Legends of Runeterra: Top 5 Most Common Misplays!

In my 3 years casting and playing tournaments, I've seen everything in Legends of Runeterra matches - from players losing because of the clock, to missclicks which cost thousands of dollars in big tournaments. It is normal to be distracted in competitive card games, and everyone has made a mistake at least once.

Today, I bring you the Top 5 most common misplays in Legends of Runeterra - so you keep them in mind and never do them again, which might as well enhance your skills in game!

"Open Attacking" is a term we use in Legends of Runeterra to describe an attack which the player declares as soon as their turn begins, without playing or declaring any other action before it. When you have units with the Challenger keyword, you can pull enemy units into battle, and that is why, if you spend your attack token, by open attacking, you'll give your opponent freedom to develop units with no further issue.

Example: Your opponent doesn't have any units on board, and you have a Challenger unit and the attack token. If you don't attack and instead only pass your turn, your opponent will be forced to pass their turn as well and burn a lot of mana, because if they play any unit on board, it will be pulled into battle.

That type of play is very common when playing Midrange and Demacia lists, in general. If you enjoy playing these archetypes, or if you play this region a lot, keep an eye out to not misplay like this.

It is very common for inexperienced players to fear enemy removals, and, as a result, end up never playing their key cards on the board or their champions. As it so happens, if you prepare yourself right, you'll always be ahead if you play your champions on board.

If you're playing an aggressive list, it is common for you to prepare an open attack pulling units, or just dealing a lot of damage, and forcing your enemy to spend mana to deal with your board. After they spend all that mana, then, you'll play your champions. This way, your opponent, in the next turn, will still be forced to remove your champion, and again they'll have to spend a lot of mana to do it. You'll be ahead the whole time in terms of match tempo.

If you're playing a slow list, Control or Combo, it is common to wait to play your champions when you have enough mana to defend them with some spell, be it a Deny or some health buff.

In Legends of Runeterra, champions are engines which make the decks work, and that is why it is essential that you learn what are the best moments to play them.

In Legends of Runeterra, the spell stack resolves from left to right, and that really impacts the way spells resolve during the game. There are spells which prepare effects on board, or which mark units, and if you miss their order on the stack, your play might not work.

The most famous example of that is making a mistake when ordering Disintegrate; this spell marks a unit, and the next time this unit takes damage, it is destroyed. If you deal damage before, and mark after, you won't destroy the unit.

That is why Disintegrate must always be played last, to resolve first in the stack.

Another spell played wrong frequently is Prize Fight. This spell makes two units strike each other, but that strike can't bring them below 1 health. It is very common to pair this spell with some removal which deals 1 point of damage, and that is why the right order is: first play the 1 damage spell and then Prize Fight, so the Fight will resolve first, and the damage will remove the enemy unit last.

If the Prize Fight resolves last, the enemy unit won't die, and will be stuck at 1 health.

This is mistake is very common among more inexperienced players, or players who have never played card games before. Statistically, it is best you draw a card before you decide on what play to make - maybe the card you draw can solve all your problems.

This practice is common among high-level players. You significantly increase your odds of having a better play if you start your turn by drawing a card. The good part of this type of misplay is that it is easily recognized by players as such, as once your last action in a turn is drawing a card, and that card, if drawn before, would win you the game, you'll hardly make the same mistake again.

Obviously, there are some cases in which you don't need to draw a card before deciding what to do. Cards such as Formula, which are very expensive draws, might not fit this rule that much. But in case you have enough resources, and cheaper card draws, such as Time Trick, it is best to use your Time Trick before anything else to increase your odds of having better actions in your turn.

Lastly, the most common misplay, and also the worst of all: attacking in the wrong order. The attack, just like the spell stack, resolves from left to right, and, as a result, some unit effects work best depending on the order with which you position them while attacking. A Nasus, if positioned at the end of the attack stack, always has more chances of finishing the attack with bigger stats, or even level up, depending on your opponent's blocks.

Units such as Swain, which deal damage after striking the Nexus, always need to attack first in line. Level 2 Sejuani Frostbites the whole board, if your first unit to attack can hit the Nexus. That type of interaction with the attack order is very common among units and champions in the game, and that is why it is very common to see distracted players make mistakes when it's time to position your units.

Be careful - Lifesteal interactions also impact positioning during the attack and block. Usually, while blocking, the Lifesteal unit is recommended to block, as early as possible, the highest attack unit. As a result, the attack order which is recommended to pay against Lifesteal units is to position units with less attack before, and the ones with more attack later, in ascending order.

If you've read this far, now you're better prepared to never make the worst Legends of Runeterra mistakes again.

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