Most people would agree that Glimpse Beyond is too powerful in its current state. The main problem is that it can be used as a 2 Mana draw 2 cards with no penalty if cast in response to a removal spell.
I wouldn't say that at all. It's a SI staple, sure, but that's hardly the same thing as "too powerful". It's 2 mana, it needs to successfully sacrifice a friendly unit, AND its a card itself so it its only netting you +1 draw.
Your second sentence says a lot: it sounds like you're playing your removal aggressively, and your opponent is rightly punishing you for it. If you suspect your opponent is holding on to a Glimpse, either wait until they tap out or wait until you have double-removal. Coming from the opposite end of this matchup: it really sucks when my Glimpse is just sitting in my hand feeling like a dead card, or when I finally do commit to it only to have it fizzle out. I NEED to convert that card into Draw 2 in order to succeed, so anything you can do to make that task difficult to me is going to be to your advantage.
Great card. I know it doesn't look like much, but you get to play it, attack once with this + any other scouts, then attack again: its almost guaranteed to survive the first attack due to barrier, and if your opponent just ignores it they are eating 4 damage. Plus its Elite! Not a flashy unit, but it will definitely see play.
I really dislike this card. I do like that it has the potential for some wacky antics that some streamer will make a funny Youtube video around, but in practice it's going to be WAY too circumstantial to be effective: you need to first spend 2 mana on a card, then you'll draw a card which you'll also need to play before the end of the turn in order to get any additional value out of this card. So not only is it very difficult to get any additional value, but she costs 4 mana, has bad stats, and her ability is only in-effect while she's alive on your board. In short: she reminds me of a worse version of Professor von Yipp: great value on paper, but in practice any deck built around this is pathetic except the 10% of games where it draws perfectly.
Solid card. It reminds me of Tianna Crownguard, except its 2 mana cheaper AND it heals all your units so they're more likely to survive their second block.
So cool! I think it will actually be too slow in practice to be as effective as people think--a bit like Warmother's Call or Emeriss if you played HS--but I love playing big buffs, so I can't wait to build a deck with this. It will probably also be auto-include for any Sejuani deck, and I expect Sejuani to be fairly popular.
As a base 1 card -> 1 nexus damage, this card is terrible--like a worse version of Blade's Edge. I'm giving it 5:5 though, as it is going to see a TON of play due of its ability to activate plunder and also to progress so many many champions for zero mana.
Voice-over actress's name withheld from credits; speculated to be Melissa Fahn
Legends of Runeterra datamined MF voice lines:
To my ears: they sound different, but only slightly. I think maybe she's hamming it up a bit more in the trailer than the normal interactions which is what caught you off-guard.
L2 Lee Sin plus Might = 14 nexus damage plus either killing or recalling an enemy unit of your choice. :-P
Honestly, he's probably going to play a lot like original Yasuo--oppressive once he's leveled and you've got your engine going, but in general too slow to earn a top-tier spot--however I'm still going to give him 5:5 just because he looks so much fun to play.
This is a cheap 2-spells-for-1-card, which is exactly what Lee Sin needs to be effective. The only thing that makes me a little uneasy is the first spell grants challenger, and Ionia isn't a class that's wanted a lot of challenger cards. I could still see it effective, though--specifically, I think it works beautifully in Lee Sin : Heimerdinger decks where you can give your high attack / low HP turrets challenge key enemy units.
5- Elusives can only block other Elusives; 6- Print a new Keyword: "Ward". Ward -> The unit and adjacent units can block Elusives; 7- Print situational spells that remove the Keywords: Elusive/Fearsome/Overwhelm. 8- Print units that can steal/remove Keywords; 9- Elusives can be blocked by any unit but they don't receive combat damage from non-elusive minions.
My favorite is number 9
Just wanted to comment on your ideas (I think some are good too!) Just providing my opinion on each idea.
1- Make elusives cost-inefficient;
Cost inefficiency can still be circumvented through buffs/handbuffs
That's not a bad thing! The idea isn't to break the elusive mechanic, its to force it to have some weaknesses either through inconsistency or poor matchups. Think combos like Braum -> Take Heart and Zed -> Stand Alone: yes, they are disgusting and often game-winning when pulled off, but at least they do at least luck in getting the right cards--and even if you do pull it off, there's no guarantee that you're not just going to get punished with a Vengeance / Thermo Beam / Will of Ionia / etc.
This guy isn't independently very good (that 4/2 stat line just isn't great), but the card he generates is plus it allows for some very nice combo potential.
Obviously the main cause for this card is Lee Sin's L2 ability; I'm still trying to decide how I feel about it as a standalone spell. On the one hand, its a bit like a Whirling Death, Decimate, and Will of Ionia all in one. On the other: no, its not exactly: its slow speed and its 7 mana, so its going to harder to use than any of the aforementioned. I predict a few players will experiment with it and there will be some niche decks that try to exploit its effect (e.g., Teemo, Zed, ShirazaBADCARDNAME, Draven, etc), but I think at large the community is going to favor cheaper and quicker spells.
The biggest problem with elusives IMHO isn't any single elusive or even the mechanic itself, its how easy it is to build a burn deck around them.
The direct parallel is flying in M:tG. For those of you unfamiliar, Magic has a tag which is functionally identical: flying units can only be blocked by other fliers, but they can block anything themselves; its mostly blue and with some white and some red. There are always some Magic decks that try to win by leveraging flying units, but its rarely meta-defining as they are much less aggressive. This is partially due to how units are budgeted in M:tG (e.g., 2 mana for a 1/1 vanilla flier in Magic versus a Greenglade Duo in LoR), but also due to how many offerings there are for building a deck of elusives in LoR.
Basically: you can make a elusive deck where you can usually burn an opponent down to ~10 HP after 3 attacks while keeping your board. That's insane! Noxus/P&Z "burn" decks are lucky when they can progress that fast. Or perhaps more to the point: Noxus/P&Z burn decks usually lose to elusive even though they should have an advantage on paper as their units have more stats for the same mana costs. If I could wave a magic wand and change one thing about this game, I would just obliterate every elusive for 3 or less mana. I think giving Ionia the option for huge unblockable swings circa The Empyrean is fine, but it should be limited to mid-game AFTER they've stabilize against aggro decks. Right now they get the best of both worlds, and Riot's current approach--doing subtle number tweaks to individual cards--just isn't cutting it. Either the card is still good and remains in the decks--a la conspirator--or it gets replaced by the next-best thing--a la Omen Hawk replacing Inspiring Mentor.
Before the showcase of new cards, Darius was a semi viable champion pick. Having the strongest Power and overwhelm, and can level up mid combat to surprise lethal the Nexus was cool. But now, there are many champions that do damage to the Nexus in more interesting ways. Yes I do think his core should be simply strength. But that is all he has going for him. Plus it doesnt take much to kill Darius.
Hard disagree. Darius is still a viable closer for aggro decks. Sure, all the new champions have clever new ways to win AFTER they level up, but don't be mistaken--each will also be very difficult to level up. Darius has arguably the easiest level condition in the game, and an attacking 10/5 overwhelm on Turn 6 is extremely dangerous. Yes, he is a little vanilla, but that's not a bad thing--the game needs vanilla cards for new players.
OK, Ionia is my least favorite region by a mile, but these cards really make me want to start playing it. I love all the clever interactions--the Concussive Palm spell spawns a Tail unit who turns back into Palm when recalled, Retreat gives you the fleeting option the Return a unit for 3 mana total so long as that unit costs 3 or less, etc. And then there's Lee Sin, who's probably the worst vanilla 6-drop in the game but each spell you cast gradually turns him into God-mode. It reminds me a lot of Combo Rogue, where most cards have potential beyond their face value so you really need to plan how to optimize your turns. Good job, Riot.
The more I look at this card, the less I like it in constructed. Sure, fleeting burst is nice--it gives you a really efficient way to dump your mana, and there will definitely be some meme-y YouTube videos of this card creating lethal--but it's just so expensive! 3 mana for 2 temporary attack damage! Compare with Mystic Shot (2 mana for 2 direct damage, so if you kill off a blocker your unit takes 0 damage), Brother's BondBADCARDNAME (2 mana for 2x 2 permanent attack damage), and Elixir of Wrath (1 mana for 3 temporary attack damage). Maybe if you combo with Cloud Drinker, so it only costs 2 mana? It's convoluted, but then at least you're representing 1:1 ratio on mana-to-damage.
The obvious application is to accelerate Vi's level--each cast on her gives +3 attack--but even then you're investing a lot of mana and she still needs to strike, so this tactic gets hard-countered by stun or frostbite or recall or vengeance. I think Vi is going to see more play as just a 2+/5 challenger body than a win condition. The only decks I see actually wanting this card are control decks looking for efficient outlets to dump mana mid-game (think Karma or Anivia decks), and P&Z decks like that don't really exist right now.
Now, if "allies" included your Nexus, it might be worth considering for some midrange decks, but I remember reading that a dev already confirmed it only affects units.
I think they've been quietly updating card text to clearly show what heals nexus, what heals units, and what heals either/both: e.g., Health Potion.
I agree that AoE healing for seems much less valuable for SI--their units tend to be high attack / low health. Honestly, I think I'd rather have this as "Heal Nexus 3 & units 0" than the reverse. The one caveat is that SI does have the potential for some fat lifesteal units--Soulgorger, Darkwater Scourge if you can combo Death Mark, Deadbloom Wanderer if you can get a buff on it--all of which would get a lot more mileage with Heal 3, so there is at least some potential. Again: it all comes down to how viable Malokai is and how impactful his level-up effect is.
Race to 8 to get the first set of champions (which you already did).
From there: whatever feels best to you. The optimal ratio of cards:XP would be to either do like DoubleSummon suggests or alternate to a new region every level, but honestly I think its more important to get the cards you want rather than just maximizing your total collection. For context: I'm maxed in 4 regions right now, and my Ionia is at ~13 because I have zero interest in playing Ionia.
I would probably say Frejlord with SI as a close second, with Ionia and Demacia being my least favorite and Noxus and P&Z in the middle. (Note that the question was "favorite to play", not "most successful". :-P)
While the stat line and heal are obviously nice, the real value of this card rests on Toss & MalokaiBADCARDNAME. If Malokai is strong, then cards like this are awesome: he's an effective early game blocker (which SI generally lacks) and he heals, both of which you want for longer games. Plus, he will progress Malokai by 3 (4 if he's on the board). On the other hand, if Malokai is weak, I don't think toad is good enough to earn a spot in your deck: SI control decks would probably prefer to keep the existing strategy of just ceding early board entirely and catching up via Avalanche / Withering Wails / Ruination, and SI tempo decks want to be more aggressive than a 1/4 stat line.
I wouldn't say that at all. It's a SI staple, sure, but that's hardly the same thing as "too powerful". It's 2 mana, it needs to successfully sacrifice a friendly unit, AND its a card itself so it its only netting you +1 draw.
Your second sentence says a lot: it sounds like you're playing your removal aggressively, and your opponent is rightly punishing you for it. If you suspect your opponent is holding on to a Glimpse, either wait until they tap out or wait until you have double-removal. Coming from the opposite end of this matchup: it really sucks when my Glimpse is just sitting in my hand feeling like a dead card, or when I finally do commit to it only to have it fizzle out. I NEED to convert that card into Draw 2 in order to succeed, so anything you can do to make that task difficult to me is going to be to your advantage.
Great card. I know it doesn't look like much, but you get to play it, attack once with this + any other scouts, then attack again: its almost guaranteed to survive the first attack due to barrier, and if your opponent just ignores it they are eating 4 damage. Plus its Elite! Not a flashy unit, but it will definitely see play.
I really dislike this card. I do like that it has the potential for some wacky antics that some streamer will make a funny Youtube video around, but in practice it's going to be WAY too circumstantial to be effective: you need to first spend 2 mana on a card, then you'll draw a card which you'll also need to play before the end of the turn in order to get any additional value out of this card. So not only is it very difficult to get any additional value, but she costs 4 mana, has bad stats, and her ability is only in-effect while she's alive on your board. In short: she reminds me of a worse version of Professor von Yipp: great value on paper, but in practice any deck built around this is pathetic except the 10% of games where it draws perfectly.
Solid card. It reminds me of Tianna Crownguard, except its 2 mana cheaper AND it heals all your units so they're more likely to survive their second block.
So cool! I think it will actually be too slow in practice to be as effective as people think--a bit like Warmother's Call or Emeriss if you played HS--but I love playing big buffs, so I can't wait to build a deck with this. It will probably also be auto-include for any Sejuani deck, and I expect Sejuani to be fairly popular.
As a base 1 card -> 1 nexus damage, this card is terrible--like a worse version of Blade's Edge. I'm giving it 5:5 though, as it is going to see a TON of play due of its ability to activate plunder and also to progress so many many champions for zero mana.
League of Legends MF English voice lines:
Legends of Runeterra datamined MF voice lines:
To my ears: they sound different, but only slightly. I think maybe she's hamming it up a bit more in the trailer than the normal interactions which is what caught you off-guard.
L2 Lee Sin plus Might = 14 nexus damage plus either killing or recalling an enemy unit of your choice. :-P
Honestly, he's probably going to play a lot like original Yasuo--oppressive once he's leveled and you've got your engine going, but in general too slow to earn a top-tier spot--however I'm still going to give him 5:5 just because he looks so much fun to play.
This is a cheap 2-spells-for-1-card, which is exactly what Lee Sin needs to be effective. The only thing that makes me a little uneasy is the first spell grants challenger, and Ionia isn't a class that's wanted a lot of challenger cards. I could still see it effective, though--specifically, I think it works beautifully in Lee Sin : Heimerdinger decks where you can give your high attack / low HP turrets challenge key enemy units.
That's not a bad thing! The idea isn't to break the elusive mechanic, its to force it to have some weaknesses either through inconsistency or poor matchups. Think combos like Braum -> Take Heart and Zed -> Stand Alone: yes, they are disgusting and often game-winning when pulled off, but at least they do at least luck in getting the right cards--and even if you do pull it off, there's no guarantee that you're not just going to get punished with a Vengeance / Thermo Beam / Will of Ionia / etc.
This guy isn't independently very good (that 4/2 stat line just isn't great), but the card he generates is plus it allows for some very nice combo potential.
Obviously the main cause for this card is Lee Sin's L2 ability; I'm still trying to decide how I feel about it as a standalone spell. On the one hand, its a bit like a Whirling Death, Decimate, and Will of Ionia all in one. On the other: no, its not exactly: its slow speed and its 7 mana, so its going to harder to use than any of the aforementioned. I predict a few players will experiment with it and there will be some niche decks that try to exploit its effect (e.g., Teemo, Zed, ShirazaBADCARDNAME, Draven, etc), but I think at large the community is going to favor cheaper and quicker spells.
The biggest problem with elusives IMHO isn't any single elusive or even the mechanic itself, its how easy it is to build a burn deck around them.
The direct parallel is flying in M:tG. For those of you unfamiliar, Magic has a tag which is functionally identical: flying units can only be blocked by other fliers, but they can block anything themselves; its mostly blue and with some white and some red. There are always some Magic decks that try to win by leveraging flying units, but its rarely meta-defining as they are much less aggressive. This is partially due to how units are budgeted in M:tG (e.g., 2 mana for a 1/1 vanilla flier in Magic versus a Greenglade Duo in LoR), but also due to how many offerings there are for building a deck of elusives in LoR.
Basically: you can make a elusive deck where you can usually burn an opponent down to ~10 HP after 3 attacks while keeping your board. That's insane! Noxus/P&Z "burn" decks are lucky when they can progress that fast. Or perhaps more to the point: Noxus/P&Z burn decks usually lose to elusive even though they should have an advantage on paper as their units have more stats for the same mana costs. If I could wave a magic wand and change one thing about this game, I would just obliterate every elusive for 3 or less mana. I think giving Ionia the option for huge unblockable swings circa The Empyrean is fine, but it should be limited to mid-game AFTER they've stabilize against aggro decks. Right now they get the best of both worlds, and Riot's current approach--doing subtle number tweaks to individual cards--just isn't cutting it. Either the card is still good and remains in the decks--a la conspirator--or it gets replaced by the next-best thing--a la Omen Hawk replacing Inspiring Mentor.
Hard disagree. Darius is still a viable closer for aggro decks. Sure, all the new champions have clever new ways to win AFTER they level up, but don't be mistaken--each will also be very difficult to level up. Darius has arguably the easiest level condition in the game, and an attacking 10/5 overwhelm on Turn 6 is extremely dangerous. Yes, he is a little vanilla, but that's not a bad thing--the game needs vanilla cards for new players.
OK, Ionia is my least favorite region by a mile, but these cards really make me want to start playing it. I love all the clever interactions--the Concussive Palm spell spawns a Tail unit who turns back into Palm when recalled, Retreat gives you the fleeting option the Return a unit for 3 mana total so long as that unit costs 3 or less, etc. And then there's Lee Sin, who's probably the worst vanilla 6-drop in the game but each spell you cast gradually turns him into God-mode. It reminds me a lot of Combo Rogue, where most cards have potential beyond their face value so you really need to plan how to optimize your turns. Good job, Riot.
The more I look at this card, the less I like it in constructed. Sure, fleeting burst is nice--it gives you a really efficient way to dump your mana, and there will definitely be some meme-y YouTube videos of this card creating lethal--but it's just so expensive! 3 mana for 2 temporary attack damage! Compare with Mystic Shot (2 mana for 2 direct damage, so if you kill off a blocker your unit takes 0 damage), Brother's BondBADCARDNAME (2 mana for 2x 2 permanent attack damage), and Elixir of Wrath (1 mana for 3 temporary attack damage). Maybe if you combo with Cloud Drinker, so it only costs 2 mana? It's convoluted, but then at least you're representing 1:1 ratio on mana-to-damage.
The obvious application is to accelerate Vi's level--each cast on her gives +3 attack--but even then you're investing a lot of mana and she still needs to strike, so this tactic gets hard-countered by stun or frostbite or recall or vengeance. I think Vi is going to see more play as just a 2+/5 challenger body than a win condition. The only decks I see actually wanting this card are control decks looking for efficient outlets to dump mana mid-game (think Karma or Anivia decks), and P&Z decks like that don't really exist right now.
I think they've been quietly updating card text to clearly show what heals nexus, what heals units, and what heals either/both: e.g., Health Potion.
I agree that AoE healing for seems much less valuable for SI--their units tend to be high attack / low health. Honestly, I think I'd rather have this as "Heal Nexus 3 & units 0" than the reverse. The one caveat is that SI does have the potential for some fat lifesteal units--Soulgorger, Darkwater Scourge if you can combo Death Mark, Deadbloom Wanderer if you can get a buff on it--all of which would get a lot more mileage with Heal 3, so there is at least some potential. Again: it all comes down to how viable Malokai is and how impactful his level-up effect is.
Race to 8 to get the first set of champions (which you already did).
From there: whatever feels best to you. The optimal ratio of cards:XP would be to either do like DoubleSummon suggests or alternate to a new region every level, but honestly I think its more important to get the cards you want rather than just maximizing your total collection. For context: I'm maxed in 4 regions right now, and my Ionia is at ~13 because I have zero interest in playing Ionia.
I would probably say Frejlord with SI as a close second, with Ionia and Demacia being my least favorite and Noxus and P&Z in the middle. (Note that the question was "favorite to play", not "most successful". :-P)
While the stat line and heal are obviously nice, the real value of this card rests on Toss & MalokaiBADCARDNAME. If Malokai is strong, then cards like this are awesome: he's an effective early game blocker (which SI generally lacks) and he heals, both of which you want for longer games. Plus, he will progress Malokai by 3 (4 if he's on the board). On the other hand, if Malokai is weak, I don't think toad is good enough to earn a spot in your deck: SI control decks would probably prefer to keep the existing strategy of just ceding early board entirely and catching up via Avalanche / Withering Wails / Ruination, and SI tempo decks want to be more aggressive than a 1/4 stat line.