Overall, it’s just too early to know if these potentially oppressive keywords will negatively impact the game. In interactive keywords (such as elusive) aren’t always inherently bad for the game, and if they are balanced properly they can create an interesting and diverse meta.
I do agree that Hush could be a problem and oppress many decks, but I think we have to wait a few days to see if it’s really a problem. If Hush ends up mostly unplayable like Purify, then it won’t need a change.
I don’t find Spellshield much of an issue, since it’s mostly just like a deny attached to a unit. It also helps units like Aurelian Sol not just die to a vengeance the turn it’s played. Fused Firebrand seems to me to be the only Spellshield unit that is a bit overstatted for its keyword. The main part where I see Spellshield possibly being a problem is when it’s granted to units that don’t naturally have it, through cards like Giddy Sparkeologist, which can be changed to one turn if it’s an issue.
Yeah, Vlad himself needs a powerful buff to make him the power card of his package. Riot has always just been making his support cards really good, but then they end up better in decks without him (Crimson Disciple, Transfusion, Imperial Demolitionist, etc). I also think that Trifarian Assessor could be buffed to either have a little more health, or maybe changed to a 4/2 that draws an extra card without any 5+ Power allies.
I think that they are giving this previews to be more open about the design process and give players faith that certain cards will be changed. I think that telling people that Lee Sin is going to be changed will actually encourage people to try him out more and see what decks he already works in, so that they can better theorycraft which decks to build around him when he's buffed. It also gives Lee Sin players more hope because they know that even if he doesn't work out in this meta, he will be improved later on. Lee Sin has a lot of synergy with Targon Gem cards that will also make him more of a consideration again, so I don't think that this announcement will cause people who wanted to try him out with the new cards to decide not to play him. Finally, Riot isn't even saying that they think Lee Sin is too weak, just that he isn't designed as well as he could be. They could end up making him something like a 5 Mana 2/5, which might be a nerf, and it would still fulfill what they wanted his change to do to his playstyle.
This card is crazy OP, right? It has a very good statline on top of a powerful effect that both acts as a Finisher and a zero mana Plunder enabler. It's also amazing with Swain.
YES! I was expecting this to be the Targon Poro and I'm so happy it is. Poro Fluft will at the very least take more resources and mana to remove, which will make it less likely to lose you the game.
The main issue I see with this card is that the opponent can remove Darius when you cast it. I think that the Noxus player will have to keep 2 spell mana and wait for the opponent to tap below removal before playing this. I like the Noxus is getting viable rally cards now.
Yeah but regions without new champions can still be combined with regions that got champions. For example, a Lulu Demacia deck seems like it'd be pretty good.
This is sort of weird, I hope that they update the in game definition of the invoke keyword to at least mention that it's not random. I think that this is pretty good overall though, since it gives players more viable options for what to choose from Invoke.
Fury plus Challenger is such a great combination. After the first time this kills a unit it becomes a 5/6 challenger, which is insane. Combined with single combat or concerted strike, it can even get the bonus before the first attack.
Well they couldn’t put Celestial at the top of the spells without changing the spell format. I guess they could have made Celestial a keyword but that’d be weird too
Yeah, unfortunately I was probably right about Soraka’s support cards being in an expansion before her. But maybe that means Soraka has so many support cards that they couldn’t all fit in one expansion!
Yeah but what if they are just using her support cards as filler because they wanted to have a few more cards in the first expansion? No other champion has had any of their support cards revealed alongside other reveals, which could be because Soraka has too many support cards to fit in their 10-ish reveals per champion schedule, or because her support cards are being released in a different expansion than her. Also, given that Aurelian Sol and Shyvanna will likely have dragon synergy, they could decide to either split them up to give Dragons two waves of support, or they could save both of them for one expansion. I really hope they release Soraka though, I’m excited to see how they are going to make a heal deck function and be interesting in LoR.
Overall, it’s just too early to know if these potentially oppressive keywords will negatively impact the game. In interactive keywords (such as elusive) aren’t always inherently bad for the game, and if they are balanced properly they can create an interesting and diverse meta.
I do agree that Hush could be a problem and oppress many decks, but I think we have to wait a few days to see if it’s really a problem. If Hush ends up mostly unplayable like Purify, then it won’t need a change.
I don’t find Spellshield much of an issue, since it’s mostly just like a deny attached to a unit. It also helps units like Aurelian Sol not just die to a vengeance the turn it’s played. Fused Firebrand seems to me to be the only Spellshield unit that is a bit overstatted for its keyword. The main part where I see Spellshield possibly being a problem is when it’s granted to units that don’t naturally have it, through cards like Giddy Sparkeologist, which can be changed to one turn if it’s an issue.
This costs twice as much as Elixir of Iron for only a minor upside. If this gets buffed to +0|+3 it might see play.
Yeah, Vlad himself needs a powerful buff to make him the power card of his package. Riot has always just been making his support cards really good, but then they end up better in decks without him (Crimson Disciple, Transfusion, Imperial Demolitionist, etc). I also think that Trifarian Assessor could be buffed to either have a little more health, or maybe changed to a 4/2 that draws an extra card without any 5+ Power allies.
I think that they are giving this previews to be more open about the design process and give players faith that certain cards will be changed. I think that telling people that Lee Sin is going to be changed will actually encourage people to try him out more and see what decks he already works in, so that they can better theorycraft which decks to build around him when he's buffed. It also gives Lee Sin players more hope because they know that even if he doesn't work out in this meta, he will be improved later on. Lee Sin has a lot of synergy with Targon Gem cards that will also make him more of a consideration again, so I don't think that this announcement will cause people who wanted to try him out with the new cards to decide not to play him. Finally, Riot isn't even saying that they think Lee Sin is too weak, just that he isn't designed as well as he could be. They could end up making him something like a 5 Mana 2/5, which might be a nerf, and it would still fulfill what they wanted his change to do to his playstyle.
This card is crazy OP, right? It has a very good statline on top of a powerful effect that both acts as a Finisher and a zero mana Plunder enabler. It's also amazing with Swain.
YES! I was expecting this to be the Targon Poro and I'm so happy it is. Poro Fluft will at the very least take more resources and mana to remove, which will make it less likely to lose you the game.
The main issue I see with this card is that the opponent can remove Darius when you cast it. I think that the Noxus player will have to keep 2 spell mana and wait for the opponent to tap below removal before playing this. I like the Noxus is getting viable rally cards now.
Yeah but regions without new champions can still be combined with regions that got champions. For example, a Lulu Demacia deck seems like it'd be pretty good.
Combining this with TF and the rest of the Targon draw cards seems good. And Targon gems also synergize with Pick a Card and Brash Gambler!
Yeah I get that, but at least it would cause players to look it up
This is sort of weird, I hope that they update the in game definition of the invoke keyword to at least mention that it's not random. I think that this is pretty good overall though, since it gives players more viable options for what to choose from Invoke.
Fury plus Challenger is such a great combination. After the first time this kills a unit it becomes a 5/6 challenger, which is insane. Combined with single combat or concerted strike, it can even get the bonus before the first attack.
Yeah, compared to the Poro/Yeti/Elnuk draw card it’s just so much better.
It’s like a way better version of the 6 mana silence and deal 6 daybreak spell.
Well they couldn’t put Celestial at the top of the spells without changing the spell format. I guess they could have made Celestial a keyword but that’d be weird too
Yeah, unfortunately I was probably right about Soraka’s support cards being in an expansion before her. But maybe that means Soraka has so many support cards that they couldn’t all fit in one expansion!
Oh yeah! Since it discards 1 card to generate 2 cards, it's also not a net card loss like Warning Shot.
Yeah but what if they are just using her support cards as filler because they wanted to have a few more cards in the first expansion? No other champion has had any of their support cards revealed alongside other reveals, which could be because Soraka has too many support cards to fit in their 10-ish reveals per champion schedule, or because her support cards are being released in a different expansion than her. Also, given that Aurelian Sol and Shyvanna will likely have dragon synergy, they could decide to either split them up to give Dragons two waves of support, or they could save both of them for one expansion. I really hope they release Soraka though, I’m excited to see how they are going to make a heal deck function and be interesting in LoR.