Today is the first in a series of articles we'll be covering the entire week. The Out of Cards staff wanted to share some of their favorite Runeterra cards with you and suggest decks to use them in so you can give them a whirl for yourself. We'll be talking about a different region each day, starting with the Shadow Isles today. Be sure and use our own Deckbuilder if you've got a perfect deck to share with us for any of the cards we discuss.


neonangel

Warden's Prey

Warden's Prey Card Image

I like this card, not because it's amazing, but because of the artwork and the implied terror lurking around the corner. It's one of those cards where you only see a fraction of what's going on. Luckily, for us, we get to see the entire artwork for any available card from within the client itself, which is an awesome idea! And just in case you didn't know, when viewing card art in the LoR client, you can click anywhere on the image, except the X, and it will hide all of the text so you can see the full piece.

After taking a closer look we find out who this poor lost soul is hiding from. I noticed this individual seems to be the same guy from the Elise and Frenzied Skitterer artwork, unless all the guys around here carry roses with them everywhere. It's a real kick in the teeth to think he escaped Thresh only to be lured into Elise's lair (or vice versa). He also shows up in Arachnoid Sentry and Arachnoid Host, still blindly chasing after Elise. This guy is everywhere, and the dude has been completely terrorized!

There are several other pieces that share this same hiding concept. Be sure and check out the full artwork for Thresh and Mageseeker Investigator to find out who is lurking just around the corner.

The card itself can generate some amazing value considering you will get get a unit with Last Breath, which can, in turn, generate something else useful with its own Last Breath ability. I really like him in this type of deck below because you've got plenty of ways to kill him and bring him back over and over again. I think Thresh would really appreciate that.


Bystekhilcar

The Undying

The Undying Card Image

I've always been a sucker for inevitability. There's something delightful about having a game plan which grinds inorexibly forwards, making it very clear to your opponent that their time is limited. That's a major part of why I like The Undying - it's a crystal clear message that you will win unless your opponent responds. Add to that the simple beauty of turning a weakness - Shadow Isles' penchant for sacrificing their followers - into a strength, and you have a very pretty card indeed.

Despite that, though, probably the best thing about this card is how it looks incredibly powerful - a minion you can't remove or block without making it even stronger?! - but is in fact entirely balanced, possibly even weak. Even at a basic level, a 2/2 for 3 is poor - factor in Can't Block and you're looking at a follower which is outvalued by the 1-drop Legion Rearguard. And while those issues can be circumvented with judicious use of Rally, the fact remains that The Undying is better suited to punishing slow, defensive decks and is easily outpaced by the aggressive decks of the current meta. The Undying isn't worried though; after all, it is Undying... and no meta lasts forever.

The below is a deck I put together during the initial alpha, tweaked somewhat for meta changes, specifically geared towards using the Undying. It still needs some playtesting, but helps to highlight the strengths of The Undying while mitigating some of the weaknesses.

Made it through the entire entry without making an 'If you strike me down' reference! Be proud, Internet!


Frenzied Skitterer Card Image

I think I first encountered this card in the Expeditions and it just stopped my entire game plan for the turn. A +1 Power for my opponent's board? The hell? Now each of their puny spiders can kill any of my units. That's not cool. To make things worse, now I won't even trade 1-for-1 anymore. What is this card?!

Ever since then, Skitterer proved to be just a really strong flip switch to change the flow of almost any turn it's played. It has good synergy with Fearsome keyword, since it can make the enemy 3-Power units no longer be able to block units with Fearsome, but it can just create a favorable trades for you regardless. This is especially amazing in a spider deck with Elise. Her leveled up form, Spider Queen Elise, gives allied spiders Fearsome and Challenger. So you can easilly remove the enemy board from the equation and just go face. Because face is what? Yes, still THE place.

Here is a deck I do my dailies with. Nice quick spider action to get that bonus pvp xp every day.


Stirred Spirits Card Image

Out of every card in the entire game, Stirred Spirits is the card that is my favorite in the game for a reason that doesn't involve its gameplay. This reasoning is the artwork. When I found this artwork while doing my concept art series, I found it amusing at first. The more I look into it now, the more I realize how deep and clever it is. From what I can gather out of it, the art represents the mind out of alcoholic (or whatever it is they drink in the Shadow Isles) drinking so much that their brain basically turns into that, and it seems to affect their entire body as well. It could also represent the monotony going through the same bar, drinking the same thing all the time that their mind entire fixates on that thing and the two combine to where the person becomes "that thing" in a sense, which the artwork happens to take literally.

Here is the highest rated deck on our site that utilizes this card. Might be pretty fun to try out.


Thanks to sinti, Demonxz95, and Bystekhilcar for sharing their favorite cards with us today!

Check back with us tomorrow when we keep it rolling with cards from Piltover & Zaun.