After the surprise reveal less than a month ago, Aphelios finally lands in Legends of Runeterra! And that’s not all, as we’re also getting quite a few cards alongside The Weapon of the Faithful.
NEW CARDS!
We will be getting some new cards on top of the champion cards, including some interesting cards that support combo decks, which have been lacking some love in recent patches.
The Veiled Temple feels like a great card for combo decks, giving any player more power for playing multiple cards in a single round. It synergies well with Aphelios, and maybe even Diana, both of which will try to play 2 cards every turn to activate nightfall or get a new Aphelios weapon. However, the mana cost seems quite steep for a combo deck players who may want to use their mana to further press on their early game advantage on turn 4.
Next, Stress Testing feels like the card of dreams for a Twisted Fate deck. You could potentially play Pick a Card and spend 1 mana to remove all fleeting from that card, or you could even use this card as a discard fodder to generate more draw whenever you’re using cards like Get Excited or Rummage. This would be a fun card to experiment with Twisted Fate decks for sure.
Powder Pandemonium looks like a fun card to experiment as well, it could potentially summon enough Powder Monkey to help you close out the game, as well as solve the biggest issue with burn decks — its ability to close out games towards round 6 or later. Maybe a Powder Monkey-focused burn deck could become viable with the addition of this card.
LUNAR CELEBRATION
If you have not been playing Legends of Runeterra for some time, this is the perfect time to come back as everyone will be able to get free cards and a Year of the Ox card back after completing the Lunar Celebration Quests.
A patch would not be complete without new cosmetics and this time around, we will be getting plenty of Lunar New Year cosmetics – Boards, Emotes, and more!
CARD BALANCE
Leveled up Miss Fortune will be having her ‘Overwhelm’ keyword removed. This feels like a nerf in the right direction. Specifically against Scout decks which have been around for the longest time and remain relatively untouched. This would also tone down Miss Fortune‘s almost guaranteed win whenever she levels up.
In the past, Viktor has been underwhelming in terms of its power. The card will now be creating a Hex Core Upgrade in hand on play and round start, giving him a much needed impact upon play. He will also be having his level up condition be reduced to playing 7+ created cards as opposed to its original 8+ created cards. Although this might not be enough to bring him up, it is a much needed buff to a potentially useful card.
The much needed nerf to The Grand Plaza is here. It will no longer give +1 to ally’s health, reducing the resilience that often results in positive trades. However, this is unlikely to impact the play style of the deck that much, as there are almost no cards that can remove The Grand Plaza for less than 3 mana. The value this card generates over the course of a game is immense, making it a card that is almost a sure win whenever it’s played on curve.
War Chefs is having his stat line changed from 1/3 to 2/2. This might be a positive change, allowing him to trade into followers with a stat line of 3/2 which would’ve traded positively to the old War Chefs. However, this new stat line also places him in direct range of getting removed with a single Mystic Shot. We’ll just have to see how this plays out and whether it boosts the playability of this card.
Homecoming is one of the most underwhelming cards from the past expansion, and it will be having its mana cost reduced by 1. Still, this might not be enough to make this card playable. At only 1 mana less than Will of Ionia, it would require you to create worth from recalling your own unit, otherwise it’ll remain worse than Will of Ionia in most cases. The ability to recall a landmark feels rather insignificant as well, since most landmarks cost less than 4 mana to play.
Greenglade Elder is getting a buff to his stat line, making him a 3/1. This card has not seen much play and its stat line could be one of the factors. This may open up some room for experimentation, as the buff allows him to stand a little stronger as an individual unit.
Captain Farron will now only generate 2 Decimates when summoned as opposed to 3 Decimates. This feels inconsequential in most circumstances, but this nerf might matter in some outlier cases, as the overall generated value has been reduced by 4 damage, and you will be getting less discard fodder on top of that.
Blade of the Exile is having its cost reduced to 1 mana. This will be a welcome change, allowing Riven to do more in a single turn. This is definitely worth experimentation to see if it really makes a difference overall.
Blade Squire is having his stat line changed to 2/1 from 1/2. This is an immensely positive change as it allows him to trade positively with a number of2 cost units. Considering he’s a Last Breath unit as well, a positive trade is the best it can do while generating additional value from its Last Breath.
Hush is getting another nerf, and this time to its mana cost, increasing it to 3 from 2. In most circumstances, this would not make much of a difference as you’re still getting positive value out of Hush. However, this could be a preemptive nerf on the card as combo type decks are receiving additional support, making Hush potentially more deadly if its mana cost is not nerfed.
Pale Cascade is getting a nerf as well, giving only 1/1 instead of 2/1 to a unit. This would make its impact slightly less in some circumstances, but doesn’t impact its play rate significantly as it is still quite a powerful combat trick.
I’m quite happy with this update, as it looks like there will be quite a lot of new decks to experiment and the Lunar Celebration cosmetics look great as well.
As usual, you can read more about the patch notes here and here, and I wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year!
