Yeah it was pretty clear during the card reveal that Demacia was going to be insane.

Then on the top end you have carina/ledros control back in style.

Because you concurrent time lines into ledros and transform him into dreadway for otk.

Its basically the if I have 9 mana I win deck unless you have deny or hush.

I had once said that I didn't mind Targon being strong because it took 3 expansions and a event to get there.

Unfortunately, Shurima doesn't have that card support yet.

When you actually examine what's on offer the number of playables is relatively low.

But the region does have a great lineup of champs to make up for it.

Here's an example of a mono Shurima list made by nobody in particular.

If you look at it people basically have no idea how to build this region right now,

Let's talk about cards that are good - then fine - then bad

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Dune keeper is a good one drop no doubt about it, 2 bodies for 1 levels heck levels azir gives a sac body is aggressive

exhaust is also a core card and is very good

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rock hopper, cryomancer and hourglass are fine but not great

golden ambasador is similarly fine and while it's funny to pull 4/4 TF's it's not worth building a list around

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The 3 drop slot is a little sad in shirima to the point where Azir might be mandatory 

Like quick sand is being run as a worse flash freeze if you think about it

So how do you fix this, well people are running a lot of splash solutions shadow isles, freijord, noxious, targon

While bilgewater, P and Z, Demacia and Ionia are largely going ignored

Suggesting that Shirima doesn't play all that well with others at the moment

But maybe I'm wrong feel free to let me know down below.

Okay here we go with the brews now that all the cards have been released.

We'll feature each new champion once

They Who Nasus

It's your typical kalista shell, while it's true Nasus doesn't have overwhelm he does have spellshield, which is better with atrocity

Also opens you up to use the new shirima deny card to ensure your atrocity hits

Sand monkeys

Plunder triggers for days, pretty easy to play gangplank leveled

The taskmaster will up the dmg of all summoned units in both regions

Frosty Leblanc

How do you guarantee strike value, you play frostbites and draw leblanc off hawk so it doesn't die to TF or shot

everyone in this forum loves midrange frostbite so here ya go

hashtag  me too

want to know how you do 35 dmg you run P and Z so you're removing but also punching with VI

There's also keyword synergy where you give Vi overwhelm or elusive or something funny like that

Stunned And marked for death

The big problem with Kindred is that if you mark a unit for death, they will just attack with it to guarantee value

How do you stop that value, you stun, also allows you to slay and the cycle continues

Landmarks for days

The synergy here is undeniable getting double 8/8's

How you survive till you win well that's up to you

sturdy blades custom made

Will elites finally be top tier, probably with this winning duo

The deck was already pretty close to being playable this will push it the rest of the way

Overwhelming Power

Don't lie you didn't even know that was a vulnerable card that also frostbit

Well that's how you get renekton value easy peasy

That's all the ideas I have right now let me know what you guys think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeqnIu0sAR4

Honestly this is the first deck where you will play Heck leveled every time on 6

While it's true you can't ascend Azir if you splash Shadow Isles

Ask yourself this, does it really matter ;P

Hey I got one extra tip about xp boosters early on. Rotate between regions so you're always getting that extra xp, then focus on fully completing regions after.

I've been 100% free to play from the start and as long as you're okay not having every champ from the launch of a new set

You'll find you'll get them all in 2 - 3 weeks of light to moderate play

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V8S5S_u4UQ

Remember how I said how a 5 mana landmark that enabled ephemerals would be great

How about a 2 mana landmark that enables ephemerals instead that's sweet.

I love the potential here.

Yeah, poor Vi I definitely agree there

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but all card games operate on cyclical balance systems.

Aggro beats one thing

Midrange beats another

Control beats another

Combo beats another

But this can also be represented by regions Runeterra's equivalent of the colors of magic.

For example mono red (aggro) should have a favorable match up again mono blue (control)

The "fun" exists in region combinations and deck building iterations where we can bend these rules and expected outcomes to their breaking points...it's a beautiful thing

Yeah but think about the landmarks we've gotten so far. An arena so two creatures can fight each other. An over costed sac engine, a 7 mana champion engine, a self harm engine that gives followers tough. 

A 5 mana charger generator is scary as hell by comparison.

Its consistent value every attack that your opponent needs to chump over and over and over again for the rest of the game.

Sherima might be the counter to Targon silences like hush. A lot of raw stats unboosted by spell effects.

Think of ascended champions.

Or rockbears

Or 5/2 ephemeral chargers

You could potentially create a silence proof list.

The 8/8 overwhelms in Freij would be a great fit too.

Ironically I'm more excited for sand swept tomb than the champion announcement. Just having a reliable shark chariot activator without a build around cost is actually really strong.

https://youtu.be/p6jEQ1NPPxw

Kindred is the other half of the slay archetype, but the keyword seems flexible enough to be run in a lot of decks.

https://youtu.be/7BRT084GZrs

I think as an Anubis type archetype it's pretty great and flexible

You'll think Shadow Isles for sure

But even just being able to challenge and single combat in Demacia works

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRbA2Zc5fp8

I give it a solid 8/10

Yeah the rarity comment was about the cost to the player to obtain these power creeped cards.

Which in this instant is practically non existent when compared to every other ccg.

Like even free to play you'll have 20 common wild cards in the bank whenever a new set is released.

That's just granting you the premise that solid power creep even exists in LOR

Wait I'm so confused are we complaining about Targon while playing Targon Lee Sin? Seems mildly hypocritical.

Yeah so that's two commons and a rare. If that's all that needs to change everytime a new set is released you guys don't have a ton to complain about.

The whole point of LOR is that it is immune to power creep.

While there is a tiny bit of decks just naturally getting better they also hotfix core set cards, even bad ones.

Like what are the best deck, discards aggro with Jinx and Draven, Fiora Shen this is ancient core set tech

In fact trying to play new cards like Riven and Viktor will get you shrecked

This ain't mtg where one new set equals a whole new lineup of power creeped decks

It's like hey here's a new top tier deck to go with the other old top tier decks.

I don't see that changing honestly

I just love the possibility of removing Freijord from its shadow isles late game identity. There are a lot of regions that offer control options, or synergy points.

Like what if I want to be in targon for Asol...because fun. We get our 8/8's on clock thats an auto level on curve.

What if I want to be in Ezreal just so I can mystic shot things?

What if I wajt to play the new region so I can duplicate landmark triggers?

What if I want to bounce things and stun things in Ionia that's would be awesome.

Ash midrange is fine and will remain fine, Ramp does what it does, Anivia is a shadow isles deck, this is brand new. 100% Freijord stall, with a big 8/8 army overwhelm finish. 

But yes I would like to see more deck buff cards at some point to push midrange again.

Previously I had said that Freijord needed an identity shake up and boy howdy is this it.

Finally, a reason to run a full on Freijord stall/control deck

 If you have an 8 turn countdown to summon an 8/8 at 1 mana

You can't cheat that with ramp, it's gonna be all avalanches, ice quakes, harsh winds, and healing, plus countdown synergy.

https://youtu.be/Zlmey1DDfp0

This is great design.