TFT lead dev explains how a new designer saved Set 10’s Headliner mechanic

Teamfight Tactics’ lead designer Mortdog revealed that Set 10’s Headliner mechanic was saved by a new designer whose changes significantly improved the experience.

Set 10 of Teamfight Tactics is rearing to hop onto the live servers. The tenth set to be released, Remix Rumble promises to have players grooving to their own tunes as they fight for supremacy in the convergence. Filled to the brim with bands and music-themed units, the next set of TFT is going to be an absolute bop.

As per usual, the new set sees the rotation of units, traits, and mechanics, as well as the removal of the legend mechanic. Set 10 sees a similar reprisal of the Chosen mechanic from Set 4, which allows players to field a powerful unit that grants bonuses to their army.

Headliners are slightly different from Chosen, however. Instead of completely blocking Headliners from appearing in your shop when you own one, the powerful units will be shown once every 4 shops. This originally wasn’t the case but was changed thanks to a new designer according to lead dev Mortdog.

TFT lead dev explains how a new dev saved Set 10’s mechanic

TFT lead designer Mortdog shared the story of how a new designer defied all odds to help make Set 10 better.

“When we first set up the Headliner mechanic… it actually worked like Chosen used to, where you’d have to sell it to get a new one. And it worked fine… but it had a lot of the same problems where you felt you had to high-roll and stuff like that.

“This new designer was like ‘Look, we need to make it for a lot of new players where they can see more Headliners in the shop’. And at first, the team dismissed it, they were like ‘No we did Chosen before this is how it worked, it’s fine.’”

Fortunately, the new designer didn’t back down, convincing Mortdog to test it.

“When we tested it, it was very good. What it actually did was make it more skillful, it made it so that you could sell it and gain a bigger advantage but you could still pivot and stuff like that. It made it easier for new players, so it was just a massive win.

“So yeah, it was one of those things where if that designer had given up they were told no, we would have a worse set mechanic.”