Legends of Runeterra - Card game by Riot Games

I'm excited, card reveals start tomorrow.

It's interesting to see that regions will be unbalanced in number of Champions and number of cards until the Set(3 expansion) is complete.

Right now regions have 5 champions and 63 cards total.

There's going to be 2 regions now with 6 champions and 6 with only 5, and those 6 getting their 6th over the next 2 following expansions. I wonder if Targon gets 6 with only 1 other getting a 6th, or if they go with Targon at 5 champs, with 2 region getting a 6th and Targon getting it's 6th in the last expansion of the set. I think Targon at 5 and 2 other regions getting a 6th would be better, would affect more regions this way.

Only 2 weeks away

Here we go.

New keyword.

SpellShield nullifies the next enemy spell or skill that would affect the unit.






It looks like they are going for a ”Support” archetype.

Spellshield keyword looks interesting. It will be interesting to see how it is used.

Bastion: The card feels like a cheaper and weaker Deny. Only affect 1 of your units. So won’t prevent an AOE from hitting other units, can’t prevent buffs to enemy units. At 3 mana, it probably will see some play.

Tyari the Traveller: It will depend a bit on how good the Support archetype they seem to be going for is to truly evaluate the card. A 2/2 for 2 is a bit weak, effect is ok though, get better if used on multiple attacks. Might see play if the archetype is good enough.

Mountain Sojourners: Again, stats are weak but effect could be pretty if you meet all the condition. Since you get 2/5 and 2/2 and 2/2 So total of 6/9 over 3 bodies. Again dependent on the Support archetype being viable.

Arbiter of the Peak: We’ve seen this type of cards in the past and some have been somewhat viable...I’m repeating myself here, will depend on Support archetype being viable.

Not a super exciting first reveal, but not bad either.

Damn I love card reveals.

So let’s look at these. More support cards, so definitely going for a Support Archetype, also a new mechanics in the Gems.

Taric: Weak stats for 5 mana, I think he’ll be fairly easy to level up, seeing 7 supported allies or you target allies. 2 effects on him, either support or copying card effect. The levelled up version is pretty strong, you have to deal with him before his attack phase or while he‘s defending otherwise he might cause a lot of damage.

Gift Giver: Seems ok, will depend on how good Gems end up being.

Mountain Goat: Awful stats, might end up never creating a Gem. It will require some support to be able to take advantage of it’s effect.

Mentor of the Stone: Really bad stats, but has 2 interesting effects. First Grant +2/+2 which is permanent to supported ally, this is big, if he’s alive for 1 attack, it‘s great value on that alone. He also gives 3 Gems as Last Breath effect. So you get value even if he dies right away. He’ll most likely force a removal from the opponent as letting him attack just once, and then also producing 3 Gems might be insane value. Most interesting card so far in my opinion.

Shards of the Mountain: That could be sick, Ezreal is laughing, this will end so many games. Also in tandem with an overwhelm unit this could be a finisher. Might end up being problematic.

Taric’s Blessing of Targon: Pretty good I think, permanent +3/+3 is a lot. Also if you have this in hand that means Taric is in play so casting that on him will help level him up if he’s not, and also give his supported ally +3/+3. I don’t see a scenario where this won’t be a +6/+6 split over 2 bodies.

Gems: Interesting effect, heals are always good, and permanent +1/0 for 1 mana is nice. I’m not sure what the ”Can‘t be cast in Combat” means exactly. More specifically, if my opponent open attack, can I use Gems before I declare my defenders? Or does him declaring attack starts combat and prevents the use of this. Can you actually use this with Ezreal? Wouldn’t casting the first one be like starting combat since you just did damage and you wouldn’t be able to cast more than 1?

Edit: I think Purify might become a lot more popular with all these permanent buffs being introduced with Targon so far.

Ravishing said:

A combo brought up on Swim's stream is : Playful Trickstar on Taric means infinite rallies, you just need Taric + 1 other unit and that unit will continually be recalled & you will rally, and Taric should be able to attack.

ie:

Attack with Taric+Unit, opponent hopefully responds or else combo can't be done.
Trickster Taric to recall/rally
Attack with Taric+Unit again, the Unit casts Trickster to Recall/Rally, Taric attacks
Repeat & don't cast anymore spells or you break the chain.

Click to expand...

I don't think that would work. On the first attack, Taric + Unit would both be removed from combat before doing any damage, and you get 2 Rally effect and you would be able to attack again, but there is no infinite thing happening. The spell has resolved, and so did the copy on supported unit.

Attack with Taric + Unit
Cast Playful Trickster on Taric
Taric is removed from combat before doing any damage and you gain the attack token
Playful Trickster is copied on supported Unit.
Supported Unit is removed from combat before doing any damage, you gain an attack token(but you already have it)
Attack again with Taric + Unit
That's the end I think.

Ravishing said:

Everytime you support he plays the "Last Spell" you cast on Taric that round.
Also, Trickster resolves after Taric Supports, so both won't be recalled on 1st attack, the unit won't get it on that 1st attack, not like it matters too much.

Click to expand...

Ah ok, I understand the interaction now.

That might be broken, although there's quite a few way to interact with this. Deny the Playful Trickster, removal or Taric or the supported ally, stun, probably a few more ways I'm not thinking off.

Still feels like something that might end up feeling very toxic, especially after he's levelled up and he and his supported ally can't take damage.

There will be an easy fix for this though if it ends up broken, as you can just add" This effect can only occur once per turn". And that will be about the only scenario affected, or other buffs with a regular way of rallying. It's so specific though that it would not impact the card much.

For slightly easier view of the cards. Support definitely going to be a thing.



Flower Child: Good stats for a 1 mana with pretty good effect with all the support cards now. Flower Child into Young Witch on turn 2 gives you a 4/2 with quick attack on turn 2. I think it's a pretty good card.

Young Witch: Weak stats but elusive and good support effect, and with all the new support cards I think it will see play, but it's kind of weak, it might be a card that ends up being cut...so many cards with support synergies that some might not find room.

Tasty Faefolk: Not a great card, but it has Lifesteal, so I think it's use will be meta dependent. When there's a need for a lot healing it might see play.

Swole Squirrel: I'm not sure how the sequence of effect occurs with Strike. If I remember it occurs after the hit. So this would attack as a 3/4...deal 3 damage then double its power to 6. So I'm guessing this is permanent otherwise it's pretty useless. If permanent, than it could be interesting, but you'd have to keep it alive to really benefit from him. I think he's going to be niche.

Fuzzy Caretaker: Weak stats but 2 interesting Support effects, one gain when it's the supported ally, and one given when it support an ally making it fairly versatile. It's good, might see some play.

All in all interesting cards for Ionia, will make it a region to synergize with Targon. I'm liking the way this set is going so far.

Ravishing said:

Everything hinges on how good this Support archetype proves to be. Somehow you need to keep multiple units on the board to get your supports running, and that's often not an easy task.

Click to expand...

Pretty much this, which I've put in most of my comments. The vast majority of these cards are dependent on the Support Archetype, a few might see play outside of it but very few so far.

There might be multiple ways to built a Support deck though based on the few cards revealed so far, whether these will be competitive or not remains to be seem...in my case they just need to be viable as I almost exclusively play in Normal now, and the meta there is extremely diverse.

I remember seeing a Mogwai video where he was complaining about a card seeing too much play, and I was thinking to myself...I don't remember the last time I saw it in my games.

Another I was wondering too is if the support archetype, or cards will be good enough to compensate for the fact that their effect are only applied during attack and not defense. You might end up with a strong attack phase, but a weak defense one.

I'm guessing it's why they made a few of the Support "Grant" rather than just "Give" so their effect would be permanent thus alllowing for a stronger defense than what's in the game right now with Support cards.