Riot's League-Based Auto-Chess Game, Teamfight Tactics, Goes Into Beta Tomorrow

Auto-chess is a full-blown sensation now. Valve's Dota Underlords is doing quite well, to the tune of 200,000 or so active players at peak times, so in response, Riot Games has crafted its own auto-chess variant on League of Legends, titled Teamfight Tactics, and it's due to launch tomorrow.

Teamfight Tactics is described in detail on the League site, but the basic premise appears to be the same as Underlords'. Buy champions, boost them in various ways, set them on a board, and let them fight until just one player is left standing. One twist is that players will sometimes take turns buying champions, going in reverse order of standings, so that lower-placed players can have the chance to catch up.

Teamfight Tactics will go into beta tomorrow, June 26. Unlike Dota Underlords, it will only be available as a game mode within the League of Legends client. While Riot hasn't announced any plans to break it out into its own standalone game, you'd have to think the notion is on the table, especially seeing how well Dota Underlords has performed.