Key Takeaways
- A new League of Legends TCG code-named Project K has been announced.
- The game is not a physical version of Riot’s CCG Legends of Runeterra, though it does share some similarities with it.
- Project K will be released in China in early 2025. Riot is still looking for a publishing partner to help it launch the TCG in other countries, including the U.S.
Riot has announced a new League of Legends trading card game code-named Project K. The newly unveiled TCG will seemingly take some inspiration from Riot’s CCG Legends of Runeterra.
While it never approached the commercial success of League of Legends, Legends of Runeterra has generally been praised by critics for its highly accessible progression system and attentive handling of the LoL lore. It has received 11 expansions since its 2020 debut, the latest of which arrived in the form of Dreamlit Paths in April 2024.
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Eight months later, Riot revealed a new TCG in the form of Project K, which was treated to a four-minute video announcement on December 6. While this offering is decisively not a physical version of Legends of Runeterra, the two do share some “champion design philosophies,” Riot said. Likewise, Project K will repurpose some of the many Legends of Runeterra artworks. The game also seems to retain LoR‘s card description template, which favors first- over third-person phrasing. E.g., the Yasuo card description reads: “When I attack, deal damage equal to my Might to an enemy here.” Project K hence stands in contrast to Magic: The Gathering, which has long popularized the third-person template.
Project K Promises Varied Champion Themes
On the subject of champions, Riot provided a brief overview of some of the Project K deck themes that it came up with. E.g., Viktor decks will generally be geared toward assembling a lot of minions, then buffing them in a bid to try overwhelming the opponent. In contrast, League of Legends‘ Volibear will play in a more straightforward manner, usually by just looking to overpower everyone directly. Meanwhile, someone interested in tempo decks might instead want to look toward Jinx, whose innate ability temporarily buffs her Might (attack power) every time the player discards a card.
Although it supports one-on-one matches, Project K was primarily designed for two-versus-two and free-for-all formats, both of which have the potential to get much more chaotic. “We think we’ve created the best social TCG out there,” said game director Dave Guskin.
We think we’ve created the best social TCG out there.
New League of Legends TCG Is Targeting a 2025 Release
Project K is currently planned to debut in 2025. Riot intends to treat it to a staggered release, with China being the first market to receive the game early next year. And while the company has already found a distribution partner in the Far Eastern country, it’s still looking for one in the United States. Magic: The Gathering publisher Wizards of the Coast would ostensibly be suited for the task, though it’s not the only stateside company with the ability to mass-produce a TCG.
Riot Games
- Date Founded
- September 1, 2006
- Headquarters
- West Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States
- Subsidiaries
- Riot Forge
- Known For
- League of Legends