Cards like these are still competetive in MTG high power formats to this day (and in those Formats only the best of the best is viable). The stronger cheap spells become the more broken a champion like this will be.
she is only 2 mana... 2 fricking mana that's broken for a spell doubler that technically replaces itself when you play it.
Given how good the cards from the package are and how good cheap spells are already... i have a feeling that Seraphine will be busted and together with Nami be a tier 1 if not tier 0 archetype
Edit I just noticed that she features new spells so that she is a lot less busted than on first glance.
Still she could be really good and will become better over time
I don't know what you do see here but I do see 2 decent cards and the rest being cards that most likely won't see much play. Yes, lee sin decks will be better after their release but I don't see these cards breaking lee sin big times. The deck... or actually more the champion can use a nerf but the new cards are fine on their own
The Unforgiving Cold activates twice at once if you equipped this game. it's effectively Harsh Winds that triggers spell effects twice which is still a really nice deal for 4 mana
the synergy with Nami is so obvious... I wonder if riot spared Nami the nerf last patch to allow Varus to shine for 2 weeks... until they gut Nami into oblivion
The way this is worded it might actually go off multiple times if you have multiple equipped allies which given it's statline would be an outstanding 1 drop.
It's however a slow 1 drop and in a way the conditions that need to be met take away the typical upside of 1drops and then equipment decks should have better thing to do... idk I am actually not too high on this despite it's individual powerlevel being very high
Serious question: why is having to switch from standard to historic a problem?
Is changing the game mode that big of a deal? I mean WotC skrewed up in arena's case a lot by injecting new cards to historic that never were in standard and rebalancing cards that then became op/useless in historic. But in LoR's case I don't think Riot will do something like this.
The concern that old archetypes will get neglected by riot once they rotate out is a concern that I would agree on but then: more focus on new cards and new archetypes? That's not too bad eighter.
In the end the game is supposed to be open in deckbuilding and diverse and removing cards from an available cardpool can actually increase diversity which is why I think rotation is good as long as it is optional
Not sure how much you play rotating formats in other cardgames but from what I know being a mtg standard player for multiple years now:
Rotation is the most refreshing time in year and most players are looking forward to the rotation round about half way in a year.
Old archetypes will come back over and over into the meta as new cards get released and even if we overall don't have as toxic archetypes in LoR than we had in MTG standard the last years (and I am talking decks being tier 1 for years that compare to tk soraka) it's good to know that something like bard isn't an archetype to stay and that there will be the day you don't need to deal with his archetype anymore.
The way rotations work in MTG is that they refresh the field, remove old archetypes, remove answers and enable archetypes that would never take off because they were hosed too much by certain answers/decks. On one hand this can cause for decks having no effective counter and can cause huge balance issues. On the other hand... it's just such a new experience and it enables cards that otherwise would never see play over their region's staples to be played in tier decks and I enjoy nothing more than a significant change in the way decks works.
Random effects like Concurrent Timelines can be part of the game for sure. But they should NEVER be competetive. They should enable cool stuff in pve should create interesting decks... not take away the downside of etb units that they tend to be very understatted with no real tradeoff
The funny part is that Jhin for me is the most fun Path of Champion champion and does amazingly well over there.
That he isn't a great champion in pvp right now... well I don't think it needs much to make him decent as a card. Just let him activate a lotus trap on summon et voila he is a very strong tempo play for his archetype.
I wouldn't want the master of the 4th shot being reworked completely as he is insanely well executed from a flavour perspective and fun to play even if he isn't a great champion in pvp constructed, which can't be true for all champions anyways
My first impression is that it's time to nerf some shurima cards again.
This time it's Akshan's landmark and the new 5 mana ressurrect spell that costs 3 if you equiped this game.
I want to see Akshan nerfed because equipments tend to level him VERY fast and also repeatedly. Leveling akshan fast usually drains your hand but now... now you chain equipments and countdown your landmark once every 2 rounds with no end in sight.
And do I have to explain why an effect worth 7 unit mana is broken on a spell for 3?
Who doesn't like to kill a Master Yi, Akshan or Kai'Sa just to have 2 of them on the enemy board the very next moment?
Well he can level in deck and if he gets played on level 2 he is a huuge double trouble unit.
It's kinda like a lvl2 Zed who has overwhelm already .
It doesn't look exiting for sure and maybe the fact that freljord has no spellshield will break ornn's neck but I also could see Ornn becoming the new Sion of Freljord
Flavourwise the mechanic is fine and I don't say it's necessarily bad but...
granting units/equipments +1/+1 that... is not exiting at all especially if that is ALL the mechanic does.
We proably will see more payoff with ornn and other support cards tomorrow so maybe it's getting more interesting... I hope so because so far it's about as exiting of a mechanic as chimes were
I mean this is now basically the official confirmation that Ornn is the fifth champion and that forge is exactly what snnuy already expect it to be.
It's a potentially strong mechanic, the only issue here is that it feels much of a win more mechanic and not so much of a mechanic that can turn games or would provide an alternative way to use it. It's straightforward proably quite strong but not really very interesting imo
Quietus is going to be a premium removal in SI Freljord decks and if I understand Senna's ruling right it also can destroy equipments at fast speed when senna is in play.
Killing an ally to grant another +2/+2 for 1 is quite powerful in SI.
Having a 2 mana 2/2 fearsome lifesteal is fine but that's hardly better than tasty faefolk... and that's a questionable card in ionia, a region that can protect it's units
The spear however looks rather meh even if granting fearsome is quite cool
Granting all units and Equipments +1/+1 in deck isn't that great but adding the effect to a draw 1 and 4 nexus heal makes it overall look quite good
Cards like these are still competetive in MTG high power formats to this day (and in those Formats only the best of the best is viable). The stronger cheap spells become the more broken a champion like this will be.
she is only 2 mana... 2 fricking mana that's broken for a spell doubler that technically replaces itself when you play it.
Given how good the cards from the package are and how good cheap spells are already... i have a feeling that Seraphine will be busted and together with Nami be a tier 1 if not tier 0 archetype
Edit I just noticed that she features new spells so that she is a lot less busted than on first glance.
Still she could be really good and will become better over time
I don't know what you do see here but I do see 2 decent cards and the rest being cards that most likely won't see much play. Yes, lee sin decks will be better after their release but I don't see these cards breaking lee sin big times. The deck... or actually more the champion can use a nerf but the new cards are fine on their own
The Unforgiving Cold activates twice at once if you equipped this game. it's effectively Harsh Winds that triggers spell effects twice which is still a really nice deal for 4 mana
the synergy with Nami is so obvious... I wonder if riot spared Nami the nerf last patch to allow Varus to shine for 2 weeks... until they gut Nami into oblivion
If Nami Varus is a deck then this card is a nuts card in it as it counts for 2 spells and is cheaper than harsh winds.
Surely it's unusal to play equipments with harsh winds but that has more to do with the good equipment decks not needing/synergizing with it so far.
Varus is a gamechanger in this regard and this spell could be a key part of one of his decks
draw 2 fleeting is a lot worse than draw 2 unless you play with a very low curve.
It's proably good in aggro but I don't see this making it out of aggro unless it is for a p&z build that can discard the fleeting cards
therefore: 3 stars
The way this is worded it might actually go off multiple times if you have multiple equipped allies which given it's statline would be an outstanding 1 drop.
It's however a slow 1 drop and in a way the conditions that need to be met take away the typical upside of 1drops and then equipment decks should have better thing to do... idk I am actually not too high on this despite it's individual powerlevel being very high
Serious question: why is having to switch from standard to historic a problem?
Is changing the game mode that big of a deal? I mean WotC skrewed up in arena's case a lot by injecting new cards to historic that never were in standard and rebalancing cards that then became op/useless in historic. But in LoR's case I don't think Riot will do something like this.
The concern that old archetypes will get neglected by riot once they rotate out is a concern that I would agree on but then: more focus on new cards and new archetypes? That's not too bad eighter.
In the end the game is supposed to be open in deckbuilding and diverse and removing cards from an available cardpool can actually increase diversity which is why I think rotation is good as long as it is optional
Not sure how much you play rotating formats in other cardgames but from what I know being a mtg standard player for multiple years now:
Rotation is the most refreshing time in year and most players are looking forward to the rotation round about half way in a year.
Old archetypes will come back over and over into the meta as new cards get released and even if we overall don't have as toxic archetypes in LoR than we had in MTG standard the last years (and I am talking decks being tier 1 for years that compare to tk soraka) it's good to know that something like bard isn't an archetype to stay and that there will be the day you don't need to deal with his archetype anymore.
The way rotations work in MTG is that they refresh the field, remove old archetypes, remove answers and enable archetypes that would never take off because they were hosed too much by certain answers/decks. On one hand this can cause for decks having no effective counter and can cause huge balance issues. On the other hand... it's just such a new experience and it enables cards that otherwise would never see play over their region's staples to be played in tier decks and I enjoy nothing more than a significant change in the way decks works.
To put it in a nutshell:
Rotations are a risk but they are worth the risk
Nerf timelines to 4 mana and it's a good patch.
Random effects like Concurrent Timelines can be part of the game for sure. But they should NEVER be competetive. They should enable cool stuff in pve should create interesting decks... not take away the downside of etb units that they tend to be very understatted with no real tradeoff
The funny part is that Jhin for me is the most fun Path of Champion champion and does amazingly well over there.
That he isn't a great champion in pvp right now... well I don't think it needs much to make him decent as a card. Just let him activate a lotus trap on summon et voila he is a very strong tempo play for his archetype.
I wouldn't want the master of the 4th shot being reworked completely as he is insanely well executed from a flavour perspective and fun to play even if he isn't a great champion in pvp constructed, which can't be true for all champions anyways
It's actually a known bug that happens if you play evelynn on a full board.
And as far as I know this is a thing since her release
I mean does any LoR deck compare to the powerlevel of Kai'sa decks?
It would have needed absolute incompetence to design 2 decks of that sort in a row.
Still: the new cards aren't weak imo and once we stop running non- optimal builds/cards I doubt the archetypes will still look rather weak
My first impression is that it's time to nerf some shurima cards again.
This time it's Akshan's landmark and the new 5 mana ressurrect spell that costs 3 if you equiped this game.
I want to see Akshan nerfed because equipments tend to level him VERY fast and also repeatedly. Leveling akshan fast usually drains your hand but now... now you chain equipments and countdown your landmark once every 2 rounds with no end in sight.
And do I have to explain why an effect worth 7 unit mana is broken on a spell for 3?
Who doesn't like to kill a Master Yi, Akshan or Kai'Sa just to have 2 of them on the enemy board the very next moment?
Well he can level in deck and if he gets played on level 2 he is a huuge double trouble unit.
It's kinda like a lvl2 Zed who has overwhelm already .
It doesn't look exiting for sure and maybe the fact that freljord has no spellshield will break ornn's neck but I also could see Ornn becoming the new Sion of Freljord
I only need 2 words to describe this champion:
Word 1: Strong
Word 2: boring
Flavourwise the mechanic is fine and I don't say it's necessarily bad but...
granting units/equipments +1/+1 that... is not exiting at all especially if that is ALL the mechanic does.
We proably will see more payoff with ornn and other support cards tomorrow so maybe it's getting more interesting... I hope so because so far it's about as exiting of a mechanic as chimes were
I mean this is now basically the official confirmation that Ornn is the fifth champion and that forge is exactly what snnuy already expect it to be.
It's a potentially strong mechanic, the only issue here is that it feels much of a win more mechanic and not so much of a mechanic that can turn games or would provide an alternative way to use it. It's straightforward proably quite strong but not really very interesting imo
Quietus is going to be a premium removal in SI Freljord decks and if I understand Senna's ruling right it also can destroy equipments at fast speed when senna is in play.
Killing an ally to grant another +2/+2 for 1 is quite powerful in SI.
Having a 2 mana 2/2 fearsome lifesteal is fine but that's hardly better than tasty faefolk... and that's a questionable card in ionia, a region that can protect it's units
The spear however looks rather meh even if granting fearsome is quite cool
Granting all units and Equipments +1/+1 in deck isn't that great but adding the effect to a draw 1 and 4 nexus heal makes it overall look quite good
Granting 4/4 for 5 is... proably quite bad.
Jax is kinda cool and all but neighter his origin nor the champion look particular good.
I wouldn't play my equipment deck with jax in it but maybe i am just too picky an he is very good for a 2 drop