Legends of Runeterra - Card game by Riot Games
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Valderen
Space Pirate
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i
I‘m a casual player, I follow the game and meta to some extent but mostly just play for fun. I get triggered in Ranked, where the exact same loss wouldn’t bother in Normal. I find Normal to be way more diverse too, people do play meta decks but they also try tons of different stuff so it’s more fun to me. Gotta find that sweet spot where you’re happy with how you play otherwise you just burn out.
I‘m a casual player, I follow the game and meta to some extent but mostly just play for fun. I get triggered in Ranked, where the exact same loss wouldn’t bother in Normal. I find Normal to be way more diverse too, people do play meta decks but they also try tons of different stuff so it’s more fun to me. Gotta find that sweet spot where you’re happy with how you play otherwise you just burn out.
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Ravishing
Uninspiring Title
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Landmark deck has a lot of elements to it that just make it impossible to say, but here's my first look evaluation:
(Good/Great) Taliyah - Looking good!
Cons
(Good) Stoneweaving: This card is potentially INSANE. Assuming the text is accurate and it creates ANY landmark. You can run this early and grab a cheap landmark for whatever reason, or in late game you play it and potentially get an engine landmark, like the Freljord one that creates level 2 champions. Maybe it's not main deckable, but I think it has some potential.
(Good/Great) Shaped Stone: Looks really good, maybe too good. 1 mana cheaper than Pale Cascade and has 2 more power, it doesn't draw a card which is the main drawback. But it applies so much pressure.
(Bad) Sai Scout: Weak/Bad. I can't imagine you want this. I don't think Predict keyword is going to be good enough to want this.
(Poor) Hibernating Rockbear: You're spending 2 mana for a 5/4 on turn 5. But this card gets really bad if you can't play it turn 2. Maybe the synergy with Taliyah and/or Promising Future makes it better. But I think those cases will happen too infrequently. Compared to 1 mana yeti in Freljord, which can come out Turn 4 and can come with a 3/3 body, I can't see this card being that great.
(Good/Great) Desert Naturalist: Card seems really great. Summon that 5/4 rockbear and also destroy an enemy landmark, or 1 of your own. You're getting 7/8 worth of stats for 4 mana AND you are potentially destroying an important enemy unit.
(Poor/Bad) Salt Spire: Assuming the Rockbear is the strongest unit when this goes off, then 4 mana for a 7/6 on turn 6. Just too slow, especially for a turn 4 or later play. Maybe has potential with Taliyah and/or Promising Future. I see some major board space issues here, especially for late game.
(Good/Great) Rock Hopper: Nice 2 drop that gives you a "Trap" token. The token helps level Taliyah and can be used as a sacrifice for Naturalist at times. Also great synergy with Renekton to help him "Challenge".
(Poor/Average) Unraveled Earth: Only there to power level Taliyah or to help Renekton. A bit costly for what it does. Might have a place in decks but only out of necessity.
(S-tier) Ancient Hourglass: Looks insane. So much potential. Possibly the best card here.
(Good) Ancient Preparations: Will be in every Taliyah deck. Predict on turn 1 is actually great. The 2/2 is a nice bonus.
(Good) Aspiring Chronomancer: Early Predict is good. 2 mana 2/3 is ok. Not seeing too many 2-drops in Shurima so far. Rock Hopper is good but doesn't have the health to soak up blocks.
(Good/Great) Xenotype Researchers: 3 mana for 3/3 is fine but adding +9/+9 in your deck is really good. You can control the effect to an extent when deck building. Scary with Elusives, but has a lot of potential and you don't sacrifice much at all to have this in your deck.
(Bad) Khahiri the Student: 3 mana conditional 4/4. meh.
(Bad/Poor) Khahiri the Returned: too expensive. This card is funny in that you can avoid being milled. But you can only ever drop 1 at a time. And buffing him requires some RNG prediction. Definitely a strong meme deck here which I look forward to trying... and then trashing immediately.
(Good/Great) Preservarium: 2 mana draw 2? Nice.
(Poor/Meme) Promising Future: Most worthy on the bad landmarks and less useful on the good landmarks. Not much promise here that I see.
(Good/Great) Taliyah - Looking good!
Cons
- 5 mana
- Low Power
- level 1 form is meh
- level 2 looks very strong
- easy level up
- high health
- applies nexus damage on her own
- takes care of any blocker with 6 or less health (at level 2).
- potential to have a lot of synergy with other regions (P&Z for +skill damage, Plunder mechanics, Sejuani, Gangplank, Barrel synergy)
- Also same-region synergy with Renekton (so far).
(Good) Stoneweaving: This card is potentially INSANE. Assuming the text is accurate and it creates ANY landmark. You can run this early and grab a cheap landmark for whatever reason, or in late game you play it and potentially get an engine landmark, like the Freljord one that creates level 2 champions. Maybe it's not main deckable, but I think it has some potential.
(Good/Great) Shaped Stone: Looks really good, maybe too good. 1 mana cheaper than Pale Cascade and has 2 more power, it doesn't draw a card which is the main drawback. But it applies so much pressure.
(Bad) Sai Scout: Weak/Bad. I can't imagine you want this. I don't think Predict keyword is going to be good enough to want this.
(Poor) Hibernating Rockbear: You're spending 2 mana for a 5/4 on turn 5. But this card gets really bad if you can't play it turn 2. Maybe the synergy with Taliyah and/or Promising Future makes it better. But I think those cases will happen too infrequently. Compared to 1 mana yeti in Freljord, which can come out Turn 4 and can come with a 3/3 body, I can't see this card being that great.
(Good/Great) Desert Naturalist: Card seems really great. Summon that 5/4 rockbear and also destroy an enemy landmark, or 1 of your own. You're getting 7/8 worth of stats for 4 mana AND you are potentially destroying an important enemy unit.
(Poor/Bad) Salt Spire: Assuming the Rockbear is the strongest unit when this goes off, then 4 mana for a 7/6 on turn 6. Just too slow, especially for a turn 4 or later play. Maybe has potential with Taliyah and/or Promising Future. I see some major board space issues here, especially for late game.
(Good/Great) Rock Hopper: Nice 2 drop that gives you a "Trap" token. The token helps level Taliyah and can be used as a sacrifice for Naturalist at times. Also great synergy with Renekton to help him "Challenge".
(Poor/Average) Unraveled Earth: Only there to power level Taliyah or to help Renekton. A bit costly for what it does. Might have a place in decks but only out of necessity.
(S-tier) Ancient Hourglass: Looks insane. So much potential. Possibly the best card here.
(Good) Ancient Preparations: Will be in every Taliyah deck. Predict on turn 1 is actually great. The 2/2 is a nice bonus.
(Good) Aspiring Chronomancer: Early Predict is good. 2 mana 2/3 is ok. Not seeing too many 2-drops in Shurima so far. Rock Hopper is good but doesn't have the health to soak up blocks.
(Good/Great) Xenotype Researchers: 3 mana for 3/3 is fine but adding +9/+9 in your deck is really good. You can control the effect to an extent when deck building. Scary with Elusives, but has a lot of potential and you don't sacrifice much at all to have this in your deck.
(Bad) Khahiri the Student: 3 mana conditional 4/4. meh.
(Bad/Poor) Khahiri the Returned: too expensive. This card is funny in that you can avoid being milled. But you can only ever drop 1 at a time. And buffing him requires some RNG prediction. Definitely a strong meme deck here which I look forward to trying... and then trashing immediately.
(Good/Great) Preservarium: 2 mana draw 2? Nice.
(Poor/Meme) Promising Future: Most worthy on the bad landmarks and less useful on the good landmarks. Not much promise here that I see.
Valderen
Space Pirate
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As previously mentioned, these are kind hard to evaluate as we've never had a deck that plays like this. Lots of Landmarks that you don't stick around or that you'd want to remove yourself.
Taliyah: She will obviously be limited to Landmark based deck, but she should be pretty good. It looks like she'll be fairly easy to level up in those kind of decks which is good because I feel there's a massive difference in power level between her base form and her leveled up version. Once leveled up with a Landmark in play she will be very hard to block effectively. I hope we see some cheap Landmark that you'd want to remove in other region to help her a bit. She looks fun though.
Stoneweaving: I think it's awesome as a Signature spell for Taliyah, not just for synergy with her but in the type she'll be in. It's also a cool concept that what you'll pull will vary with what you can afford(which I am guessing is Mana available). You could potentially cast something else before casting this to limit the pool of Landmarks that it's pulling from to try and target something you want.
Shaped Stone: Excellent combat trick, 1/1 for 1 mana is good, meeting the requirement for it to be a 3/1 for 1 should be easy and make it into a great card.
Ancient Hourglass/Stasis Statue: I agree with
Ravishing
this is a great card, possibly the best revealed so far in this expansion. This type of card will make dipping into Shurima for some decks worth it.
Rock Hopper/Rolling Sand: This is pretty interesting card, 3/1 for 2 is decent enough. Can block fearsome, or apply some pressure. The really interesting part is the Rolling Sand as this could in some cases act to slow down your opponent from playing something if they don't have a cheap ally to summon first.
Unraveled Earth: Mixed on this, the Rolling Sand is a neat Landmark as mentioned before it will often act a way to slow down your opponent from playing something they want to not be vulnerable. It also draws card which is nice.
Sai Scout: Bad stats even with the Elusive keyword which you only get if you choose a Landmark from your Prediction which somewhat limits it. I doubt it will see much play.
Desert Naturalist: Weak stats but destroying a Landmark by itself usually comes on cards that cost 3/4 mana so getting a body on the board on top of it could be pretty nice. The option to summon a 5/4 if you destroy one of yours is pretty good as this amounts to a lot of stats across 2 bodies. I think this will be a good card.
Hibernating Rockbear: Interesting card, the ability to summon a 5/4 that cost 5 mana for only 2 mana, but that comes out in 3 turns might seem slow but with Taliyah copying a Landmark on entry or with Promising Future it could be interesting you could get a lot of value from it. The dream play being this on turn 3, into Promising Future on turn 4, and copy it with Taliyah on turn 5 to get 4 5/4. on turn 6
Salt Spire: Similar to Hibernating Rockbear except for 4 mana which just makes it worse that Hibernating Rockbear, not sure 1 countdown less and +2/+2 makes it worth it. At 4 mana it's just too slow and make any combo with it come out way too late.
It's an interesting reveal so far, I find that a lot of what has been revealed so far to be very focused on very specific deck building, more than usual anyways. I do like that Shurima seems to be trying a lot of very unique things.
Taliyah: She will obviously be limited to Landmark based deck, but she should be pretty good. It looks like she'll be fairly easy to level up in those kind of decks which is good because I feel there's a massive difference in power level between her base form and her leveled up version. Once leveled up with a Landmark in play she will be very hard to block effectively. I hope we see some cheap Landmark that you'd want to remove in other region to help her a bit. She looks fun though.
Stoneweaving: I think it's awesome as a Signature spell for Taliyah, not just for synergy with her but in the type she'll be in. It's also a cool concept that what you'll pull will vary with what you can afford(which I am guessing is Mana available). You could potentially cast something else before casting this to limit the pool of Landmarks that it's pulling from to try and target something you want.
Shaped Stone: Excellent combat trick, 1/1 for 1 mana is good, meeting the requirement for it to be a 3/1 for 1 should be easy and make it into a great card.
Ancient Hourglass/Stasis Statue: I agree with
Ravishing
this is a great card, possibly the best revealed so far in this expansion. This type of card will make dipping into Shurima for some decks worth it.Rock Hopper/Rolling Sand: This is pretty interesting card, 3/1 for 2 is decent enough. Can block fearsome, or apply some pressure. The really interesting part is the Rolling Sand as this could in some cases act to slow down your opponent from playing something if they don't have a cheap ally to summon first.
Unraveled Earth: Mixed on this, the Rolling Sand is a neat Landmark as mentioned before it will often act a way to slow down your opponent from playing something they want to not be vulnerable. It also draws card which is nice.
Sai Scout: Bad stats even with the Elusive keyword which you only get if you choose a Landmark from your Prediction which somewhat limits it. I doubt it will see much play.
Desert Naturalist: Weak stats but destroying a Landmark by itself usually comes on cards that cost 3/4 mana so getting a body on the board on top of it could be pretty nice. The option to summon a 5/4 if you destroy one of yours is pretty good as this amounts to a lot of stats across 2 bodies. I think this will be a good card.
Hibernating Rockbear: Interesting card, the ability to summon a 5/4 that cost 5 mana for only 2 mana, but that comes out in 3 turns might seem slow but with Taliyah copying a Landmark on entry or with Promising Future it could be interesting you could get a lot of value from it. The dream play being this on turn 3, into Promising Future on turn 4, and copy it with Taliyah on turn 5 to get 4 5/4. on turn 6
Salt Spire: Similar to Hibernating Rockbear except for 4 mana which just makes it worse that Hibernating Rockbear, not sure 1 countdown less and +2/+2 makes it worth it. At 4 mana it's just too slow and make any combo with it come out way too late.
It's an interesting reveal so far, I find that a lot of what has been revealed so far to be very focused on very specific deck building, more than usual anyways. I do like that Shurima seems to be trying a lot of very unique things.
Ravishing
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As previously mentioned, these are kind hard to evaluate as we've never had a deck that plays like this. Lots of Landmarks that you don't stick around or that you'd want to remove yourself.
Taliyah: She will obviously be limited to Landmark based deck, but she should be pretty good. It looks like she'll be fairly easy to level up in those kind of decks which is good because I feel there's a massive difference in power level between her base form and her leveled up version. Once leveled up with a Landmark in play she will be very hard to block effectively. I hope we see some cheap Landmark that you'd want to remove in other region to help her a bit. She looks fun though.
Stoneweaving: I think it's awesome as a Signature spell for Taliyah, not just for synergy with her but in the type she'll be in. It's also a cool concept that what you'll pull will vary with what you can afford(which I am guessing is Mana available). You could potentially cast something else before casting this to limit the pool of Landmarks that it's pulling from to try and target something you want.
Shaped Stone: Excellent combat trick, 1/1 for 1 mana is good, meeting the requirement for it to be a 3/1 for 1 should be easy and make it into a great card.
Ancient Hourglass/Stasis Statue: I agree with
Rock Hopper/Rolling Sand: This is pretty interesting card, 3/1 for 2 is decent enough. Can block fearsome, or apply some pressure. The really interesting part is the Rolling Sand as this could in some cases act to slow down your opponent from playing something if they don't have a cheap ally to summon first.
Unraveled Earth: Mixed on this, the Rolling Sand is a neat Landmark as mentioned before it will often act a way to slow down your opponent from playing something they want to not be vulnerable. It also draws card which is nice.
Sai Scout: Bad stats even with the Elusive keyword which you only get if you choose a Landmark from your Prediction which somewhat limits it. I doubt it will see much play.
Desert Naturalist: Weak stats but destroying a Landmark by itself usually comes on cards that cost 3/4 mana so getting a body on the board on top of it could be pretty nice. The option to summon a 5/4 if you destroy one of yours is pretty good as this amounts to a lot of stats across 2 bodies. I think this will be a good card.
Hibernating Rockbear: Interesting card, the ability to summon a 5/4 that cost 5 mana for only 2 mana, but that comes out in 3 turns might seem slow but with Taliyah copying a Landmark on entry or with Promising Future it could be interesting you could get a lot of value from it. The dream play being this on turn 3, into Promising Future on turn 4, and copy it with Taliyah on turn 5 to get 4 5/4. on turn 6
Salt Spire: Similar to Hibernating Rockbear except for 4 mana which just makes it worse that Hibernating Rockbear, not sure 1 countdown less and +2/+2 makes it worth it. At 4 mana it's just too slow and make any combo with it come out way too late.
It's an interesting reveal so far, I find that a lot of what has been revealed so far to be very focused on very specific deck building, more than usual anyways. I do like that Shurima seems to be trying a lot of very unique things.
I forgot the draw 1 from Unraveling. Makes it better for sure.
Also that naturalist only gets the 5/4 when destroying an allied landmark. Still good and makes you want to run Unraveling just to combo with this.
Ravishing
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Oh boy.
I might become a Lissandra main.
She fits my playstyle perfectly.
Very controlly with a huge late game punch. Awesome.
Looks very well balanced. Love the Nexus has Tough effect and the ability to Obliterate enemy deck, even though it will be very difficult to pull off.
I might become a Lissandra main.
She fits my playstyle perfectly.
Very controlly with a huge late game punch. Awesome.
Looks very well balanced. Love the Nexus has Tough effect and the ability to Obliterate enemy deck, even though it will be very difficult to pull off.
Valderen
Space Pirate
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Damn that looks sweet, I agree big control deck.
Lissandra: Pretty good but very slow to level. I love the tough effect on Nexus when she levels up. Fleeting Ice Shard every start of round will be easy to play for a deck with her since it will have at that point lots of big creature that can easily take 1 damage.
Entomb/Frozen Tomb: I think this is too expensive to be really good, but it has some potential. It takes an enemy out of play for 2 turns with the possibility to destroy the Frozen tomb to prevent it from coming back, but that’s an expensive play. It can also be use on your own unit to prevent them for being removed. Could combo with Taliyah or Promising Future to create a second copy.
Ice Shard: It’s ok but no great, might be dependant on the meta if there’s a lot of aggro it could be better.
Frozen Thrall/Frostguard Thrall: The cornerstone of this release, 1 mana summon an 8 mana 8/8 with overwhelm 8 turns later. Very slow, easy to counter but will feel bad to use 3/4 mana spell to counter a 1 mana play and cost tempo to do so. The Frostguard Thrall is great payoff, 8/8 with overwhelm. It will end many games if you make it that far. Overall it’s great card.
Draklorn Inquisitor: A must have in Lissandra deck or decks that play the Frozen Thrall. Simply put this card is amazing in this archetype. It has to be removed or you could lose the game the next turn if there more than one Frozen Thrall on the board that will trigger.
Three Sisters: It’s ok, it gives some versatility but fundamentally makes the spell cost 1 more as you pay 1 mana to create the spell than the mana to cast the spell. I think it most case it will be better to just have the spells you need rather than this, but will fit in some decks.
Blighted Ravine: Avalanche that heals your Nexus for 4, but takes a turn to activate giving time to counter it or play around it somewhat. Not sure it will see a lot of play. Might be good in combo with Promising Future, heal for 8 and deal 4 to everything but costly combo.
Cold Resistance: I feel this is too expensive.
Watcher: I like this, way slow but ends the game if allowed to happen. Can be countered by a Vengeance, or stuns to prevent it from attacking. It’s a nice payoff.
It's an interesting archtype for sure, all in control for sure. It might be interesting to see how Frozen Thrall plays out though. I think you'll usually want at least 2 on board which limits your board a bit, and a countdown of 8 means you'll have less room on the board for a long time and give a lot of time to your opponent to destroy it. Which if he allows it to be on board for 7 turn and then destroy it...you lose a lot.
It will be interesting to see how it plays out, definitely an interesting archtype.
Lissandra: Pretty good but very slow to level. I love the tough effect on Nexus when she levels up. Fleeting Ice Shard every start of round will be easy to play for a deck with her since it will have at that point lots of big creature that can easily take 1 damage.
Entomb/Frozen Tomb: I think this is too expensive to be really good, but it has some potential. It takes an enemy out of play for 2 turns with the possibility to destroy the Frozen tomb to prevent it from coming back, but that’s an expensive play. It can also be use on your own unit to prevent them for being removed. Could combo with Taliyah or Promising Future to create a second copy.
Ice Shard: It’s ok but no great, might be dependant on the meta if there’s a lot of aggro it could be better.
Frozen Thrall/Frostguard Thrall: The cornerstone of this release, 1 mana summon an 8 mana 8/8 with overwhelm 8 turns later. Very slow, easy to counter but will feel bad to use 3/4 mana spell to counter a 1 mana play and cost tempo to do so. The Frostguard Thrall is great payoff, 8/8 with overwhelm. It will end many games if you make it that far. Overall it’s great card.
Draklorn Inquisitor: A must have in Lissandra deck or decks that play the Frozen Thrall. Simply put this card is amazing in this archetype. It has to be removed or you could lose the game the next turn if there more than one Frozen Thrall on the board that will trigger.
Three Sisters: It’s ok, it gives some versatility but fundamentally makes the spell cost 1 more as you pay 1 mana to create the spell than the mana to cast the spell. I think it most case it will be better to just have the spells you need rather than this, but will fit in some decks.
Blighted Ravine: Avalanche that heals your Nexus for 4, but takes a turn to activate giving time to counter it or play around it somewhat. Not sure it will see a lot of play. Might be good in combo with Promising Future, heal for 8 and deal 4 to everything but costly combo.
Cold Resistance: I feel this is too expensive.
Watcher: I like this, way slow but ends the game if allowed to happen. Can be countered by a Vengeance, or stuns to prevent it from attacking. It’s a nice payoff.
It's an interesting archtype for sure, all in control for sure. It might be interesting to see how Frozen Thrall plays out though. I think you'll usually want at least 2 on board which limits your board a bit, and a countdown of 8 means you'll have less room on the board for a long time and give a lot of time to your opponent to destroy it. Which if he allows it to be on board for 7 turn and then destroy it...you lose a lot.
It will be interesting to see how it plays out, definitely an interesting archtype.
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Ravishing
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Lissandra:
There is so much packed into this 1 champion. She has so many different possible game plans.
Entomb:
Looks great honestly. Might even be a main decked card. The versatility using it on enemy or ally is great. It is a nice counter to Atrocity especially in decks that don't want to run cheap freeze spells, which ramp decks usually don't since they have so many other removal & ramp spells/cards.
Using this to save Lissandra just makes sense. And saving a champion you might have FTR'd out is also really great since they come back as a 10/10, and you don't need to repay the mana cost. If you don't main deck it, then the fact you get it as Lissandra's champ spell or as an option from Three Sisters, means you still likely see this card played a lot.
Ice Shard:
I like it. It's a cheaper Withering Wail, just without the heal portion. It can be used with just spell mana. It's going to help Freljord go long much more consistently. It also works so well with Scar Grounds. This might also be main deckable, it can allow you to MAYBE escape from Shadow Isles (probably not yet).
It also works great with Swain, helps activate Flock & levels Swain and/or procs Swain stun before attack phase. Even though Noxus has Lotus, this card being able to be used outside of attack phase makes it better. Might even see some play with Vlad & his support cards.
Frozen Thrall:
Yikes. I like it as a cheap landmark for Taliyah or as a token from other units. I don't think you ever go full Frozen Thrall in any non-Taliyah deck. It's just so incredibly slow and it becomes such a bad draw every turn after turn 1.
Draklorn Inquisitor:
I am seeing a lot of hype around this card. I'm not seeing it honestly. I can't imagine this being consistent at all. It's a Round End effect, so good luck with that AND you need Frozen Thrall(s) on board, AND their countdown needs to be at 4 or less. That's a TON of conditions to meet. This card is going to brick hard so often. And the 5 mana 4/5 is poop.
Three Sisters:
This is not an auto include card but I know the Teemo/Ez/Sej deck wants this card NOW. I think you'll see some decks try 1-2 copies for utility.
Blighted Ravine:
Good card that will see a lot of play. But now you have some decision on how many Avalanche effects you want. Good problem to have. Maybe it's 2 of each in most cases. I definitely feel this is near auto-include in decks that typically run Avalanche, but you also want to keep Avalanche for the same-turn wipe. Ravine not being able to use Spell Mana is kinda big downside. Dropping this will prevent your opponent from developing into a deadly open attack, that's really nice. The heal+2 is negligble really, but a nice little bonus, makes up a little for not using spell mana.
Cold Resistance:
Might have some consideration over Catalyst. Seems unlikely, but it's possible, or maybe you experiment with 2/2 of each or a 2/1 or even a 3/1. That 4th ramp card can just add a little more consistency to those types of decks. Sometimes you just never see Catalyst. It's not terrible, I don't ever see it being a 3-of. And even 2-of might be very unlikely.
There is so much packed into this 1 champion. She has so many different possible game plans.
- She can be tossed into a Taliyah landmark deck just because she is cheap & provides a landmark, without caring about leveling her.
- Leveling her makes a lot of sense with Trundle, Swain, Sejuani
- Combo options: Scar Grounds, Revitalizing Roar, Spectral Matron
- Tough Nexus is insane on its own, prevents so much damage. Makes you immune to Puffcaps, some Ezreal pings, Miss Fortune & other similar pings.
- The Watcher game plan looks really fun, but it's probably the least likely to occur. Most games will likely still end with Ledros -> Atrocity. I really like the fleeting 0 cost Ice Shard every turn too and feel that could be abused somehow, maybe with Karma, but leveling Lissandra becomes a problem.
Entomb:
Looks great honestly. Might even be a main decked card. The versatility using it on enemy or ally is great. It is a nice counter to Atrocity especially in decks that don't want to run cheap freeze spells, which ramp decks usually don't since they have so many other removal & ramp spells/cards.
Using this to save Lissandra just makes sense. And saving a champion you might have FTR'd out is also really great since they come back as a 10/10, and you don't need to repay the mana cost. If you don't main deck it, then the fact you get it as Lissandra's champ spell or as an option from Three Sisters, means you still likely see this card played a lot.
Ice Shard:
I like it. It's a cheaper Withering Wail, just without the heal portion. It can be used with just spell mana. It's going to help Freljord go long much more consistently. It also works so well with Scar Grounds. This might also be main deckable, it can allow you to MAYBE escape from Shadow Isles (probably not yet).
It also works great with Swain, helps activate Flock & levels Swain and/or procs Swain stun before attack phase. Even though Noxus has Lotus, this card being able to be used outside of attack phase makes it better. Might even see some play with Vlad & his support cards.
Frozen Thrall:
Yikes. I like it as a cheap landmark for Taliyah or as a token from other units. I don't think you ever go full Frozen Thrall in any non-Taliyah deck. It's just so incredibly slow and it becomes such a bad draw every turn after turn 1.
Draklorn Inquisitor:
I am seeing a lot of hype around this card. I'm not seeing it honestly. I can't imagine this being consistent at all. It's a Round End effect, so good luck with that AND you need Frozen Thrall(s) on board, AND their countdown needs to be at 4 or less. That's a TON of conditions to meet. This card is going to brick hard so often. And the 5 mana 4/5 is poop.
Three Sisters:
This is not an auto include card but I know the Teemo/Ez/Sej deck wants this card NOW. I think you'll see some decks try 1-2 copies for utility.
Blighted Ravine:
Good card that will see a lot of play. But now you have some decision on how many Avalanche effects you want. Good problem to have. Maybe it's 2 of each in most cases. I definitely feel this is near auto-include in decks that typically run Avalanche, but you also want to keep Avalanche for the same-turn wipe. Ravine not being able to use Spell Mana is kinda big downside. Dropping this will prevent your opponent from developing into a deadly open attack, that's really nice. The heal+2 is negligble really, but a nice little bonus, makes up a little for not using spell mana.
Cold Resistance:
Might have some consideration over Catalyst. Seems unlikely, but it's possible, or maybe you experiment with 2/2 of each or a 2/1 or even a 3/1. That 4th ramp card can just add a little more consistency to those types of decks. Sometimes you just never see Catalyst. It's not terrible, I don't ever see it being a 3-of. And even 2-of might be very unlikely.
zzeris
King Turd of Shit Hill
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I really like Darklorn Inq. At worst, it's a decent blocker and a removal target. For certain decks trying to get past Avalanche and Blighted, it will live and possibly give you one or more Frostguards in total. A first turn Frozen will get you a Frostguard EoT on Turn 5. Outside of Trundle, I find this to be the most likely way to level Lissandra in a somewhat timely fashion.
I also like Three Sisters a lot. You get three solid spell options and the versatility is unmatched. It works pretty well with any deck that wants to see lots of spells like Puffcap decks. As a control deck, I want versatile cards that aren't totally dead in certain matches.
Ravine is awesome. Such a useful early game card especially with Avalanche in the same deck.
Lissandra will be so much fun because of how many decks you can put her in or experiment with.
I also like Three Sisters a lot. You get three solid spell options and the versatility is unmatched. It works pretty well with any deck that wants to see lots of spells like Puffcap decks. As a control deck, I want versatile cards that aren't totally dead in certain matches.
Ravine is awesome. Such a useful early game card especially with Avalanche in the same deck.
Lissandra will be so much fun because of how many decks you can put her in or experiment with.
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Valderen
Space Pirate
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I feel so far these reveals have been more exciting than the ones for Call of the Mountains expansions. There was some good stuff in the Targon expansions but these look a lot more fun.
Obviously how viable they are will decide in the end if the expansion is good. Looking at Call of the Mountain. Pretty much only Zoe, Trundle and Aphelios see regular play. Diana, Lulu, Riven, Sokara, Leona, Nocturne, Shyvana, Tham Kench, Taric, Viktor, and Aurelion Sol don't see much play now, although some had a short period where they were played most were never really impactful for any period of time
Looking at Rising Tides expansion we have Miss Fortune, Twisted Fate, Lee Sin, Swain and Sejuani which had a big impact and still see play, while Fizz, Maokai, Gangplank, Quinn, Vi and Nautilus might not be as popular now but most certainly had a period where they had a big impact.
I hope mechanics like Predict and Countdown etc.. have more of an impact than Daybreak and Nightfall did.
Obviously how viable they are will decide in the end if the expansion is good. Looking at Call of the Mountain. Pretty much only Zoe, Trundle and Aphelios see regular play. Diana, Lulu, Riven, Sokara, Leona, Nocturne, Shyvana, Tham Kench, Taric, Viktor, and Aurelion Sol don't see much play now, although some had a short period where they were played most were never really impactful for any period of time
Looking at Rising Tides expansion we have Miss Fortune, Twisted Fate, Lee Sin, Swain and Sejuani which had a big impact and still see play, while Fizz, Maokai, Gangplank, Quinn, Vi and Nautilus might not be as popular now but most certainly had a period where they had a big impact.
I hope mechanics like Predict and Countdown etc.. have more of an impact than Daybreak and Nightfall did.
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Hard for me to say. I feel like we were all pretty hyped during release season of Targon.
I remember being big on Diana, Riven, Shyvana, and ASoL.
Maybe the problem with Targon is you had a lot of Support/Defensive champions, so it wasn't as exciting? Soraka, Tahm, Taric, Lulu, Leona are all Support characters (in LoL), so they don't get the premium billing compared to your offensive champions.
With your champion lists, actually ASoL see some good play. But yea, all the other Targon champs in the bottom half.
And Gangplank/Fizz still see great play rates in Rising Tides.
But looking at the play rates Targon has 3 in the top half, and Rising Tides has 4.
You could also say that Soraka, Tahm, Diana & Leona have all had periods of being impactful.
Another issue is Aphelios was an add-on and didn't contribute to any hype during the release season, so maybe he shouldn't count at all.
Here are the play rates of the 49 champions currently in game:
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I'm not looking for mechanics to have more of an impact. I think Daybreak & Nightfall have been largely successful. They definitely contribute to decision making in a big way.
What I'm looking for are decks that require a lot of decision points but don't rely on resource generators/engine cards.
Right now we're in a meta where most decks can poop out resources at an extremely high rate.
Celestials, Aphelios weapons, TF cards & draw, and free elusives that you can duplicate over and over.
Even the Anivia deck with Glutton, Rekindler, Harrowing, etc.
Game times suffer a lot too from all the invoke & continuous skills & resources that these decks output.
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What I like from the current reveals is that they do seem to be very flexible so far. You're not pigeonhold into a "Soraka/Tahm" or "Maokai/Nautilus". Maybe that will change and you'll only ever see Renekton with Nasus/Azir, but at least on paper right now, it looks like there is plenty of experimentation ahead.
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Valderen
Space Pirate
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I agree, much of what I wrote was pretty much in "hindsight" where I looked at the previous expansions knowing the impact they've had. I know I was excited about the reveals when they happened.
I think part of the issue with Call of the Mountains is that while there were interesting Champions revealed, even before the expansion was released and put through it's pace a lot of the Champions were already pigeonholed into some decks as you mentioned like Soraka/Tam Kench while these again as you mentioned seemed more flexible...time will tell if that ends up being true or not.
As far as defensive champions not being as exciting...Lulu is one of my favorite, and Lulu/Shen is my favorite deck to play even if it's not the most competitive. I just love figuring out how to order all my support cards when I attack to get the most out of them.
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Slay effect:
One thing to note is that units dying in blocks & ephemeral units, shouldn't count toward this effect. So slay can't take full advantage of weenie units. The deck that takes advantage of Slay is going to be a little bit different than your SI/Freljord Endure deck.
Nasus:
Path #1: Ignore Sun Disc & power up his effect (Shurima / Shadow Isles):
Siphoning Strike:
I really don't like this card. Slow speed removal card and the +2/+2 is only on champions. And 5 mana. I hate almost everything about it. Even when it's a Champion Spell, I feel like this will be really hard to use. One unique aspect is it looks to work on Allied units, allowing it to be more consistent to get off. Might be the only way to guarantee leveling Nasus, so might be required to include in a Nasus deck.
Rite of Calling:
Looks good. 0 mana cards will often see play. Helps with the Slay effect but even without that, this card seems useful at any time for any region, since you just use it for 0 mana after you kill anything.
Baccai Reaper:
Looks insane. 1 mana card with infinite potential. The 2 health is crazy on this. This card reminds me of pre-nerf Undertaker in Hearthstone.
Weight of Judgement:
Looks really bad.
Rampaging Baccai:
Now this is a good 5 drop (compared to yesterday's Inquisitor.) The 6 health is great and it can strike something on-play. Granted, it will require a specific deck if you want to take advantage of the effect by turn 5. So it's not an auto-include, but it's good.
Spirit Fire:
Good card. It's expensive and doesn't remove big boys, but on wide boards it saves up to 12 attack damage. Makes for a board-wide favorable trade. Comparable to 1 mana Ranger's Resolve. But the 2 damage at end of turn compares with Avalanche. So that's about 5 mana worth of effects, and it's Burst Speed. It should see a good amount of play.
Sanctum Conservator:
Wow. If you can build a deck to achieve that 13+ slain, this card is amazing. Requires a very specific deck but it's good. Removing ALL followers is almost Ruination level AND it summons a copy of itself, so you have really great chances of landing 1 of these attacks at a minimum. It forces them to have a 3+ attack unit as well. Definitely good but you won't see him too often simply because 13+ slain is going to be HARD outside of a specific deck.
Ruinous Path:
Looks like a decent draw spell. Heals you a little if you want healing and/or can be used as a little burn if you're a more aggressive deck. Has a lot of flexibility.
One thing to note is that units dying in blocks & ephemeral units, shouldn't count toward this effect. So slay can't take full advantage of weenie units. The deck that takes advantage of Slay is going to be a little bit different than your SI/Freljord Endure deck.
Nasus:
Path #1: Ignore Sun Disc & power up his effect (Shurima / Shadow Isles):
- A pile a stats.
- Tons of synergy with Shadow Isles
- Insane Atrocity target since he comes with Spellshield
- Great with Fearsomes
- Ignore Slay effect to an extent
- Combo with Ascended's Rise.
- Get the +10 on Sun Disc when he levels, which will likely be necessary in Sun Disc decks.
- Shurima has a lot of Fearsome & Negative attack in their own right, just not as aggro as Shadow Isles (but looking close!).
Siphoning Strike:
I really don't like this card. Slow speed removal card and the +2/+2 is only on champions. And 5 mana. I hate almost everything about it. Even when it's a Champion Spell, I feel like this will be really hard to use. One unique aspect is it looks to work on Allied units, allowing it to be more consistent to get off. Might be the only way to guarantee leveling Nasus, so might be required to include in a Nasus deck.
Rite of Calling:
Looks good. 0 mana cards will often see play. Helps with the Slay effect but even without that, this card seems useful at any time for any region, since you just use it for 0 mana after you kill anything.
Baccai Reaper:
Looks insane. 1 mana card with infinite potential. The 2 health is crazy on this. This card reminds me of pre-nerf Undertaker in Hearthstone.
Weight of Judgement:
Looks really bad.
Rampaging Baccai:
Now this is a good 5 drop (compared to yesterday's Inquisitor.) The 6 health is great and it can strike something on-play. Granted, it will require a specific deck if you want to take advantage of the effect by turn 5. So it's not an auto-include, but it's good.
Spirit Fire:
Good card. It's expensive and doesn't remove big boys, but on wide boards it saves up to 12 attack damage. Makes for a board-wide favorable trade. Comparable to 1 mana Ranger's Resolve. But the 2 damage at end of turn compares with Avalanche. So that's about 5 mana worth of effects, and it's Burst Speed. It should see a good amount of play.
Sanctum Conservator:
Wow. If you can build a deck to achieve that 13+ slain, this card is amazing. Requires a very specific deck but it's good. Removing ALL followers is almost Ruination level AND it summons a copy of itself, so you have really great chances of landing 1 of these attacks at a minimum. It forces them to have a 3+ attack unit as well. Definitely good but you won't see him too often simply because 13+ slain is going to be HARD outside of a specific deck.
Ruinous Path:
Looks like a decent draw spell. Heals you a little if you want healing and/or can be used as a little burn if you're a more aggressive deck. Has a lot of flexibility.
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Valderen
Space Pirate
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This is pretty interesting.
First off, the new keyword Slay, this has a lot of potential. Can be triggered by combat, spells, on enemies or allies. It's also a keyword that you don't need to build around as killing stuff happens naturally just playing the game.
Nasus: Very slow but has the potential to come up pretty big when he comes into play. He seems pretty versatile too. I can see him being played in a Fearsome based deck, or in a Slay based deck which could take different forms to from focusing on Slaying your own units or focusing on Slaying enemy units. His 3rd form is pretty much game over giving enemies -3 attack pretty much means all fearsome units won't be blocked. Cool champion...art and animations are amazing.
Siphoning Strike: Ok, expansive and slow and lots of ways to counter it, but the effect is pretty good. Granting Champions everywhere +2/+2 could amount to a lot of value. It also can trigger 2 Slays if both units dies. Just not sure if cost and being slow will make it too hard to play.
Rite of Calling: Probably good and can be used in many decks, drawing a Champion is rarely a bad thing.
Baccai Reaper: It has potential, but too easy to remove I think.
Weight of Judgement: Interesting card with different damage value for Champions and followers. It sucks against Champions, 4 mana for 2 damage at slow speed comped to Mystic Shot at 2 mana for 2 damage at fast speed. 7 damage on followers for 4 mana is pretty decent though. Probably be bad though.
Rampaging Baccai: I think this will be good, comes into play with a Slow speed Single Combat. It has good enough health that it should come into play and survive it's Strike, and then either be used to attack or block again. It's possible to easily get 2 Slay out of this...kills the enemy with it's come into play effect, and then an enemy in combat or both die in the Strike effect.
Spirit Fire: Costly but very powerful and versatile. Can be used before an attack to allow fearsome to go through by giving enemies -2 attack, or used as a Combat Trick to trade favorably, then at the end of round deals 2 damage to enemies. I think this will see play, but most likely not as a 3 off, probably either 1 or 2 copies only.
Sanctum Conservator: Ok, a bit of trouble evaluating this simply because I never kept track of how many units get Slayed in a game, so I am not sure how easy it is to reach 13. I think it's very strong if you can meet the requirement, but likely will be niche because the requirement seems high. Stats are awful if you're force to play it without 13 Slay.
Ruinous Path: It think this is pretty good it does 2 damage to nexus, heals yours for 2 and draw you a card, 3 things that are always useful. Only for 2 mana. It's versatile enough to be used in different type of decks.
First off, the new keyword Slay, this has a lot of potential. Can be triggered by combat, spells, on enemies or allies. It's also a keyword that you don't need to build around as killing stuff happens naturally just playing the game.
Nasus: Very slow but has the potential to come up pretty big when he comes into play. He seems pretty versatile too. I can see him being played in a Fearsome based deck, or in a Slay based deck which could take different forms to from focusing on Slaying your own units or focusing on Slaying enemy units. His 3rd form is pretty much game over giving enemies -3 attack pretty much means all fearsome units won't be blocked. Cool champion...art and animations are amazing.
Siphoning Strike: Ok, expansive and slow and lots of ways to counter it, but the effect is pretty good. Granting Champions everywhere +2/+2 could amount to a lot of value. It also can trigger 2 Slays if both units dies. Just not sure if cost and being slow will make it too hard to play.
Rite of Calling: Probably good and can be used in many decks, drawing a Champion is rarely a bad thing.
Baccai Reaper: It has potential, but too easy to remove I think.
Weight of Judgement: Interesting card with different damage value for Champions and followers. It sucks against Champions, 4 mana for 2 damage at slow speed comped to Mystic Shot at 2 mana for 2 damage at fast speed. 7 damage on followers for 4 mana is pretty decent though. Probably be bad though.
Rampaging Baccai: I think this will be good, comes into play with a Slow speed Single Combat. It has good enough health that it should come into play and survive it's Strike, and then either be used to attack or block again. It's possible to easily get 2 Slay out of this...kills the enemy with it's come into play effect, and then an enemy in combat or both die in the Strike effect.
Spirit Fire: Costly but very powerful and versatile. Can be used before an attack to allow fearsome to go through by giving enemies -2 attack, or used as a Combat Trick to trade favorably, then at the end of round deals 2 damage to enemies. I think this will see play, but most likely not as a 3 off, probably either 1 or 2 copies only.
Sanctum Conservator: Ok, a bit of trouble evaluating this simply because I never kept track of how many units get Slayed in a game, so I am not sure how easy it is to reach 13. I think it's very strong if you can meet the requirement, but likely will be niche because the requirement seems high. Stats are awful if you're force to play it without 13 Slay.
Ruinous Path: It think this is pretty good it does 2 damage to nexus, heals yours for 2 and draw you a card, 3 things that are always useful. Only for 2 mana. It's versatile enough to be used in different type of decks.