League of Legends’ digital TCG may have unceremoniously shut down but a new LoL card game, Rune Battleground, has been revealed.
Riot Games, the developers of League of Legends, is no strangers to the card game space. It had an excellent online card game, Legends of Runeterra, for several years before winding it down amid a company overhaul. Now, the international phenomenon of League of Legends is coming to game stores with the launch of a physical TCG called Rune Battlegrounds in 2025.
While physical TCGs are looking to juggle multiple digital equivalents, most recently seen with Pokemon TCG Live and Pokemon TCG Pocket, League of Legends is going in the opposite direction. But how will this new TCG work?
What is the new LoL card game?
League of Legends is set to be host to a new physical trading card game dubbed Rune Battlegrounds. The game was announced in a trailer on Riot Games’ Chinese social media channels.
The trailer, originating on Chinese social network, Bilibili, shows six symbols against a cloudy background. These six symbols are almost certainly the six subfactions or, to borrow Magic: The Gathering parlance, colors. Many trading card games, such as Magic: The Gathering, Lorcana, Eternal, One Piece, and more, divvy their cards into various playable factions or archetypes.
Legends of Runeterra uses the regions of the LoL universe, Runeterra, to divvy up its playable cards, but while some of the symbols bear a passing resemblance to certain icons, that doesn’t seem to be the story here. Instead, the name Rune Battleground likely means each of these symbols is a powerful rune, possibly World Runes, that each hold a gameplay identity in the abilities and themes of its cards.
Later in the trailer, fans get an example of some of the champions possibly associated with five of the six runes. Each of the runes passes by and around various champions, implying their faction identity. Darius is red, Ahri for green, Miss Fortune is the metallic bronze, Kai’Sa is red and blue, and Lee Sin is gold and green. There’s no word yet on the mechanics or specifics around the card game.
When will Rune Battlegrounds be available?
LoL’s new card game will launch some time in 2025, but for now it’s only planned to launch in China.
Riot has said that while they are excited about the product, it’s not currently planned for a more internationally supported release. That won’t stop dedicated fans, as fans of the One Piece card game will attest. There will likely be a sizable resale market based on LoL’s visibility alone.
LoL fans hoping to play the game at their local game store likely won’t be able to do so any time soon, though.
