Custom Ahri LoR

Heya, y'all. With me having nothing to do this New Years Eve and with the Custom Runeterra section being so empty I thought I'd continue with my weird collection. Of the three I've posted thus far this one has me the most worried about balance. I don't know if she is too strong or to weak (leaning in the too strong direction) but I am still only trying to give an idea of a design. Did my best to offer a card that allowed unique gameplay but also offered something that felt like the champion. I did my best to show Ahri's mobile mage style of game play. I do think that the Charm spell might be too good but when comparing it to Troll Chant and cards of that sort it's hard to be sure.

Spirit Rush is not a collectable card by the way. It is only gained through the Level Up effect of the champion since otherwise I'd be offering damage removal to a faction in its entirety when that faction is not known for dealing damage at all. I had considered having Ahri's play effect be 'deal 2 to an enemy unit' or 'deal 2 to a random enemy unit' but I didn't want to take the damage aspect too far and thought adding some ephemeral synergy to her as well to make her a more flexible champion would be neat. Lastly I want to make it clear that Spellvamp as a key word is not meant to be something impactful enough to design a card around, it is useful yes, but healing your nexus for 1-2 isn't insane and thus I designed Ahri's Champion spell to be strong without it triggering. 

I'm sure I have plenty of other flaws in my design but that is why I share my work, to get creative criticism, so feel free to let me know what you think.

Edit: I made some minor changes due to wording I realized was awkward. This may have been a slightly overly ambitious champion design I'm realizing. >.>;  

I love this design! It reminds me a bit of both Hecarim and Katarina. I think that it’s also for the most part balanced because the recall ability basically makes you play a 1 Cost 2/2 Ephemeral when you spend spell mana, which is actually pretty weak (and might be more of a downside than an upside). The most powerful ability she has seems to be the Level Up spell, but even that’s not too insane.

In terms of changes that I would make, I think you could streamline her design a bit. I would change her LvL 1 text to “When I see you spend spell mana, Recall me and reduce my cost to 0 this round. Attack: Summon a Vulpine Spirit attacking.” Then when she levels up her Attack ability also generates a Fleeting Spirit Rush in hand (Spirit Rush’s text would be changed to only deal 3 to a unit). I think this would make her a lot simpler while keeping most of her functionality and toning down the one ability that might be a bit overpowered (getting a spirit rush every round). Overall, I like this design and I think it opens up a lot of possible synergies with multiple regions and strategies. Good job!

Quote From CursedParrot

I love this design! It reminds me a bit of both Hecarim and Katarina. I think that it’s also for the most part balanced because the recall ability basically makes you play a 1 Cost 2/2 Ephemeral when you spend spell mana, which is actually pretty weak (and might be more of a downside than an upside). The most powerful ability she has seems to be the Level Up spell, but even that’s not too insane.

In terms of changes that I would make, I think you could streamline her design a bit. I would change her LvL 1 text to “When I see you spend spell mana, Recall me and reduce my cost to 0 this round. Attack: Summon a Vulpine Spirit attacking.” Then when she levels up her Attack ability also generates a Fleeting Spirit Rush in hand (Spirit Rush’s text would be changed to only deal 3 to a unit). I think this would make her a lot simpler while keeping most of her functionality and toning down the one ability that might be a bit overpowered (getting a spirit rush every round). Overall, I like this design and I think it opens up a lot of possible synergies with multiple regions and strategies. Good job!

I agree with you on a fair bit of that. I can definitely see a world where having her effects go off as attack procs could be interesting and would definately make her feel a bit more thematic since she is dashing in and out of combat. I am unsure if I want to make her that combat focused but I could see an argument for it for sure. I am a little nervous about making her cost 0 but that could just be me being overly cautious. It is worth noting that when I initially made her I actually gave her the Attune keyword. I worried it was a bit too much but perhaps I should revert back to giving her it so that she can potentially do a bit more. I do agree with you that spending any amount of spell mana should be enough to trigger her effect, rather than 2 or more.

I just had an idea for how to make her a little less combat focused and not cost 0 when recalled. What if her recall ability were instead “When I would die, Recall me instead if you spent spell mana this round.” That way she keeps her ability to survive enemy spells but doesn’t recall when you don’t want her to. It would also require you to spend 5 mana each time to play her again. 
As for whether she should have Attune, I think that she’s more interesting if she forces you to get spell mana through other cards, so I wouldn’t give her Attune.

Thank you very much! I'm glad you like it.

Quote From CursedParrot

I just had an idea for how to make her a little less combat focused and not cost 0 when recalled. What if her recall ability were instead “When I would die, Recall me instead if you spent spell mana this round.” That way she keeps her ability to survive enemy spells but doesn’t recall when you don’t want her to. It would also require you to spend 5 mana each time to play her again. 
As for whether she should have Attune, I think that she’s more interesting if she forces you to get spell mana through other cards, so I wouldn’t give her Attune.

That could definitely be interesting. My only worry with that implementation is that it makes her rely heavily on your opponent to make her useful since she would be easily shut down by chump blockers until they have a way to deal with her. It might work alright if it were alongside the Attack effect you suggested so that could be a way to do it, but I do admit that I like the Play effect simply because it allows you to get many Vulpine Spirits onto the board in a single turn sometimes.

Oh i love this design approach. So i guess she is more of a control-oriented champ. I think her effect will create an interesting play pattern and decision making down the line, with all those spell-mana resource management going on. The spirit is an on-play effect, so card like The Rekindler and the gang can't abuse it.

I don't know man, i can't critique an interesting design until i try it in game. I just loves it. Well, one think i'll try is pair her up with Yasuo in a Ionia-based control deck that banks up mana in the early rounds and start stunning and recalling like crazy in the mid game. It also fit the current lore where they both go to BW haha.

I love it, it's great, keep going. Happy New Year to you and all future readers as well. 

Quote From Vandaren

Oh i love this design approach. So i guess she is more of a control-oriented champ. I think her effect will create an interesting play pattern and decision making down the line, with all those spell-mana resource management going on. The spirit is an on-play effect, so card like The Rekindler and the gang can't abuse it.

I don't know man, i can't critique an interesting design until i try it in game. I just loves it. Well, one think i'll try is pair her up with Yasuo in a Ionia-based control deck that banks up mana in the early rounds and start stunning and recalling like crazy in the mid game. It also fit the current lore where they both go to BW haha.

I love it, it's great, keep going. Happy New Year to you and all future readers as well. 

Thank you.~ I'm not afraid to admit that I tend to design with more of a control oriented approach, but it also just comes down to the fact that thematically all the characters I've made so far fit control rather well. I didn't consider the rekindler I admit but I'm glad I dodged that since its one of my least favourite cards in the game right now.

I will keep going so long as I have ideas and can find art that doesn't feel too awkward and forced, have a happy new years as well.~ May it be better than the last one!