They say to save the best for last. I’m Jordan “WhatAmI” Abronson and today we are dropping some absolutely legendary final day reveals.

If you want power, precision, and synergy, then you’ve come to the right place.

Let’s check out our final day of Darkin Saga spoilers.

If you’d like to see our expert breakdowns for the cards, check out the rest of our reveal articles.

Vayne

Holy infinitely rallying nonsense batman. If you thought that a leveled Katarina was a problem wait till you get a load of Demacia’s newest powerhouse.

Coming down on turn three with enough stats to clog the board and make her difficult to remove, Vayne immediately generates value and presents threats.

If you happen to successfully level her than the hits just start coming faster and faster. Her kit is extremely thematic as there is simply no escape from a powered-up Vayne.

She will hunt you down wherever you try to run attacking over and over again until you simply cannot defend any longer.

This card is going to be a nightmare to defend against for any control deck, and plenty of midrange piles will have problems as well.

I am confident in saying that we are witnessing the arrival of Demacia’s new premier champion, and possibly one of the defining cards of our new meta game.

Condemn

At six mana this card is practically unplayable. Its floor is a significantly worse concerted strike that sits in your hand and mocks you for including it in your deck. That said, the ceiling is absolutely bonkers.
Hate spike reminds us that one mana removal is pretty nuts even on a small scale. This card will be active a significant amount of the time in any deck that wants it. Vayne, Scout, or even an old-fashioned Rally will get it done. Deck space will be an issue, but this looks like a potential powerhouse removal tool for Demacia.

Fish Fight

Depending on the amount of equipment you can slot into your deck this card could be significantly worthwhile. Also, a nice way to get a premium equipment onto your intended target without having to sacrifice the unit it is currently attached to.

This also calls out to me as a solid way to turbo-level Kayne. A champion who desperately needed some worthwhile ways to accelerate his gameplan.

I don’t know if this will be enough, but it definitely pings my radar as something that is worth an attempt.

Steadfast Elkin

Tough in the early game is an absolutely brutal keyword to deal with.

This card can gain access to that effect and lock down the board as early as turn two or three, all while being a solid aggressive attacker. Aggressive Demacia is eating well today.

Zealous Ranger-Knight

War Chefs is turning in his grave. Two mana 2/3 is a premium early game stat line to lock down a board, and later in the game in an equipment heavy deck this can do a solid impression of a full board pump.

Seems like an immensely powerful inclusion in equipment based Demacia.

Widowed Huntress

A small challenger unit for four mana that jumps an equipment onto itself from your hand? The effect is cute, but the mana point feels like it is unlikely to be sufficiently powerful in any deck that particularly wants to play it.

Faithful Wolfdog

This effectively wants to be a one mana “pick up the dropped weapon and go fight with it” unit. Seems like solid support for a potential forge archetype, but probably not going to manage to make the cut in baseline Demacia midrange. Not unless we get significantly more equipment based.

Kind-Hearted Recruit

Brightsteel Formation got a baby brother and he is here to potentially wreak some havoc. My first thought here is to use these powerful new demacia equipment support cards to try to work with Jax. I don’t know if that will make the grade or not, but it’s an interesting idea at the least.

Bloodcursed Harpy

Six mana Demacia cards have some big shoes to fill. You have to contend with Cithria and Genevieve, two majorly powerful ladies. This card’s fortitude might give it a chance, but I’m not holding out any particular hope. Buffing your entire board and/or having access to challenger are really good effects.

Bonus Deck: Holy Tumble

Deck code: CECAKBQFBQGQ4EA4AIAQKFBRAECQADACAYAAWFIFAEDAKAYBAEAB2AIDAAFACBAAAIAQMAASAA

[See Holy Tumble deck details]

What’s better than attacking a bunch of time in a row? That’s right, attacking a bunch of times in a row and getting stronger every single time you do it. Hallowed seems like a natural fit for Vayne and, as we’ve already seen from Gwen/Katarina, that archetype loves extra attacks.

Vayne herself will rarely be the target of tumble here, but she can definitely carry the banner if she needs to. The main plan is to try to get in with Gwen as often as possible, draining your opponent’s life away with each swing. We do have a few solid backups though.

Eternal Dancers has always shown through as Gwen 2.0 if you’ve left your leading lady at home or she’s been taken out of play. Multiple attacks with this card will end a game in short order. Beyond that Rekindler is a powerhouse, bringing back whatever part of the engine our opponent was able to stop.

This deck just keeps on coming in and should be a nightmare to deal with for any sort of control player. Midrange battles may prove to be a little bit trickier as we don’t exactly defend ourselves the best, but Condemn can help out with that at least a touch.

All in all, this deck looks like a blast to play and I’m looking forward to giving it a whirl in the next few days as we get access to all these cool new cards. I’ll see you all out there on the ladder, tumbling away.

Stay tuned for more reveal articles! To build your own deck, head to our Deck Builder.

The post Domination Impressions: Vayne appeared first on Mobalytics.

Seasonals has concluded, but the Darkin Saga has yet to reach its peak.

I’m Jordan “WhatAmI” Abronson and we’ve got some terrifying new tools to try out today.

Let’s check out what powers we’ve been gifted today by our Darkin Overlords.

To see the rest of the Domination reveals, head to our Spoiler page where they’ll be revealed each day until its official release.

If you’d like to see our expert breakdowns for the cards, check out the rest of our reveal articles.

Legionary Charge

The combat trick side of this card feels ever so slightly underwhelming. That leads me to believe that we probably want to be putting it into our deck as a tutor effect. That said a two-mana tutor, assuming we build our deck to accommodate it, is quite a powerful effect.

While I’m not sure exactly how to best take advantage of this effect yet, there’s clearly some level of impressive potential here. And the dual purpose of being a potentially quite reasonable combat trick when you already have your tutor target is a huge upside.

Brutal Skirmish

Noxian single combat for one more mana is a huge deal. This is a region full of gigantically stated units and forcing bad trades for our opponent sounds great. Murdering the equipment they might have is just the icing on this delicious cake.

Use cases abound here, but there’s one that jumps right to the top of the list and demands to be at least tested. This will potentially level a Swain mid combat while making sure he crashes through to hit the enemy nexus. That, my friends, is what we call the biggest of oofs.

Rune Squire

This is exactly the kind of support that riven needed. A small body that helps reforge her powerful win condition while also impacting the board in a meaningful way. I love everything about this card and can’t wait to test with it.

Icathian Myths/Golden Spatula

Another split card that can either come down as a two mana 3/2, or show up as a four mana giant equipment. This reads as a potentially quite powerful inclusion for decks based around either Fiora or Akshan.

Taking your powerful attacking champion and suiting it up to unreasonable sizes while at the same time adding consistency to what generally wants to be a relatively unit light deck is a great thing for one card to do.

The Darkin Aegis/Joraal

I’m having a tough time evaluating this one, no pun intended. This is a huge mana investment in the early game to make an important unit relatively difficult, but not impossible, to kill. Later tough just won’t look all that impressive most of the time. That’s only one side of the coin though.

The other side is a brutal unit that basically forces your opponent to pre commit any combat spells they wanted to cast when you attacked them. That effect is absolutely huge into almost any kind of deck.

Control decks will have fits not knowing how you’re going to attack. Possibly even worse though enemy midrange decks will simply not be able to effectively fight with you over pump wars during combat. I think the limitation on this card is powerful enough to at least deserve some looking in to.

Bonus Deck: Swain Skirmish

Deck code: CECQGAQDAEDQSAQFBIY2MAIDAYFA6EIVAEAQGLQBAYBRWAQDAUFJQAOGAHKQCAQGAMHBMAA

[See Swain Skirmish deck details]

You’ll likely recognize the base deck here as something that did quite well during our last ladder season. The Noxian tools we’ve been given feel like they slant in here exceedingly well, displacing some of the cards I was always a little bit unhappy to be forced to put in my deck anyway.

Legionary Charge fixes any consistency issues you had by effectively allowing you to run five Leviathan. It also works great to turn a random portal unit or tiny value creator into a real threat whenever you already have your engines running, or simply want to push that extra bit of damage.

Brutal Skirmish will take care of any pesky equipment while putting in some serious work in leveling our boy, Swain. This is another area of weakness this deck always had and the new card should allow us to play on a significantly more aggressive bent more effectively.

All in all, I would not be surprised if there is some form of quite powerful midrange deck to play with here as the new season comes upon us. I’m definitely going to be looking to test the new Noxian single combat and tutor package in a few different archetypes as soon as they are available.

Stay tuned for more reveal articles! To build your own deck, head to our Deck Builder.

The post Domination Impressions: Day 6 Demacia and Noxus Variety Pack appeared first on Mobalytics.

Hey all, it’s Trevor “Shugo” Yung here.

Today we’ve got a handful of support cards for Shadow Isles and Shurima!

To see the rest of the Domination reveals, head to our Spoiler page where they’ll be revealed each day until its official release.

If you’d like to see our expert breakdowns for the cards, check out the rest of our reveal articles.

Camouflaged Horror

Seven mana is a lot these days, but Camouflaged Horror presents a payoff that’s well worth the investment. It comes down and strikes an enemy for seven, while also leaving a 7/5 Fearsome body on board. It’s almost like a bigger Riptide Sermon, unless things don’t go as planned..

The big downside is that it’s counterable. While it may not be easy to deal five damage at fast speed, having this card eat a Vengeance isn’t going to feel great.. And what’s even worse is getting bounced by a Homecoming!

Evolve also comes with a deck building cost, and playing this as a 5/3 is awful. There’s potential we see this as a one or two-of in a Midrange Evolve list, but it’s really going to depend on how the meta shapes up. If Ionia remains king, Camouflaged Horror will remain unseen.

Curse of the Tomb

This is a pretty strange spell for Shurima. In a way it feels similar to Disintegrate, except it’s stuck in a region with a huge lack of damage spells. Shurima succeeds best in combat by taking advantage of vulnerable enemies. Sure you can double up the damage and trade up, but at best you two for one yourself.. And at worst, you get completely blown out!

Disintegrate’s advantage is that it can be combined with cheap spells to deal with just about anything. That’s not often the case for Curse of the Tomb.

At the very least it does add another Predict spell into the pool, but I really can’t see this making sense in any deck.

The Altar of Blood

This looks like a fun build-around card that aims to cheat out a big Darkin a few turns earlier. Shurima does play well with the Slay archetype, and combined with Shadow Isles it’s possible to build up triggers quite quickly.

However, taking off turn two in order to set this up is a real cost, especially when we need to develop units early to start the slaying spree. I don’t expect we’ll see much of this, but it’ll definitely be a fun concept to experiment with!

Swinging Glaive

I haven’t been the biggest fan of equipment, and they’ve kinda played out to my expectations since their release. Of course cards like Bloodletters and Lodestone are great, alongside the Improvise staple; Hookmaster. Cost matters a lot, and that’s why most others haven’t seen success.

Swinging Glaive is no different. While generating Lucky Finds on strike is nice, three mana is just too much of an investment, especially considering the payoff isn’t guaranteed. If this were to trigger upon attack I would maybe consider it, but as it stands, it feels a bit weak.

Opulent Foyer

If you ever wanted a more consistent way to build up Hallowed triggers, now you’ve got it! Opulent Foyer actually looks pretty reasonable. While three mana landmarks are often pretty bad, we can sort of compare this to God-Willow Seedling in terms of tempo. It may not represent the same level of defensive threat, but summoning any Ephemeral unit is often enough to help halt an attack.

This also fits perfectly with Katarina as we’re able to gain attack tokens on the opponent’s offensive turn. This forces them to open attack, or else it opens a window for us to play Katarina and summon a Ghastly Band on the same action.

Gwen Katarina has been a solid deck for a while and it always lacked a proactive 3-drop outside of Katarina. Opulent Foyer may just be the perfect fit.

Wraith of Echoes

We’re definitely in meme territory with this one. It’s pretty hard to justify playing a six mana 2/5 that doesn’t actually do anything the turn you play it. Even if you’re able to trigger its Round End effect, the benefit only applies if you have additional copies of the card readily available.

That said, it’s got some hilarious applications with Minion. Perhaps this will birth the true Minion OTK deck!? 😉

Moonlit Glenkeeper

Moonlit Glenkeeper feels like Nightfall’s version of Blighted Caretaker, except instead of two Saplings, we get one 3/1 Sapling. While a 2/3 Fearsome for three is pretty awful, the 3/1 Sapling can force a very favorable exchange.

It’s a great card against other unit based decks such as Demacia, but will fare poorly into control decks or those with access to cheap pings. It’s an ‘A’ in some situations and an ‘F’ in others, so because of this, it may only make the cut in small numbers (or not at all).

However, be prepared as its another notable card added to the Unspeakable Horror pool.

Bonus Deck: Minion OTK

Deck code: CEDAGAIFFAXTCAQFAQDBQAIDAQGQCBIKO4AQCBBUAEDAKIQDAIBQIAYLAEDAIFQBAECQCBABAMCQCAIBAQAQCAQEBABACBIPDE

[See Minion OTK deck details]

Alas, we finally have Minion OTK!

Utilize copy spells like Fading Memories and Iterative Improvement to create multiple Minions to flood the board. Then once Wraith of Echoes is online, our Minions will continue to grow bigger and bigger until the opponent’s inevitable DOOM! 😀

At least, that’s the hope haha. Regardless, this deck looks like a blast to play! It’s definitely on my list of early patch experiments! 🙂

Shugo’s Productivity Thought of the Day

Where do we draw the line between what we think we want for ourselves, versus what we actually want?

Stay tuned for more reveal articles! To build your own deck, head to our Deck Builder.

The post Domination Impressions: Day 5 Shurima and Shadow Isles Variety Pack appeared first on Mobalytics.

Hey everyone, Kuvi here, for the fourth day of the new expansion Domination.

After getting more Flow support yesterday, today’s batch includes Seraphine and related PnZ support! Now let’s get started!

To see the rest of the Domination reveals, head to our Spoiler page where they’ll be revealed each day until its official release.

If you’d like to see our expert breakdowns for the cards, check out the rest of our reveal articles.

Seraphine

Tying together the Flow package, Seraphine is a 2 mana 1|4 that creates a random new 2 cost spell in hand on summon. A new spell is a spell you have not played this game. She levels up when you’ve played 6 or more new spells in a game. When leveled, Seraphine also copies new spells you play that cost 2 or less, making her a baby Karma, of sorts.

Seraphine’s spell creation is not region restricted, which means you can create a 2 cost spell from any region in the game. This will undoubtedly lead to some pretty crazy moments with some more of that PnZ randomness. With her general spell creation and duplication, Seraphine seems like a very flexible Champion that could fit in a variety of regions and decks.

High Note

High Note, Seraphine’s Champion spell, is a 2 mana fast speed spell that deals 2 damage to a unit and 1 damage to another if you’ve played 6 or more new spells that game. This spell is similar to Mystic Shot, with a bit less general flexibility not being able to target the Nexus, but a bonus after you’ve leveled Seraphine.

High Note works especially well with Seraphine’s level 2 if you haven’t played a High Note already that game, making it a great Champion spell for her to have.

Acorn, the Hextechnician

Acorn, the Hextechnician is a 1 mana 1|1 Elusive from PnZ that reduces the cost of your most expensive spell in hand by 1 on Nexus Strike.

Like other 1 mana 1|1 Elusives with value effects, you’ll find it hard to trade down with this card, as it can generate a significant amount of value if left unchecked.

It’s a good way to start discounting spells early for Seraphine and to enable Flow later on.

This card can also be used to play expensive spells sooner than you’d otherwise be able to, which I could see working well with cards like Feel the Rust or Glorious Evolution.

Inspired Plans

Inspired Plans is a 2 mana +1|+1 Equipment from PnZ that generates a new Fleeting 2 cost spell in hand on Attack. This card has a lot of variance because it’s an Attack effect, making the difference between creating a slow or focus spell you can’t use until after combat or a fast or burst spell you can use during combat can be pretty large. This card can still generate repeated value and create some crazy moments, so I’m looking forward to seeing what people do with it.

Fanclub President

Fanclub President is a 4 mana 2|2 from PnZ that manifests a 5 mana spell on play and sets its cost to 2. Effectively discounting a spell you manifest by 3 is incredibly powerful. Potentially having access to cards like 2 mana Harsh Winds, Entomb, or Concerted Strike, this card will consistently create unexpected blowouts and turn the tides of games.

It’s an amazing card that pushes the PnZ Flow package up with it, and I expect this card to easily become a PnZ region staple.

The Zaun Diva

The Zaun Diva is a 8 mana 7|5 from PnZ that deals 1 to all enemies, or 3 to all enemies if you’ve played 6 or more new spells that game. You will primarily be seeing this card in spell decks so expect its relatively easy condition to be met by the turn this comes down. This card offers some board clear and finishing potential for the Flow and new spell archetypes.

The Zaun Diva works well with Back Alley Barkeep particularly well, as it also allows you to play her a turn early and curve rather nicely.

Crowd Pleaser

Crowd Pleaser is a 2 mana burst speed spell from PnZ that gives an ally +2|+0 and Quick Attack for the turn. If you have Flow active it also creates a new random 2 cost spell in hand. This card is a decent combat trick that also gives some value back in Flow decks and pushes their game plan forward, offering 2 different 2 cost spells in one card.

Drum Solo

Drum Solo is a 5 mana burst speed spell from PnZ that draw 2 cards. If you have Flow, it reduces the cost of both cards by 2. With Flow this card discounts 4 total mana from the cards drawn, making its net cost only 1 mana. This might just be the new best draw spell in the game.

On top of the incredible value this card offers, it also allows you to play cards up to 2 turns sooner than you’d otherwise be able to, enabling lots of interesting combos that I’m excited to see.

I hope you guys liked this card reveals analysis article, my DMS are always open if anyone wants to discuss what’s written in this article or anything LoR related!

Bonus Deck: Seraphine Karma

Deck code: CECACAIEGQBAIBACA4BAMAQOEQCAMBAOCULCQAYBAECBWAIGAIQAGAICBQUTCAYBAIBAKAIDAQBQCBQEFM

[See Seraphine Karma deck details]

Using PnZ and Ionia control tools and activating Flow, this deck is meant to stall and outvalue out opponent until it’s our turn, when we pop off, doubling or even tripling our discounted spells and destroying our enemy with Hexite Crystals and more.

This deck should be really good against control archetypes like Karma Master Yi since we outvalue and outtempo in the late game while denying their gameplan.

It’s also fairly strong against midrange decks like Fiora Pantheon because of the efficient disruption like recalls, mystic, etc…

On top of being able to slow midrange down enough to be able to make it into the later stages of the game. Unfortunately, aggro will most likely be a pretty big weakness for this deck.

Stay tuned for more reveal articles! To build your own deck, head to our Deck Builder.

The post Domination Impressions: Seraphine appeared first on Mobalytics.

Hey everyone NicMakesPlays here. Today we got a batch of Ionia and PNZ cards from the new set.

I’m going to go over the cards today and my predicted viability of them.

To see the rest of the Domination reveals, head to our Spoiler page where they’ll be revealed each day until its official release.

If you’d like to see our expert breakdowns for the cards, check out the rest of our reveal articles.

The Witness

This card is amazing at being disruption and a 3/3 blocker for cheap. On offensive turns you can use spells to push and activate Flow. Then on your opponent’s turn you can play it to ruin their attack token/plays. This card is essentially an Ionian Arachnoid Sentry with an extra health.

Dragoncaller

Dragoncaller is a bit expensive although it does have a powerful effect. If you can continuously activate Flow each turn you get an Ephemeral 6/5 Elusive attacker on offensive, and one to block with on defense. The issue is in later turns Ionia usually has stronger strategies such as winning the game with a leveled Lee Sin or Karma. Ionia is also mostly good against removal and Dragoncaller gives them a good target for removal that isn’t proactive or winning them the game.

The Spirit of Wuju

The Spirit of Wuju is a solid card to continue refueling your hand with spells while maintaining board presence. The ability to have a blocker for defense, and add a spell to your hand is very valuable for midrange Ionia decks such as ones that involve Viktor.

Viktor gives you cheap 0 mana spells and is a bit more unit based than other Ionia decks. This makes Spirit of the Wuju perfect for decks such as Viktor Karma or Viktor Lee.

Unworthy Soul

Unworthy Soul gives Ionia yet another Recall spell for opposing Units or Landmarks. In the past cards such as Will of Ionia were in the best decks in the game, and currently Homecoming has been in the best decks in the game for multiple seasons such as Ahri Kennen and Nami Lee Sin.

Unworthy Soul is just a new take on these cards and is likely to be great if history repeats itself. Flow makes Unworthy Soul cost 2 less and it also destroys attachments before it does so. This card has both the bonus of potentially being cheaper than Will of Ionia/Homecoming and destroying attachments such as Equipment for certain metas.

The Darkin Harp

The Darkin Harp can either give a unit +2/0 and Quick Attack or turn itself into Stryaatu. +2/0 and Quick Attack is great in PNZ for units such as Flame Chompers to rack up quick kills in the early game. Straatu is a strong 8/6 Quick Attack unit that can help you refuel and discount your hand in the late game.

The fact that Darkin Harp can be versatile as utility in the early game or late game makes it great because it’s consistently reliable. This card will shine particularly in decks that involve Flame Chompers such as Jinx Lulu.

Zaun Bouncer

Zaun Bouncer is perfect for Viktor decks to continuously refuel spell mana. Viktor’s Hexcore Upgrades cost 0 so you are able to reliably activate Flow.

While Viktor becomes a threat over time, you can use Zaun Bouncer to give you extra spell mana and interrupt the enemy strategy.

Bonus Deck: Harp Jinx Lulu

Deck code: CECQCAYECIBAGAQCCECQCBAMBUTSQLIBAQCBAAICAQBQIAQBAQARYAIGAQEACAICBQAQGAQKAA

[See Harp Jinx Lulu deck details]

Jinx Lulu is perfect at using the new Equipment, The Darkin Harp. Jinx Lulu is a deck centered around buffing Flame Chompers to get easy kills in the early game and create board control. You can buff Flame Chompers with The Darkin Harp to give it Quick Attack so it can continuously rack-up kills throughout the game.

Boom Baboon gives you extra copies of Flame Chompers as well. After you dump your hand you can use Jinx or summon Styraatu from the Darkin Harp to refuel!

Stay tuned for more reveal articles! To build your own deck, head to our Deck Builder.

The post Domination Impressions: Day 3 Ionia + PNZ Variety Pack appeared first on Mobalytics.

The next Darkin has been released and it decided that being merely fearsome simply wasn’t terrifying enough.

I’m Jordan “WhatAmI” Abronson and I’ve got some crazy new spoilers for you here on what looks to be a solid day of Darkin variety support cards.

To see the rest of the Domination reveals, head to our Spoiler page where they’ll be revealed each day until its official release.

If you’d like to see our expert breakdowns for the cards, check out the rest of our reveal articles.

The Darkin Harpoon/Ibaaros

The first half of this card is interesting as it almost seems to be working at cross purposes to itself.

Fearsome is a very aggressive keyword whereas spending two mana to maybe draw a card next turn seems rather slow. That said I could see this in some kind of tempo Go Hard deck or potentially even true aggro if you could find enough one drops to spam out to make this worthwhile.

On the flip side though Ibaaros is an absolute monster. You all know that I am an Atrocity gamer and this just screams to be thrown at my opponent’s face. I’m not sure what an Atrocity/Ibaaros deck would look like, but you can bet that I’m going to try to find out.

Test of Spirit

This feels like Ye’ Been Warned and Shakedown had an ugly baby. I’m not going to lie this feels extremely awkward to but into a deck. Maaaaybe a more aggressive leaning Miss Fortune plan could justify it but I’m not really sure you would want this even then. More toys for Burble Fish though.

Skrappy’s Partzapalooza

As we’ve seen from husks in the past, a single random keyword might be one of the highest variance bonuses you can give to a unit. This strikes me as too unreliable to make Mecha-Yordles playable, but being discardable is definitely a point in its favor. Even at zero mana though I’m not sure this makes my decks.

Fracture

This one though I absolutely love. Freljord now has its own personal powerful and flexible way to answer problem equipment. A touch of burn, a smidge of plunder proc, casual board wipes for the more controlling among us, this card has it all and I’m looking forward to playing with it.

Warden of the Tribes

I’m not going to lie, this looks an awful lot like an un-deny-able Mind Meld attached to an overwhelm body if you decide you want to build a deck around it. Nine mana is an awful lot, but non-ruination decks are going to have a heck of a time being alive when this hits the board. Portal Warden anybody?

Twilit Protector

Another piece of solid support for the good old Celesbians deck. My heart wants to say that this will be enough to bring Leona/Diana into the playable range, but my head says solid two drop was not really what that deck was missing. Definitely a good excuse to try one of the top thematic decks in Runeterra out again though.

Bonus Deck: Norra of the Tribes

Deck code: CEBQGBQKB4IRKAIGBECACAIBD4CQCAIBBABAKCRRUYAQCBQKDQAQMAAGAUDACCYREITSQBIBAQAQUAIDAEBACBIKTAAQCAIBDMAQEAIC

Nora decks have never had a problem establishing board control and tempo. They enjoy drawing cards and spamming down a host of units to swarm all over their opponent. What they do occasionally have though, is trouble actually ending the game in their favor.

Somehow, I think that pumping your entire board to epic proportions is a solid way to address that particular issue. We’ve got six tribes already represented here (seven if you count Mr. Elnuk), and that’s likely to be enough to crush a board right there when Warden comes down on nine.

Never forget though that our game-ender reads “summoned,” not “played.” So, any hits we get off of all the portals we’ll be making can help out quite nicely. A full board pumped up to Mind Meld levels of silliness should crash right through our poor opponent’s defenses.

Aside from that we’ve also got Ornn at the top to make some crazy weapons, backed up by new friend Icevale Cultist to make sure he is a lethal threat whether he comes down leveled up or not.

Last but not least we’ve got some truly cheeky open attack we can create courtesy of any portals we hit combined with Wildclaw’s Ferocity. Dropping this on a random unlucky portal hit is fine, dropping it on a Combat Cook is just absolutely brutal.

Stay tuned for more reveal articles! To build your own deck, head to our Deck Builder.

The post Domination Impressions: Day 2 Variety Pack appeared first on Mobalytics.

We’re gearing up for the seasonal tournament with our first round of Darkin powerhouses. Sounds like the perfect time to roll out the next.

I’m Jordan “WhatAmI” Abronson and we’re going from zero all the way to one hundred on our first spoiler day with some absolutely insane new cards.

Let’s check them out.

To see the rest of the Domination reveals, head to our Spoiler page where they’ll be revealed each day until its official release.

If you’d like to see our expert breakdowns for the cards, check out the rest of our reveal articles.

Varus/The Darkin Bow/Chain of Corruption

I’ll admit that I am a little less high on this Origin after seeing the way that Kayn turned out.

Though a deck where you get to auto-draw both your champions on turn four does sound kind of cool. The problem is that deck would have truly horrific building restrictions, possibly to the point of unplayability.

If we look Varus on his own though perhaps with the help of someone like Akshan or Pantheon, then perhaps he has more potential. Charging up a fourteen-point overwhelm attack is a pretty solid way to end basically any game after all. And don’t get me started on what happens if you give this lad double strike.

Last but not least the Darkin champion spells are a big deal because you’ll see them significantly more often than any other champion spell.

Chain of Corruption is highly mana intensive, but can allow you to dictate an entire combat at burst speed.

This will lead to some nasty blowouts that I am definitely going to brew.

Blooming Cultist

Effectively a two mana 3/2 elusive that can’t be played until turn three or four is an interesting stat line to be sure. I suspect this will see play in cultist-based decks simply as a solid activator and a way to push lethal attacks with equipment later in the game.

I don’t know if the effect it has on its own will let it make leaps outside of that archetype, but I could potentially see a bandle elusive aggro deck wanting something like this.

It’s not quite decimate-fishy, but it’s doing its best impression. Fervor-Fern perhaps?

The Sudden Surge

This one on the other hand is absolutely nutso-busted and will be a meta-defining card in whatever deck can play it.

At four mana this can still be a brutal combat trick. When you set it down to two it will simply become impossible to play around and smash opponent’s board and life totals at will.

Buhru Cultist

Another card that will be an absolute staple in cultist decks. Early defense or pressure as needed combined with later in the game burn out potential is a top tier one drop.

The question then becomes if it is powerful enough to see play in other aggressive archetypes.

My gut says no, because most super low to the ground decks don’t really want to take the time off necessary to equip up their units.

But that said Ionian Hookmaster is a premium two drop, and a floor of a one mana 2/2 is quite solid. I would not be surprised to see these taking up the coveted one mana slot.

The Unending Wave

What? Just… what???? I know as a writer I’m contractually obligated not to be speechless but come on folks. This is a card that is clearly and brutally busted with both Twisted Fate and Nami. You know, two of the already most top tier champions we have in this game that dominate formats at the drop of a hat?

I mean, I love the Mordekaiser Artwork and I’m looking forward to seeing my boy crush some heads, but I’m getting Twisted Fate/Fizz flashbacks here. Hopefully I’m wrong and the fleeting clause will be enough to keep this monster in check, but I’m not betting on it.

Lunari Cultist

A two mana 1/3 that effectively makes two gems on summon is potentially a pretty premium package. As a long time Mountain Goat Afficionado this will compete heavily for that slot. I don’t know which we’ll end up running or if it will be a split, but this is definitely going to give the goat a run for its money.

The Expanse’s Protection

Um, I guess this is “You don’t get to play around tricks anymore,” the expansion? I’m not going to lie between this and The Sudden Surge my control player instincts are yelling at me to run and hide. If my opponent is holding up two mana both Mystic Shot and Vengeance are off the table? Send help.

Icevale Cultist

This says it’s a cultist, but it reads like the Ornn support that we’ve all been waiting for. I’m not sure if this will be enough to take the big seven drop into the competitive realm, but guaranteeing that he has overwhelm before needing to level is a pretty powerful step. Five mana 5/5 aint the worst thing either.

The Unforgiving Cold

Basically, just four mana Harsh Winds in most scenarios? There’ll obviously be some spots where you wish you could freeze a smaller unit *cough* Teemo *cough* but as a general rule this is another pretty power combat trick for the cultist archetypes.

Remember how I said playing Varus and Kayne together was going to be too restrictive? Well, the more I read through this spoiler the more I think that might have been just a touch on the “judging a book by its cover” side of things. This is quickly moving towards “we’re at least going to have to test this.”

Ambitious Cultist

As anyone who has played with Shen knows, a four mana 3/5 is a pretty solid way to shut down an early to mid-game board.

This will add a small but potentially powerful spell on top of that. Honestly feels like a high-power midrange value unit in any deck that wants that kind of thing, cultist or no.

The Violent Dischord

Powered down Mystic Shot here is clearly signaling that we are going to get some more love for Fun Smith style archetypes in the future. This isn’t much to look at on its own, but with a single boost it’ll shoot for four at fast speed. Pretty nasty.

Bonus Deck: Varus Strikes Twice

Deck code: CUEACBICA4AQMCRGAEDASIABAYBROAIGBQEQCBQHAUAQMBIGAIDAECBCAYAQCARRAEBQEGIBAYFBYAIGAISACBQJFAAQMBAHAEAQMBQ2

[See Varus Strikes Twice deck details]

You know what’s better than attacking your opponent for fourteen points of Overwhelm damage? That’s right, attacking for thirty. A fully charged up Varus flurrying his fists will simply lay waste to anything that stands between him and your opponent’s nexus absolutely imploding on itself.

Though to be fair this is under the assumption that the bow will keep its buff through the first half of double attack. We’ll have to see exactly how this interaction works before we confirm the otk as real, but even without it there’s some powerful midrange options here.

We do need quite a few targets to level Varus, but Momentous Choice and Lunari Cultist should be able to help us out with that. Backup dance Master Yi is here as our secondary win condition and to make our already inexpensive interaction that much more ridiculous.

And just in case drawing our main win condition for free wasn’t enough card advantage Sai’Nen has our back on the top end. This looks dreadfully unrefined from where I’m sitting right now, but the bones of something gruesomely powerful are here. The “to test” list for the new Darkin saga begins to form. Are you ready?

Stay tuned for more reveal articles! To build your own deck, head to our Deck Builder.

The post Domination Impressions: Varus appeared first on Mobalytics.

The Darkin Saga is making its premier debut and I’ve got to admit that conversely, it’s making me feel quite a bit lighter about this new metagame.

I’m Jordan “WhatAmI” Abronson and I’m here with your launch week deck drop for what to play as the new expansion goes live.

If you’d like to see our expert breakdowns for the cards, check out the rest of our reveal articles.

To explore more new decks head to our community Deck Library. Or, head to the Deck Builder to make your own creation.

1. Ornn Line

Deck code: CEEACBAEBIAQCBBNAIDACCYMAECQIGABAYDB2AIFBKMACAIGAADACAYBAYCQEBABBIGACAIEGQAQGBALAEAQCMQBAMAQGAIBAECBW

[See Ornn Line deck details]

The combination of Trundle and Concurrent Timelines has been hovering around the fringes of tier one for quite a while now. It will occasionally break into the competitive meta for a tournament or a week or two of ladder before fading back into the aether that spawned it.

One of its defining issues though has always been that it rather lacked a second champion. Sure, there were plenty of randomly solid Piltover and Zaun midrange champs you could jam in, but none of them really seemed to fit with the theme of the deck.

Enter Ornn, another extremely solidly built finisher whose backup followers synergize incredibly well with timelines. Improvise is a lovely new mechanic that will go incredibly well in this deck, giving it that extra push to close games it often seemed to need.

We already had the powerful hard hitting midrange shell. We had just a touch of unfairness with either the free eight mana unit that Trundle could give us, or the Buried in Ice plus It That Stares one-sided board sweep. But it never quite felt like it was on the same level as other tier-one decks.

Now we’ve got a seven mana unit that will absolutely demand an answer as it hits the field. And when it is answered will turn any random stat-stick into a new threat. Not to mention the high roll possibility of giving our Trundle Scout. Need I say more?

2. Cult of Zoe

Deck code: CEDQEBQHAUUAEBQCDERAGAYJBERSQAIGAUDAEBQJAQDACBQDEIAQMDAFAIAQMCJBAEDAACQA

[See Cult of Zoe deck details]

It’s been proven time and time again that reliable stat buffs and protection for elusive power house units are a great way to win games. Zoe and Sparklefly will be the standout targets in this deck. They’re ready to carry any of our myriad of boosters to a swift victory.

That said, the reason I think this deck has potential to be so powerful Is how multi-dimensional it is. Kayn will jump straight into your hand in the mid-game to create another must answer threat for your opponent. Once he flips, he’ll be almost impossible to race down.

Then, in case that’s not enough, Heedless Resurrection is here to make sure that even if Kayn can be answered, staying dead is not in his day planner. But even that isn’t my favorite thing about this deck.

No, above all else I am a lover of versatility. The Darkin Lodestone is my call to be the most powerful card from this new expansion. Providing huge threat when on board with a Zoe or a Sparklefly, late in the game it will simply morph into a giant spell shielded beat-stick to end with. What more can you ask of something that costs a mere two spell mana?

3. Darkin Viego

Deck code: CECAGBAHGY5XSAIGA4CQEAIFFAYQEBAFGY3QIAQGAUBQOAQEA4AWOAQEAUBTKAIBAUAQEAIEA5WQCAIFDE

[See Darkin Viego deck details]

This deck was already quite powerful and has a few spicy new tools that are going to turbocharge it even more. Forsaken Baccai will add another layer of consistency and solid early game to a deck that was already on solid footing in both of those areas.

Fireth, Reaper of the Sands should be a solid inclusion no matter what state of the game you are in. She provides an easy Viego trigger, a potentially dangerous threat with her Improvise mechanic, and something small to sacrifice to a random Rite of Calling or Glimpse Beyond if that’s what you need.

Last but definitely not least is The Darkin Halberd. A backup late game win condition attached to a solid way to take control of the board and level our Viego? Sign me up for two.

4. Jax Attacks

Deck code: CUDQCBQGDMAQMAAGAEDASBABAYBROAIGBQEACBQFD4BAMAILBQDACAIBGIAQGAICAECACCQBAYFC6AIGAAMAGBQBAQCRMAA

[See Jax Attacks deck details]

Two new champions that go together quite well are Ornn and Jax. I have an inkling that they might end up getting better homes outside each other’s company, but I would be remiss if I didn’t at least attempt to pair them together along the way.

This deck will generate an obscene amount of value for low mana points while flooding the board with stats and working towards its mid game win conditions. Either of your champions leveling can close a game quite quickly, and even if they’re missing a large forged weapon gets it done.

The thing that makes this deck scary though is that it can do all that while having enough combat trick power to rival old school Fiora/Shen decks. If anyone remembers the absolute nightmare it was to try to face those foes in combat, you’ll understand some of what Jax/Ornn brings to the table.

Sharesies and Troll chant will make any attack scary enough, throwing equipment around everywhere and turning almost any trade favorable. But the real issue is that if there’s even one mana lying around, we’ve still got five ways to mess with our opponent.

Last but not least we have six ways to drop in burst speed units. Imagine if our opponent tries to remove one of our threats. We shrug, play Blades of the Fallen, then Parts Made Whole on our action, and attack. Control players beware I tell you.

5. Monkey Portal

Deck code: CQCQCBIKUYAQCBQKB4BAGBQOCQBAMBQ6FEDAEBQ2EEVS2NZ2AIAQEBQUAECAMEAA

[See Monkey Portal deck details]

So, I asked myself the question, “Self, how do I level Norra Quickly?” And I answered, well, spam Powder Monkeys of course. The best part here is that the champion this deck already definitely wanted loves to draw cards, and that’s the other thing a Norra deck is really going to need.

If Norra is helpfully setting up portals for us (And getting those pings in to trigger plunder at the same time of course) then we’ll need a way to reliably get them into play. Pick a Card and Eye of Nagakabouros are the perfect pair to assist in that plan.

The other bonus is that this deck’s big weakness has always been the part of the game where it rather runs out of steam and hasn’t found quite enough pandemonium to close things out. Having quite a reasonable chance to level either of our champions and let them carry us over the finish line gives a solid backup plan this archetype needed.

6. Prepare the Rush

Deck code: CECAGAIBAMGDIAIGAIAQCBABBYBAGAIGCYBQEAYBBIJQGAIBCQTTEAQBAIBDCBIBAQAQUAIBAI4QCAQCAUAQCAJKAEBACAQ

[See Prepare the Rush deck details]

I’m not all that sold on Master Yi himself, but the support package that came with him has some gems for sure. Chief among them I think is Disciple of Doran. I absolutely love this card design and will be looking for whatever way I can to make it powerful, starting with this deck.

Disciple of Doran heavily rewards thinking out the game as many turns in advance as possible. The preparation effectively lets you bank an additional spell mana for future use, while also dropping down a sturdy early game body to protect against the aggression you’re sure to need to deal with.

Ionia FTR has always had a bit of a shaky early game, and I think this is just the addition to stabilize it. I don’t want to sound the alarm just yet but I would not be surprised if this deck turns out to be one of the premier control decks of the new format that is shaping up.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask WhatAmI during his streams (Tuesday-Thursday around 3PM PST and weekends for tournaments).

WhatAmI streams at twitch.tv/xxwhatamixx Tuesday-Thursday

The post 6 LoR Awakening Decks You Should Try appeared first on Mobalytics.

Hey all, it’s Trevor “Shugo” Yung here. It’s our final day of reveals before the patch.

We’ve seen all the champions, but here’s the last handful of cards to wrap things up.

To see the rest of the Awakening reveals, head to our Spoiler page where they’ll be revealed each day until its official release.

If you’d like to see our expert breakdowns for the cards, check out the rest of our reveal articles.

Heavy Metal

We’re finally starting to see more regions get a reliable early game removal spell. Last time it was Bandle City with Drop the Bomb, and this time it’s Bilgewater with Heavy Metal.

Slow speed deal twos may not seem that impressive, but they are a solid option to help round out the card pool. With units becoming increasingly stronger and with multiple “must answer” threats, we need more efficient ways to combat them. The cost efficiency is worth the speed.

Heavy Metal is a very nice addition to Bilgewater; a region with Keg and spell synergies, but few playable spells. This may open up more deck building potential with other regions that lack spot removal such as Targon or Ionia (now that Bilgewater can fill this role).

Of course, let’s not forget about the equipment destruction. If equipment ends up being a metagame staple, Heavy Metal will be an excellent way to counter it.

Utter Devastation

It’s a big bad one-sided Ruination in the right deck.. Somewhat similar to The Skies Descend, except without the potential cost reduction. Thankfully it specifies allied units, so it won’t be a dead card against the mirror.

All that said, it’s still 11 mana. I expect the only time we’ll be seeing this card is when it’s manifested by Ferros Financier. Though I must say, having Ruination 2.0 added to the Ferros pool could be a solid option against certain matchups.

The Darkin Bloodletters

Here’s the last of the “follower equipment” cards, and it’s a cool one at that. Not only does this card double as a follower, but it creates even more followers!

Equip this to a unit, and when it dies, it’ll create another host for equipment. Attaching this to a Darkinthrall turns it into a one mana 4/3. That’s a very cheap threat despite its inability to block.

Having the option to play this as a 7/7 Overwhelm for six is pretty solid. It does come with the additional cost of killing a unit, but has the benefit of recreating the weapon if the unit dies.

The only real drawback here is the weapon itself is basically just a Tiny Spear if the unit doesn’t die. If you’re unable to trade efficiently early on, you won’t be able to take advantage of the Darkinthrall.

When equipped to a non-threatening unit, the opponent may simply ignore it and take the damage, thus denying us the value. So when possible, equip it to a unit that matters!

Bonus Patch Notes

Looks like we’ve got a few small changes coming up alongside the expansion!

Void Abomination

It’s good to see a preemptive nerf to Kai’Sa decks as we go into the new patch. Void Abomination is a game winning threat that can make games feel almost invalidated by the time it comes down.

Increasing its cost to nine mana slows down the inevitability which allows more time for interaction and counterplay. Great change.

Deep Meditation

Changed from playing 2+ spells to Flow (includes skills).

Deep Meditation has been changed to coincide with the new Flow mechanic. This is a really cool buff that opens up potential for Deep Meditation to be run in skill-focused decks.

While it’s seen some play in the past, it was often limited by the reactive nature of Ionia. It’s not always easy to double-spell efficiently, so Deep Meditation would end up feeling clunky.

I’m looking forward to experimenting with this card in a more proactive deck.

Did someone say Jhin?

Eye of the Dragon

Eye of the Dragon gets the same treatment which could really help put Eye of the Dragon at the forefront once again. And let’s be honest, the card doesn’t need it.

I’d still argue Eye of the Dragon is one of the best 2-drops in the entire game, despite the fact it’s taken a back seat in recent metas.

I think it’ll be less impactful than Deep Meditation, as Eye of the Dragon is a more defensive card. But still a nice quality of life buff either way!

Shugo’s Productivity Thought of the Day

Material items compete for our time. This is especially true with any form of entertainment such as movies or video games.

Before making a purchase, ask yourself…“Am I going to use this today? Tomorrow? This week?”

If the answer is no, then chances are it’s not worth buying; at least not right now. This doesn’t have to mean forever. But it helps show us we have other priorities at this time.

If you’d like to see our expert breakdowns for the cards, check out the rest of our reveal articles.

The post Awakening Impressions: Last Day and Balance Changes appeared first on Mobalytics.

Hey everyone NicMakesPlays here.

Today I’m going to go over Ornn, the newest Freljord champion, and his reveal cards!

To see the rest of the Awakening reveals, head to our Spoiler page where they’ll be revealed each day until its official release.

If you’d like to see our expert breakdowns for the cards, check out the rest of our reveal articles.

Ornn

Ornn is the final Champion revealed for this expansion and a great one to wrap it up with. Ornn is a powerhouse top end that rewards the player for stacking equipments on a unit.

You can beef up a unit with Equipments, have Ornn copy that unit’s Equipments, and then attack and have him Forge twice for an easy level up.

When Ornn is leveled up he packs even more damage by summoning a Spirit of the Ram with powerful stats. Ornn is the payoff Equipment decks needed to close out a game. Ornn has great synergy with Jax.

They both revolve around the new Equipment mechanic. Jax and his package can help in the early game and then Ornn can be the win con in the late game. Alternatively, Concurrent Timelines decks with Improvise can work well with Ornn too.

Bellows Breath

Bellows Breath is both simultaneously a buff and AoE removal, while also being Ornn’s Champ Spell. Bellows Breath is certainly a meta-dependent card. If Aggro or tons of Swarm decks are in the meta with 1-2 health units then this card is great.

It’s similar to Avalanche but costs 1 more mana and Forge’s which can potentially buff your Equipment.

If the meta is more control or midrange oriented with higher health units than Bellows Breath can be low impact for 5 cost. I wouldn’t main it quite yet until the meta settles, but I’d keep it on your radar for answers to Aggro.

Ornn’s Forge

Ornn’s Forge is a great way to stack up Forge triggers to buff your Equipments. Equipments have the unique ability to go back to hand when the unit Equipped dies. If you can start enough Forge’s fast then your Equipments will be buffed the entire game and your opponent won’t be able to keep up with the stats they bring.

With that being said, this card can be a bit slow and may not be able to keep up with your opponents faster pacing. This could be a solid 1-2 of to give value each turn over time.

Wrought Colossus

Wrought Colossus can be used as yet another game closer that gives you value out of your Equipments. Unfortunately, Wrought Colossus is a bit slow. Creating copies of itself and spending 8 more mana to play them takes time and a lot of mana.

Ornn can fit the role as a game closer but does it a turn earlier and in a much quicker fashion. The one perk of Wrought Colossus is he gives an amazing grind game by generating tons of late-game bombs each turn. Overall, I wouldn’t main him unless the meta proves to be slow and grindy.

Stay tuned for more reveal articles! To build your own deck, head to our Deck Builder.

The post Awakening Impressions: Ornn appeared first on Mobalytics.