I play a lot of TFT during development and after each set launches. I’m no Soju (1200 games!), but I still engage with our game more than most, and I’d be lying if I said I never wanted more variety.

The way the game motivates you to climb the ranks can often lead to a playstyle that I personally find can be repetitive after like 300 games or so. But when you find those special games every once in a while where you cook up something interesting and it does well, those are the most fun games that really invigorate me.

For me, the last two weekends had two amazing games that capture that spirit. The first is todays tuber, where I played 5 exalted on the 1 cost exalted, combined with my Horizon Focus Rek’Sai build I love, and had a grand old time. The second was yesterday in Pengu’s Party, where we made a Mech Pilot with Corrupted Vamp Scepter, Prowler’s Claw, and The Boss to make the funniest Mech jumping all over the place cleave critting people in the face. Both just awesome experiences!

The challenge for TFT is that any time a build like that is found and does well, if it’s not strong enough it’s considered a meme. People will quickly input it into their website and see “4.8” and write it off, but at least its fun. If it’s too good, then it quickly becomes something people will try for themselves, and eventually becomes “meta”. And once it’s meta, then it becomes something people lose to, and the frustration starts…because losing isn’t fun.

I have no doubt in my mind that if this 5 exalted with all 1 cost build was actually super good, there would be outcry for people demanding a 1 cost build shouldn’t be this strong, it’s low skill to just press reroll, and claiming the balance is bad.

So there lies the design challenge. How do we find that thin line where unique and interesting builds can be discovered and enjoyed from game to game, but do it in a way where they can’t be replicated every game in a way that people become tired of seeing them? It’s an interesting problem, but one I’m excited to tackle in the future.

Speaking of the future, we played Pengu’s Party most of the weekend. It was a lot of fun! Team did a great job with it, and the extra combinations are pretty cool. Look forward to playing it next patch! Ok that’s it from me today. Have a good week, and take it easy 🙂