Had a game where they came at me with an absolutely massive Heart of the Fluft, spamming Shen emotes the whole way, only to find that Unspeakable Horror had created the Targon card that silences two units in my hand. That Nocturne/Diana deck is sharp, I think, primarily due to having so a number of spells that do something good, but also have a rider that draws or creates a card. Pale Cascade, Unto Dusk, and Unspeakable Horror are the real MVPs, there.
I can see a Lurk deck being fun to play, and will probably make one, but I don't see it being a very enduring deck for me once the novelty wears off.
Also, in addition to making platinum for this season, I've managed for the first time to clear all of the region tracks at once. I also decided to pick up whatever commons I didn't have, since I had a ton of common wildcards. It's a little bit of a bummer not having the region track filling up after every game; looking forward to the next expansion resetting some of my bars so I can fill 'em again.
Lurk is such a dumb mechanic, this should be scraping the bottom of the barrel design instead of one year after release.
I wouldn't call it dumb, but it's very narrow and feels like Shurima's version of Deep. Very linear in design. Of course, I'm saying this without seeing Pyke yet, but I'd be surprised if he did something unique with the Lurk mechanic.
The Devs seem enamored of these weird extremely narrow concepts where you build a deck with a specific set of cards that are useless outside of that specific type of deck.
It never feels good imo.
The uncharitable explanation is that "just put all these cards with the same word on them in your deck" makes deck building easier for mobile players used to playing gacha trash. But I think it's also that it's easier to put cards on narrow tracks. They don't have to spend any time worrying about unintended consequences when making Scrap Shot because nobody will play it outside of a Deep deck (or at all, but)
I'll be the counter-opinion: I think Lurk seems fine. Yes, you have to design a deck around it to make it worthwhile, but you also have to do that with Deep or Augment or some of the poro cards, so I don't see that being a dealbreaker. Rek'Sai seems interesting, so I'm in for at least trying Lurk with a Rek'Sai deck.
As long as the Irelia/Azir reign ends next week, I'll take just about anything new!
Lurk is definitely a top down mechanic. Like, it's incredibly thematic in it's design. There's this monster lurking at the top of your deck ready to strike. Unfortunately, top down mechanics are often narrow and boring, or sacrifice balance/playability for theme/lore.
Lurk is certainly going to be an "Ctrl+F: Lurk" deckbuilding process. And, I'm actually ok with that. Not every archetype needs to be super diverse and create interesting deck building options. Some players just like to jam an archetype and play. Lurk will probably go the way of Deep and have one or maybe two decks and that's it.
Of course, all that could change with the Pyke cards, but I'm not holding my breath.
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I'll be the counter-opinion: I think Lurk seems fine. Yes, you have to design a deck around it to make it worthwhile, but you also have to do that with Deep or Augment or some of the poro cards, so I don't see that being a dealbreaker. Rek'Sai seems interesting, so I'm in for at least trying Lurk with a Rek'Sai deck.
As long as the Irelia/Azir reign ends next week, I'll take just about anything new!
I would be willing to be right there with you if I thought Azelia was actually going to sunset but I don't think it will.
Man, Lurkers are some snooze fest cards. Regardless of whether or not it's good this is gonna be some super linear, 'curve out with balls of stats' gameplay.
I feel like Lurk is going to end up being more effective then a bunch of these other similar narrowly focused big-stat mechanics based solely off the fact that it's finishers have Overwhelm.
It's like Riot is finally learning how their game actually works.
Man, Lurkers are some snooze fest cards. Regardless of whether or not it's good this is gonna be some super linear, 'curve out with balls of stats' gameplay.
That's only partially true though. Like, older builds of Demacia were just good stats on curve. At least with Lurk, you need to prep the top card of your deck to get value. Most of the Lurk cards are slightly understated to offset the attack creep they generate.
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To me the biggest glaring weakness with Lurk is that it's going to leave you with very few blockers. It's gonna have similar problems to Support I think unless it's fast.
To me the biggest glaring weakness with Lurk is that it's going to leave you with very few blockers. It's gonna have similar problems to Support I think unless it's fast.
That’s probably true. On the other hand if the units attack keeps scaling, you might stop the opponent from attacking into bad trades.
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To me the biggest glaring weakness with Lurk is that it's going to leave you with very few blockers. It's gonna have similar problems to Support I think unless it's fast.
I think it's biggest weakness is it only attacks every other round while the best deck attacks every turn... Also the finishers won't be big enough by turn 5-6 when they come down to finish the game before you get killed by sand soldiers/blades. And against watcher decks they will just get frostbite or the pillars can just chump them until matron or watchers slam down.
I just don't see the deck having legs unless other stuff gets nerfed. Maybe fun in non ranked but won't work otherwise.
I thought Defiant Dance was mega trash until I realized it works on enemy units. I'm still not sure I want to play a slow Will, even if it has blade dance.
I thought Defiant Dance was mega trash until I realized it works on enemy units. I'm still not sure I want to play a slow Will, even if it has blade dance.
THANK YOU. I was reading that one over and over trying to figure out the angle.
Starlit Epiphany is going to make games take a long-ass time. Could you use it against Watcher decks? Cast it after your deck gets obliterated to get some cards back and keep going.
1) I mentioned before the Braum+Vlad+Endurance (+1/+1 each time you take damage) combo. It's real good and fun. It entirely negates the downsides of the crimson package. And makes all your fairly beefy blockers even beefier over time. And Vlad tops off your health for you every level.
But you know what's even better? Braum+Vlad+Endurancex2! Every damage ping is now a health increase. Avalanche becomes "deal 2 to the enemy and give your own units +2 attack". It makes Death Lotus crazy good. It got fucking ridiculous real quick and I was stomping through Legendary by the end. I even picked up that "summon 2 loookouts" power at the end, which really helps stabilize the board in those latter levels and that 4 health means they start growing real big.
2) Zilean+Victor is a real potent combo. The key is that Zilean and his deck generates a lot of created cards. At first I was just thinking of Time Bombs. But once you level him, you get a ton of created cards every turn. Picking the "created cards cost 1 less mana" power at the start really made this all work better too. And once both Victor levels too, you can cast the cards Zilean makes for basically nothing.
The star of the show though was Poro Cannon. I picked one up with the "cast me twice" ability. So casting Poro Cannon generated 4 elusive poros. All of which cost 0 and all of which count as created cards, which almost completes Victor's level-up all on it's own. And since I had the "draw one extra fleeting every turn, discarded cards go back into your deck" power, I could freely discard cards without worry.
3) Irelia + Yipp's Genius (1 cost units get +2/+2) + start game with Sparring Student + start game with Emperor's Dias was just a fucking cakewalk.
4) Fizz + Lux + Slow Spells Cast Twice still works well even at the highest difficulty level.
Only 6 more Champs to get through the final difficulty level.
Today's stuff is up, low drop Bilgewater lurkers and some card selection to get lurk to trigger.
The List is interesting in both modes, 0 mana vulnerable makes development difficult to time, and you can even combo two of them as removal aftervan attack when it would normally be safe.
I'm currently 8-2 with Reputation LeBlanc/Sivir, pushing all the way up to Plat 1. It's not tier 1, but has solid match-ups against a lot of decks. Give it a try if you want to rank and have fun.
Mulligan for Baccai Reaper, Rock Hopper, and Whirling Death against aggro. LeBlanc/Sivir against Midrange/Control. Keeping a Culling Strike is almost always fine since there are a ton of good targets (Azir, Irelia, Thresh)
Rock Hopper isn't always an immediate turn 2 drop. I like to hold on to it in order to target something they'd want to play next turn like an Azir or Lissandra.
Ruin Runner on curve is almost unpunishable.
Against TLC, you'll lose your board to an Avalanche. Don't be afraid to play Sivir into it since her Spell Shield will keep her alive.
Incisive Tactician is a blowout card if they tap out on turn 6 and you have any kind of board.
Go ahead and block with LeBlanc against a Blade Dance blade for Reputation and damage procs. If they Shape Stone it, use a Whirling Death/Bloody Business if you have to.
On defense, always save mana for Whirling Death and Bloody Business. If you have the option, always use Whirling Death first since its has a narrower play range.
If you can pull it off, playing a Mirror Image (LeBlac's generated card) on Captain Farron will get you two more Decimates. I did this against a Deep deck and it was hilarious.
You have 10 ways to give enemies Vulnerable. Use them to get targets for Sivir/LeBlanc to run over.
Trifarian Gloryseeker should be a surprise, pre-attack card once they tap low on mana.
Good luck!
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Level 1
4 mana 2/3 Lurker
Quick Attack, Lurk
When I lurk, transform me into Death From Below.
Level Up: When Allied Pykes have dealt 15 damage
Death From Below
4 mana, Lurk, Fast
Summon a Pyke to strike an enemy.
Level 2
4 mana 3/4 Lurker
Quick Attack, Lurk
When I lurk, transform me into Death From Below.
When I kill an enemy, strike the weakest enemy.
The level 2 strike effect can trigger off itself to become a board clear.
It's a little weird that he seems to be designed to have multiple Pykes in play at once. He looks pretty damn strong, but obviously reliant on Lurk to get his attack high enough to pay off.
Death From Below is also interesting in that it's a bite based removal that dodges a lot of the usual counterplay options like frostbite or removal.
Oh we've also got Jaull Fish, a Shen boat, and some birds.
Last one is
Play: Create a Silverwing Vanguard, Blinding Assault or Fleetfeather Tracker in hand.
Attack: Give another Challenging ally +1|+1 this round
I don't know that he'll flip very often. 15 damage is quite a lot, like LeBlanc can already be a bit hard to flip and she can get damage from allies. You probably need 4 or so strikes to flip, which would be something like Death From Below > Combat > Bone Skewer > Death From Below.
Posts
I can see a Lurk deck being fun to play, and will probably make one, but I don't see it being a very enduring deck for me once the novelty wears off.
Also, in addition to making platinum for this season, I've managed for the first time to clear all of the region tracks at once. I also decided to pick up whatever commons I didn't have, since I had a ton of common wildcards. It's a little bit of a bummer not having the region track filling up after every game; looking forward to the next expansion resetting some of my bars so I can fill 'em again.
As long as the Irelia/Azir reign ends next week, I'll take just about anything new!
Lurk is certainly going to be an "Ctrl+F: Lurk" deckbuilding process. And, I'm actually ok with that. Not every archetype needs to be super diverse and create interesting deck building options. Some players just like to jam an archetype and play. Lurk will probably go the way of Deep and have one or maybe two decks and that's it.
Of course, all that could change with the Pyke cards, but I'm not holding my breath.
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I would be willing to be right there with you if I thought Azelia was actually going to sunset but I don't think it will.
It's like Riot is finally learning how their game actually works.
That's only partially true though. Like, older builds of Demacia were just good stats on curve. At least with Lurk, you need to prep the top card of your deck to get value. Most of the Lurk cards are slightly understated to offset the attack creep they generate.
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That’s probably true. On the other hand if the units attack keeps scaling, you might stop the opponent from attacking into bad trades.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
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I think it's biggest weakness is it only attacks every other round while the best deck attacks every turn... Also the finishers won't be big enough by turn 5-6 when they come down to finish the game before you get killed by sand soldiers/blades. And against watcher decks they will just get frostbite or the pillars can just chump them until matron or watchers slam down.
I just don't see the deck having legs unless other stuff gets nerfed. Maybe fun in non ranked but won't work otherwise.
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Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
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Starlit Epiphany is going to make games take a long-ass time. Could you use it against Watcher decks? Cast it after your deck gets obliterated to get some cards back and keep going.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
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Turn 3 Zed with Scout baby!
1) I mentioned before the Braum+Vlad+Endurance (+1/+1 each time you take damage) combo. It's real good and fun. It entirely negates the downsides of the crimson package. And makes all your fairly beefy blockers even beefier over time. And Vlad tops off your health for you every level.
But you know what's even better? Braum+Vlad+Endurancex2! Every damage ping is now a health increase. Avalanche becomes "deal 2 to the enemy and give your own units +2 attack". It makes Death Lotus crazy good. It got fucking ridiculous real quick and I was stomping through Legendary by the end. I even picked up that "summon 2 loookouts" power at the end, which really helps stabilize the board in those latter levels and that 4 health means they start growing real big.
2) Zilean+Victor is a real potent combo. The key is that Zilean and his deck generates a lot of created cards. At first I was just thinking of Time Bombs. But once you level him, you get a ton of created cards every turn. Picking the "created cards cost 1 less mana" power at the start really made this all work better too. And once both Victor levels too, you can cast the cards Zilean makes for basically nothing.
The star of the show though was Poro Cannon. I picked one up with the "cast me twice" ability. So casting Poro Cannon generated 4 elusive poros. All of which cost 0 and all of which count as created cards, which almost completes Victor's level-up all on it's own. And since I had the "draw one extra fleeting every turn, discarded cards go back into your deck" power, I could freely discard cards without worry.
3) Irelia + Yipp's Genius (1 cost units get +2/+2) + start game with Sparring Student + start game with Emperor's Dias was just a fucking cakewalk.
4) Fizz + Lux + Slow Spells Cast Twice still works well even at the highest difficulty level.
Only 6 more Champs to get through the final difficulty level.
The List is interesting in both modes, 0 mana vulnerable makes development difficult to time, and you can even combo two of them as removal aftervan attack when it would normally be safe.
Both Shurima and Bilgewater already do Vulnerable, so that will help The List a bit.
The rest of the big support cards for Lurk are probably dropping tomorrow though.
Thanks algorithm.
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CMBQCAIDAQBAIAYEB4CQIBYCCQTDOZYDAECAGCACAEBQWHYEAQDQ2LKRLUBACAIDGMAQIBZ3
Gameplay tips:
Good luck!
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
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I'm tired of waiting.
4 mana 2/3 Lurker
Quick Attack, Lurk
When I lurk, transform me into Death From Below.
Level Up: When Allied Pykes have dealt 15 damage
Death From Below
4 mana, Lurk, Fast
Summon a Pyke to strike an enemy.
Level 2
4 mana 3/4 Lurker
Quick Attack, Lurk
When I lurk, transform me into Death From Below.
When I kill an enemy, strike the weakest enemy.
The level 2 strike effect can trigger off itself to become a board clear.
It's a little weird that he seems to be designed to have multiple Pykes in play at once. He looks pretty damn strong, but obviously reliant on Lurk to get his attack high enough to pay off.
Death From Below is also interesting in that it's a bite based removal that dodges a lot of the usual counterplay options like frostbite or removal.
Last one is
Play: Create a Silverwing Vanguard, Blinding Assault or Fleetfeather Tracker in hand.
Attack: Give another Challenging ally +1|+1 this round
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
~Dev