[2022] *Inhales copium* Lor is doing fine

I'll apologize in advance for the god-awful English that you'll be forced to bear through the entire post

- For early clarification, I have been an avid fan of Lor for well over a year now and will very happily trade off my firstborn child to Riot executives for a 2-second-long promotion of the Darkin expansion in the league client.

With Snap making a debut as the new cool kid in the TCG block with daddy Ben Brode at his side- and Hearthstone getting a new expansion centered around the LICH KING, I say - with an extreme sense of subjectiveness - that life has not very been kind towards Lor for the past month- as if everything happening around Lor was trying to merge into a giant foot in an attempt to curb-stomp the poor game.

To be fair, it didn't come off as much of a surprise to me at first when streamers I'd known started to switch their focus over to Snap content. If I was a content creator during the Seraphine epidemic (circa 2022) - and some blokes in Snap sponsored me to try out their newly-baked game, You bet your ass I would've jumped for the opportunity and started digging in.

What really got me surprised was - as most people would already expect - when Mogwai, one of THE content creators for Lor - Started posting Snap videos. I was first made aware of Mog's existence when he had an appearance as one of the interviewees in an hour-long Youtube video about Artifact's demise- and has been really enjoying his videos to the present day.

I was originally certain that Mog was content with Lor and had no intention of making drastic changes to his ways - until nearly jumping out of my chair a month ago when I saw Wolverine's (Sorry I meant Savage Reckoner from BestBuy) face hovering over the thumbnail of his newest upload.

Though absolutely devastated and utterly convinced for the first few weeks that Mog would "get back on track" with Lor content, I was eventually able to come to terms with the fact that even though his method of switching games came off as a little peculiar, forcing himself to play the same game for well over 2 years with no sponsorship purely out of compassion - will likely neither help Mogwai to pay his bills nor rekindle his interest for the game.

I dig Mog's new content, and am actually generally happy with the fact that he was gracious enough to refrain from deleting all of his Lor-related videos(yet) after the Spanish Inquisition levels (no pun intended) of badgering he received so far from people still in denial.

In addition to that, I could not help but notice the recent flux in passive-aggressive mean-spirited comments being flung at Snap - alongside people jumping on the bandwagon to taking the dispute as a god-given sign to start spreading the bitterness towards the Creators who were simply trying out Snap for the sake of it.

Here are my two cents on the whole situation-

• For christ's sake, Snap is NOT THE LOR KILLER. what actually led Lor to its temporary decline in viewership and content creation was not because "Snap happened", but rather took place as a resulting consequence of an unfortunate series of events that includes but are not limited to-

1. Stagnation of the meta & accompanied by the feeling of frustration towards the state of the game
2. Rise in TCG content
3. People waiting for Worlds to take place and return with their 300000 shards in inventory when the final bit of expansion finally rolls in
4. Lor's lack of advertisement

• I don't know if people in this sub are into cuckoldry, but some peeps seem to portray Snap as the origin-of-all-evil-shoots-your-puppy-and-takes-your-wife-type of game that wrung Lor's viewership dry - when we didn't even have much viewership on twitch to begin with. People seem to love to use Snap as a scapegoat and go through a rigorous amount of Olympic-level of mental gymnastics to shift everything currently wrong with our current state of the game to Snap's fault.
• I consider Snap and Lor to be polar opposites for the following reasons:

1. Snap was developed with the intention of making a rapid-fire mobile game where individual games close to an end in six turns(7 if you are feeling extra evil and decide to play Magik), and leans more towards the rng-dependant, cosmetic-collecting side of the genre it belongs to.
2. Lor seems to more leaning towards providing players with ample room to theorize, deckbuild and express their understanding of the game in multiple methods.

• For that, although belonging to the same genre, they are almost incomparable.
• Snap is only a month into its official release. Contrary to what some people seem to believe, the game shows plenty of potentials and will continue to expand in size despite their wishes. The game being mobile-centric or seemingly less skill expressive will NOT be the only judging factor that determines the game's overall odds of success.
  Comparing it to Lor's previously-established set of standards and disapproving of certain underdeveloped aspects of the game is equivalent to chiding a baby for not being able to recite the 10 commandments while simultaneously rocking 5 backflips.
• There's no shame in arguing that today's Runeterra is a somewhat niche game in a niche genre. I personally believe Snap helps Lor to some degree; by serving as a good entry gate to the genre of TCGs and helping people to find the fun in it via its approachable nature.
• This isn't a dick-measuring contest and we have no need to feel inferior to snap. They simply cater to a completely different set of audiences and are tied to a more mainstream franchise. I think it's about time to admit that neither of us is going away anytime soon - and learn to be good roommates through respecting each other's games and interacting in a healthier sort-of way.

As mortals who tread upon the soil - with the weight of time digging into our shoulders little by little with every passing moment, we need to understand that there will be always better things in life to cherish/commit ourselves to than making fun of a Spaniard YouTuber for his occasional slightly biased takes on certain aspects of the game - or wishing ill omen on a mobile game for being fairly successful for valid reasons.

I love this game to the fullest, but sometimes loving something means biting the bullet and coming to terms with all parts of it - warts and all - and attempting the best to understand that although some sides of the game can come off as seemingly lacking at times, It will repay you by being substantially better in the other way; Like how every 5 Sera players(yuck) I encounter in my ranked climb, I put This banger of a soundtrack playing on an hour-long loop in my every morning subway rides. /s

Now, with all the stuff needed saying being said, I'll shuffle myself back to the subreddit and will very likely start cringing for making this post in the first place three seconds into this getting posted.

Yall have a great day, and remember - POC Irelia is a blight upon humanity.

-I WILL ACCEPT ANY SORT OF FEEDBACK WITH ABSOLUTE GRATITUDE

External link →