Riot Games is gearing up to deliver a physical League of Legends TCG so fans of the franchise can do battle on the tabletop. Here’s everything we know about the mysterious Project K.
Rumors about a League of Legends trading card game had been swirling for a when in December 2024, Riot Games officially announced Project K. This is the working title for a physical League of Legends TCG that its developers insist is more than just a tabletop rework of Legends of Runeterra (LoR).
LoR was Riot’s first tentative step into the TCG space, but unlike Project K, the game was solely digital. The development team behind this new League of Legends TCG has been diligently working to ready the product for release, and concrete details are finally starting to emerge.
We’ve gathered up all the information you could possibly want to know about Project K and what to expect from the first true League of Legends TCG.
Project K: League of Legends TCG release window
The team behind Project K has revealed that the League of Legends TCG will have a “staggered release window” across different markets. The first region to gain access to the game will be China in early 2025.
During the initial announcement for the League of Legends TCG, devs reported that they were still searching for a partner to help launch the game in the US. The team has since found that partner in the form of UVS Games.
Game Director Dave Guskin confirmed that players in English-speaking regions can expect to have their hands on the game before the year is out. “After China, we’ll be launching Project K in many English-speaking countries later this year with additional regional rollouts targeted for 2026,” he explained in a post on X.
Project K: League of Legends TCG organized play
The team behind Project K has also revealed that the game will launch with an immediate focus on competitive support. Executive Producer Chengran Chai outlined plans for organized play, including store, regional, and national tournaments.
“We know that for a TCG to grow and thrive, it needs the community around it to grow and thrive as well,” Chai elaborated. “We will invest in Project K and make it worthwhile for you to invest your time and energy into it too.”
Developers also teased the potential for global events based on the League of Legends TCG’s popularity.
Does Project K have a multiplayer format?
Yes. In the initial reveal, it was announced that multiplayer gameplay was conceptualised for the League of Legends TCG from the ground up.
Not only does Project K offer head-to-head showdowns, there are also options for 2v2 and four-player free-for-alls, similar to Magic: The Gathering’s Commander format. These styles of play will be built into the game from launch and available to play as soon as it releases.
Project K: League of Legends TCG gameplay details
As you may have guessed, Project K will feature cards that represent a variety of characters, locations, equipment, and moments from the universe of Runeterra in which League of Legends takes place.
Players build 40-card decks with the aim of going head-to-head to Conquer and Hold Battlefields. Winning requires a player to get to eight points, which they do by moving between Battlefields and meeting the conditions to take them over.
You’ll be able to play units, equip them with gear, and use special abilities to help you in that endeavour. Your particular army is governed by your Champion, a recognizable character from League of Legends like Jinx, Volibear, or Yasuo, who determines your deck’s Rune (color) combo.
Like many TCG’s, the identity of your deck in Project K is identified by the color of your cards. In the game, these colors are referred to as Runes, and each denotes a different playstyle.
The League of Legends TCG features six Runes, with each deck being made up of a two-Rune combo determined by your Champion. Those Runes are:
- Fury (Red): Fury cards favor an aggressive playstyle that relies on speed to Conquer Battlefields.
- Chaotic (Purple): Chaotic cards are versatile and feature numerous tricks to skirt the game’s ground rules.
- Physical (Orange): Physical is Project K’s ramp archetype, and its strategy relies on stacking resources to cast powerful units ahead of your opponents. Its cards are particularly adept at Holding a Battlefield.
- Order (Yellow): Order features a number of low-cost units, allowing you to go wide. It favors a control playstyle with plenty of removal options and uses a numbers-based approach to Hold.
- Calm (Green): Calm features a number of powerful spells that can be played as reactions to your opponents’ moves. Its units excel in combat situations and gain bonuses for Conquering.
- Mental (Blue): The most mysterious Rune so far. Very little has been revealed in the way of Mental cards, but devs have suggested that they provide card-draw and removal options.
Finding a playstyle that works for you will rely on selecting a Champion that features a Rune combo you find appealing. Whether that’s two that shore up each other’s weaknesses or Runes that favor similar playstyles, making you proficient at a very specific element of the game.
That’s everything we know about Project K so far, but with the game planned to release in 2025, there’s sure to be plenty of news and reveals coming up. Given that League of Legends already has a very established fanbase, its reasonable to assume there’ll be plenty of people looking to try it out.