League of Legends April Fools: URF Mode Takes Over
Last April Fools’ Day, Riot Games, the developer of popular game League of Legends, introduced a special gameplay mode called URF Mode. URF stands for “Ultra Rapid Fire,” and it brought some major changes to the game. In URF Mode, spell cooldowns were reduced by 80%, spells had no mana cost, and attack speed was increased for champions who relied on basic attacks. This led to a chaotic and action-packed game, with players able to use their spells more frequently and deal more damage. It was a fun and unbalanced experience unlike anything players had seen before.
Riot went even further to celebrate April Fools’ Day with a special URF showmatch between the top two North American teams, Cloud 9 and Team SoloMid. The game quickly became the talk of the day, with discussions about the exciting matchup flooding forums like Reddit. Here are the top five moments:
1) Level 1 Flash Invade Party
The game started with an exciting move from Cloud 9, as they decided to invade Team SoloMid’s jungle using their Flash spell. In normal games, Flash is a valuable resource to be used cautiously, but with the faster cooldown in URF Mode, Cloud 9 knew they could use it more often. This led to an intense initial battle between the two teams.
2) EU Caster Takeover & NA Caster Comeback
During the game, the North American broadcasters were interrupted by their European counterparts, who invaded the broadcast from Germany. The European crew took over the broadcast for a couple of minutes before the Los Angeles broadcasters regained control.
3) Rise of Urgot
Urgot, a champion rarely picked in professional play, became the star of the show in URF Mode. Cloud 9’s William “Meteos” Hartman chose him as his URF jungler and showcased the power of the champion with now-spammable spells and abilities. Hartman ended the game with eleven kills and only two deaths.
4) Cake
One spectator was so stunned by the amazing match that they were frozen mid-bite.
5) “In Your Face” Interviews
The broadcast team decided to interview players while they were playing the game. Caster Sam “Kobe” Hartman-Kenzler got up close and personal with Team SoloMid’s Brian “TheOddOne” Wyllie, even performing a vision test mid-game. Then, caster David “Phreak” Turley took control and started giving commands to Cloud 9, which led to some hilarious moments.
This URF Mode was one of the best April Fools’ Day pranks from a corporate gaming company. Not only was it fun, but it also had a significant impact on players. Many people are now requesting that URF Mode becomes a permanent addition to the game. The majority of comments on Riot’s announcement, as well as various Reddit threads, express how much fun the new mode is and how players want to keep playing it.
However, due to the unbalanced nature of URF Mode, Riot will likely remove it at the end of the week, just like they did with the well-received One For All mode from the previous year. Riot wants to maintain the integrity of the game and the balance they have worked on over the years. But they have promised to continue introducing new game types for players to enjoy, including bringing back fan-favorite modes. As for now, League of Legends will be full of laughter and chaos, at least for a little while.