The Empire of the Ascended Expansion lands later today, bringing a new region, new mechanics, 9 new champions (including some at level 3), and a host of support cards. Here are some decks we can’t wait to try out!
Mono Shurima Ascended
Is there a better place to start than a full Shurima deck? This deck utilizes the new Countdown keyword with Buried Sun Disc. As all your cards are Shuriman, you will immediately draw Buried Sun Disc at the start of the game. After stalling a few turns, you can play Ascended's Rise to level up your champions. Now, just play them to restore the Sun Disc and watch as your 10/10 champions take control of the game! This will be one of the most expensive decks to create, but it is likely you will be crafting many of the Shurima cards anyway!
Total Cost of New Cards: 29600
Noxus Aggro Champ Level
For a wacky deck idea, we’ve chosen to use Voice of the Risen, a card with a unique but very strong effect, in a deck that can meet the requirements of levelling up champions as quickly as possible. Noxus has a good, if not the best, aggro shell that can take advantage of Voice of the Risen’s ability; and Katarina may just be the easiest-to-level champion, flipping after she strikes once. Draven is another champion that has the potential to level up fast, and suits the aggressive nature of the deck. Use Ruin Runner for a late-game threat that is hard to remove! We’ve opted for a high concentration of Noxus units for the Allegiance effect, but feel free to add the aggressive Shurima cards such as Bloodthirsty Marauder and Rock Hopper. Hopefully, you will have access to many of these Noxus aggro cards already so this deck is very budget-friendly!
Total Cost of New Cards: 3900
Freljord Shurima Overwhelm
Sticking with the aggressive theme, this deck combines the huge Overwhelm units from Freljord with the aforementioned aggro Shurima cards such as Ruin Runner to close out games from turns 7-9. Xenotype Researchers is included in this deck for the small chance one of your Overwhelm units gets +3/+3. Then, play Battle Fury on these Overwhelm units for maximum damage!
Total Cost of New Cards: 11000
Mono Elites
Could this be the expansion where Mono Elites finally gets its chance to shine? A lot of support for Elites will be released with this expansion, in cards such as Penitent Squire, Honored Lord and Jarvan IV. The plan of this midrange deck is as expected: play lots of Elites and buff them with cards like Battlesmith and Vanguard Bannerman, but now it can summon Jarvan IV at burst speed on your attack, as well as use a potentially better Relentless Pursuit in the form of Golden Aegis for a more dynamic gameplan. Drop King Jarvan III with his son on the board for a great way to trade down the board in your favour.
Total Cost of New Cards: 15000
Taliyah Landmarks
Landmarks have been a mysterious entity ever since they were introduced in the last expansion, but they have received a lot of support with the introduction of Taliyah. Taliyah gives you the option of duplicating a landmark, and her level up can deal significant damage with a landmark on the board. The Grumpy Rockbear package; including Hibernating Rockbear, Desert Naturalist and Salt Spire, has great synergy with Taliyah and the other champion in this deck, Sivir. This deck attempts to win by summoning lots of large Grumpy Rockbears, dealing lots of damage, 35 to be exact, and leveling up Sivir to then grant your Grumpy Rockbears strong keywords. Or, you can take the Taliyah route by copying landmarks and dealing lots of over the top damage. Either way, this deck will set you back a bit but we’re sure its worth it!
Total Cost of New Cards: 24400
Frozen Thrall/Khahiri Predict
Lissandra was a very well-received champion when it was announced, especially with the Frozen Thrall package. If you are fortunate enough to draw an early Frozen Thrall, and then a Draklorn Inquisitor; by level 5 you could end up with an 8/8 Overwhelm on the board. If that wasn’t enough, by summoning another 8-cost card and levelling Lissandra, you get the Watcher in hand. A couple more 8-cost cards being summoned later, and the Watcher will be free to play! Sit back and relax while you obliterate the entire enemy deck and process to win next turn if you haven’t already!
A useful tool in this deck is the new Predict keyword, which lets you choose a card from 3 in your deck to place on top of your deck, so that you can find your combo pieces early to summon Frostguard Thrall’s. Therefore, we’ve attempted to use the Predict synergy cards with Khahiri the Returned being the ultimate payoff - everytime you see Khahiri the Returned in a prediction, he gains additional stats. Babbling Bjerg is a tutor for Khahiri the Returned, just make sure you see him at least once in a prediction first! We’ve also opted for Trundle simply so you can obtain the Ice Pillar, another 8-cost card to get to the Watcher faster!
Total Cost of New Cards: 16100
We’ll follow up with another theorycraft article soon covering some of the other champions and deck ideas so don’t worry if we’ve missed your Kindred Nasus slay deck idea. Let us know if you’ll be trying any of these decks out or if you’ve got a couple of your own homebrews you don’t mind sharing in the comments below!
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