2/5. Not even remotely close to Mystic Shot in terms of power. Costs 1 more mana and can't hit the enemy Nexus, and in exchange it can conditionally deal 1 more damage.
1/5. The poison puffcaps spell is generally not worth putting in your deck at 5 puffcaps for 1 mana and 1 card. This spell adds 9 puffcaps for 2 mana and 1 card... IF you choose a card your opponent has 3 copies of. This is also not worth putting in your deck.
3/5. Low stats means it can be answered by a 2 mana 2/3 unit, a Mystic Shot, or many other cards. It could be good with proper support to ensure it doesn't just die right away.
2/5. The effect is strong (doubling effect of traps), but the steep mana cost and poor stats are a major liability. A 6 mana 4/4 looks awful compared to Puffcap Peddler, a 3 mana 3/3.
4/5. Depends on the meta, but messing with your opponent's hand can massively disrupt a combo deck; this would have murdered TLC back when it was strong, by forcing your opponent to discard The Watcher. This is on top of giving you card advantage. Bonus points for being multi-region.
Very disappointing patch, balance-wise. Look at Impetuous Panda's survey on the LoRCompetitive subreddit, the community feels this is the worst-ever LoR meta in terms of game balance and deck diversity, and we just get 2 nerfs.
I was already taking a break from Ranked mode, now I'm just taking a break from LoR altogether. I'd go back to Hearthstone, but that's pay to win, so I think I'll just play the single-player Lost Portal CCG when I feel like playing on my phone. It's a great game, btw.
I wonder how Champion Skins will work. They already have a system for changing the appearance for cards (prismatic cards), so it could be tied to that... but since we can get prismatic cards without spending real money, maybe they'll just sell them for Riot Coins instead. We'll see.
Riot celebrates Pride Month in the west, where it's popular, and does not celebrate it in China, where it's not. Half of major US corporations do exactly the same. Supporting an initiative where it's popular and profitable to do so, and keeping quiet where it's not, sounds to me like shrewd corporate marketing.
Not trying to piss on anyone's cheerios; just saying we don't need a corporate sponsorship to celebrate pride month.
This is similar to Arachnoid Sentry. It costs less mana, which is a very big deal; but you can't choose the target of its stun, and the stun only triggers if it's the first card you play that turn. Also significant is that this is a Targon card, not a Noxus card; Targon as a region excels in taking over in the late game due to the Invoke mechanic, which means they naturally make better use of stalling tools like this one.
This is a very strong card for Targon in general, and for Leona and Yasuo + Leona decks in particular. 5/5
This card's effect is pretty good. It's similar to Aftershock in that it deals 3 damage for 4 mana with additional utility, except this can't target the enemy Nexus and is Fast instead of Slow. It's not the most mana-efficient effect, but it's pretty versatile, which is a very valuable trait to have, especially in a region with almost no other damage-based removal spells.
The big problem is the landmark requirement. Most Targon meta decks have exactly zero landmarks: Zoe + Lee, Zoe + ASol and Nightfall decks would just be getting a 4-mana stun spell, which is pretty bad. Soraka + TK has 3 landmark cards, which is insufficient to give this card any kind of consistency. Right now this only seems viable in potential Malphite decks. 3/5
6 mana buys you a lot of value with this card... IF you fulfill its 4 landmark requirement, which is not easy. Even then, the 6/4 body will be most useful on defense, threatening to trade with a big enemy threat, because no combat abilities makes him pretty questionable on offense. Unless the entire enemy board was stunned by Malphite's Unstoppable Force, I suppose. 3/5
1. You can advance his level up progress by playing units. Landmarks generated by Rock Hopper and Blue Sentinel count as 2-mana landmarks each.
2. Stunning all enemy units with Unstoppable Force is reminiscent of the Swain Leviathan combo, but there's a big difference: Unstoppable Force only works on offense, not on defense, because you get a fleeting copy of it whenever you gain the attack token.
Malphite himself is very strong, and will likely be the main win condition of any deck he's in. This is a massive boost to landmark-heavy decks, and while Malphite will do a ton of work in those decks, the question is whether his supporting cards will be good enough to make for a competitively viable deck. 5/5
2/5. Not even remotely close to Mystic Shot in terms of power. Costs 1 more mana and can't hit the enemy Nexus, and in exchange it can conditionally deal 1 more damage.
2/5. Much like Poison Puffcaps, Poison Darts look cool is you can generate them cheaply, but not so much as a card to put in your main deck.
1/5. The poison puffcaps spell is generally not worth putting in your deck at 5 puffcaps for 1 mana and 1 card. This spell adds 9 puffcaps for 2 mana and 1 card... IF you choose a card your opponent has 3 copies of. This is also not worth putting in your deck.
2/5. A 3 mana 4/4 is alright; a conditional 3 mana 4/4 is harder to justify.
1/5. A 4 mana 4/2 Elusive is already a little suspect. A conditional 4 mana 4/2 Elusive is just bad.
3/5. Low stats means it can be answered by a 2 mana 2/3 unit, a Mystic Shot, or many other cards. It could be good with proper support to ensure it doesn't just die right away.
1/5. Win condition is slow, costs a lot of mana, and is vulnerable to landmark removal.
3/5. Decent stats for its cost, and poison darts are cool.
2/5. The effect is strong (doubling effect of traps), but the steep mana cost and poor stats are a major liability. A 6 mana 4/4 looks awful compared to Puffcap Peddler, a 3 mana 3/3.
4/5. Depends on the meta, but messing with your opponent's hand can massively disrupt a combo deck; this would have murdered TLC back when it was strong, by forcing your opponent to discard The Watcher. This is on top of giving you card advantage. Bonus points for being multi-region.
Very disappointing patch, balance-wise. Look at Impetuous Panda's survey on the LoRCompetitive subreddit, the community feels this is the worst-ever LoR meta in terms of game balance and deck diversity, and we just get 2 nerfs.
I was already taking a break from Ranked mode, now I'm just taking a break from LoR altogether. I'd go back to Hearthstone, but that's pay to win, so I think I'll just play the single-player Lost Portal CCG when I feel like playing on my phone. It's a great game, btw.
Would've liked to see an Azir + Irelia nerf, I think I'll pass on ranked play for the next couple weeks until the balance patch hits
None of my friends play LoR :(
I wonder how Champion Skins will work. They already have a system for changing the appearance for cards (prismatic cards), so it could be tied to that... but since we can get prismatic cards without spending real money, maybe they'll just sell them for Riot Coins instead. We'll see.
Riot celebrates Pride Month in the west, where it's popular, and does not celebrate it in China, where it's not. Half of major US corporations do exactly the same. Supporting an initiative where it's popular and profitable to do so, and keeping quiet where it's not, sounds to me like shrewd corporate marketing.
Not trying to piss on anyone's cheerios; just saying we don't need a corporate sponsorship to celebrate pride month.
Riot Games, celebrating the LGBT community with one hand, while taking Saudi money and sponsorships with the other ( LoL LEC deal with NEOM).
This is not born out of a deeply-held belief, this is a publicity stunt. Riot, stop pandering, and focus on making good games.
This is similar to Arachnoid Sentry. It costs less mana, which is a very big deal; but you can't choose the target of its stun, and the stun only triggers if it's the first card you play that turn. Also significant is that this is a Targon card, not a Noxus card; Targon as a region excels in taking over in the late game due to the Invoke mechanic, which means they naturally make better use of stalling tools like this one.
This is a very strong card for Targon in general, and for Leona and Yasuo + Leona decks in particular. 5/5
This card's effect is pretty good. It's similar to Aftershock in that it deals 3 damage for 4 mana with additional utility, except this can't target the enemy Nexus and is Fast instead of Slow. It's not the most mana-efficient effect, but it's pretty versatile, which is a very valuable trait to have, especially in a region with almost no other damage-based removal spells.
The big problem is the landmark requirement. Most Targon meta decks have exactly zero landmarks: Zoe + Lee, Zoe + ASol and Nightfall decks would just be getting a 4-mana stun spell, which is pretty bad. Soraka + TK has 3 landmark cards, which is insufficient to give this card any kind of consistency. Right now this only seems viable in potential Malphite decks. 3/5
6 mana buys you a lot of value with this card... IF you fulfill its 4 landmark requirement, which is not easy. Even then, the 6/4 body will be most useful on defense, threatening to trade with a big enemy threat, because no combat abilities makes him pretty questionable on offense. Unless the entire enemy board was stunned by Malphite's Unstoppable Force, I suppose. 3/5
A couple notes on Malphite:
1. You can advance his level up progress by playing units. Landmarks generated by Rock Hopper and Blue Sentinel count as 2-mana landmarks each.
2. Stunning all enemy units with Unstoppable Force is reminiscent of the Swain Leviathan combo, but there's a big difference: Unstoppable Force only works on offense, not on defense, because you get a fleeting copy of it whenever you gain the attack token.
Malphite himself is very strong, and will likely be the main win condition of any deck he's in. This is a massive boost to landmark-heavy decks, and while Malphite will do a ton of work in those decks, the question is whether his supporting cards will be good enough to make for a competitively viable deck. 5/5