Fixing Darrowing - New Set

There was a ton of hype around this little card around expansion launch and I haven't seen a single player experiment with it.

I think this a result of nerf mentality that Noxious allegiance lists got hit and it was just baby out with the bath water.

Well I'm here to tell you that Darius is good, and that there is a deck out there for this great card.

Give it a shot and let me know what you guys think.

The reason why nobody bothers playing that card is simple: NOBODY plays a 2 mana slow speed stun that asks you to have Darius and to keep Darius until it resolves to do sth good but not game winning. WHY would anyone play a 2 mana spell which is in 1 out of 20 cases useful?

How do you even want to win with units in a meta with ugin... i mean aurelion ramp and lulu challengers in it? 

I am (almost) sorry to call this card straight junk and you have to admit that it doesn't even make sense in darrowing lists since having a second attack phase is quite a meme for ephemeral units isn't it? 

Feel free to play it but don't be disappointed if it sucks.

Nah I'm fine with it as a two of. 

We can tutor out Darius, we can harrowing out Darius, we can play Darius, and all it needs is 2 mana bank.

This is totally fine with me, I play test my lists.

If you want 3 harrowing 1 apprehend go for it, but then you hit allegiance less often so this is fine.

Yeah, Noxus decks need more ways to tutor and/or protect Darius for Apprehend to be reliable enough. If Darius gets his own tutor card like the Leviathan for Swain I could see Apprehend being playable. 

Are we not fans of thresh...some tutors like draven's biggest fan, and the dreadway don't even get run.

Better to cheat out darius on the attack in all of his 10/6 overwhelm glory.

I played around with it some this evening and had fun. The only card I'm not sold on is Imperial Demolitionist: I get that its a reasonably-stat'ed 2-drop that also chips in 2 almost-free nexus damage, but without the wombo-combo of pre-nerf Disciple it feels underwhelming. I might try experimenting with Reckless Trifarian or Legion Marauder in its place.

As for Apprehend: it feels alright. I did win a game just by using it for its stun effect, no Darius on board. It's definitely not a 3x, but its not as bad as people are thinking it will be.

Quote From OldManSanns

As for Apprehend: it feels alright. I did win a game just by using it for its stun effect, no Darius on board. It's definitely not a 3x, but its not as bad as people are thinking it will be.

Are you aware of the fact that there is already a 1 mana stun card in noxus that nobody bothers playing? If you are really into stunning a unit you should try Decisive Maneuver which can be used in combat to open a breach for overwhelm units that deals a ton of damage if it remains unanswered 

I like the basic idea of the deck - it seems fun. But honestly, Nifty, I think the critique being offered here has less to do with how easy it is to get Darius into play and more about how bad Apprehend is. Looking at your examples:

• Play him normally: If you've got an Apprehend in hand you might be able to push him to level up on one attack and finish off the enemy on a second attack. Seems good in principle, but the odds of drawing both of these cards in a timely manner is suspect.
• Pull him from Thresh: If, as you've described, you're cheating Darius out to attack "in all of his 10/6 overwhelm glory," your opponent is already at 10 health or less. You shouldn't really need Apprehend at this point.
• Revive him with The Harrowing: If you've got 11 mana, you can maybe surprise your enemy with an attack, but since you already start the round with the attack token 50% of the time, that seems like a pretty narrow use case.

The reality here is that Riot has designed this card to rally very infrequently. This is plain from the fact that Relentless Pursuit has an unconditional rally effect, but it costs 3. And since rally is worth 3 mana, if this ever became a consistent way to rally, it would be considered too cheap and get nerfed.

Most of the time this is just a much less efficient Guile, suggesting that it's really more of an aggro tech card you'd run 1x of to give Darius decks a little boost against a varied metagame.

As a combo deck I'm fine with it. You need to be thinking more along the lines of pursuit of perfection, heimer, and Ezreal Karma. It takes some amount of effort to line up your combo pieces but then you go all in.

Quote From TheTriferianGeneral

Quote From OldManSanns

As for Apprehend: it feels alright. I did win a game just by using it for its stun effect, no Darius on board. It's definitely not a 3x, but its not as bad as people are thinking it will be.

Are you aware of the fact that there is already a 1 mana stun card in noxus that nobody bothers playing? If you are really into stunning a unit you should try Decisive Maneuver which can be used in combat to open a breach for overwhelm units that deals a ton of damage if it remains unanswered 

Yes, I am aware of Guile but I think the gamble of a possible rally from Apprehend is worth 1 -> 2 -- especially with Thresh and The Harrowing making it easier to have a Darius on board. I admit it does feel wonky in other decks e.g. that Targon + Noxus lab deck.

I might try Decisive Maneuver in that slot. The problem is that I play this deck as a very aggressive tempo deck so spending 5 mana means missing out on playing a midrange unit, but I do like the flexibility and could see it either granting lethal or used as an emergency option to save another unit.