A 2 mana 2/3 that gives you 1 mana back later sounds a bit like a 1 mana 2/3. Is that good? Put like that, it sounds comparable to Solari Soldier. Unfortunately, it's not a 1 mana 2/3, it's worse than that, because it costs 2 mana up front, but gives you 1 mana back later, and mana is more valuable the earlier you can get it.
Now, maybe you have this combo where this guy allows you to play X unit 1 turn earlier which is a big deal; and fair enough, that can be very strong. But it likely requires your opponent's cooperation; if your opponent refuses to kill this guy when the extra mana crystal would be most beneficial to you, then this upside is thwarted. Overall, probably not good enough to be in a competitive deck, 2/5
Right now, landmark-heavy decks are not even remotely close to being competitively viable. Then again, both Targon and Shurima are getting a ton of support for that game plan, so for now let's assume that it ends up being viable. Is this card good in that type of archetype?
The dream is playing this on turn 4 with its condition already fulfilled (say, by playing Ancient Preparations, then Preservarium or Rock Hopper, then Unraveled Earth). A 6/5 Overwhelm unit on turn 4 is 1 power and 1 toughness better than an allegiance-enabled Basilisk Rider- which is to say, pretty spectacular. Sadly, also very unreliable, in the case of this card. Also, unlike in the case of Noxus allegiance decks, it means you spent your early turns playing landmarks instead of developing your board, which makes the Basilisk Rider game plan both better and more reliable.
As a 4 mana 3/5, this is decidedly mediocre. And if you fulfill its condition later on, dropping a 4 mana 6/5 overwhelm creature on turn 8 is nowhere near as powerful as dropping it on turn 4. Maybe landmark-heavy decks will be viable, and maybe those decks will want this card. Even then, I expect its contribution to such decks will be modest. 2/5
Obliterate effects are very powerful. This card works best alongside other removal options: say, avalanche to clear your opponent's small units, then triggering this afterwards to deal with the sole remaining threat. If you can advance its cooldown to trigger the effect when your opponent isn't expecting it, even better.
This could be a good fit into a Targon + Shurima deck with Zilean. Obliterate effect for this cheap earns this card a 4/5
Best-case scenario, you spend 3 mana to play this on turn 3, then you get the buff spell at the start of turn 6. The buff itself is quite strong, especially if you can duplicate it with Taric. However, Taric and his decks are very weak right now, and I don't think this can propel them into competitiveness. Without Taric, I just don't see who wants this; Lee Sin certainly doesn't.
It's terrible if you don't play it on curve, it's unplayable vs. aggro because of the negative tempo of spending 3 mana on turn 3 with no payoff until turn 6, and control decks can typically deal fine with the buffed unit later on, especially if you telegraph your move 3 turns in advance. If people start running landmark removal, then that's another weakness.
Even with a landmark synergy-heavy deck, I can't see this card ever being good. 1/5
At 8 mana, this is no Tianna Crownguard. At 6 mana, this is better than Citrus Courier, the reliability of not having to trigger Plunder more than makes up for the lack of the heal effect.
Demacia may have the best Rally effects, but Freljord and Noxus are the regions that best take advantage of rally effects, which is why you see some Ashe Noxus lists running Shunpo or even Katarina.
This guy looks like he could be good for Ashe + Noxus or Noxus + Shurima reputation decks. 4/5
The only other units with the Tech tribe are Heim turrets, so if you summon a tough turret then Adaptatron gains Tough. If you then summon a Fearsome turret, Adaptatron gains Fearsome and the turret gains Tough. If you then summon a Quick Attack turret, Adaptatron gains Quick Attack and the turret gains Tough and Fearsome, and so on.
The big keyword here is Tough, an army of turrets with Quick Attack and Overwhelm and Fearsome are not so scary if they get killed at fast speed by Withering Wail or Ice Shard.
The stats on this are good enough at holding the line vs. aggro that I think Heim decks will want this guy. 3/5
This looks pretty clunky by itself, but the power level of Iterative Improvement is such that you need no other support cards to turn this into a game-ending threat, and Iterative Improvement is perfectly good if you don't draw Chirean Sumpworker. Not quite as broken as pre-nerf Burblefish because this costs 2 mana instead of 0, but this is looking like a Piltover powerhouse. 4/5
Big effect, big price tag. This gets countered by The Ruination, but almost no one is playing The Ruination because Deny and Rite of Negation exist. LoR has proved that 8+ mana followers are viable: Captain Farron, The Leviathan, Brightsteel Formation, Commander Ledros, Tianna Crownguard. These followers are good because despite their hefty price tag, they are imminent, game-ending threats. Expensive followers that don't represent imminent, game-ending pressure are bad, Freljord has a bunch of them: Uzgar the Ancient, The Tuskraider, She Who Wanders.
Cithria 4 has this game-ending threat, so I think she'll be competitively viable. 3/5
Not impressed by this card. The creature itself looks slightly weaker than a Grizzled Ranger, with the upside that it can cost less mana, and the downside that you can't play this in a deck that actually wants Scout units (Quinn + MF), you can only play this in a dedicated Elites deck.
Elites don't really want Scouts or have great ways to take advantage of them. Besides, Elites tend to run out of steam pretty fast, the have little card draw and drawing this late when you're running on fumes is terrible, you really don't want to pay full cost for this, but it may be the only choice you have if you're low on cards. Needs more support to see play. 2/5
I'm not an expert on Thresh/Nasus so I don't know if this is a good fit for that style of deck. The versatility is nice, but the 1 mana cost is a big deal when compared to the 0 mana cost of Ravenous Butcher. My guess is that this doesn't make the cut. 2/5
I think this could be quite good. There's a ton of use cases for it.
Control decks can pair it up with It That Stares on the following turn for a one-sided, full board obliteration.
Board-centric decks can use it to clear the enemy board of blockers before going in for the kill, especially if you cast this on a turn where your enemy has the attack token, then attack on the following turn, hopefully multiple times due to rally effects from Demacia or Noxus.
The big, glaring weakness is that this gets punished very hard by Deny and Rite of Negation, two of the most powerful and ubiquitous cards which have almost completely eliminated other big spells like The Ruination and The Harrowing from the meta. Maybe this will see play in a meta where counterspells aren't quite so dominant. 3/5
On its face, this seems laughably bad. Frozen Thralls are not even remotely close to being competitively viable, AND this is the most awkward way of summoning a Frozen Thrall yet, because you want to play Frozen Thralls proactively but you want to use Burst-Speed freeze effects reactively.
The fact they're even releasing this card makes me think that they have more support for Frozen Thralls coming down the line, but even then, I can't imagine this card seeing competitive play. 1/5
Good card. Reminds me of Black Spear. The spell's condition is a bit harder to fulfill, but the payoff (damage) is higher to compensate, plus it has an alternate cost of 6 mana if you can't plunder instead of bricking your hand. Not super strong, but a solid role-player in Plunder decks. I like it. 3/5
Bad card IMO. Strike effect is good on larger creatures, but then it costs you a card draw (compared to Recall effects) and recalling your own units is not great in general because you have to pay your unit's cost again to get it back in play, which is especially painful with big, expensive units... the kind of units you want to strike with in the first place. The comparison with Single Combat is flawed; this is more like a 2-mana Atrocity, except you can't target the enemy Nexus. 2/5
The Grand Plaza all day, every day until February 9th. Sounds like a wonderful opportunity to work through my Steam backlog, work out, or do just about anything other than playing LoR.
Riven has great stats, and the 3-mana Blade of the Exile spell is solid. However, cards with Reforge pay a 1-mana surcharge for the ability (Runeweaver costs 2 and has the stats of a 1-mana creature, Blade Squire has the stats of a 0-mana creature (i.e. Shellshocker), Weapon Hilt is like Elixir of Wrath except it has a worse effect for more mana.
On top of having to pay three 1-mana surcharges to GET the Reforge spells, you then need to pay a total of 3 more mana to cast these underwhelming spells, and after paying 6 mana’s worth of Reforge stuff, you get a powerful buff in Blade of the Exile (for which you need to pay 3 more mana). WAY too expensive for what it does.
A 2 mana 2/3 that gives you 1 mana back later sounds a bit like a 1 mana 2/3. Is that good? Put like that, it sounds comparable to Solari Soldier. Unfortunately, it's not a 1 mana 2/3, it's worse than that, because it costs 2 mana up front, but gives you 1 mana back later, and mana is more valuable the earlier you can get it.
Now, maybe you have this combo where this guy allows you to play X unit 1 turn earlier which is a big deal; and fair enough, that can be very strong. But it likely requires your opponent's cooperation; if your opponent refuses to kill this guy when the extra mana crystal would be most beneficial to you, then this upside is thwarted. Overall, probably not good enough to be in a competitive deck, 2/5
Right now, landmark-heavy decks are not even remotely close to being competitively viable. Then again, both Targon and Shurima are getting a ton of support for that game plan, so for now let's assume that it ends up being viable. Is this card good in that type of archetype?
The dream is playing this on turn 4 with its condition already fulfilled (say, by playing Ancient Preparations, then Preservarium or Rock Hopper, then Unraveled Earth). A 6/5 Overwhelm unit on turn 4 is 1 power and 1 toughness better than an allegiance-enabled Basilisk Rider- which is to say, pretty spectacular. Sadly, also very unreliable, in the case of this card. Also, unlike in the case of Noxus allegiance decks, it means you spent your early turns playing landmarks instead of developing your board, which makes the Basilisk Rider game plan both better and more reliable.
As a 4 mana 3/5, this is decidedly mediocre. And if you fulfill its condition later on, dropping a 4 mana 6/5 overwhelm creature on turn 8 is nowhere near as powerful as dropping it on turn 4. Maybe landmark-heavy decks will be viable, and maybe those decks will want this card. Even then, I expect its contribution to such decks will be modest. 2/5
Obliterate effects are very powerful. This card works best alongside other removal options: say, avalanche to clear your opponent's small units, then triggering this afterwards to deal with the sole remaining threat. If you can advance its cooldown to trigger the effect when your opponent isn't expecting it, even better.
This could be a good fit into a Targon + Shurima deck with Zilean. Obliterate effect for this cheap earns this card a 4/5
Best-case scenario, you spend 3 mana to play this on turn 3, then you get the buff spell at the start of turn 6. The buff itself is quite strong, especially if you can duplicate it with Taric. However, Taric and his decks are very weak right now, and I don't think this can propel them into competitiveness. Without Taric, I just don't see who wants this; Lee Sin certainly doesn't.
It's terrible if you don't play it on curve, it's unplayable vs. aggro because of the negative tempo of spending 3 mana on turn 3 with no payoff until turn 6, and control decks can typically deal fine with the buffed unit later on, especially if you telegraph your move 3 turns in advance. If people start running landmark removal, then that's another weakness.
Even with a landmark synergy-heavy deck, I can't see this card ever being good. 1/5
Trades into a chump blocker, and gives you one reputation stack. Reputation decks probably want this. 3/5
At 8 mana, this is no Tianna Crownguard. At 6 mana, this is better than Citrus Courier, the reliability of not having to trigger Plunder more than makes up for the lack of the heal effect.
Demacia may have the best Rally effects, but Freljord and Noxus are the regions that best take advantage of rally effects, which is why you see some Ashe Noxus lists running Shunpo or even Katarina.
This guy looks like he could be good for Ashe + Noxus or Noxus + Shurima reputation decks. 4/5
The only other units with the Tech tribe are Heim turrets, so if you summon a tough turret then Adaptatron gains Tough. If you then summon a Fearsome turret, Adaptatron gains Fearsome and the turret gains Tough. If you then summon a Quick Attack turret, Adaptatron gains Quick Attack and the turret gains Tough and Fearsome, and so on.
The big keyword here is Tough, an army of turrets with Quick Attack and Overwhelm and Fearsome are not so scary if they get killed at fast speed by Withering Wail or Ice Shard.
The stats on this are good enough at holding the line vs. aggro that I think Heim decks will want this guy. 3/5
This looks pretty clunky by itself, but the power level of Iterative Improvement is such that you need no other support cards to turn this into a game-ending threat, and Iterative Improvement is perfectly good if you don't draw Chirean Sumpworker. Not quite as broken as pre-nerf Burblefish because this costs 2 mana instead of 0, but this is looking like a Piltover powerhouse. 4/5
Big effect, big price tag. This gets countered by The Ruination, but almost no one is playing The Ruination because Deny and Rite of Negation exist. LoR has proved that 8+ mana followers are viable: Captain Farron, The Leviathan, Brightsteel Formation, Commander Ledros, Tianna Crownguard. These followers are good because despite their hefty price tag, they are imminent, game-ending threats. Expensive followers that don't represent imminent, game-ending pressure are bad, Freljord has a bunch of them: Uzgar the Ancient, The Tuskraider, She Who Wanders.
Cithria 4 has this game-ending threat, so I think she'll be competitively viable. 3/5
Not impressed by this card. The creature itself looks slightly weaker than a Grizzled Ranger, with the upside that it can cost less mana, and the downside that you can't play this in a deck that actually wants Scout units (Quinn + MF), you can only play this in a dedicated Elites deck.
Elites don't really want Scouts or have great ways to take advantage of them. Besides, Elites tend to run out of steam pretty fast, the have little card draw and drawing this late when you're running on fumes is terrible, you really don't want to pay full cost for this, but it may be the only choice you have if you're low on cards. Needs more support to see play. 2/5
I'm not an expert on Thresh/Nasus so I don't know if this is a good fit for that style of deck. The versatility is nice, but the 1 mana cost is a big deal when compared to the 0 mana cost of Ravenous Butcher. My guess is that this doesn't make the cut. 2/5
I think this could be quite good. There's a ton of use cases for it.
Control decks can pair it up with It That Stares on the following turn for a one-sided, full board obliteration.
Board-centric decks can use it to clear the enemy board of blockers before going in for the kill, especially if you cast this on a turn where your enemy has the attack token, then attack on the following turn, hopefully multiple times due to rally effects from Demacia or Noxus.
The big, glaring weakness is that this gets punished very hard by Deny and Rite of Negation, two of the most powerful and ubiquitous cards which have almost completely eliminated other big spells like The Ruination and The Harrowing from the meta. Maybe this will see play in a meta where counterspells aren't quite so dominant. 3/5
The Ruination kills your units. This spell only affects enemy units. Big difference.
On its face, this seems laughably bad. Frozen Thralls are not even remotely close to being competitively viable, AND this is the most awkward way of summoning a Frozen Thrall yet, because you want to play Frozen Thralls proactively but you want to use Burst-Speed freeze effects reactively.
The fact they're even releasing this card makes me think that they have more support for Frozen Thralls coming down the line, but even then, I can't imagine this card seeing competitive play. 1/5
Good card. Reminds me of Black Spear. The spell's condition is a bit harder to fulfill, but the payoff (damage) is higher to compensate, plus it has an alternate cost of 6 mana if you can't plunder instead of bricking your hand. Not super strong, but a solid role-player in Plunder decks. I like it. 3/5
Bad card IMO. Strike effect is good on larger creatures, but then it costs you a card draw (compared to Recall effects) and recalling your own units is not great in general because you have to pay your unit's cost again to get it back in play, which is especially painful with big, expensive units... the kind of units you want to strike with in the first place. The comparison with Single Combat is flawed; this is more like a 2-mana Atrocity, except you can't target the enemy Nexus. 2/5
Could make the cut in Ashe Noxus decks, which have been known to run Shunpo for the Rally effect.
The Grand Plaza all day, every day until February 9th. Sounds like a wonderful opportunity to work through my Steam backlog, work out, or do just about anything other than playing LoR.
Riven has great stats, and the 3-mana Blade of the Exile spell is solid. However, cards with Reforge pay a 1-mana surcharge for the ability (Runeweaver costs 2 and has the stats of a 1-mana creature, Blade Squire has the stats of a 0-mana creature (i.e. Shellshocker), Weapon Hilt is like Elixir of Wrath except it has a worse effect for more mana.
On top of having to pay three 1-mana surcharges to GET the Reforge spells, you then need to pay a total of 3 more mana to cast these underwhelming spells, and after paying 6 mana’s worth of Reforge stuff, you get a powerful buff in Blade of the Exile (for which you need to pay 3 more mana). WAY too expensive for what it does.