I'm pretty sure that Riven will generate "Blade Fragment" tokens that buff Power (similar to Gems), so I'm pretty sure that these cards are meant to be a part of a Taric/Riven deck. Given that they all scale from increased Power (except the 7/3), they could end up being powerful if Riven is good. I think that the 7/3 is also meant to be combined with Might, but honestly that still seems really awful, it should be a 7/4 at least.
I think that Viktor will actually be playable in a lot of decks. The way I see it, created cards is is really broad category, similar to casting spells. Right now, 7 champions have direct spell synergy (Fizz, Ezreal, Taric, Lee Sin, Heimerdinger, Karma, and Lux). It's true that usually only a few of these combinations are viable at a time, but depending on which regions have the best cards, the best spell deck can change (such as Karma Lux becoming meta when prenerf Badgerbear and Grizzled Ranger were released). I could definitely see something like Heimerdinger Viktor with a non-Targon region becoming the best Viktor deck if there's another powerful region that synergizes with Heimerdinger better. Also, I think that if you're trying to Turbo-level Viktor, the best other champion is likely Heimerdinger, not Zoe (although the deck would likely want to be in Targon anyway). Personally, I think that there is also a lot of room for experimentation in the Targon/Viktor deck, because there are so many cards that create cards and it's unclear which ones are the best. Compared to Soraka/TK, which has access to only a few self-damage cards and healing cards, I think that the archetype is much broader. Also, I'm almost certain that Riven will create "Blade Fragments" in hand, so I think that Viktor/Riven could also be a good combination.
I really hope that this card isn't so powerful that it demands a nerf, because it opens up so many deckbuilding possibilities for Demacia that I think it deserves to be a staple like Single Combat. The most appropriate nerf I can see would be changing the Landmark to "When you summon an ally, give it Challenger this round. If it already has challenger, give it +1|+1 this round instead." In any case, I love the potential that this has with Shyvana and the Dragons in general. Late game, a lot of the dragons become really weak because they won't be able to gain Fury (such as the 4/4 Dragon). With Challenger, they are able to scale at least once and pull away units that could threaten your better dragons. This card also makes Stalking Broodmother into a superpowered Genevieve the turn it is played, which could cause that card to actually see play. Another great synergy I see is combining it with Legion Drummer to get units with Quick Attack and Challenger.
Yeah I hate the card too. I think it’s more similar to a card like Unseen Saboteur that can randomly swing the game depending on what it targets. Also, the fact that the Landmark can create these swings on turn 6 rather than turn 8 like The Howling Abyss makes it much harder to counter the RNG. Like if one player has their Pale Cascade discounted while the other has their 8 drop discounted, it becomes very hard for the player who got unlucky to win. I would really have preferred something like “Round Start: Halve the cost of a card in your hand this round (rounded up).” That way it would still benefit playing high-cost cards but wouldn’t create RNG for both players and would make the high rolls a little worse. Overall, the design of this card is really bad and I hope the Live Design team reworks it like they did to other cards like Ren Shadowblade.
I think what people don't realize is that the created copy isn't Fleeting. Basically, every turn you have the choice to spend 2 mana on getting a copy of this (although you would only want to play it on an attack turn). This card can also single-handedly Level up Nocturne, which means that we can now make decks built around Nocturne's Level 2 Ability that don't include Targon. For example, I want to try out an SI/Freljord deck with Poros that makes the entire enemy board have 2 or less Power by playing multiple 1 cost Poros alongside Nocturne.
You're right about Pesky Specter, but the Landmark is way different than Duskfallen Aviana. The Landmark will always get you and your opponent the same number of discounts, while Duskfallen Aviana almost always gives your opponent a discount and the person who plays it almost never gets a discount. As a Landmark, it is also likely to stay on the board while Duskfallen Aviana doesn't stick around for long. Overall, the comparison doesn't really make much sense.
Reading through this, I kept getting more and more excited, until I reached the last card and then got very annoyed. Seriously, the entire Reddit community is barely on board with the randomness from University of Piltover and the Howling Abyss, why would they print more random landmarks? Also, this is the Landmark with the highest amount of variance because it essentially gives both players a random amount of mana from among the mana costs of cards in their hand. I really hope they rework this into something less awful.
EDIT: Looking at it again, I can see that it’s almost definitely supposed to be a meme card that generates highlights rather than a real card. It just disappoints me that they came up with such a toxic design for the Landmark that represents arguably the most important place in Targon.
If you can manage to get the Nightfall off at burst speed, this becomes a 5 Mana burst speed “stun 2 enemies” on attack turns, which is pretty insane. Just the silences are also really good against something like Elusives or Dragons. I think it’ll only be better than Hush in decks that want the Nightfall affect, or if the meta has lots of decks that are vulnerable to a double silence (like Taric).
Why does Riot keep making unnecessarily random cards? Why doesn’t this target the lowest-cost card or the highest-cost card? Heck, I’d even be okay with it targeting your left-most card. With the card as it is, it has a chance to highroll you into ASol on turn 6 or lose you the game by giving your opponent a huge discount and forcing you to give up tons of tempo and board control. I really hope they either rework this or make sure that it’s always meme tier.
I don't know if it's possible for this card to be good without some insane synergy point. Almost no units are worth spending 1 more than their mana cost to replay, even if they have an amazing summon effect. In order for this to be good, there needs to be some insane synergy card like a unit with a strong play effect and a negative Last Breath effect. I think this would have to cost 1 to be viable, and even then it would only be good at making discard fodder.
I think this card is most directly comparable to Plaza Guardian. It's probably better than Plaza Guardian because it costs 4 less, can't be chump blocked into irrelevance, and generates a 1-cost spell. However, Plaza Guardian is so bad that I'm not sure if these advantages make it playable.
This looks really awful when compared to something like Vile Feast. The only way I see this being viable is in a deck that runs either tons of Kegs, or with Funsmith.
Yeah Aurelian Sol is definitely better, but he’s ten mana and requires a specific board state to play. Viktor can come out way before that a discount Celestials very early, and against Aggro he isn’t a dead draw. I could also see a Viktor/ASol deck being possible where Viktor gets out Celestials early and ASol brings the inevitability. Combined with the Targon Allegiance card there are a lot of ways to cheat out Celestials before turn 10.
I think that a lot of people are underestimating how powerful the discount can be. It reminds me of Herald of Dragons, but on a more durable body and able to discount more cards. One use that I don't think many people are thinking of is using Viktor in a Celestials deck to cheat out Celestial cards a few turns earlier. Also, Viktor would be kind of crazy with something like Living Legends or using The Traveler into another Celestial. Noxus also offers the possibility of discounting Captain Farron's Decimates or playing multiple Noxian Guillotines.
I’m a little hesitant about the whole “gain random keyword” thing, but other than that I love this design! Viktor has a passive that you makes you want to keep him in the backrow though, so maybe the keyword he gets won’t be that impactful. What I’m mainly worried about are the RNG swings between getting something like Fearsome or Fury versus Elusive, or getting Lifesteal when you need healing. I kind of wish that you got to pick one of three to make it slightly less random. Luckily it’s slow speed, so Viktor will never gain an unexpected Keyword in the middle of Combat.
The way I thought of it is that it essentially lets you run 6 copies of one of those cards at the cost of the three additional copies costing 2 more Spell mana. Given how powerful some of these cards could be in a deck built around them, I think the tradeoff might be worth it.
I’m not so sure on this card. Quick Attack is generally pretty awful, and this needs two triggers in order to have the same stats as the awful 2 mana 3/1 Quick Attack from PnZ. The only hope for this card is if Keyword-stealing cards want Quick Attack or if it gets buffed to a 1/2.
This seems like a mini Jack the Winner without the unit damage. Also, it gives Tokens every round, which can upgrade your Augment units really quickly or be used as discard fodder. The main places I could see this fitting are burn Aggro, Augment decks, discard Aggro, Swain/EZ, and Teemo/Sejuani. When I write it out like that, this card actually had a lot of potential to fit in a wide array of decks!
This card reminds me most of Decimate, but it deals 1 less damage, costs 1 less, and can target units and Landmarks. I’m not sure if discard Aggro wants more Burn than it already has, but this could see a spot there. Other than that, it’s a decent removal card that might be run in EZ decks, but it’s way worse than Gotcha! as removal.
I'm pretty sure that Riven will generate "Blade Fragment" tokens that buff Power (similar to Gems), so I'm pretty sure that these cards are meant to be a part of a Taric/Riven deck. Given that they all scale from increased Power (except the 7/3), they could end up being powerful if Riven is good. I think that the 7/3 is also meant to be combined with Might, but honestly that still seems really awful, it should be a 7/4 at least.
I think that Viktor will actually be playable in a lot of decks. The way I see it, created cards is is really broad category, similar to casting spells. Right now, 7 champions have direct spell synergy (Fizz, Ezreal, Taric, Lee Sin, Heimerdinger, Karma, and Lux). It's true that usually only a few of these combinations are viable at a time, but depending on which regions have the best cards, the best spell deck can change (such as Karma Lux becoming meta when prenerf Badgerbear and Grizzled Ranger were released). I could definitely see something like Heimerdinger Viktor with a non-Targon region becoming the best Viktor deck if there's another powerful region that synergizes with Heimerdinger better. Also, I think that if you're trying to Turbo-level Viktor, the best other champion is likely Heimerdinger, not Zoe (although the deck would likely want to be in Targon anyway). Personally, I think that there is also a lot of room for experimentation in the Targon/Viktor deck, because there are so many cards that create cards and it's unclear which ones are the best. Compared to Soraka/TK, which has access to only a few self-damage cards and healing cards, I think that the archetype is much broader. Also, I'm almost certain that Riven will create "Blade Fragments" in hand, so I think that Viktor/Riven could also be a good combination.
I really hope that this card isn't so powerful that it demands a nerf, because it opens up so many deckbuilding possibilities for Demacia that I think it deserves to be a staple like Single Combat. The most appropriate nerf I can see would be changing the Landmark to "When you summon an ally, give it Challenger this round. If it already has challenger, give it +1|+1 this round instead." In any case, I love the potential that this has with Shyvana and the Dragons in general. Late game, a lot of the dragons become really weak because they won't be able to gain Fury (such as the 4/4 Dragon). With Challenger, they are able to scale at least once and pull away units that could threaten your better dragons. This card also makes Stalking Broodmother into a superpowered Genevieve the turn it is played, which could cause that card to actually see play. Another great synergy I see is combining it with Legion Drummer to get units with Quick Attack and Challenger.
Yeah I hate the card too. I think it’s more similar to a card like Unseen Saboteur that can randomly swing the game depending on what it targets. Also, the fact that the Landmark can create these swings on turn 6 rather than turn 8 like The Howling Abyss makes it much harder to counter the RNG. Like if one player has their Pale Cascade discounted while the other has their 8 drop discounted, it becomes very hard for the player who got unlucky to win. I would really have preferred something like “Round Start: Halve the cost of a card in your hand this round (rounded up).” That way it would still benefit playing high-cost cards but wouldn’t create RNG for both players and would make the high rolls a little worse. Overall, the design of this card is really bad and I hope the Live Design team reworks it like they did to other cards like Ren Shadowblade.
I think what people don't realize is that the created copy isn't Fleeting. Basically, every turn you have the choice to spend 2 mana on getting a copy of this (although you would only want to play it on an attack turn). This card can also single-handedly Level up Nocturne, which means that we can now make decks built around Nocturne's Level 2 Ability that don't include Targon. For example, I want to try out an SI/Freljord deck with Poros that makes the entire enemy board have 2 or less Power by playing multiple 1 cost Poros alongside Nocturne.
You're right about Pesky Specter, but the Landmark is way different than Duskfallen Aviana. The Landmark will always get you and your opponent the same number of discounts, while Duskfallen Aviana almost always gives your opponent a discount and the person who plays it almost never gets a discount. As a Landmark, it is also likely to stay on the board while Duskfallen Aviana doesn't stick around for long. Overall, the comparison doesn't really make much sense.
Reading through this, I kept getting more and more excited, until I reached the last card and then got very annoyed. Seriously, the entire Reddit community is barely on board with the randomness from University of Piltover and the Howling Abyss, why would they print more random landmarks? Also, this is the Landmark with the highest amount of variance because it essentially gives both players a random amount of mana from among the mana costs of cards in their hand. I really hope they rework this into something less awful.
EDIT: Looking at it again, I can see that it’s almost definitely supposed to be a meme card that generates highlights rather than a real card. It just disappoints me that they came up with such a toxic design for the Landmark that represents arguably the most important place in Targon.
If you can manage to get the Nightfall off at burst speed, this becomes a 5 Mana burst speed “stun 2 enemies” on attack turns, which is pretty insane. Just the silences are also really good against something like Elusives or Dragons. I think it’ll only be better than Hush in decks that want the Nightfall affect, or if the meta has lots of decks that are vulnerable to a double silence (like Taric).
Why does Riot keep making unnecessarily random cards? Why doesn’t this target the lowest-cost card or the highest-cost card? Heck, I’d even be okay with it targeting your left-most card. With the card as it is, it has a chance to highroll you into ASol on turn 6 or lose you the game by giving your opponent a huge discount and forcing you to give up tons of tempo and board control. I really hope they either rework this or make sure that it’s always meme tier.
I don't know if it's possible for this card to be good without some insane synergy point. Almost no units are worth spending 1 more than their mana cost to replay, even if they have an amazing summon effect. In order for this to be good, there needs to be some insane synergy card like a unit with a strong play effect and a negative Last Breath effect. I think this would have to cost 1 to be viable, and even then it would only be good at making discard fodder.
I think this card is most directly comparable to Plaza Guardian. It's probably better than Plaza Guardian because it costs 4 less, can't be chump blocked into irrelevance, and generates a 1-cost spell. However, Plaza Guardian is so bad that I'm not sure if these advantages make it playable.
Yeah, especially since the natural next Balestrider name would be “He who ____s.” I
This looks really awful when compared to something like Vile Feast. The only way I see this being viable is in a deck that runs either tons of Kegs, or with Funsmith.
Yeah Aurelian Sol is definitely better, but he’s ten mana and requires a specific board state to play. Viktor can come out way before that a discount Celestials very early, and against Aggro he isn’t a dead draw. I could also see a Viktor/ASol deck being possible where Viktor gets out Celestials early and ASol brings the inevitability. Combined with the Targon Allegiance card there are a lot of ways to cheat out Celestials before turn 10.
I think that a lot of people are underestimating how powerful the discount can be. It reminds me of Herald of Dragons, but on a more durable body and able to discount more cards. One use that I don't think many people are thinking of is using Viktor in a Celestials deck to cheat out Celestial cards a few turns earlier. Also, Viktor would be kind of crazy with something like Living Legends or using The Traveler into another Celestial. Noxus also offers the possibility of discounting Captain Farron's Decimates or playing multiple Noxian Guillotines.
I’m a little hesitant about the whole “gain random keyword” thing, but other than that I love this design! Viktor has a passive that you makes you want to keep him in the backrow though, so maybe the keyword he gets won’t be that impactful. What I’m mainly worried about are the RNG swings between getting something like Fearsome or Fury versus Elusive, or getting Lifesteal when you need healing. I kind of wish that you got to pick one of three to make it slightly less random. Luckily it’s slow speed, so Viktor will never gain an unexpected Keyword in the middle of Combat.
The way I thought of it is that it essentially lets you run 6 copies of one of those cards at the cost of the three additional copies costing 2 more Spell mana. Given how powerful some of these cards could be in a deck built around them, I think the tradeoff might be worth it.
I’m not so sure on this card. Quick Attack is generally pretty awful, and this needs two triggers in order to have the same stats as the awful 2 mana 3/1 Quick Attack from PnZ. The only hope for this card is if Keyword-stealing cards want Quick Attack or if it gets buffed to a 1/2.
This seems like a mini Jack the Winner without the unit damage. Also, it gives Tokens every round, which can upgrade your Augment units really quickly or be used as discard fodder. The main places I could see this fitting are burn Aggro, Augment decks, discard Aggro, Swain/EZ, and Teemo/Sejuani. When I write it out like that, this card actually had a lot of potential to fit in a wide array of decks!
This card reminds me most of Decimate, but it deals 1 less damage, costs 1 less, and can target units and Landmarks. I’m not sure if discard Aggro wants more Burn than it already has, but this could see a spot there. Other than that, it’s a decent removal card that might be run in EZ decks, but it’s way worse than Gotcha! as removal.