After seven months in the Daedric realm otherwise known as open beta testing, Bethesda announced today that The Elder Scrolls: Legends CCG is now in full release. More excitingly for fans, the studio also shared its post-release plans, starting with the iPad debut on March 23 (which is worth mentioning, because it’ll hopefully bring an influx of new players). That will be followed by Legends’ first PvE expansion, The Fall of The Dark Brotherhood, which arrives on April 5, and an Android tablet rollout later that month.
The Fall of The Dark Brotherhood will add 40 new cards to Legends' pool, as well as a new creature ability called “Slay” that triggers when a creature attacks and kills an opponent’s creature—a mechanic that works in basically the same way as the Night Talon Lord card currently does.
Players will work through twenty-five missions spread across three “maps," in a story that will see them act as a double agent infiltrating the ranks of the Dark Brotherhood—a fan-favorite Elder Scrolls guild of lethal assassins. These maps can be purchased separately or all together using either money or in-game gold, and also come with a Doom Wolf mount for Elder Scrolls Online, should that be of interest. You can pre-order Dark Brotherhood from the client now for $19.99, which will snag you an exclusive premium version of a card and an in-game 'title'.
Bethesda said The Fall of The Dark Brotherhood marks the start of a faster and more consistent schedule of Elder Scrolls: Legends content updates. A major expansion is slated for the summer, which will be announced in detail at E3 and feature “a significantly larger addition of cards, ones that you’d get from packs,” according to Bethesda VP Pete Hines. Longer term, the plan is to inject new cards into the game roughly every three months, although the specifics, including card sets and possible new PvE story modes, will vary. “We’re now going to start churning those things out on a regular basis,” Hines told PC Gamer.
Legends is also getting a new in-game tournament mode called "Gauntlet," which will share some similarities with Hearthstone’s recently-introduced Heroic Tavern Brawl. Players will stick with one constructed deck, similar to the Tavern Brawl mode, but will play according to parameters that can be modified from event to event. This flexibility allows the mode to potentially feed into larger tournaments in the future, or possibly to be used for qualifying events. “It’s a new way to put discrete competitions or tournaments into the game for constructed,” Hines said.
The month of May will also see the introduction of a spectator mode that will give players the ability to watch matches being played by people on their friend lists, and Twitch integration, which Bethesda will use for giveaways of card packs or soul gems, and to reward players who stream or spectate through linked accounts. Android and iOS phone versions of the game are also expected to go live in the early summer.
As a long-time streamer of The Elder Scrolls: Legends, it’s been clear to me that the game has been in serious need of concrete plans and a clear path for the future, and today’s announcement goes a long way toward providing that. With mobile versions and a PvE expansion slated for the near future, plus the upcoming Gauntlet mode and Twitch integration, the possibility of it becoming a top contender in the online CCG realm seems much more attainable now.
For anyone still on the fence, this might just be the right time to give it a shot. If so, you might want to check out my guide to improving your play here. You can also find regular Legends content on my own site, Between the Lanes, which includes a 'meta snapshot' of the current best decks.
