Legends of Runeterra - Card game by Riot Games

Revealed during the tournament earlier. I’m not familiar with LoL lore but casters seem to know what was coming based on Mimic reveal.

The first 3 are good but cost a lot, they are just awesome after Reputation though. The 4th one has some really weird statline 5/1 for 3 mana and gets you Guile which is a 1 mana slow stun, not sure how good it will be but it’s very aggro.

Leblanc: Bland is the first thing that came to mind, and most likely not that great. After thinking about it more, she might not be as bad as my impression was. I mean 2 health is not great on a mana card, but at 5 attack and Quick Attack nothing can block her and live until Maybe turn 5. She’s easy to remove with spells though or with a challenger. I only see her being played with Sivir in a Reputation deck, and mostly just to enable Reputation and contribute to Sivir damage requirement.

Sigil of Malice: It’s not bad honestly. Even at 4 mana to deal 2 to anything it’s kinda playable. At 1 mana it’s just great though, one more burn tool for Noxus.

Mirror Image: Token from leveled up Leblanc. Pretty good but hard to get, you need to level up Leblanc which isn’t going to be easy since she needs to “see” the 15 damage, then she needs to see you deal 15 damage again.

Black Rose Spy: Great card, 3/2 for 2 mana is premium statline, so good even if not Reputation enabled. It’s just awesome when reputation isn’t enabled though, might be some ways to break stuff up. Only downside really is she will most of the time be played after the attack phase so she won’t have an impact the turn she comes in...aside from Strikes.

Thorn of the Rose: Awful, why play this over an Arachnoid Sentry 3/2 with stun upon entry that survives 1 damage ping. Maybe in a reputation deck, but honestly don’t see it.

Mimic: Great card, pretty versatile especially when Reputation is enable, but costly but still useful if not.

Whispered Words: Absolutely awesome, even at 4 mana it’s still pretty good, I mean it’s a better Salvage, at 2 it’s the best draw in the game. It’s even better because it’s in Noxus which doesn’t have much card draw. Great addition.

Bloody Business: Decent, will help with Reputation. It will allow fir a way to deal 5 as reaction to removal.

Dunekeeper: I think it’s a great 1 drop. 2 bodies is always nice, and the Sand Soldier doing 2 damage total to Nexus if not blocked is great. Could often be a 4 damage on first turn.

Emperor’s Dais: Might be good in a Ephemeral deck, having an extra Ephemeral each time you attack will impact lots of cards.

Sand Crafter: I think this is going to be decent in some decks, it’s a 4/6 over 2 bodies when it attacks and can deal an extra damage to Nexus if the Sand Soldier isn’t blocked. There’s possibility here.

Desert's Wrath: Niche card, but pretty good for what it does.

Inspiring Marshall: I think this is good, the 6 health will insure it stays on board so you get good value from the buffs he gives.

Sandstone Chimera: It will come out very cheap pretty often, so might see play in a few decks, especially in a Reputation deck where you get a 5+ damage that will actually stay on the board.

After thinking about it more, I think reputation might be very easy to achieve. I think the archtype will see some play. We've seen decks based on 5+ attack before with Trifarian Assessor which were close to being good but not quite, I think these might make the archetype viable. A lot of these starting with Leblanc seems very limited though.

Damn this looks fun, I want that Emperor‘s Deck.

Azir: Weird statline but it works I think since he’s an engine and you want a thick body so he stays alive to provide value.

Arise: Looks ok for champion signature spell. It might see play, in late game if you can cast it a few times you may get good values if they come out buffed. Ultimately it won’t see much play outside of signature version.

Rite of Negation: Seems very powerful in some situations, but more costly Deny in others. Although in a deck with a bunch of ephemeral you probably dont care about the cost. Also can be interacted with by killing the unit meant to be killed and the spell fizzles. It’s really cool though, and will be very powerful in some cases.

Emperor’s Divide: This seems pretty good, only counter is Deny or Rite of Negation, so even though it’s slow it will be reliable and could be very impactful. Could be used to board wipe the enemy, or do massive damage to Nexus if 3-4 aren’t blocked. Fast way to level up Axir too.

I won’t evaluate the cards from the Emperor’s Deck other than to say they all look overpowered. Lots of card draw so you wont run out of ressource with that deck. I wonder what the actual deck looks like. How many cards, how many of each etc...

ROFL when she played Ascended Rise. So many level up animations. 6 of them back to back, 7 if count the sun disc.

So now that everything has been announced. Here's my thought as far as Champions are concerned in terms of what I like to play.

Taliyah: She's probably the one I am looking forward the most. I like her design, and he playstyle (Landmark based) is something new that I find intriguing. Probably the first deck I'll try. I'm not sure who I want to play her with yet.

Kindred: This is another that I find really interesting. I want to try it in an Undying type of deck.

Azir, Nasus, and Renekton: Mono Shurima with Sun Disc just for the big payoffs. Not really something I'd play on regular basis though.

Azir: Not sure exactly with what either, but I like his design. No Sun Disc though.

Sivir: I just like her level up ability. Probably means Leblanc as support in the deck to help level her.

Lissandra: I want a tough Nexus, and I like the Frozen Thralls. I am not so excited by the Watcher though, Pretty sure a game where you summoned 4 x 8 mana units is pretty much won most of the time already.

Jarvan IV: I really like his design, although I am generally not a fan of Demacia. I'm curious if when you attack if your rightmost unit is a Support unit and Jarvan IV appears on the right of it, does he get supported or will the Support effect be resolves before he hits the board.

Nasus and Renekton: I've never been a fan of Fearsome or Overwhelm decks so they'll most likely be last if at all.

Leblanc: No decks around her, she most likely will be in a Sivir deck though.

There's a few existing that are getting new cards that might be worth revisiting, we'll see.

Aphelios nerf is unlikely to do much. I've said before I don't think he's the problem exactly, The Moon Weapons are simply too versatile and too easy to cycle through. Being a bit easier to remove might help somewhat, but not by much. I've never really thought to myself...if only he had 1 health less that all would be fine. They either need to make the Moon Weapons 3 mana, or require 3 spells to cycle through them.

I can't wait for tomorrow.