Despite playing League of Legends for [redacted] years, I’ve never quite managed to get into Teamfight Tactics, the MOBA’s spinoff auto battler. I absolutely loved Remix Rumble’s aesthetic (the track with Steve Aoki is a staple on my playlist), but after a few games I just couldn’t quite get to grips with everything, and found myself meandering back to Summoner’s Rift instead. Inkborn Fables was a visual delight, but despite its stunning Eastern thematic, it didn’t quite have the same pull as Remix Rumble. TFT Set 12, Magic n’ Mayhem, however, had me from the get-go, and while it’s a little overwhelming initially, of all the sets I’ve played it may be the most rewarding.
Thematically, game producer Dan Townsend tells me that Teamfight Tactics’ Magic and Mayhem set is inspired by the “many different types of magic that range across a lot of different genres.” It’s no surprise, then, that I was immediately drawn to the Coven-inspired Eldritch tree – Coven Morgana is, after all, one of my League of Legends skins. On my first match, the stars align, and I pull Coven Elise from the pot. It’s exactly the introduction I was hoping for, and it immediately starts to pay off.
After all, I’m a casual player at best, so getting to grips with the auto battler’s systems again takes a couple of rounds. Despite my poor play, however, I immediately see results with my Eldrich-themed warriors, easily decimating enemy squads for the first few rounds and earning myself the second-place spot on the leaderboard – not too shabby, if I do say so myself.
As I level up I expand my pool to include Ashe, Mordekaiser, Nami, Nilah, and Syndra, and my board lights up with eerie black and red tendrils that bind them together. With six Eldritch units on the board, I’ve activated the Old God summon mechanic, which spawns an angry Malphite when my team’s combined health drops below a specific threshold. He knocks my enemies into the air, setting them up perfectly for Nilah to sweep in and whip them into shape. It’s all going well.
The problem is, however, that as the game progresses, the traditional augment system begins to synergize with the random charms that drop every few shop rotations. With over 100 of them, and an expanded roster of augments, things begin to get complicated. As a rookie player, I start randomly clicking things and hoping they synergize – I’m determined to summon Thousand Pierced Bear Volibear, the Eldritch trait’s final summon, who will effectively wipe the board for me. I am, however, defeated long before that happens.
For experienced players, keeping track of everything is second nature, but as a newer player with a bad memory, charms coming in thick and fast, with augments and itemization ramping on the side, quickly became a little too much. While the initial stages of the game were very much going my way, I quickly dropped to the bottom of the leaderboard and was the first to be eliminated.
Following on from Inkborn Fables, TFT’s director of game design Stephen ‘Mort’ Mortimer notes that the team has been looking at ways to “bring down that complexity ceiling without removing the depth or the fun from the game.” On surface level, Magic n’ Mayhem actually feels a little more convoluted than its recent predecessors, so I ask Townsend Set 12 ties into the accessibility philosophy.
“We’re increasing our bag sizes, or the amount of champions that are available in the pool,” he tells me in our UK-exclusive interview. “We’re giving more opportunities for players to hit on like compositions more reliably in the early game, it should allow for smoother transitions into that late game. I know that, as a casual player, scouting and contesting can feel really daunting. So with this change we’re allowing players to chase the same champions as others in the mid game without it being as punishing. We’ve also increased the total number of one costs in the pool from 13 to 14 for this set, which also gives players more options to play around in the early game.”
The Team Planner is also finally getting the rework we’ve all been waiting for, again aimed at helping out newer players. “Team Planner as a feature is meant to help players learn TFT with ease, even although it didn’t originally start with that goal,” senior game producer Christine Lai tells me. “As we look at the whole ecosystem of the game, we clearly see a space where we can help TFT players pick up the game smoothly, and Team Planner is one of the perfect features to help us achieve that goal.”
“We do believe TFT is a complex game, and we have so many players that love that aspect of it, but what we don’t want to do is force players into that complexity before they’re ready,” Townsend continues. “For hardcore players, we want them to have tons of avenues to demonstrate their skill and mastery, and then for casual players, we’d love TFT to feel like a toy box where they can play with a lot of different things so they can find their favorites.”
Townsend’s description of Magic n’ Mayhem (and TFT as a whole) is perfect; it does feel like a toy box. As a lover of all things dark and spooky I was initially drawn to the Eldritch tree, but I also like cute things and want to try out Sugarcraft, as well as Witchcraft because, honestly, I just really like Morgana. Despite all odds, my catastrophic loss hasn’t dissuaded me from playing the game – in fact, I want to keep trying new combinations. Given my tendency to ragequit and come back after a few days, that in itself is truly magical.
Despite the augments, charms, and everything in between, my experience with Set 12 genuinely felt gratifying. I enjoyed my (potentially accidental) win streak; I wanted to get that Volibear. Where I’ve often walked away from TFT feeling a little deflated, this may be the set for me. Thematically I love it, visually it’s stunning, and mechanically, it’ll take a little getting used to, but I want to get used to it.
Magic n’ Mayhem lets the good players flex and create powerful, board-wiping comps, while simultaneously allowing newer players to try out different things and experiment with even stakes. Is Magic n’ Mayhem the perfect starting point for new players? I’m not 100% convinced. But what it does perfectly is evoke that feeling of ‘next time, I can do better.’ There’s a sense of learning and understanding, instead of the crushing punishment of a bad League of Legends game.
The TFT Set 12, Magic n’ Mayhem release date is set for Wednesday, July 31. Ahead of release, we asked Townsend and game director Peter Whalen which TFT comps they’ll be playing at launch, so make sure you take a sneak peek – after all, Townsend did design the set; who better to learn from?