Legends of Runeterra’s Rise of the Underworlds Expansion Drops June 30th
Legends of Runeterra’s Rise of the Underworlds expansion is coming later this month, and it ends the Empires of the Ascended set. We’re very excited to see what comes in the 40 cards of the expansion, but one thing we know for sure: Three incredible new champions are coming in the set. If you’ve watched the teaser trailer, you already know who is coming, but we’re going to share them with you here as well. This expansion also aims to shake up the meta, by bringing some classic meta decks back in some shape. How, though?
A Jungler, A Support, and A Mage Walk Into a Bar
Theirs are the names frantically whispered by scoundrels and swindlers. They come from below—the sea, the sands, the city—and wherever they surface, the legends follow.
— Legends of Runeterra (@PlayRuneterra) June 21, 2021
Keep an eye out for new Rise of the Underworlds content, and play the latest expansion on June 30. pic.twitter.com/T6WnBedP0Y
Well only one of them really walked into a bar, and that’s the mage Ekko! Ekko’s officially confirmed for Legends of Runeterra thanks to Rise of the Underworlds. He’s very sneaky and makes the mysterious, anonymous villains look foolish in typical Ekko fashion. Before this though, a glimpse of a caravan in the desert was revealed. This is where we saw the mighty jungler Rek’sai, rising and roaring from beneath the sands.
Next up was a ship on a stormy sea, with a mysterious hooded figure dragging pirates to their doom. That would be aggressive support Pyke, who is now apparently confirmed for the expansion! Then there’s of course Ekko as the final character. There is also a new keyword, Lurk, which likely fits neatly into at least one of these (probably Rek’sai).
I say Rek’sai because it’s first revealed on Xer’sai Hatchling, a 1/1 minion for 1. It also has “Lurker” on top of the card, so it’s clear what it is. Lurk is a keyword that reads “When you attack while I’m on top of your deck, I Lurk, granting Lurker allies everywhere +1/+0. Max once per round.” So that means no making this incredibly overpoweredby combining Blade Dance with Lurk. I immediately thought about that, until I saw “Max once per round”. So if you have a Lurk minion on top of your deck, all the other Lurkers gain +1/+0 no matter where they’re at.
We have a feeling there are going to be a few ways to either move allies back on top of your deck or that Rek’sai might create minions on top of your deck to make sure this triggers. We’ll probably have to wait a few days to see exactly what the new champions have. We’ll be covering them, do not worry! Four cards have already been revealed, and here’s what they are:
Fallen Feline (1-Cost Rare Minion, Piltover and Zaun): A 2/1 for 1, this feline, when summoned, creates a Hexite Crystal in the bottom 10 cards of your deck. That might sound like a weird idea, but we’re going tow ant to Predict these as often as possible. I’ll get into what that does soon! It’s not a bad card, and it creates more created cards, and we love that in Piltover and Zaun.
Hexite Crystal (2-Cost Fast Spell, Piltover and Zaun): We imagine this will only be created via other cards. If you see this card in a Prediction, you draw it immediately. That sounds like you’d get two cards in the prediction, which is powerful. This Fast spell deals 2 damage to all enemies and the enemy Nexus. I love it already. I want to see Hexcite Crystal creation in every Viktor and Ez deck right now. We’ll see how widely they’re used, but I like the idea so far.
Snapjaw Swarm (2-Cost Common Lurker Minion, Bilgewater): Snapjaw Swarm has no attack, and this low-attack stereotype will probably be true across most of the Lurk minions. When you play this Lurk 0/2, it starts a free attack. So if you have a Lurker on top of your deck, this minion will immediately gain +1/+0. Since it’s a free attack, it sounds like it will probably still let you attack after this, so you don‘t mess up any other strategy.
Xer’sai Hatchling (1-Cost Common Lurker Minion, Shurima): A 1/1 with Fearsome? That’s interesting. But it also has Lurk, so it’s likely going to grow more powerful quickly. It’s a 1/1 out of the gate, but each time Lurk triggers per turn, it’s going to grow. It’s only a 1-cost too, so it’s 100% worth having around. We’re very curious again, to see what Legends of Runeterra does in the Rise of the Underworlds expansion.
Change is Coming
These are all of the cards revealed as of this announcement. As more come to light, we’ll be posting about them, so you’re up to date on all the new, powerful cards coming to Legends of Runeterra, when June 30th rolls around. It’s a good time to be a card games fan! However, there are other changes on the way in this expansion as well. Riot Games has stated Rise of the Underworlds will have one of the largest balance patches to come since the initial LoR launch!
The idea is that it will completely shake up the metagame, and empower champions and archetypes from the previous expansions, which is something we haven’t seen in a while. That means we’re hopefully going to see more than just the current power decks that stick around patch after patch. While we don’t know what the patch will change, this is also something we’re going to be taking a close look at.
Keep your eyes peeled on Esports Talk for all the latest Legends of Runeterra: Rise of the Underworlds news!
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