Legends of Runeterra’s Rising Tides expansion has officially been released on both PC and mobile, bringing with it over 120 new cards.
Some of these newer cards are going to affect several popular LoR strategies, while players may not focus on others at first glance. This article features at least one new card from the existing regions, with the rest of the list showing off cards from Bilgewater.
Here are 10 of the newest cards that were added to LoR in Rising Tides that will have an impact on the meta.
10) Vi
While Piltover & Zaun has a new interesting mechanic of cards costing less the turn they’re drawn, the most efficient or consistent newest card from the region is the Piltover Enforcer herself. Her ability to scale whether she’s in your hand or on the field allows her to quickly become a threat that could constantly remove annoying enemy units. Vi having Tough and five health gives her more longevity than other units usually would have.
Leveling up won’t happen too often, unless Vi is in your opening hand where you had a perfect curve in your mulligan. But the added bonus of a leveled Vi with more health and extra effect damage to the enemy Nexus provides a clock that your opponent will have to respect.
9) Mystifying Magician
This is a card that will need to be reevaluated every time a new set comes out. But right now, Mystifying Magician has scary potential, assuming you can hit a low health friendly unit each time with his effect.
I’ve looked through the entire collection, including new cards, for every result of five-cost units you can transform into with this effect. Afterward, I calculated the results, on average, you could hope to attain with his effect:
- 29 percent of the time, you’ll get a great result (absurd stats or effects).
- 17 percent of the time, you’ll get a good result (fair stats).
- 29 percent of the time, you’ll get an OK result (passable stats).
- 25 percent of the time, you’ll get a bad result (weak stats, only meant to be a play from hand effect normally).
While having a 25-percent chance to only get roughly +2/+2 in stats (assuming you target a 1/1 unit) sounds unfortunate at first, getting a wonderful unit 75 percent of the time more than makes up for it.
Remember that “When I’m summoned” effects don’t trigger on the transformation of a unit. So you don’t receive the high-roll benefits of hitting an Avarosan Hearthguard, but you don’t get the downside of summoning the new Hunting Fleet as compensation, either.
8) Imperial Demolitionist
Like most Noxus cards, Imperial Demolitionist is simple but extremely effective. As a cheap two-drop that passes the statline check for its cost, she has the power to inflict a surprising amount of burn that can help facilitate Swain-based decks or add an aggressive shell to Vladimir combos.
Whenever you face off against Noxus, clearing enemy units in one fell swoop will save your Nexus a ton of life from this card by denying it potential targets.
7) Sejuani
Freljord got a ton of fun tools in this set, but the most distinct among them all is Sejuani. The leader of the Winter’s Claw solidifies the unit-vs-unit combat that Freljord excels in by providing an easily-accessible Vulnerable target on top of Frostbite to an enemy of your choice.
Freljord on its own has a bit of trouble dealing damage on turns when its securing board control. But if you can pair Sejuani with an aggressive region, like Bilgewater or Noxus, you can help ease her level up. This, in turn, can help an Ashe in your deck level up due to her AoE freeze.
6) Grizzled Ranger
Whenever a card with Scout is printed, every Scout unit that will come out before, after, and alongside it must be evaluated with extra care. If a curve pops up where you’re playing a unit with Scout each turn and swinging with them all at the same time, the meta would forcibly have to be built to respond to it.
But a more simple check you can do with any Scout unit is asking yourself “How good is this unit if it swings twice on its own?” Grizzled Ranger can answer that question with resounding results. While the 4/1 statline is meager at best defensively, the 4/4 body attached to the Last Breath means your opponent is forced to answer both halves of the Grizzled Ranger in an awkward fashion. If your opponent chooses to face tank four damage to set up a favorable trade in a future turn, Grizzled Ranger gets a chance to deal eight damage instead.
If your opponent chooses to either chump block or use removal on Grizzled Ranger, you always get the chance to swing with the newly-spawned Loyal Badgerbear. Beware of any player going second if they’re using Demacia as a region, though. This card can single-handedly reinvigorate aggressive decks.
5) Nautilus/Maokai
While putting two cards in the same spot may feel cheesy, the main decks these two perform within separately (and together) are so intertwined that it’d feel repetitive to put these two in separate spots on the list. While achieving their leveled forms would take too long in an aggressive meta, even with Toss, Maokai on his own can help edge out control and combo decks by Tossing faster than opponents can draw.
While Maokai serves as a potential win through milling the opponent, Nautilus provides a way to threaten the enemy with raw power upon leveling up. In addition to the 13 power boost that he gains, Nautilus serves as a solid wall that can absorb many hits and stave off attacks due to his 12 health at level one, alongside having Tough. Nautilus also lets the user play out their entire hand that’s filled with Sea Monsters.
4) Deep Meditation
Deep Meditation finds itself as the only non-unit card on this list. While it’s fair that most players look to see what new cards can add to new strategies, it’s equally important to look at which cards can improve upon current tactics in the meta.
This spell could potentially find a slot in one of the most powerful decks on the ladder at the moment, Ezreal/Karma. Since you often find yourself casting plenty of spells, especially in the late game, Deep Meditation can provide much-needed refuel—especially if you failed to hit your discard fodder generating cards.
Besides providing utility to one of the most popular decks on the ladder, it also helps spawn new archetypes and combos, like Lee Sin based decks.
3) Miss Fortune
Miss Fortune is the second Bilgewater champion to make the list. With an explosive reveal, as well as a generally good statline and effect for her cost, Miss Fortune can help push powerful aggressive strategies while just being an all-around good unit on her own. Miss Fortune makes it rain on enemy units trying to block her and her crew and utterly destroys any weaklings with one health.
Whenever you see an enemy Miss Fortune pop up in a deck, make sure you can clear early units or deal three damage on turn three when she can be summoned. Failure to do either of those things will result in a potential Miss Fortune level up. The raw damage a leveled-up Miss Fortune can provide is ridiculous.
2) Fizz
This is the last new Bilgewater champion to find a spot on the list. Fizz has the potential to polarize the meta to determine if a player can deal with a turn one Fizz. Riot had trouble balancing Elusive units in the open beta version of LoR. Many Elusive units have been nerfed or reworked and they still pose problems at all ranks on the ladder.
An Elusive unit that can avoid spells on a whim can be troubling since there are a multitude of ways to buff a Fizz. From Stand Alones in Demacia to all of the new multicast cheap spells in Ionia, expect to see a lot of Fizz wreaking havoc and annoying denizens of the ranked ladder.
1) Citrus Courier
While a follower at the top of the list may seem underwhelming at first, the raw efficiency that Citrus Courier provides will become apparent assuming faster decks start creeping back into the meta. Midrange Demacian decks have proven that having a Rally effect even through just a spell and not attached to a unit, like Relentless Pursuit, can be a quick game-ender if you have the board to back it up.
This Vitamin-C peddling menace provides your strong aggressive boards with a chance to heal up after making valuable trades against the opponent. The courier also gives its user a second round of attacks if any of your units made it to the enemy Nexus the first time in a turn due to his Plunder effect. If you fail to secure victory after Citrus Courier enters the board, you don’t have to worry about falling behind on Tempo trying to Rally. Playing Citrus Courier adds an extra 4/5 to the board that can help threaten your opponent even more the following turn.
All of these new cards are available for you to wield now that LoR: Rising Tides is live on both PC and mobile.
