In a slickly produced four-minute video, Riot Games revealed that it’s been working on a card game. This came as news to players of its existing card game, Legends of Runeterra, which had its team and scope reduced as part of broader cuts at Riot in January. But this isn’t a digital card game. This is a physical TCG, codenamed Project K.
“Project K is not a physical version of the fantastic Legends of Runeterra,” game director Dave Guskin said in the breathless trailer, “but it does inherit some of the rich champion design philosophies of LoR.”
That didn’t help to appease Legends of Runeterra’s fans, who have interpreted this announcement as a betrayal. Comments on YouTube and Reddit are full of pained responses like “Imagine trusting a Riot card game after what they did to LoR” and “Legends of Runeterra died for this” and “Lowkey a slap in the face to LoR’s existence lol.” (There are also a few jokers gleefully pointing out that the art depicts “Old Viktor in the cards? LMAO” rather than the divisive new version in season two of Arcane.)
Guskin described Project K as a card game that can do it all, saying, “Whether your jam is team 2v2 battles or free-for-alls, a way to relax with friends or go all in on alliances, backstabbing, and betrayals, we think we’ve created the best social TCG out there and something you will really enjoy.” Magic: The Gathering’s popular Commander format would like a word, I suspect.
Project K will have a staggered release, beginning with a launch in China early next year. “We want to have competitive play that reaches from the store level all the way up to national-level tournaments and maybe even global events,” executive producer Chengran Chai said.