Following the game’s full release back in April along with two subsequent expansions, Riot Games has finally announced the third expansion to Legends of Runeterra called Call of the Mountain. Much like the first two expansions, Call of the Mountain will add lots of new cards into the game. Though this one differs in many ways as Riot is introducing a new expansion format for the game.
But first, here are some terms you need to know (via Riot):
- An expansion is all the cards, champions, cosmetics, and game modes released with a major patch (roughly every two months). Each expansion will have a unique name.
- A set is a thematically and mechanically cohesive group of cards released over one or more expansions. The set shares its name with the first of these expansions—for example, the cards released in August, October, and December will all be part of the Call of the Mountain set. (This will matter down the line when it comes to deckbuilding rules for different formats and modes).
- Lastly, a new Ranked season starts whenever a new expansion is released and shares its name (so in this case, the Call of the Mountain Ranked season). Each Ranked season has a unique icon for you to earn based on which tier you reach.
With that, here are the details on the new expansion format for the game, according to Riot:
- Starting with Call of the Mountain, we’ll release new cards roughly every two months (and maybe a few surprises here and there). Each three-expansion set will focus on a new region (in this case, Targon).
- The first expansion in a set will be larger (for Call of the Mountain, you’re looking at 89 collectible cards with 7 champions), containing all the cards needed to introduce the new region’s major themes and multiple viable decks featuring that region.
- The second and third expansions will each be about half that size (for CotM, that’s 40 cards with 3 champs in both the October and December expansions). These expansions will have a mix of new themes, new mechanics, and evolutions of strategies you encountered in the first expansion.
- Going forward, every set will add a new champion to each region, and every expansion will contain new cards for each region; however, in a given expansion, some regions will have more cards than others, including champions. By the time the third expansion is released and the set is complete, all regions will have an equal share of champions and near-equal share of other cards.
- Even when we aren’t adding a new champ to your favorite region, each expansion will offer cards to support classic strategies or introduce new twists on old favorites.
The new expansion format is interesting, but it’s definitely a lot to take in. So why the change? Well, Riot said that this new format was made to “keep LoR’s metagame fresh for as long as possible” so that no one deck or playstyle becomes dominant (which is what happens in other multiplayer titles). The new format was also made for more overall card releases.
Legends of Runeterra’s Call of the Mountain expansion will release on August 26, 2020.