The Bard origin card that buffs 3 cards in your deck with a chime at every round start is pretty strong. I can imagine Bard being strong in a Demacia allegiance deck or a Freljord overwhelm allegiance deck, where you add 3 copies of Bard, none of his support cards, and hope that you never even draw the champion.
Bard looks reasonably strong, but I hate his design.
Ahri nerf is well-deserved, you want champions to be strong, but not THAT strong. Wayfinder joins the club of unplayable allegiance cards. Ahri Kennen definitely needs to change now, away from an allegiance deck, but it's impossible to tell what it'll look like in the end.
Iceborn Poros may not have been top tier, but Iceborn Spiders kind of was, it's the strongest Freljord + Shadow Isles deck before the patch. Iceborn Legacy might still have a place in more traditional Poro decks, the ones with Aurora Porealis, but those are definitely not going to be competitive meta decks.
I'm concerned the Whiteflame nerf may not have been enough, Pantheon decks were already top tier before the patch and that was despite being hard countered by Ahri Kennen. With the substantial power-up that is represented by Yuumi's release, there's a good chance Pantheon will become the next meta king.
This is weak in terms of tempo. For 6 mana, double Zenith Blade will also give two units overwhelm and more stats. Battle Bonds will grant +2|+2 to two allies for 4 mana. Double Ice Shards will do the same board damage at Fast Speed. The upside of this card is its versatility, in that it can do any of those things, plus one other effect. Versatility is key; you can get (slow) Ice Shards vs. aggro, a pick between two keywords, or just stats as the situation demands. Verdict: 4/5
Decks that prevent enemies from blocking- with cards such as Ashe or Moonlight Affliction- may not be meta, but the effect of preventing enemies from blocking is very strong. I'm not sure what kind of deck wants this card, but it can be a competent finisher. Verdict: 3/5
Hard card to evaluate because it's so different from all other competitive cards and strategies from the region. At the very least, the generated stances give you versatility AND create value, which is something Freljord historically struggles with, only ever using Avarosan Sentry and maaaaybe Babbling Bjerg as card draw. Udyr needs to strike to create value, which is inherently risky, but with all the protection options in Freljord, it shouldn't be a problem. Udyr's game plan is slow and straightforward, which detracts from its raw power. Verdict: 4/5
PS: I LOVE the fantasy of the Udyr archetype, I'm going to play the heck out of him.
Freljord is my favorite region, and since it's been the weakest region for a while now, I've had big expectations for the new cards. So far, I'm very happy with them! Thematically, Freljord is supposed to have big, scary units, but Freljord's big units like Icy Yeti, Uzgar the Ancient and She Who Wanders are mostly terrible. The new Shaman units succeed at being big and scary, but they balance their huge stats and power with an initial period of vulnerability and requiring to be enabled somehow. In terms of power level, the new units are good but not OP, and in terms of selling you the Freljord fantasy, they're 10/10. I love it.
Assuming more tools come out to enable this guy's ability, and that he helps with Udyr's level-up requirement, then he's an okay early game blocker and enabler. Verdict: 3/5
A 6 mana unit with no immediate board impact, deckbuilding requirements to enable it and you don't want to attack or block with it on the turn it's summoned; such a unit would require massive upside to be playable. As it happens, Mammoth Shaman does have massive upside, and therefore it is playable. Is it better than just playing an Alpha Wildclaw and being able to attack with it on the same turn? Well, this guy is a game-ending threat and Alpha Wildclaw is not, so yes it's worth it. Verdict: 3/5
A 5|5 with Regeneration who also draws you a card, for the low, low price of 4 mana; Babbling Bjerg, eat your heart out. That said, there are two big drawbacks for this card: there are nontrivial deckbuilding requirements to enable it, and even if you do enable it on the same round you play it, it's still a weak 4 mana 3|3 for one round. These drawbacks are significant, but the upside more than makes up for it. Verdict: 4/5
My prediction is that Galio decks will be good because they synergize well with Poppy and Yordle Smith, and Poppy is still a beast when she gets to apply her buff.
This is good on Formidable units, but kind of underwhelming on anything else. And even if you get a really big Formidable unit, none of them have Overwhelm so they can just get chump blocked, except for Gorlith. Verdict: 3/5
Best use I can think for this card is healing your Nexus back up to 10 against a burn aggro deck, because Control decks can just stun, recall or kill this unit; The Arsenal it ain't. Verdict: 2/5
5 mana 6/6 = very beefy, and Fury keeps it relevant even after taking damage. It has some strong counters in Silence effects, Culling Strike, not being able to block Elusives, etc. which makes it less reliable. Verdict: 3/5
The buff he grants when summoned is very significant, it's a For Demacia! in the case of Formidable units and something like Bloodsworn Pledge for everyone else. Once he levels up, he threatens to quickly close out the game with free Rallies. He's very much a support champion and needs a wide board that he can support effectively, but in Demacia that's not too hard to get. Verdict: 4/5
Blocking Annie with a big unit is always risky because Disintegrate exists.
The Bard origin card that buffs 3 cards in your deck with a chime at every round start is pretty strong. I can imagine Bard being strong in a Demacia allegiance deck or a Freljord overwhelm allegiance deck, where you add 3 copies of Bard, none of his support cards, and hope that you never even draw the champion.
Bard looks reasonably strong, but I hate his design.
Ahri nerf is well-deserved, you want champions to be strong, but not THAT strong. Wayfinder joins the club of unplayable allegiance cards. Ahri Kennen definitely needs to change now, away from an allegiance deck, but it's impossible to tell what it'll look like in the end.
Iceborn Poros may not have been top tier, but Iceborn Spiders kind of was, it's the strongest Freljord + Shadow Isles deck before the patch. Iceborn Legacy might still have a place in more traditional Poro decks, the ones with Aurora Porealis, but those are definitely not going to be competitive meta decks.
I'm concerned the Whiteflame nerf may not have been enough, Pantheon decks were already top tier before the patch and that was despite being hard countered by Ahri Kennen. With the substantial power-up that is represented by Yuumi's release, there's a good chance Pantheon will become the next meta king.
This is weak in terms of tempo. For 6 mana, double Zenith Blade will also give two units overwhelm and more stats. Battle Bonds will grant +2|+2 to two allies for 4 mana. Double Ice Shards will do the same board damage at Fast Speed. The upside of this card is its versatility, in that it can do any of those things, plus one other effect. Versatility is key; you can get (slow) Ice Shards vs. aggro, a pick between two keywords, or just stats as the situation demands. Verdict: 4/5
Maaaybe Scargrounds decks want this, but most decks do not. Verdict: 2/5
Decks that prevent enemies from blocking- with cards such as Ashe or Moonlight Affliction- may not be meta, but the effect of preventing enemies from blocking is very strong. I'm not sure what kind of deck wants this card, but it can be a competent finisher. Verdict: 3/5
It's like a Freljord version of Conchologist, with added Udyr synergy. Many Freljord decks will want this guy. Verdict: 5/5
A little slow, but the versatility from the stances makes this card viable. Verdict: 3/5
Hard card to evaluate because it's so different from all other competitive cards and strategies from the region. At the very least, the generated stances give you versatility AND create value, which is something Freljord historically struggles with, only ever using Avarosan Sentry and maaaaybe Babbling Bjerg as card draw. Udyr needs to strike to create value, which is inherently risky, but with all the protection options in Freljord, it shouldn't be a problem. Udyr's game plan is slow and straightforward, which detracts from its raw power. Verdict: 4/5
PS: I LOVE the fantasy of the Udyr archetype, I'm going to play the heck out of him.
Freljord is my favorite region, and since it's been the weakest region for a while now, I've had big expectations for the new cards. So far, I'm very happy with them! Thematically, Freljord is supposed to have big, scary units, but Freljord's big units like Icy Yeti, Uzgar the Ancient and She Who Wanders are mostly terrible. The new Shaman units succeed at being big and scary, but they balance their huge stats and power with an initial period of vulnerability and requiring to be enabled somehow. In terms of power level, the new units are good but not OP, and in terms of selling you the Freljord fantasy, they're 10/10. I love it.
Solid stats and a guaranteed enabler of the new Shaman synergy. Even without Shaman synergy, this is a great aggro unit. Verdict: 4/5
Assuming more tools come out to enable this guy's ability, and that he helps with Udyr's level-up requirement, then he's an okay early game blocker and enabler. Verdict: 3/5
A 6 mana unit with no immediate board impact, deckbuilding requirements to enable it and you don't want to attack or block with it on the turn it's summoned; such a unit would require massive upside to be playable. As it happens, Mammoth Shaman does have massive upside, and therefore it is playable. Is it better than just playing an Alpha Wildclaw and being able to attack with it on the same turn? Well, this guy is a game-ending threat and Alpha Wildclaw is not, so yes it's worth it. Verdict: 3/5
A 5|5 with Regeneration who also draws you a card, for the low, low price of 4 mana; Babbling Bjerg, eat your heart out. That said, there are two big drawbacks for this card: there are nontrivial deckbuilding requirements to enable it, and even if you do enable it on the same round you play it, it's still a weak 4 mana 3|3 for one round. These drawbacks are significant, but the upside more than makes up for it. Verdict: 4/5
My prediction is that Galio decks will be good because they synergize well with Poppy and Yordle Smith, and Poppy is still a beast when she gets to apply her buff.
This is good on Formidable units, but kind of underwhelming on anything else. And even if you get a really big Formidable unit, none of them have Overwhelm so they can just get chump blocked, except for Gorlith. Verdict: 3/5
Key card for Formidable decks. Verdict: 4/5
Best use I can think for this card is healing your Nexus back up to 10 against a burn aggro deck, because Control decks can just stun, recall or kill this unit; The Arsenal it ain't. Verdict: 2/5
5 mana 6/6 = very beefy, and Fury keeps it relevant even after taking damage. It has some strong counters in Silence effects, Culling Strike, not being able to block Elusives, etc. which makes it less reliable. Verdict: 3/5
The buff he grants when summoned is very significant, it's a For Demacia! in the case of Formidable units and something like Bloodsworn Pledge for everyone else. Once he levels up, he threatens to quickly close out the game with free Rallies. He's very much a support champion and needs a wide board that he can support effectively, but in Demacia that's not too hard to get. Verdict: 4/5