Cards down

In a post on its official Reddit, Bethesda has announced that all future content and development plans for The Elder Scrolls: Legends have been put "on hold for the foreseeable future", which i??s being translated by many as the death knell for the PC and mobile card-battler.

"This decision will not in any way affect the release and development of GAEA’s Asia-specific version of Legends, which is operated separately, but will inform our decisions on content and feature development going forward," notes community manager Christian Van Hoose in the update. "You can still download and play Legends on all existing platforms and compete online as well as in the single-player modes. We will also continue to support the game with monthly reward cards and regular in-game events. New expa??nsions and other future cont??ent, however, are no longer under active development. We will continue to provide ongoing maintenance support."

The Elder Scrolls: Legends joined the burgeoning digital card game market back in March of 2017, when it was released for PC, iOS and Android devices. Legends then went through a studio transition in 2018, when development was passed over from Dire Wolf Digital to Sparkypants. While many players enjoyed Legends over the preceding two years, it has struggled to find a foothold among more dominant titles such as Wizards of the Coast's Magic: The Gathering Arena and Blizzard's Hearthstone.

As something of a commiseration, all players will receive The Tamriel Collection update free of charge on their next login. The post has over 400 comments at the time of writing, featuring many understandably disappointed players. The servers remain live for now, but if this is indeed the end for Legends, then?? hopefully its dedicated community will find equal joy with one o??f the game's contemporaries.

An update on The Elder Scrolls: Legends [Reddit]

The post Bet?hesda halts all future development?? for The Elder Scrolls: Legends appeared first on Destructoid.

It's a Unicorn!

Bethesda just announced the Jaws of Oblivion expansion for The Elder Scrolls: Legends card game, and guess what?! It's Oblivion-based. As fans recall, the 2006 game, titled "The Elder Scrolls IV," tore open the open world market and went down in history alongside of its predecessor Morrowind.

In turn it crafted some of its own unique lore, and Bethesda is aiming to get back to that with the 75-card expansion arriving October 8, which features a new?? keyword: Invade (summon Oblivion Gates). We can share one card exclusively today in the form of the Unicorn. As a 3-cost card it's pretty humble, and it actually serves as a buffer of sorts for lower power cards, granting them Charge (creatures can attack the turn they are summoned).

As you can imagine this invites all sorts of trickery, like buffing the Unicorn's strength to create a stampede of chargers. It'll require some finesse to reall??y wring out its potential, but even as-??is it should work well against CPUs who won't see it coming.

Unicorn

"You may remember the Unicorn in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion from Hircine’s Daedric shrine quest, or you may have been lucky enough to run across it while you were exploring the woods of Tamriel. Whether you are attempting to ride the creature or kill it for its elegant horn, ??the Unicorn is arguably the most majestic beast you’l??l come across on your travels.

A Legendary Beast from the upcoming Jaws of Oblivion expansion, Unicorn is a small creature with a huge effect. Charge, a keyword which allows creatures to attack the very turn they’re summoned, is one of the most powerful keywords in the game. Unicorn gives it to every creature you have in the same lane with less power than itself! For starters, that’s only going to be creatures you play in the lane with one power. There are decks with a lot of one-power creatures, like Token decks that summon a lot of Imperia??l Grunts; however, the best way to get value out of Unicorn will be by buffing its own power with other effects or Items! For example, if you use a Dawnbreaker to turn Unicorn into a 6/7 from a 2/3, all of a sudden you’ll be giving Charge to every creature you play to that lane with five power or less, and your opponent will have a big problem on their hands."

The post Here’s an exclusive card reveal for The Elder Scrolls: Legends’ Jaws of Oblivion expansion appeared first on Destructoid.

'Cygnus Standard Bearer'

Elder Scrolls: Legends is still laying down expansions, and they've been pretty great. The next one is the Khajiit-centric (!) Moons of Elsweyr, which is arriving later this month and sort of meshes Voltron style with the Elder Scrolls Online Elsweyr update. ??Before it gets here, Bethesda has given us a look at a? new card in the set: the Cygnus Standard Bearer.

The standard bearer is a mid-costed card (4) that has a modest attack stat of three and a defense of two. However, in true bearer fashion, it summons an entire army with it based on each friendly support (and keeps summoning them). It's really easy to slap this down?? in an uneventful lane and suddenly start a full-on war.

Moons of Elsweyr will arrive on June 27 on all platforms, and will add "over 75 cards" to Legends. The big mechanics ??th??is time are wax and wane (which grant you different bonuses based on the phase of the moon) and consume ("eat" a discarded card for bonuses, necromancer style). While that all sounds good, the theme is what I dig the most. Go Khajiit!

Cygnus Standard Bearer

Many Imperials in The Elder Scrolls: Legends summon have effects that summon additional creatures, or “tokens,” and Cygnus Standard Bearer?? continues that trend – with a twist! Cygnus Standard Bearer also cares about the number of Support cards you have in play, and that you play later. This works perfectly with a card like Divine Fervor, a staple inclusion in aggressive Token decks. If you’re able to assemble a board of one or two supports, you’ll be filling up your lanes very quickly using this one card. If it survives for a few turns, you might even get some more free 2/2 Imperial Soldiers for your trouble.

The post Here’s an exclusive card reveal for The Elder Scrolls: Legends’ Moons of Elsweyr expansion appeared first on Destructoid.

Moons of Elsweyr

At Bethesda's E3 event, the presenters took some time to brag on the company's mobile game offerings. Its hit Fallout Shelter has reached over 150 million downloads. The Elder Scrolls: Legends might not have those numbers yet, but it do?es have an incoming expansion.

Moons of Elsweyr is heading to the free-to-play card?? battle game this year. If you're not sure whether yo??u want to get in before that drops, you can check out the trailer above to see if it fits your fancy.

The post The Elder Scrolls: Legends is getting a?n expansion soon appeared first on Destructoid.

'Xivkyn Banelord'

The Elder Scrolls: Legends has slowly been building momentum this past year as it gears up to launch on more pla??tforms and hosts several high quality expansions. So far the next content drop is looking pretty great, as evidenced by our exclusive card reveal, the Xivkyn Banelord.

So the Banelord is a high-costed card, but it comes w?ith the powers to back it up. First up a 1-7 statline isn't bad, especially when the Daedric beast is so defensive-minded and has the guard keyword (which forces enemies to attack it, similar to tau??nt in other card games). But the real key is in the summon ability, which sets every enemy's health in the lane to one: note that once an enemy's health is altered, attacking the Banelord would inherently kill them.

Christian Van Hoose, ESL Community Manager also took the time to break the card down below. Xivkyn Banelord will arrive in the Alliance War expansion (which focuses on factions like the Empire, Daggerfall Cov?enant, Ebonheart Pact, Aldmeri Dominion and the Guildsworn). on April 15.&nb?sp;It'll feature 100 new cards.

Xivkyn Banelord 

Xivkyn Banelord’s power comes from its effect. Being able to set the health of all enemy creatures in its lane to 1 allows you to use your other creatures to easily pick them off. Even powerful cards like Odahviing and Sotha Sil will be easy to take care of with the Banelord as long as you have a way to finish them off. While Banelor??d’s low power might look like a weakness at first, it actually allows him to be re-used in Control decks u?sing Odirniran Necromancer, which is able to summon him from the discard pile.

The post Here’s an exclusive card reveal for The Elder Scrolls: Legends’ Alliance War expansion appeared first on Destructoid.

Coming later this year

Bethesda has been showing the Switch a lot of love and that trend continues with The Elder Scrolls: Legends. The digital card game is being ported to Ninte??ndo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox?? One.

Along with plans for new cards, new modes, and new ways to play, newly-tagged-in developer Sparkypants Studios is working on overhauling the user interface. Bethesda says that all your progress will carry over to the upcoming console versions of Legends through your Bethesda.net account.

The post The Elder Scrolls: Legends headed to Switch, PS4, and Xb??ox?? One appeared first on Destructoid.

Out on PC, Mac, iOS, and Android this year

At Bethesda's E3 showcase this evening, Pete Hines got up on stage to talk about the card game set in its fantasy world. It has been in beta for a?? handful of players for a few months, and that beta will be opening up further soon.

Some of the two-lane card gameplay was shown, but the bigger showing was the intro cinematic, which has a rad owl in it. B??ethesda also revealed it would be expanding the supported platforms when The Elder Scrolls: Legends releases later this year. It will be out on PC, Mac, iPad, and Android tablets.

The post Here’s The Elder Scrolls: Legends intro cinematic appeared first on Destructoid.

Blue-Eyes White Dovahkiin

That free-to-play strategy card game based on The Elder Scrolls? Still happening.

Leading into PAX East this weekend, where The Elder Scrolls: Legends will be playable at booth #8021, Bethesda Softworks and Dire Wolf Digital have begun taking on closed beta applicants for the PC version. The title is also planned for re?lease on iPad as well as "additional platforms."

Think anyone will see this imagery on ?the show floor and get their hop??es up?

Speaking of, here are some mischievous alternate headl??ines born o??ut of our office chat:

• You can play the next Elder Scrolls on PC before its iPad release
• The new Elder Scrolls brings back some fan-favorite characters
• Elder Scrolls: Legends, more like Magic the Gathering amirite?
• This new Elder Scrolls sure is different
• New Elder Scrolls is unlike anything we've seen before
• The Elder Scrolls: Legends blew my mind and restored my faith in humanity
• The Elder Scrolls: Legends gave me a boner
• Zodiac Killer Ted Cruz wants to ban The Elder Scrolls: Legends, but his college roommate caught him playing it under the covers

The post The Elder Scrolls: Lege?nds is rol?ling out its PC beta appeared first on Destructoid.