Legends of Runeterra is a collectible digital card game developed and published by Riot Games. With today’s update the third, and final portion of the Cosmic Creation expansion is available to players. It brings with it over 40+ cards, three new champions, two new major keyword mechanics and a bevy of new cosmetics for players to enjoy. Let’s take a quick look at everything players can look forward to in these new cards. To kick off our coverage here’s a look at the new new mechanics this release is bringing to the game.
New Mechanic: Augment
Units with the Augment keyword get +1 +0 whenever you play a created card. This means any card that you play that didn’t start the game in your deck will trigger this keyword. While the most obvious thing to combine this new ability is Cosmic Creation’s previously released Invoke ability, there are a ton of characters and spells that create cards. Even with the keyword’s presence limited to Piltover & Zaun cards there’s still a ton of options for deck building possibilities. I have a Piltover & Zaun/Targon deck that might just end up with a couple of these in it soon.
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New Mechanic: Reforge
The other new mechanic we are getting from Cosmic Creation is the reforge mechanic. This Noxus exclusive keyword is a little trickier to explain than augment was. So bear with me while I stumble through this.
When a character triggers their reforge ability, one of three sword fragment spells will be created in the player’s hand. Once all three spells have been cast, the player will then have the Blade of the Exile spell created in their hand. This sword combines all of the effects of the sword fragments, stat bonuses, quick strike and overwhelm, into one new spell. While it seems a little cumbersome, there feels like it could really provide some big returns when a player is able to bring it together. Plus, all this creating will probably work great with another keyword I can think of…
Now that we are familiar with the two new mechanics in Cosmic Creation let’s talk about the new champions. Since the champions are often the backbone that decks are built around, new entires into this group are always exciting. And as one would expect, there is a new champion for each of the new keyword abilities that got released.
New Champion: Viktor
Piltover & Zaun’s new champion is, unsurprisingly, all about augmenting. These four cost 2/4 sports the augment keyword and at the start of each round creates a one cost fleeting Core Upgrade spell. This slow casting spell grants Viktor a random keyword ability. Viktor’s level up is triggered when you have played eight or more created cards. Note Viktor does not have to see these cards being played. So you could potentially play him leveled up already if the prerequisite number of created cards have been played.
Once Viktor has leveled up his stats each go up by plus one and he makes your created cards cost one less. He also keeps his augment keyword as well as his start of round ability. So now those core upgrades will be free each round.
Next up is Viktor’s signature spell. This spell, Viktor’s Death Ray MK1 is a one cost spell that deals one damage to a unit, and creates a Viktor’s Death Ray MK2 card and shuffles the created card into the top three cards of your deck, while also adding the standard copy of the hero to the deck as well.
Viktor’s Death Ray MK2 deals two damage to a unit and shuffles a Viktor’s Death Ray MK3 into the top three cards of the deck. The MK3 simply deals three damage to a unit. With all this spell creation and direct damage dealing, coming from this signature spell Viktor is both a keystone for the new augment keyword, as well as a great fit for the overall aggressive play style Piltover & Zaun loves in general.
New Champion: Riven
Noxus’s new champion in Cosmic Creation is Riven. Just as Viktor was all about augmenting, Riven is a reforge machine. Costing three mana and sporting a 3/4 stat line, River’s primary power is that she reforges whenever you gain the attack token. This instantly lends her to a Noxus/Demacia deck build, since Demacia possesses several cards that allow for extra attack tokens.
Riven’s level up occurs when she sees you have Blade of the Exile in hand. When she levels, Riven gains the standard plus one to each stat, and maintains her previous ability. She also gains a new ability which doubles the first stat boost she gets each turn. So if you played a spell on Riven that grants her +3+3, and it’s the first boost she’s gotten that turn, it becomes +6+6. Her power could runaway extremely quickly.
Lastly, we have River’s signature spell, Riven’s Weapon Hilt, which costs two mana, casts at burst speed and gives an ally +2+0. It also reforges and puts another copy of Riven into your deck. This spell reinforces both Riven’s reforge mechanic, as well as potentially becoming a +4+0 if used on her once she levels up.
New Champion: Zoe
The last new champion to arrive in Cosmic Creation is Zoe. Targon’s newest champion is a one mana cost elusive 1/1 whose ability is to create a Supercool Starchart in hand when she strikes the nexus. Or, if you already have a Supercool Starchart, to decrease its cost by one. Zoe’s level up is triggered by you playing 10 cards with different names. This makes Zoe another champion that can enter play leveled up.
Once leveled up, Zoe keeps her elusive, while gaining two new abilities along with the standard +1+1 to her stats. Her first new ability makes it so, for the rest of the game, when you summon an ally you grant it’s keywords to all allies. This is an extremely powerful ability, but given the level up requirements for Zoe, and her general fragility, it would need to be to be worth the work.
Zoe’s second new ability replaces her old nexus strike ability. Now, instead of creating a Supercool Starchart when striking the enemy’s nexus, she creates a Behold the Infinite that has it’s cost reduced to zero.
Zoe’s signature spell, Zoe’s Sleepy Trouble Bubble is just like the standard version of the spell, but with the usually added benefit of shuffling another Zoe into your deck.
New Cosmetics
Along with the bevy of new cards and abilities present in Cosmic Creation, there are several new cosmetic options releasing. Along with a new board, guardian, and card back, the release is also introducing prismatic cards. Prismatics are versions of the standard cards that have a visual enhancement to them. Think of the shiny variants in Hearthstone. This is purely a cosmetic option. This cosmetic enhancement can be either bought or earned in-game by accruing a new special currency used just for making cards prismatic. While I’m not super excited about this new option, I have no problems with it either.
There is, even more, to see from this final installment of Cosmic Creation. However, these are all the biggest additions to the game. I personally can’t wait to get my hands on some of these new cards, and create a whole new slew of decks!
