Another update has hit Legends of Runeterra and with it a new region and a whole host of new cards. This time, we’re set to explore the sands of Shurima: The Egyptian-themed region from League of Legends.
But if I’m being honest, I only know it as the place where Nasus and Renekton, characters I have seen in heaps upon heaps of fanart, hail from. Let us explore what these new Champions bring to the table.
As always, thanks to Mobalytics for compiling the deck lists we made use of. The deck lists are:
- Life After Death (Thresh/Nasus): CEBAMBAHBUNCMLZ3KECQCBJCFAVTCNACAECAKEACAECQCHIBAEAQKGI
- Azir Scouts (Azir/Lucian): CECAKBAHAMNBYM25AIBAAAQJAIAQAFRBAECAAAYBAMAQACI5GMCACAQAA4AQGAAOAEAQAFIBAQDTS
- Shurima Overwhelm (Renekton/Sivir/Sejuani): CEBQQBAHAEFRYJRNG5BV2AIDAEBAEAIBDIPQEAIEAEFAEBAHCRCQCAICAEBA
As an avid fan of Aristocrats-style decks in Magic: The Gathering, the new Slay mechanic embodied by Nasus is of particular interest to me. A unit, ally or enemy, is “slain” by us if one of our damage source or kill effects is the one to deliver the final blow. This also includes abilities that allow us to kill one of our own units for a benefit, like Glimpse Beyond.
In essence, that makes the goal of the Nasus deck to murder as much as possible to make him strong, since each “slain” unit boosts his power even further. If we can summon him and keep getting rid of our opponent’s strongest units, it should be easy to finish the game after a few attacks. And since we have so many ways to gain cards and value out of killing our own forces, we should have enough resources to keep ourselves afloat for the long haul.
In contrast, Azir promotes a more aggressive strategy, which I find more difficult to pilot personally. The goal with him is to abuse his trigger, along with other effects, to create a disposable army of ephemeral units that can hopefully overwhelm the enemy. And thanks to Inspiring Marshall and Cithria the Bold, these temporary soldiers should be able to take out a large part of our opponent’s board, if not their life total. Alternatively, I’ve seen him pair with Shadow Isles to take advantage of the bodies being created, but I didn’t use that deck here.
And that leaves Renekton and Sivir, who are both two extremely powerful fighters. Both of them, when combined with cards that either make enemies vulnerable or give them challenger, can devastate enemies by eliminating their most valuable units. The more damage they deal, the stronger they grow.
There’s a lot to like in this expansion, and I look forward to playing around and seeing how this changes the meta.
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