League of Legends Classic isn't the launch experience, it's a "greatest hits" of the early years

Riot Games has finally lifted the lid on League of Legends Classic as promised, and my big takeaway is that this isn't just a transportation back in time to 2009, but rather a greatest hits collection of its first few seasons. That said, there are certainly a lot of the fundamentals of that initial experience in LoL Classic: Riot promises the old-school map, gameplay design, and "original champions, items, and metas from the early days" of the MOBA. AP Yi, Deathfire Grasp, stunlock Sion - get ready, because League Classic arrives in just a few weeks on Wednesday July 29. Let's take a closer look.

To showcase League of Legends Classic to its fullest, Riot hosted a showmatch on its main stage ahead of the MSI Grand Final, which is taking place right now in Korea. It featured two teams of iconic faces from League history, including the likes of William 'Scarra' Li and Yiliang (Peter) 'Doublelift' Peng. You can catch the full game below, so I won't spoil the result, but it's all here: builds like TP/Revive Karthus, the classic Hunter's Machete for Junglers, and yes, even Mana Potions and Crystalline Flasks.

To tell us more, LoL's Executive Producer Paul 'Pabro' Bellezza' sat down with regular tournament host Eefje 'Sjokz' Depoortere. "It was so much fun," he says of the showmatch, "seeing little Baron, seeing everyone's picks, seeing Doublelift do what he does - it was nostalgic, it was really cool."

"We've been wanting to do this for a long time - the community's been asking for it," Pabro remarks of LoL Classic. He says the concept actually came from a group of Rioters working in the studio's experimental 'Thunderdome,' explaining, "it's like a hackathon that we do." The initial prototype was based on Season Three, and the rest of the team enjoyed it so much that it decided to expand it into a full thing.

League Classic isn't just taking things back to day one. It'll start roughly around the Season Three mark, but wiggling "a little bit before and after" as well. Pabro thinks of it more as "a greatest hits of League." There will be 60 champions, with the original 40 all present and correct, although Pabro notes that "some will unlock over time." You've also got the original Masteries with Offense, Defense, and Utility trees, and the return of Runes. "Forget the grind," Riot writes, "You'll start with a base page and naturally unlock more as you level up."

"We've taken some of the more fun character designs… and some of the less egregious ones," Pabro continues, noting that Riot put "ones we knew were not that great" back into storage. "For the most part, it should feel like the way it did then." Interestingly, Riot also mentions that you'll be able to "vote with the community to shape the future of the Classic experience," suggesting that we'll have some measure of control over how it grows and evolves.

It may be just a few weeks out, but we'll have even more details on League Classic much sooner than that. Head of League Studio Andrei 'Meddler' van Roon confirms via Reddit that there will be a "PBE and a dev blog that covers a range of things" on Tuesday. He notes that this blog will also address other details including the way skins are handled - I was a little surprised to see more modern designs and post-rework champion models in the showmatch, such as three-tailed Skarner rather than his pre-VGU look.

In another response, Meddler elaborates, "The champs that are in this build aren't all the champs that will ever be in Classic, just the first wave." He mentions being most excited to try Urgot and Graves, and confirms "Old Sion should be there day one." You can expect "additional old-school champs added over time," but Meddler notes that the team has "a stopping point in mind from 2013 when it comes to champ releases." However, he says that the actual progression we get "will depend on what people who play Classic want."

League of Legends Classic launches on Wednesday July 29, alongside patch 26.15. It'll be accessible through the regular League of Legends client, so if you're returning especially for it you'll want to make sure your account is up to date.

I'm tentatively excited for what we've been shown. I personally had my fingers crossed for the full old-school look, from janky hero models to that original UI, and that isn't what we saw during today's showmatch. Perhaps it'll be available as a toggle down the line, however, or integrated by Riot in the future if there's enough demand from the audience. As someone who struggles to keep up with the pace of modern LoL as anything more than a spectator, however, I'm certainly eager to give League of Legends Classic a try.