"Legends of Luneterra" just launched its open beta last week, but according to executive producer Jeff Jew, Riot Games is already working on a roadmap through 2022. In our big interview, which you can read here, Jew talks a great deal about Riot's future plans, including new card sets and ways to play.

"We're working on multiple sets right now as well. I can't go super deep into what those sets are or how many there are, but some of them are almost done at this point." We're still balancing them and there's a little bit of art left, but they are real sets. We are playtesting them.

Similarly, Jew confirmed that the team is also investigating and prototyping several new game modes. Currently, players can participate in standard ranked matchmaking, casual matchmaking, play against the AI, and Runeterra's own draft, but Jew expects that new modes will eventually be added." We're actually developing some ideas for modes, none of which we can talk about today, but our goal is to make the game feel fresh and allow you to use the cards in different ways."

The good news is that Riot is thinking this far ahead. Because "Legends of Runeterra" is actually a lot of fun--unless you're already sick of card games. It has the most generous free-to-play game I've played in a long time, with a unique progression system that rewards cards at a very steady pace; Jew estimates that free-to-play base players can usually own "60-70%" of the initial set a month after starting to play He expects this to be the case.

While this is good news for my wallet, it also means that Legends of Runeterra needs new cards on a regular basis. Nevertheless, it is nice to be able to play a competitive card game without having to spend money.

For more on "Legends of Runeterra," including how Riot intends to meta-balance the game and what changes will be made in the open beta, see the full interview. A review of "Legends of Luneterra" will be posted next week.