LoR: Which Champions Could Be Released to the Game in 2024'

The end of the year is here, and now the next Legends of Runeterra updates will only come in 2024. One of the most frequent questions in the community around this time is: which will be the next Legends of Runeterra champions released to the game? To answer this, with my powers of investigation, I decided to gather a bunch of information that can help us predict which will be the next champions to be released to the game.

That's right. Twisted Fate is one of the champions that people theorize will be released (or, in this case, re-released) in the game next year because the developers have stated that we will have a new champion that already exists in the game, but in an alternative version, right away in the first 2024 Legends of Runeterra expansion.

One of the tips the devs have told us about this is that it is an old champion that "Dave Tron", Legends of Runeterra's Executive Producer and Game Director, worked a lot in the past. One of the things this Rioter told us was: "I worked a lot on this character in Runeterra's early days." Considering Twisted Fate is a champion that was released in the first expansion, Rising Tides, which was released alongside the game itself, there is a big chance he will be the champion that will get a 2.0 version.

Let's admit, it is very odd to not have the single character in the League universe that plays cards available in the Standard format in Riot Games' only card game.

This one is practically confirmed. In the last expansion of this year, we had the addition of the curse mechanic in LoR.

Morgana, for now, is the only champion in the game that supports this game style. The curse she works with are the Shackles, a Targon card that clearly represents her stun abilities in League. We have 4 curses that were released in this same package of cards:

If you look closely at Suppression, you'll see Sylas represented in its artwork, with his back turned to us.

It makes a lot of sense that Sylas will be released right after Morgana, considering both are extremely connected, particularly their stories, something that was represented in the Riot Forge game, The Mageseeker: A League of Legends Story.

Sylas will probably bring even more support to the Suppression curse mechanic, and might be the champion that will finally transform Demacia into a Control region, or a spell-focused region.

Still regarding curses, Terror is tied to Shadow Isles, but its artwork is extremely similar to Cassiopeia's Ultimate icon in League.

The problem with this theory is that Cassiopeia is tied to Shurima and Noxus in League's universe, and not Shadow Isles. However, there is a card from the new expansion which is a Shurima card and works with Terror: Ancient Malediction. Which means, Terror is a card associated with Shurima as well.

In any way, it is a bit odd for Cassiopeia to play a Curse on her enemies, considering her main mechanic in League is poison. But, if you really think about it, she is a character that prevents enemies from attacking her in League, which can be adapted to LoR into a mechanic that makes enemies lose attack stats. Cassiopeia is also inspired by a creature from Greek mythology, a Gorgon, which literally petrifies their foes through their terrifying appearances. The most famous example of this creature is Medusa.

Of all the characters that could be tied to Terror in League's universe, Fiddlesticks is, definitely, the one that most matches this theme. And he is also a champion that can be associated with Shadow Isles, even though he originally doesn't have ties to a specific region.

His Terrify mechanic in League can definitely be well translated into Runeterra as "forcing opponents to lose attack stats", just like Terror is. Not to mention, he is a demon, and demons are always the first beings in League you think of when the matter is cursing someone.

Shurima, in Runeterra, is Nidalee's home, a champion from Ixtal, and also Rek'Sai's home, a champion from the Void. This means Rengar and Kha'Zix are very likely to be released as Shurima cards in 2024.

However, the main factor that upholds this theory is that Nidalee's Ambush mechanic really matches both these champions, considering everything they do in League basically involves ambushing enemies.

Unfortunately, Nidalee alone wasn't able to carry this mechanic to the top tiers in 2023, and her lists weren't very strong throughout the year. Considering Riot invested a lot of time and money on this champion, it is likely they'll prefer giving additional support to this game style next year.

It would be a mistake to not reveal Rengar and Kha'Zix in the same package of cards, even if they are released to the same region. In 2023, we've had two champions released to Bilgewater - Nilah and Jack, so why not have two Shurima champions next year?

Bandlecity didn't get any champions in 2023! And it was surely the region that was explored the least this year because of this. We have just a few champions left that are originally from this region and that are still not in the game: Amumu, Vex, Kled and Corki.

What gives strength to the theory that Vex might come to Runeterra is that, just like Fiddlesticks, she really matches Terror, considering she also applies Fear to her enemies.

Unfortunately, we didn't have any teasers regarding what to expect for Bandlecity next year, considering we had literally only 13 new cards released to this region this year, and each one of them brings support to a different archetype.

Maybe Bandlecity's next champion will come early in 2024, considering we haven't had one in a while. With that in mind, Vex might not come to Runeterra next year because we had Mordekaiser released quite recently, and both are tied to Shadow Isles. That's where Corki comes in. He is the only champion that is missing from this region that doesn't have any other regions tied to his story, and is purely a Bandlecity champion. We might need that, considering a Bandlecity champion with no other regions tied won't create chaos for the reveals of the other champions throughout the year.

He might come to the game and breathe a new air into the Mecha Yordles mechanic, considering he clearly pilots one of these machines.

In the interviews that happened during the World Championship, our game developers commented that we would have popular champions being released to the game in 2024. Considering Ionia has gone without a champion for a while now, and Akali is a very iconic character from this region, she has everything in her favor to be released to Runeterra next year.

Akali is also one of the characters that has the highest number of famous skins in League. She is part of KDA and also True Damage, two of the most famous fictitious bands in Riot's skins universes.

Since the beginning of 2023, Ionia has been going through a transition period: from a Control region to a Midrange, more aggressive region. Akali has everything to breathe a new air into this game style in this region.

Not to mention, she is already represented in the game in several different ways, both in cardbacks and even in a signature spell representing her KDA version.

For all we know, each of the curses will be tied to two regions: Shackles is tied to Demacia and Targon, Terror to Shurima and Shadow Isles, Suppression to Demacia and Targon as well, and Ichor, so far, is only tied to Noxus. The only card in the entire game that plays Ichor is Red-Barbed Razormace.

My bet is that Piltover & Zaun will be the second region tied to this curse, considering this region is already tied to dealing direct damage to the Nexus.

From what we can see from Ichor's artwork, it looks like the person cursed with it bleeds to death, and the champion that has everything to do with blood in Piltover & Zaun is Warwick.

This champion might be released to Runeterra to complete Ichor's archetype, considering this year we've already had two Noxus champions, and we might not have another for a good while.

This champion was also heavily teased in League's Neflix series, Arcane, and, considering this series will have its second season released in 2024, this theory might be even stronger.

If you've read this far, now you're already another one of us who are excited about the next champions that will be released to Runeterra in 2024!

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