Ten cards from Legends of Runeterra’s upcoming set, Beyond the Bandlewood, have been revealed today.
These cards build upon the Poisonous Puffcap archetype and a new mechanic where cards will gain a bonus if you added two or more cards to your hand in a single round. In addition, the first entirely new dual-region card has been shown off.
The latest LoR card reveals include Aloof Travelers, Ava Achiever, Lecturing Yordle, Puffcap Pup, Swole Scout, Yordle Newbiew, Entrapment, Poison Dart, Sump Fumes, and Stinky Whump.
Aloof Travelers is a rare four-mana yordle unit from Bandle City and Piltover and Zaun with 3/4 combat stats. The travelers have an effect when summoned that has both players draw one card. Then, your opponent discards their highest-cost card.
Ava Achiever is an epic six-mana yordle unit from Bandle City with 4/4 combat stats and an ability that activates when summoned and at the end of each round where three Poison Puffcaps are planted on three random cards in the enemy deck. In addition, Ava has a static aura ability where traps on enemy cards are doubled when activated.
Lecturing Yordle is a rare four-mana yordle unit from Bandle City with 3/5 combat stats and an effect that activates when he’s summoned or attacking where he creates a Fleeting Poison Dart in your hand.
Aside from being created by Lecturing Yordle, Poison Dart is a collectible one-mana common slow spell that deals one damage to anything and plants three Poison Puffcaps on random cards in the enemy deck.
Puffcap Pup is a common two-mana unit from Bandle City with 2/2 combat stats and the Quick Attack keyword. In addition, they have a Strike ability that plants three Poison Puffcaps on random cards in the enemy deck.
Swole Scout is a rare four-mana yordle unit from Bandle City with 3/2 combat stats and an effect that activates when he’s summoned if you added two cards to your hand this round. If this condition was satisfied, he’s granted +1/+0 and the Elusive keyword.
Yordle Newbie is a common three-mana yordle unit from Bandle City with 3/2 combat stats and an effect that activates when he’s summoned if you added two cards to your hand this round. If two cards were successfully added to hand, then the newbie is granted +1/+2 bonus stats.
Entrapment is a rare two-mana burst spell from Bandle City that has you select between one of three units or spells from the enemy deck to plant three copies of Poison Puffcaps on all copies of it.
Sump Fumes is a common three-mana fast spell from Piltover and Zaun that deals two damage to a unit. If you added two cards to your hand this round, the damage is improved to three instead.
Stinky Whump is a rare one-mana unit from Piltover and Zaun with 2/1 combat stats and a Last Breath ability that creates a copy of itself in the enemy deck with two Poison Puffcaps attached.
Meta implications
While their stat line is below average for tempo, Aloof Travelers is a four-mana 3/4 unit that effectively draws you a card with the chance to disrupt a key strategy from your opponent. Since they can be found in either Bandle City or Piltover and Zaun, they can also be useful to Poison Puffcap strategies because forcing your opponent to draw can yield more damage to the enemy Nexus.
Ava Achiever, Lecturing Yordle, and Puffcap Pup are all continuations of card effects that can provide Poison Puffcaps, which adds consistency to decks seeking to put traps into the opposing decks. Compared to Piltover and Zaun, Bandle City is looking to add more unit-styled cards for this strategy as opposed to the original iteration that primarily focused on spells.
Puffcap Pup is a body with a fair stat line due to its Quick Attack keyword, which gives it more offensive prowess. Even if it’s trading itself away against an enemy defensively, the Pup will still plant three Poison Puffcaps.
Ava Achiever can serve as a curve topper for Poison Puffcap decks since she provides another source of Puffcaps and can double the damage of your Puffcaps.
Based on her wording, Ava Achiever also potentially implies that there can be more Trap-based cards added to the game. With Caitlyn’s inclusion confirmed, she has the chance to add a new Trap-styled card that isn’t Puffcap-based, which solely burns the opponent.
Lecturing Yordle creates a consistent ping effect for one mana, which allows you to deal one damage to the enemy Nexus or their units, on top of planting three more Poison Puffcaps.
Entrapment has a multi-function use that can either make your opponent’s premium cards come with a healthy cost when drawn or as a way to read your opponent’s hand. Whichever card you select with Entrapment, you can find out how many copies might be in your opponent’s hand. If nine Puffcaps are placed into your opponent’s deck, then you know all copies reside in the opposing deck and you don’t need to play around them for the time being. If three or six Puffcaps are planted, then you know there can potentially be cards in the opponent’s hand if they aren’t running singleton copies of the chosen card.
Stinky Whump is an interesting Puffcap unit from Piltover and Zaun that provides potential disruption similar to Pesky Specter. While it has a chance to “cancel” a draw from the opponent and deal two damage to them, the probability of this is low unless you’ve played multiple copies.
The Poison Dart that Lecturing Yordle provides is also collectible and can be added to your deck. This gives Bandle City access to a one-damage ability that can help against early aggressive cards like Legion Saboteur and Zoe.
Swole Scout, Yordle Newbiew, and Sump Fumes are a part of a new effect that wants you to add two or more cards to your hand in a single round to gain maximum effectiveness. Since you naturally draw a card every round, this means you only need to either create or draw another card to your hand to activate these bonus abilities.
Swole Scout can become a four-mana 4/2 Elusive unit, which is an aggressive stat line with a premium keyword. Yordle Newbie has the potential to grow into a 4/4 unit for three mana, which is above average. Despite these strengths, they’re both 3/2 units for four and three mana if they can’t activate their abilities, which is far below average.
Sump Fumes is another below-average card, dealing two damage to a unit for three mana. But if you manage to fulfill the requirement, amping it up to three damage makes it comparable to other spells that can be used for removal spells.
LoR: Beyond the Bandlewood will be released on Aug. 25 with 126 new cards, nine of which include champions.
