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Legends Of Runeterra’s mushroom man fills my heart with glee…and the decks of my enemies with mushrooms
…and the decks of my enemies with mushrooms
He is also lonely. His cheery quips about being ‘a fun guy’ mask a life of agaric isolation. “Oh, if mushrooms could talk,” he opines. We can dream, Puffcap man. We can dream.
Legends Of Runeterrais OK. It’s growing on me.
Many of the cards, in fact, have exactly the same effects as those inHearthstone. Not an overwhelming number, but still enough for me to initially dismiss Runeterra as overly familiar. Emphasis on initially.
It’s grown on me, partly thanks to mushroom man, who played a big role in a deck I’d jammed with spells and units who like to see spells cast. I also had a Funsmith increasing spell damage, various spells that created spells, and Karma, a special Champion unit who popped a random spell into my hand each turn.
Runeterra has wormed its way into me. Matches are moreish. I keep playing them between sentences.
Through them all, I’ve had Puffcap Pat spewing mushrooms like a highschooler on his first trip. The mushrooms have my back. It’s always a thrill when my enemy whips one out at the very end, either killing them outright or dropping them into range of spells that can target their nexus. I am just about getting away with things, and that is how I have fun in videogames.
Sadly, I built that deck in the mode I hardly ever get to play. I always gravitate towards the ‘gauntlet’ type mode in card ‘em ups, where you draft a deck from a series of random choices and play against people who’ve done the same. Runeterra calls them Expeditions, and they do indeed level the playing field. My odds of getting good cards are exactly the same as people who’ve invested intimidating amounts of time or money. It’s also a much less intimidating way to build decks, especially with Runeterra’s bells and whistles.
To speed things up, you draft clumps of cards rather than individual ones. That also makes it harder to mess your deck up altogether, while leaving plenty of room to create something clever. I like how you get to tinker with your deck as you play, too, swapping out a card after every match. The problem is the entry fee.
In a way, it’s more generous than equivalent modes in other CCGs. You get to keep playing games until you lose two in a row. Then, once you’ve failed, you do that again, and earn rewards based on how many games you won on the better of your two runs. Those rewards will be some combination of cards, materials to craft cards, or - if you manage to win seven games - another entry ticket.
I earned a free ticket after playing for about two hours, but that was a special treat. To play again I’ll need to stump up a fiver, which is the minimum amount you have to spend on currency, and use most of it on that entry fee. Even if I splurged, I’d only be allowed to play that mode three times a week, which is bonkers. Restricting access to the best bit makes no sense.
Runeterra doesn’t do anything revolutionary, but it’s alluring nonetheless. I’m allured. I’m itching to toss more mushrooms.
