Vendetta Preview: Why Riftbound’s Design Team Chose Kennen, Akali, and Jayce for the First Opposing Domain Legends - IGN

Arguably the most exciting part about Vendetta, Riftbound’s fourth set, is the first-ever introduction of Champion Legends with opposing domains. This one debut allows brand-new deckbuilding opportunities we’ve yet to see in the League of Legends trading card game, mashing two colors of cards with core ideals that are, generally, at-odds. Though I didn’t get to play with Akali, Kennen, or Jayce, I did get to talk about them with Riftbound senior designer Jon Moormann at Riot’s HQ back in June. Moormann explained a little bit about why the team chose who they did to be the first ambassadors of these new color combos, and a little about their mechanics and champion units. The Akali, Rogue Assassin Legend card harnesses the power of both Fury and Calm. It allows you to move a friendly unit in a showdown to your base on your turn, with the extra ability to ready the unit if it’s Empowered. “Empowered” is a new keyword introduced in Vendetta, and it’s basically a state you can activate on your turn for a cost–either runes or a trigger, like banishing a card. In Akali’s case, that’s three energy and one power. In exchange, the now-Empowered card gains an extra ability or effect. Moormann