Not good enough to see play even if it didn't had a condition it was only ok.
We have a 5 mana 4/5 that also has regen.
Ugg; I was thinking this was decent until you brought up that Scarmaiden Reaver comparison. While I maintain that Scarmaiden is criminally underrated, I will agree that it's hard to see Troll Ravager finding a place with -1/0 stats, no overwhelm, and conditional regen for only 1 mana cheaper.
I feel like Trundle is just a really bad champ. He has good base stats and that's about it. He takes up a slot that you could put in an actual good champ, his mechanic that the deck has to be built around is just God awful, his champ card is Trundle's Icequake; which is also a horrible card; and his level up does essentially nothing. At most you will get +2 attack, +1 on average, and if you get +3 or more, well congratulations, you have a bricked hand and you are probably going to lose. His only redeeming feature is that he gives you a free Ice Pillar which is an okay card, but even then I'd rather just run the Ice Pillar without Trundle eating up a champ slot.
But those are just my thoughts. What are yours?
TBD.
Look at it this way: L1 Braum + Take Heart is really powerful, right? Because he's a 3/8 with regen and challenger that will quickly level up and start spitting out poros. Well, L2 Trundle is a 6+/7 with regen and overwhelm that can challenge the strongest enemy. Sure, he won't spit out the poros and vulnerable is sometimes worse than challenger, but on the other hand sometimes vulnerable is better plus you get this for a net cost of only 5 mana and 1 card versus 7 mana and 2 cards for the aforementioned combo.
I also believe Nocturne will be the first champion added to Runeterra that is not currently assigned to a specific region in Runeterra (at least according to universe.leagueoflegends.com).
You are correct. I predict that Shadow Isles will become the defacto LoR region for all regionless supernatural/"demonic" champions--namely, Shaco, Aatrox, Evelynn, Fiddlesticks, Kindred; possibly Brand?--based on the fact:
They fit thematically / aesthetically
SI has significantly fewer "direct" champions than the other core 5, so it really benefits from drafting from a separate pool
Design-wise, they are probably easier to fit in with SI's existing fearsome and death-loving mechanics than other regions
In all seriousness: I don't think this card will get much play--there are just too many matchups where it does little to nothing. Usually for a tech card like this to work, it either needs some minimal payout (e.g. "AND summon a 1/1"), an alternate function (e.g., "OR stun an attacking enemy unit"), or cantrip (4 mana but it also draws a card).
Consider this: against the 3 most powerful decks in the meta right now:
Ashe Noxus: nothing in this deck isn't played from hand
EZ TF: you can pay 3 mana to kill Petty Officer's 1-drop
Endure Spiders: you do at least have some potential targets here with Cursed Keeper, Blighted Caretaker, and Kalista, however you're only causing a small tempo loss against a deck that goes stronger every round the game goes on. I don't see this card significantly impacting the winrate of that deck.
This card is nuts! Yes obviously the ephemeral tag is a big draw back, but giving everything +2 attack is huge. Look mostly for a lot of aggro decks that just threaten so much damage that you have to block; however I expect there will be some cheeky combo decks as well (Anivia, Mist's Call, The Undying/Cursed Keeper, Death Mark)
So it is 4 Taragon champions then? Thought it would be 2 regions per 2 months.
I am glad we are seeing nocturne earlier but Taragon is gonna come out weaker.
Indeed--very interesting, and not at all what I was expecting. (That seems to be a common theme in these reveals...)
It makes me wonder if they might not release even more non-Targon champs / fewer Targon this month. I admit that fewer than 4 Targon champs at release will make the region seem very inferior compared to the others, but I already hypothesized that meant a hard limit of at least 5 and that's now gone.
I can't imagine any world in which this card doesn't see its way into at least 1 competitive deck.
The obvious combo is Tryndamere: ramp your early game until you're enlightened, then heal your nexus for 8 and play a free Tyrn all for 7 mana. She Who Wanders would be another hot target. Heck, I could even see SI/Frej Endure decks using this trick: target a super-jacked They Who Endure to heal your nexus to full, and you still have the option to hold the free TWE and threaten an Atrocity lethal at any time for just 6 mana.
Honestly, this card looks fairly meh. I predict it will get some play, but not in any of the "top tier" meta decks. It does have some potential to stall out aggressive decks, especially when combo'ed with Gems, Resplendent Stellacorn, and all these new support buffs, but nexus health is a resource and for the most part you'd rather sacrifice 3 nexus damage to preserve 3 HP on a unit rather than the other way around.
Trundle is interesting, and not at all what I was expecting. In many ways, his L2 + Ice Pillar resembles L1 Sejuani: 6+/7 with overwhelm and regeneration, and your opponent's strongest unit is vulnerable. Obviously there is much more setup involved to get a L2 Trundle + Ice Pillar than L1 Sejuani, but at the same time the latter is usually just a single-turn tempo play whereas the former provides pressure every attack.
This card just seems SUPER weak. It's basically Avalanche + 1 damage for double the mana cost--and Avalanche is already one of the top 5 worst spells from the base set. I suppose the intended usage is a regen (troll) heavy deck: all your units will recover the 3 damage, and if any opposing units survive they have -3 attack so they deal minimal damage. At 8(?!) mana and slow speed though, you'll never actually have an opportunity to play this.
This card is weird, it's like a frostbite but not as good, but then it's like potion of iron but gives you a way to defend 2 targets maybe?
it's +1 mana on potion of iron to get a better trade.. is it worth? maybe..
I think VaBeZ's post was spot on: it's like a mini Fury of the North. It creates a total differential of -4 so you'll probably be able to save your unit from a negative trade; its less versatile as Fury but more than just Elixir of Iron x2 and it's cheap enough to be cast entirely from spell mana.
Compare with Entreat, which is 1 mana cheaper for a guaranteed tutor of what is likely the most critical cards in any deck--and nobody plays that. Then here's Call of the WildBADCARDNAME, which is
Literally only playable in either a Yeti, Poro, or Elnuk deck
Implicitly depends on said deck to be successful--elnuks are unplayable, poros are inconsistent, and yetis are popular only recently because of Ashe Noxus decks which will almost certainly get nerfed on the upcoming Sept 16 balance patch
Fairly expensive for only possible draw--for 3 mana + a card it really needs to draw at least 2, preferably 3 to be viable.
I could perhaps see this card having long-term play after some tuning--decreasing of mana cost, guaranteed tutor, or increasing the search beyond just 4 cards--but as-is this will see a little bit of experimentation in Ashe Noxus decks between Aug 28-Sep 16, then fall into oblivion.
Maybe Trundle will be 8 mana so this make sense, rn it doesn't
You have to try to consider what the full deck might look like, not just relative to the current meta.
Specifically: I could see these cards causing a resurgence of Warmother's Call decks. Faces of the Old Ones is like a cheaper Wyrding Stones, and Troll Scavenger + Troll Ravager provide some early game defense that doesn't feel awful when its pulled by your calling. The Behold 8+ mechanic also turns that archetype's biggest liability--that Call is effectively a dead draw until you have enough mana to play it--into a partial asset.
I really, really hope this is not leading up to a Trundle reveal. We already have 1 non-Targon champ out of 7 total for this expansion.
I will be very, very sad if we only get 5 champs from Targon.
As for these cards ... they are probably fine and decently designed, but they don't appeal to my personal play style.
What we know in bold, what I suspect in italics:
August 28
7 new champions including Taric and Lulu; 82 non-champions
Champs will be 5 Targon, 1 Ionia, 1 Frejlord (Trundle); 50-ish Targon non-champs; Ionia + Frejlord get ~9 non-champs/ea, 5 remaining regions get ~2/ea.
October
3 new champions; 37 non-champions
Champs will be 1 Targon + 2 other; those 3 regions get ~9 non-champ/ea; 5 remaining regions get ~2/ea
December
3 new champions; 37 non-champions
Same as October but with whatever 3 regions didn't get new champs yet
As an aside: even if it did work the way you hoped it did, I don't think it would actually produce as many Call of the Mountains cards as you might expect. Just look at how few Rising Tides cards you are getting each week: that's a 111 non-champions out of (111 + 294 = 405) = ~27% chance. Aug 26 will add 82 new non-champions, so the odds of getting one are only ~17%.
Long story short: if you have a nearly full collection and are exclusively interested in the new cards, you're looking at either crafting or unlocking through the new region rewards. Your vaults will continue to be mostly duplicates, wildcards, and shards.
Works great with the support cards from both regions, though, and perfect vanilla stats to begin with.
Good catch.
It's a big peculiar that the decided to announce it along with Lulu--buffing it with either Pix or Lulu is nice but hardly game-winning. Honestly, I think Stomper is going to like buffs from Mentor of the Stones, Mountain Sojourners, and even Tyari the Traveler much more given that those are all permanent versus the Ionia ones so far all expire at end-of-turn.
Can anyone explain why Whimsy! has "Silence" attached to it? Isn't transforming a follower into a 1/1 Squirrel with no text or keywords already silencing it in a way?
If the Silence effect remained permanent after the round ended and the follower transformed back, then it would make sense. Transform and Silence just seems unnecessary.
It's possible that the silence persists on any other spells until the end of round--i.e., you can't just save your unit by casting Fury of the North on it.
It's an interesting card. First off: Lulu will be arguably the easiest champion to level up, but her on-board stats are fairly weak. I think she trades unfavorably with every other 3-drop in the game, so do you play her and try to preserve her or try to wait until after she's leveled? I think the former, because her support benefit will have most value early-game using smaller units and fade off as bigger and bigger units are played on both sides (remember that the stats are flat and not relative like most buffs). However once she does level, the fleeting Help, Pix! will effectively let you either assassinate any enemy unit or protect any allied unit for 1 mana every turn.
As a side note: in the video, their paired her with Demacia so that she could buff Fleetfeather Tracker, allowing it to challenge/kill/survive the sole opposing unit and Lulu to attack with impunity.
That Fae Guide is REALLY good! Much better than calling it a Ghost on a stick, since it grants Elusive for the same cost!
in card games it's not always about being cost efficient.. specially in runettera where spells are generally more expensive..
ghost is a card I never seen played and the map only occasionally so granting/giving elusive is not that good as far as the meta made it be.
I agree with your point about mana efficiency, but I think I have different conclusions regarding Fae Guide's worth.
The big reason Ghost and Sumpworks Map aren't played more is because they are too vulnerable to card disadvantage. First: both are literally unplayable if you don't have a target to play them on. Second: even if you do land them on a good target, most decks will have an answer (direct damage, vengeance, will, frost bite, single combat, challenger, etc) that will create a 1-for-2 card disadvantage. Finally: even if you do pull off the perfect combo, most of the time it's just not that significant payoff--e.g., maybe you connect with Shiraza the Blade and deal 6 nexus damage? There are so many better combos that are more reliable and provide better payoff.
The takeaway here should be that Fae Guide is giving a decent body (3/3) PLUS permanently giving something elusive for a single card. That can be big, especially if support is as prevalent in this upcoming meta as promised.
Ugg; I was thinking this was decent until you brought up that Scarmaiden Reaver comparison. While I maintain that Scarmaiden is criminally underrated, I will agree that it's hard to see Troll Ravager finding a place with -1/0 stats, no overwhelm, and conditional regen for only 1 mana cheaper.
TBD.
Look at it this way: L1 Braum + Take Heart is really powerful, right? Because he's a 3/8 with regen and challenger that will quickly level up and start spitting out poros. Well, L2 Trundle is a 6+/7 with regen and overwhelm that can challenge the strongest enemy. Sure, he won't spit out the poros and vulnerable is sometimes worse than challenger, but on the other hand sometimes vulnerable is better plus you get this for a net cost of only 5 mana and 1 card versus 7 mana and 2 cards for the aforementioned combo.
You are correct. I predict that Shadow Isles will become the defacto LoR region for all regionless supernatural/"demonic" champions--namely, Shaco, Aatrox, Evelynn, Fiddlesticks, Kindred; possibly Brand?--based on the fact:
There goes my Zombie Ashe deck...
In all seriousness: I don't think this card will get much play--there are just too many matchups where it does little to nothing. Usually for a tech card like this to work, it either needs some minimal payout (e.g. "AND summon a 1/1"), an alternate function (e.g., "OR stun an attacking enemy unit"), or cantrip (4 mana but it also draws a card).
Consider this: against the 3 most powerful decks in the meta right now:
Aww; now you've ruined the aesthetic for me. :-(
This card is nuts! Yes obviously the ephemeral tag is a big draw back, but giving everything +2 attack is huge. Look mostly for a lot of aggro decks that just threaten so much damage that you have to block; however I expect there will be some cheeky combo decks as well (Anivia, Mist's Call, The Undying/Cursed Keeper, Death Mark)
Indeed--very interesting, and not at all what I was expecting. (That seems to be a common theme in these reveals...)
It makes me wonder if they might not release even more non-Targon champs / fewer Targon this month. I admit that fewer than 4 Targon champs at release will make the region seem very inferior compared to the others, but I already hypothesized that meant a hard limit of at least 5 and that's now gone.
I can't imagine any world in which this card doesn't see its way into at least 1 competitive deck.
The obvious combo is Tryndamere: ramp your early game until you're enlightened, then heal your nexus for 8 and play a free Tyrn all for 7 mana. She Who Wanders would be another hot target. Heck, I could even see SI/Frej Endure decks using this trick: target a super-jacked They Who Endure to heal your nexus to full, and you still have the option to hold the free TWE and threaten an Atrocity lethal at any time for just 6 mana.
Honestly, this card looks fairly meh. I predict it will get some play, but not in any of the "top tier" meta decks. It does have some potential to stall out aggressive decks, especially when combo'ed with Gems, Resplendent Stellacorn, and all these new support buffs, but nexus health is a resource and for the most part you'd rather sacrifice 3 nexus damage to preserve 3 HP on a unit rather than the other way around.
Trundle is interesting, and not at all what I was expecting. In many ways, his L2 + Ice Pillar resembles L1 Sejuani: 6+/7 with overwhelm and regeneration, and your opponent's strongest unit is vulnerable. Obviously there is much more setup involved to get a L2 Trundle + Ice Pillar than L1 Sejuani, but at the same time the latter is usually just a single-turn tempo play whereas the former provides pressure every attack.
This card just seems SUPER weak. It's basically Avalanche + 1 damage for double the mana cost--and Avalanche is already one of the top 5 worst spells from the base set. I suppose the intended usage is a regen (troll) heavy deck: all your units will recover the 3 damage, and if any opposing units survive they have -3 attack so they deal minimal damage. At 8(?!) mana and slow speed though, you'll never actually have an opportunity to play this.
I think VaBeZ's post was spot on: it's like a mini Fury of the North. It creates a total differential of -4 so you'll probably be able to save your unit from a negative trade; its less versatile as Fury but more than just Elixir of Iron x2 and it's cheap enough to be cast entirely from spell mana.
I'm sorry, but this card is hot garbage.
Compare with Entreat, which is 1 mana cheaper for a guaranteed tutor of what is likely the most critical cards in any deck--and nobody plays that. Then here's Call of the WildBADCARDNAME, which is
I could perhaps see this card having long-term play after some tuning--decreasing of mana cost, guaranteed tutor, or increasing the search beyond just 4 cards--but as-is this will see a little bit of experimentation in Ashe Noxus decks between Aug 28-Sep 16, then fall into oblivion.
You have to try to consider what the full deck might look like, not just relative to the current meta.
Specifically: I could see these cards causing a resurgence of Warmother's Call decks. Faces of the Old Ones is like a cheaper Wyrding Stones, and Troll Scavenger + Troll Ravager provide some early game defense that doesn't feel awful when its pulled by your calling. The Behold 8+ mechanic also turns that archetype's biggest liability--that Call is effectively a dead draw until you have enough mana to play it--into a partial asset.
What we know in bold, what I suspect in italics:
August 28
October
December
As an aside: even if it did work the way you hoped it did, I don't think it would actually produce as many Call of the Mountains cards as you might expect. Just look at how few Rising Tides cards you are getting each week: that's a 111 non-champions out of (111 + 294 = 405) = ~27% chance. Aug 26 will add 82 new non-champions, so the odds of getting one are only ~17%.
Long story short: if you have a nearly full collection and are exclusively interested in the new cards, you're looking at either crafting or unlocking through the new region rewards. Your vaults will continue to be mostly duplicates, wildcards, and shards.
Good catch.
It's a big peculiar that the decided to announce it along with Lulu--buffing it with either Pix or Lulu is nice but hardly game-winning. Honestly, I think Stomper is going to like buffs from Mentor of the Stones, Mountain Sojourners, and even Tyari the Traveler much more given that those are all permanent versus the Ionia ones so far all expire at end-of-turn.
It's possible that the silence persists on any other spells until the end of round--i.e., you can't just save your unit by casting Fury of the North on it.
It's an interesting card. First off: Lulu will be arguably the easiest champion to level up, but her on-board stats are fairly weak. I think she trades unfavorably with every other 3-drop in the game, so do you play her and try to preserve her or try to wait until after she's leveled? I think the former, because her support benefit will have most value early-game using smaller units and fade off as bigger and bigger units are played on both sides (remember that the stats are flat and not relative like most buffs). However once she does level, the fleeting Help, Pix! will effectively let you either assassinate any enemy unit or protect any allied unit for 1 mana every turn.
As a side note: in the video, their paired her with Demacia so that she could buff Fleetfeather Tracker, allowing it to challenge/kill/survive the sole opposing unit and Lulu to attack with impunity.
I agree with your point about mana efficiency, but I think I have different conclusions regarding Fae Guide's worth.
The big reason Ghost and Sumpworks Map aren't played more is because they are too vulnerable to card disadvantage. First: both are literally unplayable if you don't have a target to play them on. Second: even if you do land them on a good target, most decks will have an answer (direct damage, vengeance, will, frost bite, single combat, challenger, etc) that will create a 1-for-2 card disadvantage. Finally: even if you do pull off the perfect combo, most of the time it's just not that significant payoff--e.g., maybe you connect with Shiraza the Blade and deal 6 nexus damage? There are so many better combos that are more reliable and provide better payoff.
The takeaway here should be that Fae Guide is giving a decent body (3/3) PLUS permanently giving something elusive for a single card. That can be big, especially if support is as prevalent in this upcoming meta as promised.