On the 16th (KST), Riot Games have unveiled many different game titles for their 10th anniversary of League of Legends. One of the titles was Legends of Runeterra, a strategic CCG based on League of Legends.

After the game announcement, a Q&A session was held with Dave Guskin and Noah Selzer, two of the developers that have been working on this title, at LoL Park, South Korea.

Can you please introduce yourselves?

Dave: My name is Dave Guskin. I’m the Senior Game Design Manager at Riot Games, and I'm in charge of card development, game balance, and creating new functions in the game.

Noah: My name is Noah Selzer, and I’m in charge of card design.

What made you come to Korea to visit its player base?

Dave: Great question. I want to first thank Korea and its player base for taking League so seriously. We’re honored to introduce our game to such a high level audience.

Noah: As for me, I’ve been playing League since I was young. I’ve put my efforts to see how Korean players play the game on stream.

Riot introduced many different titles today. What’s the story behind this card game? What is Legends of Runeterra?

Noah: Legends of Runeterra is a strategic turn-based digital collectible card game version of LoL, where you’ll still be able to meet your favorite champions.

Dave: In addition, the dev team was always a fan of CCG games. It was such a fun and an honorable experience to transition the strategies in League to a card game.

After you’ve started developing Legends of Runeterra, were there certain things that you’ve wanted to highlight to the audience?

Dave: For me, I thoroughly enjoyed transitioning the fun aspects of League into mechanics in the card game. I wanted to bring the different strategies into Legends of Runeterra, and bring depth by bringing life to champions in this game.

Noah: On my first day at work, I felt the need to nerf Teemo. On a wide scale, we’ve created many regions such as Ionia and Demacia, but we’ve only utilized them for champion background. However, we felt the need to apply them as an in-game aspect.

There’s a lot of different card games, so what separates this from other games?

Dave: Great question. We focused on the combination of the entertainment value that a champion brings, and the attack/defense system in the game. Whether you play League, or a casual/competitive player, it’ll be fun for all audiences.

Noah: In addition, you’ll find aspects that you’ve never seen before. As you level up, there will be more things available to unlock. Unlike other card games, where you weren’t able to build the deck, there will be a system to earn the card you want.

Which champions and combinations do you like, and why?

Dave: There’s too many for me to say, but I love Jinx. She’s aggressive and fun to play. There are multiple decisions you can make, and there’s a function where you can discard cards from your deck, so she brings a good element of surprise.

Noah: I personally love the Lucian-Senna combo. Alone, the two units may be strong, but aren’t that special. However, when used together as a combo, whenever one dies, the other card becomes incredibly strong. It’s a combo that can really dominate.

Through Legends of Runeterra, what kind of enjoyment are you looking to bring to the players? Is there anything specific you’re looking for from the Korean player base?

Dave: This may be a card game, but what’s important is that Riot created this game. We’ll be actively taking comments and feedback from our player base, and implementing them in our update. We’ll do our best in keeping our word.

Noah: The reason why League is so successful is because we listened to our players. We’ll be listening to what we’re doing right and wrong, and will be making further improvements from the feedback.

We’ll now take questions from the players themselves. Will there be a ranked queue?

Dave: Yes! It’ll most likely be introduced early next year, during closed beta. Until then, we’ll be focusing all our efforts to making the game flawless.

Noah: In terms of the competitive aspect of the game, there are still much to work on. We’ll provide you with more information once we’re ready.

How frequent will the updates be? Since all the champions aren’t available yet, how often will new champions be released?

Noah: We’ll definitely be updating more champions in the game, and it'll be periodical. We’re currently putting together a team to decide how frequent we’ll be implementing updates. Much bigger updates will soon come in due time.

Can you explain more about the system to earn the card you want?

Dave: During the early stages of developing Legends of Runeterra, we felt that the method of getting the cards a player wants in traditional card games was a huge obstacle. We wanted our players to find the strategies the way they wanted, so instead of buying the cards, we decided to have the players earn the cards they want. You’ll be able to earn better cards through higher level chests.

Noah: You can also earn cards through the free shards you earn in the game. Also, through wild cards, you can also create the card you want. In terms of the RNG aspect of the game, players won’t have to spend money on it.

Last question. What’s the reason behind the preview event, and what’s next?

Noah: As the game’s still in development, there’s much to work on, and through this preview event, I want to receive a lot of player feedback. Everyone in attendance today will all be able to experience t this game first hand, and another preview event will be held in a month’s time. A closed beta will also be held early next year.