildcards and shards, so I wondered how many missing cards I could craft.
So after mucking about with mobalytics deck tracker and failing miserably to get a library sync, I just...went to the website and did it?
Well that was easier than I thought. Now does the mobalytics give me a sidebar showing me my cards or is there something in the in-game interface that I'm missing? Or is that frowned upon and therefore doesn't exist? Any of these answers are fine.
EDIT: Okay wow I can just push decks I find straight to the game client, JFC
I want to make a lesbian gimmick deck of Diana and Leona (I played LoL for about 1.5 seconds because as a PAX Enforcer I had to Enforce a tournament in like 2012 or something and was handed a bunch of free skins as a result, and I fell down a lore hole, don't judge me)
(I still think it's hilarious that Retcon 1 was like THEY DONT EVEN KNOW EACH OTHER >>; and Retcon 2 was like "... okay so maybe they do....." and now one of the trailers for Call of the Mountain was like "a solari and lunari ascend to ... somewhere! thru the power o love! Diana be like "THIS COULD BE US LEONA BUT U PLAYIN")
I just got to Platinum using the Shurima/SI deck I posted earlier. I went 34-15 (69.4% WR) with 4 wins in a row to push into Plat. My final 3 games were a mirror, a solo Fiora, and another mirror.
In both mirrors, the games were extremely close and came down to the wire. The secret to each win was getting a Phantom Prankster in play since 3 health is virtually impossible to remove with this deck. Then I made trades and killed my own units to whittle them down.
The Fiora game ended on turn 3. My perfect curve went:
1) Dunekeeper, Ravenous Butcher (hit for 5 damage)
2) Play Cursed Keeper
3) Blighted Caretaker the Cursed Keeper -> insta-concede
I could see the salt from here. It happens, more so when you play solo-Fiora. Now that I'm in Plat, I can start screwing around with new decks. Maybe, you know, actually try out some of this massive collection I have.
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0
ChaosHatHop, hop, hop, HA!Trick of the lightRegistered Userregular
It's balance patch notes eve, so it's time to predict what will happen! Nerfs? Buffs? Do you have an idea for how things will be changed? It seems likely that TF and Aphelios will get changed, but how? I feel like TF has to get a mana slap on the wrist, do they try to fuck with his stats to make him even more vulnerable? A 2/1? I think they have to do something with all these free, low cost elusives. A nerf to Poro cannon? Burblefish?
1. Picking regions, should I be dancing between the different regions to get more of the easier-to-reach rewards or should I just keep mainlining one region and unlock literally everything from it? Does progress reset if I switch regions?
2. I'm at vault level 13 and I'm not finding clear information explaining what happens when I go past that. Do I get another chest? Do I open my presents two days before Christmas? Does mom and dad decide to stay together despite their deep disagreement about anchovies on pizza?
ChaosHatHop, hop, hop, HA!Trick of the lightRegistered Userregular
edited March 2021
You will keep progress as you switch, so feel free to do it at will. The region track will guarantee you cards from that specific region (and expansion when you get that far) so that may be useful if there's a particular region you like or need cards from. I would probably recommend playing the switcheroo game until you get at least the first champion capsule from each. I would probably find the shortest path to the next champion since those will probably gate your progress the most in terms of what decks are available to you.
After vault 13 you get another capsule for every level, a capsule contains 4 commons and a rare (but can be upgraded) and some shards. It's not a huge deal but it's a nice extra for maxing out your vault.
1. Picking regions, should I be dancing between the different regions to get more of the easier-to-reach rewards or should I just keep mainlining one region and unlock literally everything from it? Does progress reset if I switch regions?
2. I'm at vault level 13 and I'm not finding clear information explaining what happens when I go past that. Do I get another chest? Do I open my presents two days before Christmas? Does mom and dad decide to stay together despite their deep disagreement about anchovies on pizza?
Region choices is completely up to you. I rotated between regions getting them up by 8 levels (8 then 16) because that’s where you get a champion. But you could always stay in a region if you’re really digging it and want more cards from it. Basically, there’s no right way to do your region roads.
For the Vault, level 13 gives you 3 Diamond chests, an Expedition token, and a Champion Wildcard. Every level past that, up to 25, adds a Rare Capsule to your rewards. It contains at least two Rares and 3 Commons. Remember, that Capsule and all its contents can upgrade to better rewards. Generally speaking, level 11-13 is fine if you’re more casually playing.
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Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
It's balance patch notes eve, so it's time to predict what will happen! Nerfs? Buffs? Do you have an idea for how things will be changed? It seems likely that TF and Aphelios will get changed, but how? I feel like TF has to get a mana slap on the wrist, do they try to fuck with his stats to make him even more vulnerable? A 2/1? I think they have to do something with all these free, low cost elusives. A nerf to Poro cannon? Burblefish?
No idea what you do with TF - don't think 2/1 really changes that many situations where he becomes killable - decks running lots of 1 dmg effects already have a decent winrate into tf/fizz I believe.
First thought was to remove the mana gain from blue card or blue card draws fleeting? Draw 9 to level just looks awkward but as they add cards that improve cycle it makes sense this number might have to increase as well.
Burblefish could go to 2/1
For Aphe - Crescendum is maybe too strong early game - you could make it spawn a random 2 drop - not tutor; Gravitum is really strong late game into follower heavy decks. Aphe is consistent because you get to pull from early game effects into late game effects; but I'm not sure he's that busted still
Managed to beat the Lissandra deck with my Dragons by pulling enough healing and toughness-buffing spells to outlast them. It seemed like they were getting really lousy draws, though: I only saw one of those Frostguard guys that emerge from the landmark, and the only other unit they played was an Uzgar.
Game: Oh hey would you like to have all of your minions be granted Fury and also be considered Dragons, or would you-
Me (every time): YES.
Also I think Lucien might be my favorite hero right now. Really teaching me how to juggle the attack order to do nasty goddamn shit. Listen, Lucien is going to double strike you for like 4 different attack phases this turn, don't worry about it. It's fine.
ChaosHatHop, hop, hop, HA!Trick of the lightRegistered Userregular
I read the TF nerf and was like "that doesn't seem like enough" and then I got to Pick a Card and yep, that's probably it. Burblefish nerf means that this deck is probably still good but fair. Jarvan buff? Hell yes. Fiora nerf seems really strong. Dreg Dredgers being rebuffed is meh for me. I really dislike deep as a deck concept for some reason.
Yeah, TF nerf seems solid. Takes a bit of power out of his level-up without hitting anything else. But between this and the other nerfs I thin the current TF+Fizz deck is going to take a big hit.
Fiora might take a hit but I think will probably still survive.
All the other champ buffs (Shyvana, Jarvan and Lulu) I think will do nothing.
Aphelios getting gutted I think. Veiled Temple especially feels like it's kinda dead for the most part.
-Katarina, Viktor, and Draven have had their Play effects updated to be Summon effects to be consistent with other cards with similar effects.
-Lucky Find will no longer trigger a second spell cast upon selecting one of the three choices.
First one could open up some interesting new strats. Katarina+Shadow Isles maybe?
Lucky Find change was an obvious bug when it was happening. Might effect some decks that like spell triggers.
All the other champ buffs (Shyvana, Jarvan and Lulu) I think will do nothing.
*snip*
No idea if they'll make a difference at the competitive level, but the Jarvan and Shyvana changes are welcome for my Elites and Dragons decks. Shyvana gaining fury in particular is makes her feel more intuitive, and removes a major source of "oh, shit, that card doesn't work like I thought it did, time to die" moments for me.
+1
ChaosHatHop, hop, hop, HA!Trick of the lightRegistered Userregular
Yeah, TF nerf seems solid. Takes a bit of power out of his level-up without hitting anything else. But between this and the other nerfs I thin the current TF+Fizz deck is going to take a big hit.
Fiora might take a hit but I think will probably still survive.
All the other champ buffs (Shyvana, Jarvan and Lulu) I think will do nothing.
Aphelios getting gutted I think. Veiled Temple especially feels like it's kinda dead for the most part.
Deep might be much better now.
Don't take these Jarvan changes from me shryke. I need them. I need more Jarvaning.
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Lab mode is VERY fun, and feels like a decent way to get my head better around keywords and such while I continue to delay actually facing other players.
Thus far, Targon seems to have my fave mechanics and theme, so I swapped my region to that, even if it's a shame to lose out on the extra XP offered by others
The only thing pissing me off about Lab Mode rn is that you get to a point where you R E A L L Y need Landmark removal because the whole Scars thing is just BRUTAL.
I'm super sad because I got this absolutely hellish deck where I got the "Everbody's dragons" and that one Dragon lady champ on a deck with Aphelios, Lux, and a bunch of --spell cost abilities, so I'm slapping down all this 0 cost stuff and everyone's dragons, and I managed to beat Scars... at 3 HP, at which point Sejunai was like "lol"
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
I recommend watching the full stream on swims channel / youtube if he uploads it. this is just highlights for me but I may have missed some points that people may find interesting as well.
Void comments - is that with only 7 champions, if Void is even printed as a region, it will not be in the form players expect.
A lot of hints as to what the 10th region is have been disseminated among cards. Dovagedys said the biggest one hasn't been found to his knowledge, and that it's not Xenotype researcher.
riot increased funding/staff (people thought lor was failing)
goal confirmed of adding all champions into the game
expansion release will stay as current but will feel better since this region was worked on before the game was released hence was not made for 3 split releases but the next will be.
tf nerf incoming / more moon boy nerfs "maybe" on monday
insight into the metrics used to buff/nerf cards
goal to return to a 2 week balance patch cycle instead of the 1 month major patch. (not a current goal so don't expect it soon, they will notify when they get something in place)
watcher's stats may be like that for a reason. Dovagedys said he doesn't exactly know, that it could be for gameplay reasons related to the rest of the Shurima block, or that it could have narrative sources linked to the lore of Lissandra that haven't been revealed yet in any of the League games.
ledros + timelines was not something that the testers knew about but its not high on nerf priority because players lose with it more than win.
patches feel lagged because app store wants the patch 2 weeks in advance to make sure it does not break anything / out in work to translate changes other languages. ( they have the technology to live hot fix something, though its mostly reserved for game breaking card interactions so far, e.g. Sejuani lvl 2 effect and Zephyr Sage. But they will use it for balance if they deem it necessary. (thanks for further info Lareyt)
next will be a big year for Lor even without more regions (regions confirmed to be capped at 10)
card complexity will continue to increase over time (less straight forward champs like zed) but they will always be some for new players who join the expansion.
Lablanc seen to be a relative success, she is simple but the cards that are used in the her deck add to her flavor and are more complex e.g using black rose spy / mimic
feel free to add anything else in the comments.
thanks for extra clarification Nightstroll and Dovagedys
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
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1. Hearthstone using the Warcraft IP did a ton of heavy lifting for me. I'm not surprised but I have like no understanding who any of these characters are as I've never played LoL.
2. Jesus tap-dancing Christ they are just pouring cards and shards and shit down my throat holy goddamn
3. The way they do Arena or Expeditions or whatever they call them is really good and I like it a lot. They've given me 3 free tokens so far this week and I went 6 and 4 in my last run so I'm at like rank 8 for a weekly chest currently.
4. I'm kinda not a fan of them having 4 (that I've seen so far) different speeds for spells to be cast in. I'm getting the hang of it but I find it super annoying how easily I can misread a card and fuck up a whole round or attack turn with it. I'm also not super clear on when my windows are for casting burst spells half the time, can I do it after they pick blockers? Can I do that with Fast spells? I always feel so unsure even though I know the answers to these questions.
5. Sometimes there's just too much goddamn shit going on. Like my opponent will play two cards and then there's like 15 interactions that take place and they all glow a million colors and I dunno what the fuck is going on and there's not enough time to decipher it. This probably improves as I play more but it feels like entirely too much bullshit currently.
Overall, I'm having a good time.
I actually never played Warcraft, so I went into Hearthstone the same way you're going into LoR right now. Of course, I never played LoL either, so I have no attachments to the units/Champions in the game. That being said, some of them have really grown on me. There's a lot of humor and personality in them, which I attest to all the extra dialogue and interactions in the game.
Eventually, you'll be full of cards and the rewards will continue, but only now they'll be spilling all over the floor. But yeah, it's so incredibly jarring after years of Hearthstone.
Expeditions are so well done. The bucket system is great, giving you multiple losses in a run, and two for the price of one is amazing. I try and get in one run per week as a palate cleanser from Ranked.
The spell speeds are confusing, but you'll get used to them eventually. I do wish they'd change the color of Focus speeds to green so they stand out more from Slow spells. Generally speaking, this is how spell speeds work:
Burst: Play anytime on your turn. Does not give your opponent a chance to react. Note! You cannot activate a Burst spell after attacking, UNLESS your opponent commits blockers. So if you put 15 damage in units into attack a 16 damage Nexus, you can't play that Burst spell unless they get a blocker up.
Fast: Playable anytime on your turn. Enemy can react with Burst/Fast spells of their own. You can play multiple Fast spells (example 2 Mystic Shots) before handing over reaction to the enemy.
Slow: Playable anytime on your turn, except for combat. Enemy can react with Burst/Fast spells of their own. You can only play one Slow spell at a time and you can't play Fast spells with them (you can react with Fast spells though).
Focus: These are hybrid spells that are weird. You can cast them like Burst spells (no enemy reaction), but you can't cast them in combat or as a response to an enemy spell. I learned this the hard way by holding a Gem for combat to heal my attacker for a good trade, only to find out that doesn't work.
Anyway, glad you're in the game now. It'll take a while, but you'll get the flow of things before you know it. Keep at it and ask any questions you want!
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
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Right now, there are only 3 cards that summon units at Burst speed; Risen Mists, Arise!, and Jury-Rig.
The strength of these cards is subtle, because they allow you to create units without handing initiative over to your opponent. This means you can have an empty board or whatever, and suddenly have a big open attack out of left field.
When Risen Mists was revealed, a lot of people scoffed at a 4 mana, summon a Mistwraith as a meme card. But creating 1-2 Mistwraiths out of nowhere for a surprise open attack. You can also use it defensively to surprise kill off a big unit with a buffed up Mistwraith.
Of the three cards, you'll only see Jury-Rig and that won't be that often. Jury-Rig is mainly used as discard fodder, but makes for a great little 1/1 blocker in a pinch.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
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...Well, okay, so you're basically putting a Attack action on the stack. If your opponent passes taking any response to it, they're not adding anything to the stack, and so they want the attack to resolve. If they assign at least one blocker, they are adding a block action to the stack, and so you can respond to the Block action with your own fast or burst spells.... or not, pass, and things resolve.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198004484595
Yeah, the run where I ended up getting 6 wins (my 7th was robbed from me by an emergency causing me to concede) was an all sand deck (I don't know the regions by heart yet, sorry), and I was using Arise like crazy.
every time you pass over to the opponent you're saying "So does that happen?" and if they say "yeah that happens" you don't get a chance to go "woah woah wait i wanted to change it"
I've never seen any deck trackers that work with mobile, only PC. Were there ones that worked in Hearthstone? It seems strange to imagine two apps open at once on my iPhone.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
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Mobalytics has a deck tracker that I tried a year ago in beta and found very buggy, but it's been a year and has probably improved. I believe it is PC only though.
https://lor.mobalytics.gg/en_us/deck-tracker
Yeah, I use the Mobalytics one on PC and it works a lot better now. Would recommend as it does all the tracking you need, be it in-game stuff, match history, and/or deck builds. It also has a neat "push to client" feature where you can skip the deck import step. Convenient!
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
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Yeah, like Yilias said, Arcane Tracker, it was awesome. It uploaded replays to hsreplays and showed you your decks. Only thing it didn't do was import your library for uploading to any of the various deck building websites (it could only see what was on your screen and interpret that, two apps being able to dig into each other's data is an Android security no-no. But easy remedy for that was to just run a library tracker on desktop like once a month (since, y'know, 99% of my pulls turned into dust).
Here I may have to put my old Surface to work. I don't use Windows for anything at home, and the Lutris scripts for this game are....uh...not promising.
In other news, I found out through my latest 6-win Expedition that this game has dragons and they have Rage and that Screeching Dragons are fucking amazing. I'm quickly reminded of how much I loved this guy:
Like I could just sit there and om nom units all day long I don't even care if I win.
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
Go Hard:
0 cost (because of Spellslinger global buff)
Shuffle 2 copies of me into your deck whenever you cast me (on top of the cards already existing functionality)
When cast, cast me again onto the same target
Draw 1 when cast
I fucking steamrolled the last 2 levels purely on casting Go Hard over and over and over again. Being able to cast Go Hard at no loss of mana or cards in hand and while putting a silly number of the damn things into my deck was crazy enough. But then I got the double cast and I literally went straight to Pack Your Bags in just 2 casts and just crushed everything over and over again on the same turn.
I had started an MF run and added Elise just to get a quest done and I was actually doing well rushing them down and then I got this combo and it was just silly.
All of them, it turns out.
CECAMAIAAEEQWDA5GMBQIAABAIDQEAYJEM5ACAYABYBACAIAE4AQEAAHAA
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198004484595
Oh, I was just coming to post about that as well. It looks pretty neat. Here's the gameplay video for extra tips:
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
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Well that was easier than I thought. Now does the mobalytics give me a sidebar showing me my cards or is there something in the in-game interface that I'm missing? Or is that frowned upon and therefore doesn't exist? Any of these answers are fine.
EDIT: Okay wow I can just push decks I find straight to the game client, JFC
I want to make a lesbian gimmick deck of Diana and Leona (I played LoL for about 1.5 seconds because as a PAX Enforcer I had to Enforce a tournament in like 2012 or something and was handed a bunch of free skins as a result, and I fell down a lore hole, don't judge me)
(I still think it's hilarious that Retcon 1 was like THEY DONT EVEN KNOW EACH OTHER >>; and Retcon 2 was like "... okay so maybe they do....." and now one of the trailers for Call of the Mountain was like "a solari and lunari ascend to ... somewhere! thru the power o love! Diana be like "THIS COULD BE US LEONA BUT U PLAYIN")
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
In both mirrors, the games were extremely close and came down to the wire. The secret to each win was getting a Phantom Prankster in play since 3 health is virtually impossible to remove with this deck. Then I made trades and killed my own units to whittle them down.
The Fiora game ended on turn 3. My perfect curve went:
1) Dunekeeper, Ravenous Butcher (hit for 5 damage)
2) Play Cursed Keeper
3) Blighted Caretaker the Cursed Keeper -> insta-concede
I could see the salt from here. It happens, more so when you play solo-Fiora. Now that I'm in Plat, I can start screwing around with new decks. Maybe, you know, actually try out some of this massive collection I have.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
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1. Picking regions, should I be dancing between the different regions to get more of the easier-to-reach rewards or should I just keep mainlining one region and unlock literally everything from it? Does progress reset if I switch regions?
2. I'm at vault level 13 and I'm not finding clear information explaining what happens when I go past that. Do I get another chest? Do I open my presents two days before Christmas? Does mom and dad decide to stay together despite their deep disagreement about anchovies on pizza?
After vault 13 you get another capsule for every level, a capsule contains 4 commons and a rare (but can be upgraded) and some shards. It's not a huge deal but it's a nice extra for maxing out your vault.
Region choices is completely up to you. I rotated between regions getting them up by 8 levels (8 then 16) because that’s where you get a champion. But you could always stay in a region if you’re really digging it and want more cards from it. Basically, there’s no right way to do your region roads.
For the Vault, level 13 gives you 3 Diamond chests, an Expedition token, and a Champion Wildcard. Every level past that, up to 25, adds a Rare Capsule to your rewards. It contains at least two Rares and 3 Commons. Remember, that Capsule and all its contents can upgrade to better rewards. Generally speaking, level 11-13 is fine if you’re more casually playing.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
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Okay, looking at the other regions, it looks like they have bonus XP along their tracks, is that based on how far I've gotten with one region?
I don’t think so. I believe it’s just a flat buff across all regions for newer players to catch up to us long time players.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
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No idea what you do with TF - don't think 2/1 really changes that many situations where he becomes killable - decks running lots of 1 dmg effects already have a decent winrate into tf/fizz I believe.
First thought was to remove the mana gain from blue card or blue card draws fleeting? Draw 9 to level just looks awkward but as they add cards that improve cycle it makes sense this number might have to increase as well.
Burblefish could go to 2/1
For Aphe - Crescendum is maybe too strong early game - you could make it spawn a random 2 drop - not tutor; Gravitum is really strong late game into follower heavy decks. Aphe is consistent because you get to pull from early game effects into late game effects; but I'm not sure he's that busted still
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
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Still. I beat it! Yay!
Game: Oh hey would you like to have all of your minions be granted Fury and also be considered Dragons, or would you-
Me (every time): YES.
Also I think Lucien might be my favorite hero right now. Really teaching me how to juggle the attack order to do nasty goddamn shit. Listen, Lucien is going to double strike you for like 4 different attack phases this turn, don't worry about it. It's fine.
https://playruneterra.com/en-us/news/game-updates/patch-2-5-0-notes/
Lab of Legends changes sound dope.
Fiora might take a hit but I think will probably still survive.
All the other champ buffs (Shyvana, Jarvan and Lulu) I think will do nothing.
Aphelios getting gutted I think. Veiled Temple especially feels like it's kinda dead for the most part.
Deep might be much better now.
First one could open up some interesting new strats. Katarina+Shadow Isles maybe?
Lucky Find change was an obvious bug when it was happening. Might effect some decks that like spell triggers.
No idea if they'll make a difference at the competitive level, but the Jarvan and Shyvana changes are welcome for my Elites and Dragons decks. Shyvana gaining fury in particular is makes her feel more intuitive, and removes a major source of "oh, shit, that card doesn't work like I thought it did, time to die" moments for me.
Don't take these Jarvan changes from me shryke. I need them. I need more Jarvaning.