Chumps Preview is a special kind of post where we unofficially preview games in Early Access, Beta, or are otherwise “unfinished.” This kind of preview is meant to be a first impression rather than a definitive review where we provide a rating to determine a game’s value. As such, we fill expect a game covered in a Chumps Preview to have room for improvement, some bugginess/incompleteness, and other features associated with similar games in the category.
This past week, DigitalChumps was invited to collaborate with Riot Games and participate in a private test their newest Teamfight Tactics (TFT) expansion, Inkborn Fables. In the handful of games I played, I was treated to testing out the newest expansion’s mechanics as well as given a glimpse of its future east-Asian inspired cosmetics, little legends, and updates to the game systems that many players will enjoy. Before I continue, I want to emphasize that this preview contained many elements that are subject to drastic change, adjustment, and refinement between now and Inkborn Fables’ March 20 release. The content that was shown is NOT FINAL.
In case you haven’t played Teamfight Tactics before, here’s the gist. Teamfight Tactics is one of the most played auto battlers on the market. You are pitted against seven other players, in which you’re tasked with formulating the strongest team of units. Think of this like a more strategic battle royale featuring incredibly high amounts of variance. Each time you play, your opponents may be different, the units you have access to can be different, and the in-game rules and modifiers (more on this in a moment) may be drastically different, too. This makes the experience tests of managing variance, identifying winnable opportunities, and playing flexibly to ensure you can scrape by with a top 4 rather than placing eighth.
Over the past few years, Teamfight Tactics has grown and evolved in ways that I never imagined. What began as a simple autobattler has evolved to include new forms of variance every few months. This variances includes things like units that are already upgraded and contain additional power (e.g., Chosen, Headliners), individual gameplay modifiers that players can choose from (e.g., Augments), and universal modifiers that impact all players in the current match (e.g., Galaxies, Portals).
Truth be told, I’m a huge fan of TFT. I’ve played it casually for the past few years, peaking at diamond rank (top 1% or so of players in North America) and top 500 players in its Hyper Roll mode. I’ve continuously returned to it every month just to decompress, play a game or two, and get a taste of its refreshingly satisfying strategy gameplay before bed or in between meetings. Every new set has excited me because of how much the core elements remain while new mechanics are introduced that refresh the game and simultaneously keep it fun.
Inkborn Fables is another TFT expansion where I’m excited by the future possibilities of each new match. Let’s get to why:
The newest gameplay mechanic in Inkborn Fables is the inclusion of Encounters! Every stage will contain a random event in which a League of Legends will appear and grant all players with a permanent or temporary bonus. For instance, Neeko could emerge and grant all players a three-starred one-cost unit that lasts for several turns but does not add to a player’s traits. Or, Neeko could make it so that all player levels are odd, meaning that it takes more experience to level from 3 to 5, 5 to 7, and 7 to 9! Sometimes an encounter can be the first thing you see, it can occur in the same turn as a carousel (making it a chaotic encounter), or in the round before a PvE battle against minions/raptors. Or whenever!
Encounters are a lot of fun, real talk. In the twenty matches I played during my preview, I was only hitting a “previous” encounter once per match, making most of the games I played quite unique and vastly different from each other. TFT thrives on game variance and unpredictability, and Encounters enhance that variability in ways that encourage players to critically think about optimization and flexibility rather than simply adding variance for the sake of variance.
Encounters add variance without dramatically forcing players into pigeonholed playstyles or ways they might not want to play. I’m typically cautious when gameplay mechanics are introduced that add variance, whether it be miniscule or egregious. Some folks hop into games like TFT to decompress and play their favorite comps (compositions), while others hop on to stress test the chaotic nature of TFT’s variability and see how things go. When I see an Encounter like one that makes it so that all rerolls during the match cost 1g rather than 2g or an Encounter like one that has players “bet” on whether they will win or lose their next player round, I’m relieved to see that I’m still given agency. Changing the reroll from 2g to 1g for all players might make it so that rerolling is probably an optimal strategy. But, if I hit all Fortune units early on that allow me to capitalize on lose-streaking for a big late-game cashout, I can still attempt to fast-9 (get to levels 9 or 10 as fast as possible) without being punished with an automatic eighth place for opting not to reroll.
Like all new TFT expansions, Inkborn Fables contains a handful of traits and origins from earlier sets as well as unique ones. New to this set include Storyweavers (a summoning trait that grants players a Kayle unit as an additional summoned unit when the trait is active), Inkshadows (a trait that grants players unique Inkshadow items similar to the Shimmerscale trait from set 7’s Dragonlands), and Exalted (a randomized trait that functions similarly to Mirage from set 7’s Dragonlands; more on this in a moment). Some of the returning traits/origins include Bruisers (tanky units that gain bonus health), Arcanists (grants other arcanists bonus ability power), and Snipers (units that deal more damage to units who are further away).
I’ve always appreciated evergreen traits and origins returning with each new set, as the learning curve for TFT tends to be steeper than other games because of how information-heavy the game is. Thankfully, in-game tools have been added to the game over the years that have made the game easier to understand, but the fact remains that TFT and other autobattlers face an uphill battle in onboarding new players without subjecting them to information overload or whiplash whenever system changes are made.
On the topic of new traits, I want to praise Riot for the introduction of the Exalted trait. In each game of Inkborn Fables, up to six units are randomly selected to be Exalted. When the trait is active, your team gains bonus damage and a “soul core” is added to players’ bench after each player combat round. That soul core can be sold at any time and can grant experience to the player. I particularly love how Exalted can encourage wacky team compositions that would not have otherwise worked. For instance, in one game, I took advantage of Exalted units that I hit in the first few matches to get an experience lead which ultimately helped me hit level 7 earlier than the rest of the lobby. Because each game features different sets of Exalted units, the sky is the limit with how players can experiment and hopefully succeed if they choose to play flexibly.
As TFT has grown, just about all of the currently-released champions in League of Legends have been made available in-game for League players who main specific champions. As an Ivern main, I have always been excited to see Ivern in TFT. While he sadly isn’t in Inkborn Tales, many familiar faces have returned such as Yasuo, Yone, Caitlyn, Neeko, Yorick, and Thresh. On top of that, two additional units who are not physically in League have joined the fray. First up is Alune – yes, Aphelios’ sister. Alune is an Umbral Invoker who shields backlines while also dealing damage to rows of units who have the most health. While playtesting, she frequently surprised me with her damage output. The other new non-League character added to Inkborn Fables is Kobuko – a new Bruiser Fortune Yordle. I especially love him because of how he mentions berries when he’s selected from the character shop – he sounds like Ivern!
I love seeing non-League units in TFT, as it elevates the game and makes it distinct from the LoL and Legends of Runeterra source material. When Silco (from Arcane) was originally added to TFT in set 6.5, it felt like TFT was supporting Riot’s Runeterran universe without leaning exclusively on League. Silco complemented the game well, as do the likes of Kobuko and Alune. I sincerely hope that additional Runeterran units are added to the game, even if it’s for the sake of fully realizing the Runeterran universe.
Inkborn Fables leans heavily on East Asian art thematics, which I absolutely love. Seeing seemingly hand-painted nature and serenity represented in TFT is an excellent departure from the neon-charged aesthetic of the current TFT set, Remix Rumble. League players who are already familiar with the Inkborn, Porcelain, and Lunar Revel skinlines will be thrilled to see units with these skins and their beautifully designed effects when champions cast their spells and attack. While TFT has mildly dabbled with Eastern Asian art before in sets 4 (Fates) and 7 (Dragonlands), Inkborn Fables nails the thematic in a distinct yet memorable fashion.
While I only got to play a handful of games during the playtest period, none of the upcoming cosmetics and out-of-game systems changes were available to me. However, we were given a great sneak peek as to what new chibis and arenas will be making their way to players. As always, they look adorable, gorgeous, yet funny (especially the upcoming chibi champion – her finisher looks AWESOME!).
I want to emphasize that the Inkborn Fables I tested may be slightly different than what players can expect from Riot Games’ TFT team in a few weeks. If you’re interested in testing it out before it hits the live servers in March, it should be available on the PBE soon!
I’m excited for folks to get their hands on Inkborn Fables. It’s a gorgeous new set that nails its thematic and introduces a good amount of variance that doesn’t negatively impact player agency. I cannot wait to see how folks react to the new content and express their creativity later this month!
