Runeterra Open Aftermath
The first Runeterra Open is in the book – and not without a few rough edges:
During this past week, Devs and top competitors have published several essays reflecting on opportunities for improvement, both about their own play and the Tournament in general.
On Tuesday, Yangzera shared his game-by-game breakdown of how he fared in the Open, reviewing what he could have done better – in particular, as he shared in his Six Tips for High-Level Competitors article, the importance of managing stress and tilt, and taking frequent breaks (above all with the current structure of the Open, which is much more flexible than Seasonals for scheduling your games).
Also on Tuesday, Riot published RubinZoo's article with the team's initial round of thoughts about the first Runeterra Open:
Rubin's article is well worth a detailed read, with him going over what went wrong, detailing Riot's plans to improve things, and in particular stressing in no unclear terms that:
- Smurfing in Tournaments is unacceptable (like, duh… but, apparently, brilliance at complex strategy games and incompetence at basic concepts of fair play are not mutually exclusive), and
- Slow-playing is also unacceptable (see 'duh' above).
And, probably the most important detail going forward: Riot has added an extra Runeterra Open this Season!
This Open will take place on June 17/18 (and in addition to the Open to be played on June 10/11), and will be played on the Eternal format. This will provide the same cash prizes and RP as a normal Runeterra Open, as well as more invites to the Mystery Event.
On Thursday, Jason picked Rubin's torch his Runeterra Open: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly article, where he goes over the Good (including a smooth, bug-free Tournament from a technical standpoint), the Bad (the client showing the wrong start and finish times…), and the Ugly (Riot still hasn't fixed clock abuse).
Yet, in spite of the Open's up and downs, as Jason says:
What the competitive LoR landscape has looked like in the first two years of Runeterra's life, and what it looks like now, are night and day in my opinion. Making an Organised play system that is inclusive, entertaining, and sustainable is extremely difficult, and most card games have never come close.
I always knew that this would be a work in progress -- we needed to throw some things against the wall, see what works and what doesn’t, and keep iterating.
It’s very obvious to me that the team currently in charge is trying their very best to make a great Organised Play system for us, and they deserve a decently large amount of slack.
On Friday, MajiinBae published his Runeterra Open experience, which shares several points in common with Yang's when it comes to devoting your whole focus to the games if you seek to perform at the highest level.
Playing my games on the road while trying to eat and all that did wear on me again. I noticed that I was very quick to tilt and had a more difficult time focusing for longer periods of time. My lines of play weren’t quite as clean as they should have been. There were a few times where I would make a play, then immediately figure out a better one after I had already committed.
Having said that, the Runeterra Open reinvigorated my drive to play competitive Runeterra: I will do my best to come to the next few tournaments as prepared as I can so I can secure the first spot.
Squadcast Ep 39: Time of the Essence & Runeterra Open Aftermath
Phansora, Luserbeam, Shadawx, and reigning Runeterra Open Champion Card Gamer welcome today's guest, DrChekhov, to discuss their Runeterra Open experiences, Riot's statement, and 'playing for clock'.
Balance Patch Dev Stream
The first Balance Patch of the Competitive 2.0 Sesason will arrive to Runeterra next Wednesday – and the Devs will share their thoughts on a Dev Stream this coming Monday 24, at 11:00 AM PT:
Full patch notes are expected by Tuesday.
Wrapping Up
Can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, nor compete at the highest level without taking frequent breaks…
… and no complex system, like a CCG's Organized Play, can be rehauled and relaunched without a few headaches along the way.
The first Runeterra Open is in the books; top competitors and Devs, as we've seen, are fired up and ready to improve their game!