But it's not even guaranteed card draw. It's potential card draw. It's also potentially flushing 3 mana and a card down the toilet.
Unless you're using it for yetis only, it's just not consistent enough to be competitive, and even the yeti strategy probably has too many moving parts. Freljord has far more efficient and reliable ways to draw cards.
Thinning your deck is not good if it fills your hand with Bull Elnuks you never want to play. Hand size can be a big problem in decks with a lot of drawing power.
I mean, in what universe can this not be leading up to a Trundle reveal?
In a universe where Riot understands that people have been looking forward to Targon champions, not a sixth champion for f-ing Freljord. They can put Trundle in the October expansion, and all these silly trolls will still work.
This makes Elnuks even worse than they already are because you want to leave Elnuks in the deck for Troop to pull.
Poros already have plenty of draw/create, so you don't need it for them.
That leaves Yetis as the only decent use of this card, and it's actually kinda sick there because you can stack the top of your deck with them and know exactly when to use it. If you have the right support and enough mana, you can even buff them first for an even bigger swing.
Don't forget that every time he supports, he counts toward Lulu's flip. That may be worth a ping. Paired with Braum, for example, he may even be able to survive combat.
If Lulu is already on board, you would absolutely want to ping him before combat.
I think she trades unfavorably with every other 3-drop in the game, so do you play her and try to preserve her or try to wait until after she's leveled?
It depends on the match-up, surely. I would never keep her in the mulligan against aggro, but if the opponent is slower, I might.
If you hold her until she flips, she becomes much harder to kill and therefore much more consistent. Her utility in the late game comes more from Help, Pix! than from her direct Support ability. Having reliable access to Barrier/Vulnerable can be a pretty big deal as the units on both sides get bigger, but the support buff is still nice for when you inevitably top-deck a 1-drop.
is'nt too impressive tbh, it's intended as a buff/support target but there are better ones
At 2 mana? What did you have in mind?
I can think of some that are about as good, but the best 2-mana support targets have weak bodies that are less likely than Stomper to make it into combat in the first place.
My dude, you only need a total of 4 cards in hand:
1x Taric 3x Gem cards (generated by followers) 3x Stored mana (to play all 3 gem cards above in the same Turn Taric is played)
Each time Taric is buffed with a Gem, he also buffs his support with another free one. Double cast with a single usage. Its possible to level up Taric as soon as T4 if the player has the attack token, 3 gems and 3 spell mana stored.
Taric Level Up: +1(attacking with an allied support) +3 Gem(from hand) +3 Gem(given for free by Taric's ability) = 7
Read the card again. Taric does not level up when you buff allies. He levels up when you target allies. When Taric shares a buff with his supported ally, that does not count as you targeting it. PLUS the fact that Taric only copies the last spell you cast on him. Your scenario would give 4 points to Taric, not 7 (Target 3 + Support 1), and it would only cast one Gem on the supported unit.
Even so, I don't think it will be that hard to level him. It's worth noting that you can target your own units with things like Vile Feast and Glimpse Beyond, and those would count toward Taric.
Overwhelm is not "just stats." Overwhelm ends games.
Gems make it extremely easy to reduce the cost, so no, it will not be too late in the game. You don't go by what "most decks" do; you go by what you can do with the deck built specifically for this.
It's Keywordpalooza!
@OldManSanns: I'm sure your prediction is correct, but I'm still feeling disappointed by all this troll stuff.
With the obvious exception of Stellacorn, I hate all of this. I'm not saying it's weak; I'm saying I hate what it will do to the game.
It's a much better target for Dragon's Protection than Scales of the Dragon, if you're into that kind of thing.
But it's not even guaranteed card draw. It's potential card draw. It's also potentially flushing 3 mana and a card down the toilet.
Unless you're using it for yetis only, it's just not consistent enough to be competitive, and even the yeti strategy probably has too many moving parts. Freljord has far more efficient and reliable ways to draw cards.
Thinning your deck is not good if it fills your hand with Bull Elnuks you never want to play. Hand size can be a big problem in decks with a lot of drawing power.
Not if it's a spell. If it's a spell, you could play it on the very next turn.
(I'm not saying there are a lot of 8-mana spells you'd want to use that way, just that it's possible.)
In a universe where Riot understands that people have been looking forward to Targon champions, not a sixth champion for f-ing Freljord. They can put Trundle in the October expansion, and all these silly trolls will still work.
If it looks like a meme and walks like a meme ...
This makes Elnuks even worse than they already are because you want to leave Elnuks in the deck for Troop to pull.
Poros already have plenty of draw/create, so you don't need it for them.
That leaves Yetis as the only decent use of this card, and it's actually kinda sick there because you can stack the top of your deck with them and know exactly when to use it. If you have the right support and enough mana, you can even buff them first for an even bigger swing.
(And then they all die to The Ruination.)
Strong because it's so versatile. Being able to disrupt two strikes with a single 2-mana card is super nuts.
Yay, Freljord gets a card that's actually more annoying than Tryndamere.
Regen is way too strong a keyword for 4 mana, and this way too easy to trigger.
Giving aggressive tempo to a top-heavy deck ... what can possibly go wrong?
Even as early-game control cards go, this thing is BOOOOORIIIIIIING.
I really, really hope this is not leading up to a Trundle reveal. We already have 1 non-Targon champ out of 7 total for this expansion.
I will be very, very sad if we only get 5 champs from Targon.
As for these cards ... they are probably fine and decently designed, but they don't appeal to my personal play style.
Don't forget that every time he supports, he counts toward Lulu's flip. That may be worth a ping. Paired with Braum, for example, he may even be able to survive combat.
If Lulu is already on board, you would absolutely want to ping him before combat.
It depends on the match-up, surely. I would never keep her in the mulligan against aggro, but if the opponent is slower, I might.
If you hold her until she flips, she becomes much harder to kill and therefore much more consistent. Her utility in the late game comes more from Help, Pix! than from her direct Support ability. Having reliable access to Barrier/Vulnerable can be a pretty big deal as the units on both sides get bigger, but the support buff is still nice for when you inevitably top-deck a 1-drop.
At 2 mana? What did you have in mind?
I can think of some that are about as good, but the best 2-mana support targets have weak bodies that are less likely than Stomper to make it into combat in the first place.
Read the card again. Taric does not level up when you buff allies. He levels up when you target allies. When Taric shares a buff with his supported ally, that does not count as you targeting it. PLUS the fact that Taric only copies the last spell you cast on him. Your scenario would give 4 points to Taric, not 7 (Target 3 + Support 1), and it would only cast one Gem on the supported unit.
Even so, I don't think it will be that hard to level him. It's worth noting that you can target your own units with things like Vile Feast and Glimpse Beyond, and those would count toward Taric.
Overwhelm is not "just stats." Overwhelm ends games.
Gems make it extremely easy to reduce the cost, so no, it will not be too late in the game. You don't go by what "most decks" do; you go by what you can do with the deck built specifically for this.
Ionia can finally grant permanent Elusive -- on a stick, no less!
This will see a LOT of play, almost auto-include for the region.