How To Play Legends Of Runeterra | The League Of Legends Collectible Card Game 

Also, want to stress: not an ad, not sponsored, done 100% independently by me. Why? Because I love this game and you should go try it. OR, here my video on How To Play KEYFORGE: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-d5mtpGmXiIg.html

Yes, I will have a video about Secret Lair: Walking Dead, but it will be in a day or two. I can't just turn on my camera and scream. I need to think, to listen, to consider, and to compose my words. I am not looking to just post whatever to get clicks. I am not about that. I will comment on this, but it may be in a few days. I need to get this right. In the meantime: holy wow, Runeterra is awesome and you should go try it. Just try it. Trrrrrrrrry it.

And before anyone asks, it would be Piltover & Zaun Community College.

Wizards: We’re releasing exclusive cards only available in secret lair. They’re walking-dead themed and eternal legal! Prof: How to Play Legends of Runeterra

Many Magic the Gathering players ask the question: "Why is Wizards being complacent about learning from its competitors?"

Two things to add: 1) The purchase limit with wild cards has been removed. 2) The Oracle’s eye is a fantastic feature. It prevents a lot of feel bads learning the game by showing you the results of a spell resolving, or combat damage going through.

Perfect timing to try out other CCGs

And next week, WOTC will announce that Legends of Runeterra will be legal in all eternal formats.

I’ve been saying this for quite some time. Riot games and LoR do more balancing and changes in a 2month period to adapt to the meta then MTG do in year. I’ve spent more time playing LoR and recent Call of the Moutain set then I care to admit. Breath of fresh air over the cancer that is happening within MTGA, and the community(well deserved).

Professor, you've convinced me to give Runeterra a try, and I'm glad I did. It's actually an improvement on card games and was clearly designed with lessons learned from what both MTG and Hearthstone have done right and wrong.

I do love Runeterra. The mobile client is excellent.

The timing is impeccable but you can tell it's a video with a long time coming. Some cards shown have been nerfed since.

The timing of this video is impeccable. Is this a canary? Professor, please chirp twice if WotC has imprisoned you in a Secret Lair!

I've been playing since the open beta. This game is awesome. I had a full collection of cards in less than a year completely F2P, something that I could only dream of in Arena and Hearthstone. Also the metas have personally been so much more fun than Standard.

I feel like posting this in the wake of the Secret Lair announcement and his post on Facebook yesterday, this may be some passive aggression

It's worth noting that a couple of the talented people working on LoR used to work for WotC on MtG so they definitely are influenced by that ^^ Edit to add some examples I'm aware of: Some people might still know Mel Li from that one Game Knights episode, she now works for LoR. Other than that Shawn Main and James Hata used to work for WotC. They also have some (ex-)MtG competitive players working for them, namely Steve Rubin (live design lead) who won the Shadows over Innistrad PT and Aaron Barich (playtesting team) who is/was a known SCG tour grinder, innovator of the Yawgmoth undying deck and infect player.

I'm glad to see LoR covered on this channel. I actually quit Hearthstone in favor of LoR as my mobile card game of choice. Much more involved and nuanced gameplay and much less predatory monetization imo.

Guess I know what I'm doing when I get home: Downloading Runeterra and making a deck out of the cutest cards I can find.

*When standard is unplayable:*

WOTC: Releases The Walking Dead Secret Lair The Professor:

I started playing about a month ago and it's economy is fantastic. The amount of wildcards I earned just from doing the challenges alone was enough to let me build multiple decks. Also, I LOVE drafting with the Expeditions, the experience is so much fun.

When you're SO F'ED UP with Wizards that you go and make an add for the competition without asking anything in return...

This game is GREAT. By far my favorite card game to date. Something else I didn't see in the video is that you can play this game on mobile without ANY issues, unlike a certain game that has issues running on a desktop that was built for high end gaming.

This is probably the best tutorial of the basics I have found, explained in a way that my brain gets it. Thank you so much! Such a great game :)

To expand on the "monetization," system, each reigion has a faction like level up system, by selecting which reigion you wish to progress the exp you gain from daily play goes into that faction, as you level up you get cards from that reigion (and wild cards for any card), so if you have a playstyle in mind you can focus on getting the champions and other cards you want, instead of the chaotic nature of booster packs Edit: for example if you are on the demacian route you won't get noxus cards, but the wild cards you get can be used for noxus cards, also there is a multiplier added to reigion rewards when a reigon gets new support for faster level up and collection

They announce 'The walking dead secret lair ' and the Proffesor goes rogue.. 🤣.

I've been playing since official release. Haven't spent any real money on cards and was still able to get a very competitive collection. I have bought cosmetics/a season pass to support this excellent game.

I’ve been playing Runeterra since closed beta, so this really isn’t meant for me. Still, I really appreciate the fact that my favorite MtG content creator has released a video that introduces new players to this amazing game, particularly given all the questionable directions WotC has been taking their game in as of late. Cheers, Prof!

oh he’s been sitting on this one

League of Legends on the professor channel??? And not my game??? I use duel disks to project your Yu Gi Oh cards! How dare you suggest a better card game! I Seto Kaiba shall not stand for this!

Fantastic game, glad to see you're talking about it during the darkest days of Arena.

As for progression system. I've been playing since beta and got basically all of the cards x3 copies without spending a dime before next set comes out and with just doing weekly chests up to level 10+ regularly. The shards and wildcards collect between sets so at this point when next set hit - i'll have enough to buy most of it. And Riot isn't afraid to balance this game on the fly (they've nerfed some dumb combos and some op champions and buffed other underperfoming). Game also oozes personality. Champions interact with each other, some followers interact with each other (if they are from the same gang, for example) What did i bought? Playmats and skins for small pet near you. These are completely cosmetic and at that point i felt that Riot did a great job with LoR so i can justify buying from them. Also mobile client is great. So yeah. LoR is a great alternative for Magic Arena. It gives you that same dophamine rush of MTG without arena monetization.

Some of my friends started playing this game, I have to give it a try.

Considering getting into LoR, so looked it up and saw TCC's video on it, and instantly knew it would be a quality explanation! Thank you, sir, I'm absolutely going to get into playing this now!

I remember the first time I reached the "weekly limit" for expeditions (their version of drafts) and instead of asking for money to keep doing them, it had a message to say that it was going to STOP taxing my gems to play for the rest of the week. I nearly cried.

I never expected Prof to make a video on this game, totally caught me off guard lol

lol, this comes up after the travesty of yesterday really shows something.

I've been considering Runeterra on and off for awhile now, seeing the Prof so excited for it is gonna make me take the plunge. From an outsider's pov, it looks like what Hearthstone would be if it took more from the original WoW TCG, which I am all for

Looking forward to seeing you branch out and enjoy/discuss other games whose creators don’t treat you like dirt with a bank account!

Thank you, have been playing for some houers and got some nice tips here :)

This is the best Runeterra guide I've seen so far! Will recommend to anyone looking to get into the game.

I tried this game based on this video's recommendation. It captures so much of the flavor and style of the league of legends world while attached to a game which is fun even on many losing games. My favorite feature is how reading the cards explains the cards.

My favorite part about this game is there are no "bad" cards. Magic has piles of useless commons and Hearthstone has them as well like Silverback Patriarch. But in Legends of Runeterra most cards are comparable strength! Higher rarity cards just tend to be more complex but not necessarily better. I 100% recommend this game!

In response to Secret Lair. I counter thee with a tutorial of another game. This I like. I look forward to your thoughts on secret lair and the FOMO it creates. Oh yeah and the walking dead >.

It has been ridiculously fun!!! Magic has been significantly failing to scratch my card game itch lately.... LoR has been filling that hole amazingly!

Thanks for making this video professor. I'm a huge MTG fan and have been skeptical about every new TCG/CCG since Hearthstone didn't live up to the complexity I was looking for. Legends of Runeterra has honestly just blown me away... It has the quick pacing and fluidity of Hearthstone but this highly-interactive gameplay and what feels like even more impactful decision-points per game than MTG. I really enjoy their limited expeditions which offer a ton of limited gameplay and are effectively free, but I do wish they had a ranked component. I have spent $0 on the game, but have well over a full collection and infinite limited plays. Its just truly a great game =)

I already know how to play and placed very highly before the beta ended and the game became fully released, but I like listening to the Prof. talk. I respect and appreciate the very professional and clear explanations over other people rambling their way through the rules like they're reading aloud their partner's history essay in which the readers only contribution was coming up with a team name. Glad to hear you like the game, Prof.! I'm a big fan as well.

Omg i never expected you to go into LoR lol. God it’s so much better when you get all the lores and easter eggs behind each card. Tho i’m taking a small break until they release soraka and Tahm kinda burned out still love this game and league so much. Happy to see someone so big talk about it.

I have never been a serious or casual MTG player and likely will never be one in the future. This is not a reason to not subscribe or follow this channel. I love the carefully crafted presentations and open honesty of the Professor that reaches out to all those interested in CCG’s physical and digital. It is an open and welcoming demeanor that allows the viewer and more than likely the consumer, peace of mind when investing time and money to the products and games reviewed that I have not found in any channel of my card game of choice YuGiOh! Recently when Legends of Runeterra peaked my interest the first video I clicked in my search for a beginning primer was this channel and there is no other primer as thorough, organized, and helpful to a new player. I look forward to the future videos and applaud the hard work, passion, and dedication of the Professor in creating this wonderful resource. Keep it up Brian!

Stoked for more videos on this and whatever else your heart desires professor!

Y E S! I remember you saying a while back that you were excited to play this game, I'm so glad that you made a video about it!

I love this game and it got me to quit non-tabletop magic entirely. Its a game that actually made me want to spend money despite being able to create a new top meta deck on average every week or two. The bi-weekly patches are great too, being all digital there is no ban list and they buff or nerf cards to make them playable. Draft chaff is not really a thing and most cards are playable, and the current meta has like 7-8 top tier decks, and a bunch of lesser tier decks that still have high play ability. So happy to see one of my favourite youtubers make a video on it!

For me this game take the good ideas of Heartstone and add their very interesting features, the stongest point fo runeterra is that it born as digital and has all advantages to add balance to the game!, nice video!!

There's some outdated info in this video, however, as someone who played this game since beta, I'm happy with any new eyeballs on it. It really deserves more attention.

Runeterra has been my go to game for a while now. I love the deep and complex strategy of the game that feels like a combination of magic and hearthstone. Especially since it was designed by 2 former magic pros. Very good game and very easy to pickup, highly recommend.

I'm a big LOR fan and I'm really happy that you made this video to attract your audience to the game. Thank you from the bottom of all LOR players ❤️👍

Tried it out because of your video. Pretty fun so far, thanks for the heads-up!

Prof, thanks for being a positive force and looking out for consumers. I went back to Pokemon after your review of the Trainer box and reprint policy. I will try out this game as well with Wizards decision on the Walking Dead secret lair.

YES this game is just so good, the devs really care about the community, there are balance changes every 2-3 weeks to balance the game and bring new playstyles into fruition, is extremely free to play friendly and by far the best card game in the market. Im so happy that someone famous in the mtg community appreciates this games by what it is, thank you professor for bringing attention to such a good game that could use more popularity

This is by far the most thorough breakdown of the game and phases I have found for the game! Thank you!

you can actually buy as many wildcards as you want now. they changed that part of the economy

I absolutely love MTG, but have been so frustrated lately that I picked up LoR, after seeing Merchant play it a bit. I find it endlessly more enjoyable, and the balancing, though not totally perfect, has made the many games I've played since I've started about a month ago, varied, and honestly, a genuine blast. Climbing the ladder has been fun, and I'm still learning so much about how interaction & phases work (i.e., if you declare attackers, and your opponent declares no blockers, you won't be able to use that burst speed spell to buff your attackers, unlike in MTG!), but it's such a good time. I also feel the game offers so much more for F2P players, which almost feels like the game cares about me more. Anyway, good times, and I'm excited to see you giving the game some love, Prof!

Definitely going to check this out. Seems like a considerable amount of thought was put into the game design. I really love the fact that they put some thought into preventing non-games, as that has historically been one of my biggest complaints with some digital tcgs such as eternal.

Cannot stress enough how much LoR saved me during quarantine. I hadn't gotten my unemployment, bills were piling up and all I wanted was to play MtG with other people. Found some articles on LoR and decided to download since it was hailed as being "free to play". And it was and still is! The only money I have spent on the game has been for cosmetics and for an Event Pass for their Spirit Blossom event (which was dope). I'll never stop playing MtG, but I am thankful for LoR being free to play and most importantly on mobile. Get Vince on this too? Would be dope to see two folks that know MtG get their toes moist in another CCG.

Best card game ever made, and it's (really) FREE !

The first card game I got really into. Really enjoying it. Great video!

Perfect timing. I remember when Prof and Shivam were wondering what Shawn Main is up to, I thought "He's working on Legends of Runeterra".

This got me thinking professor about how much better the card game I tried to design back in 2003 would work as a digital card game because I wanted to do things like Persistant Damage, and "Creatures" that only stayed on the field for X number of turns etc etc that are far easier to do in digital than in paper. I also look back on this design and though people wouldn't believe me if I told them now am amazed at how closely my design mirrors some of the parts of EDH as my game had every person starting with a hero who limited what kind of cards could be in your deck and who was allways accessable to cast. i guess i now see why I love EDH more than any other formats. For my 19th birthday when most people in my province would be heading out to bars for their first legal drinks I instead got my friends together to playtest my game with pre-constructed decks of cards made on index cards chopped in half. We quickly discovered that the record keeping was holding the game back but if I were able to recreate this game in digital form that wouldn't be the case.

As a former competitive Magic player, I absolutely love Legends of Runeterra, I'm a Master ranked player since the open beta. With only 2.5 card sets released it already has a ton of depth and great balance. There are literally dozens of competitively viable decks to play with unique and varied playstyles. The round/turn system makes for a really interactive back and forth game between the two opponents with constantly interesting decisions. And the economy is the most free to play friendly out of all card games I believe.

Glad to see LoR featured here. It takes a particular type of gameplay (creature-based attrition decks) and makes a whole new game out of expanding on that (and making combat-tricks viable). Everything feel like a good Limited format from MtG. Considering how popular Midrange and Aggro are in MtG, that kind of restriction in variety is a very low price to play for a game as good and as generous as Legends of Runeterra.

Always love when you show other games on your channel

This is genuinely the IDEAL card game. They have a nonpredatory card aquisition model AND a great way to obtain cards without opening your wallet.

Riot Games should add this video in to a game client for beginners. It is the most professional unofficial guide on a game I ever seen!

Great video! Everything was broken down and explained well

Thank you Professor! I was also in a bad place with WotC given the state of Standard and now the predatory company tactics and needed a change. This game is so fun and the best part, ITS MOBILE!

Professor, I'm glad I took your advice about pauper, now I'll take you up on Runeterra 😀

Had been considering this because I'm not a fan of the monetization for Arena. Thank you for the thorough overview Prof.

I started playing LoR soon after this video released, and I’ve been having fun with it ever since. When it became apparent to me that MTGA would never change its atrocious economy system or bugs LoR became my main card game. I have 100% of the cards completely free to play and am now consistently masters. Now that the game is coming close to two years since release, I’d love to hear your thoughts about the game as time has gone on.

This is the best intro to the game I've ever seen Prof! small correction: Weekly card shop limit has been removed and you can now buy any amount of cards you want for a fixed amount of money.

Just in case people are wanting some updates: 1) There is no longer a traditional tutorial. This has been replaced with something called the Path of Champions, which is a brand new PvE mode. There are still tutorials out there (they are called challenges), but you have to get through 1 level of the Path of Champions to get to it. The first level of Path of Champions is still designed with new players in mind, but this can still be seen as a little bit of friction Riot has added recently to the new player experience. However, considering how conscious they are of the new player experience (and how I often I see it complained about on reddit from new players), I imagine we'll be seeing updates to this soon enough. 2) There are 4 additional regions that have been added since this video was made, and based on what we know, they look to be done with adding regions for now. These 4 regions are: Bilgewater, Targon, Shurima, and Bandle City. 3) There is now a 4th spell speed: "Focus". This was originally a subset of "Burst" spells, but Riot thought it functioned independently enough from "Burst" as to keyword it as a new spell speed. Essentially, it operates similar to Burst, except that it can't be cast in response to opponents Fast and Slow spells, nor during combat. 4) There is no more purchase limits on Wildcards. As someone who has been playing LoR off and on for over a year now, I'm not even sure if this is even a relevant thing to worry about an update on. I don't know really that many people (if any) who ever felt the need to buy wildcards, and if they do, the need to buy so many as to get to a limit. 5) There is now a new prismatic shard system, which acts kind of similarly to Hearthstone's golden card crafting system. Unlike Hearthstone though, you can't make cards prismatic unless you already own them, and the material to make cards prismatic are not the materials you use to make cards. This is honestly a pretty underdeveloped system, but it's one of the few ways players are able to style out their pet decks, similar to how Magic players like to foil out their decks they've invested in. Overall, a still very good review, and not much (outside of card/UI updates, balance patches, expansions, etc) has really changed. The core philosophy is still there and still being executed: a fun, interactive, CCG, where the focus of spending your money isn't on the game play elements, but is instead almost entirely focused on the cosmetic elements.

I don’t know...doesn’t sound like this game has enough gambling.

Really well made video! Deff going to send it to friends I know that are interested in starting to play LoR (and TCGs as a whole).

Thank God you see this game.. Amazing how much of a better feeling you get playing this game, without spending money

Are you planning on making more LoR videos? Like more in depth or explaining new card types and keywords that have been added after you made this vid? Cuz I would love to see more from you for this game!

Legends of Runeterra is such a good game. I was introduced to it by Jeff a while back and with Standard and Historic showing no signs of being fixed in the near future, I'll happily play it a bunch more now.

I've been playing MTG for years and years and decided to give this a spin when people mentioned it was pretty F2P friendly so to give it a whirl wouldn't break the bank. I'm not a fan of LoL at all so the games world didn't make a difference to me. A few days later and I've realised I'm feeling something MTG hasn't given me for a while in Arena and wondering what that feeling was I played some more games and eventually it dawned on me, I was having fun...

You should make more LoR content! LoR got me into card games and I'm enjoying mtg now, but Runeterra is a great game that deserves more love

Magic Planes similarity to Runeterra regions: Demacia - Theros Freljord - Keldhelm Ionia - Kamigawa Piltover and Zaun - Kaladesh/ Ravnica Shadow Isles - Innistrad Bilgewater - Ixalan Shurima - Amonkhet Targon - Tarkir (Maybe) Noxus - Alara (Fits with the conflict and unifying planes aspect) Bandle City - Lorwyn

Prof, so happy to see reviews of great games to play wile Magic is painful. Trying LoR and Smash up. Keep up the great work! Maybe one day Wizards will wake up and make Magic great again but I'm not holding my breath.

So happy you decided to cover this professor

Funny you mention constructed is the mode youll spend most of your time on. I have probably 500+ hours in game and I barely play constructed. What I love most about LoR is that once youve paid for 3 Expeditions (drafts) in a week, you can keep playing for free. Its by far my favorite game mode. I wish I could play as many Drafts on MTGA.

I'm currently platinum in LOR. It has the best economy compared to other digital card games tbh. I own meta decks without spending a single penny.

... Meanwhile I'm over hear trying to collect all the Gwent cards in the witcher 3... This was a nice video though

Runeterra is such a pleasant game! Really clever card design that never gets too confusing thanks to the excellent examine function! It's not even very hard to build into "real" decks without spending wads of cash!

I'd just like to say this video was much more helpful than the in-game tutorial, which I felt was extremely unhelpful

The Professor just casted counterlash on the Secret Lair drop and put LoR into play. Fantastic move.

"How to play (any card game that isn't MTG)": Step1: WotC prints the other IP onto black bordered MTG cards and calls it a "crossover" Step2: Congrats, you're playing both now! Step3: ??? Step4: Profit. I like how WotC is such BS now that The Professor has to make videos teaching us to play other card games.

Great Video! I hope we can see more tutorials of other card games as well!

Yesss we love the Prof covering other games!

Something worth noting is that you only get shards on duplicates of commons and rare cards. Epic and Champion cards have dupe protection and will re-roll into a card you don't already own. Also maybe a Expedition video might be fun? Figure people around here like to draft, and being able for a draft-style experience on the cheap (and after three runs as much as you want for free for the rest of the week) could be of interest.