A new Runeterran champion was revealed today in the form of Bard, along with a number of new cards!
Origin
This is a good time to look over the Origin keyword, which was revealed along with Jhin. Basically, it makes the Champion count as one of your deck's regions and add cards to your deck regardless of their region, so long as they respect the Origin's restrictions. Some also have a passive effect that begins at the start of the game and lasts throughout.
What do you think of Bard? Do you like the new Boon mechanic? Let us know in the the comments below!
Comments
So Bard will be all about reverted traps...
Now on one hand this theme will suck hard against trap decks because it want's to draw a lot while traps punish exactly that and on the other hand it... not even that good in "normal matchups".
Handbuffs are worth (a lot) less than boardbuffs -every hs player learned that quick as handbuff became a thing- so drawing a chime is about as valuable as drawing a free gem along another card.
Is a free gem good? It can be because it's a spell that triggers several effects, boons however don't trigger ANYTHING so they have by default very poor support.
And what is really the best thing this deck can do? Play overstatted units ... sometimes?
Like the payoff and the support both are miserable and I can't see this archetype actually being good ever unless it get's more support AND better payoffs AND an easier to level Bard
The Bard origin card that buffs 3 cards in your deck with a chime at every round start is pretty strong. I can imagine Bard being strong in a Demacia allegiance deck or a Freljord overwhelm allegiance deck, where you add 3 copies of Bard, none of his support cards, and hope that you never even draw the champion.
Bard looks reasonably strong, but I hate his design.
Wow, I'm hyped for Bard! Looks really cool! That's gonna be a great expansion.
I'm worried if this is what future Runeterra champions look like. I don't particularly mind what Bard does as a champion, it's nothing too crazy but it's interesting because it's one of the first champions that directly synergizes with hand and deck buffs.
However, his Origin is so much more limiting than what I would have expected. Jhin's Origin allows him to get more tools because it's based on Skills which the game had plenty of before his introduction and would only grow even if some cards aren't meant to be for him, he would still benefit it from it. Comparing that to Bard whose Origin only allows cards that is basically his package makes it a lot less interesting because you have a smaller pool and won't grow as much as Jhin's until they print a card that specifically says chime. It's like Lurk in a way, you can only play cards that say Lurk so you're stuck between Shurima and Bilgewater. And if not then you're playing with effectively 1 region less.
I wouldn't mind if his Origin had mentioned planting boons instead of chimes because at the very least it would allow him to deckbuild with future boon cards as well and not only chimes. Hell, I wish he was just a Targon/BC champion instead. This is disappointing, I hope they consider about changing the deckbuilding restriction.
I think Bard’s Origin should be the model for future champions: It’s very limited, but comes with a nice bonus effect. (Add Chimes at the start of each round.) Assuming it’s balanced now, it should stay balanced. On the other hand, I worry that Jhin’s Origin is too open-ended, and some future cards will make him way too powerful.
Don't get me wrong about Bard. I don't hate the card itself, I hate that his "region" is 6 cards including himself.
Yes, it doesn’t seem like enough. I’m expecting more Chime cards to be added. Since I understand these to be all over Runeterra in the lore - and because I hope they will do more with Boons - I think it’s reasonable to hope for that.
With only 6 support cards, Bard may be a viable champion, but he won’t offer interesting deck-building challenges.
I also prefers Jhin origin, giving up an entire region for a couple of cards hardly seem like a good deal unless they plan to introduce more variety of boons in the future
I always loved Bard in league, very unique champion.
They chose to go the hand buff route his for design in Runeterra. Hopefully he doesn't end being another elusive degeneracy enabler.