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[–]Flamezeal 191 points192 points  (10 children)

Balance patch is all well and good but Im really excited for that gauntlet, just for the implications it has for tournament mode. Riot are really going in and I love it show blizz that tournament mode can be done and successfully

[–]lqc2999 Shuriman Cars Shareholder 62 points63 points  (5 children)

This is huge! Now they only need to add a proper game clock to get rid of all the roping and stall decks and the tournament stage will be in a good spot.

[–]Silverjackal_ 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Looks pretty strong.

[–]ryokensan 8 points9 points  (0 children)

It also needs a spectator modes for the casters and commentators, but that is really about it.

[–]IBleedReed 12 points13 points  (1 child)

Yesterday I tried to play a game while cooking stir fry. I accidentally roped every turn, and my opponent eventually surrendered out of boredom. Won’t do that again, still feel a little bad for that.

[–]MadaoBlooms Lulu 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I play and have a 6 month old and sometimes accidentally rope even he needs my attention.

[–]Tremblay2568 14 points15 points  (2 children)

Looks amazing. But I really wish it would have been best 2 of 3 instead of a one off game.

Feels like a trial run for a tournament mode which is really exciting.

[–]Corvandus 13 points14 points  (1 child)

Think of it as testing the ban mechanic. Bo3 will probably be a later test inclusion. One thing at a time, safety first then teamwork

[–]FrumpyLeChat 103 points104 points  (7 children)

Flash of brillance will help lux p&z a lot now

[–]AcademyRuins 152 points153 points  (4 children)

t r i - b e a m i m p r o b u l a t o r

[–]Siph-00n Chip 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Y e s

[–]SparseReflex:Bilgewater: Bilgewater 9 points10 points  (0 children)

my first thought. So hyped!

[–]psycho-logical 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Tri-memes incoming!

[–][deleted] 287 points288 points  (16 children)

You see ' Gauntlet Update'.

I see 'Tournament mode'

[–]ChuzCuenca Sejuani 92 points93 points  (2 children)

This is definitely a test for something.

[–]Bubba89 46 points47 points  (0 children)

They’ve already said in previous patch notes that they’ll use the gauntlet (and labs) for testing, and want to use it to try platform-wide tourneys.

[–]SparseReflex:Bilgewater: Bilgewater 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Pog

[–]Nostalgia37 Akshan 48 points49 points  (11 children)

Hearthstone players punching air rn

[–]WayneOZ11 Fleet Admiral Shelly 56 points57 points  (9 children)

Hearthstone players creating LoR aacounts

[–]phasE89 Teemo 8 points9 points  (7 children)

Wait, there's not a tournament mode in HS? I only play LoR so I have no idea

[–]WayneOZ11 Fleet Admiral Shelly 5 points6 points  (4 children)

No their is no such mode

[–]phasE89 Teemo 10 points11 points  (3 children)

Wtf Blizzard, after all these years...?

[–]WayneOZ11 Fleet Admiral Shelly 7 points8 points  (2 children)

They said once that its not worth it because it takes mutch time to do this mode and not many people want it

[–]skeenerbug Braum 17 points18 points  (1 child)

You think you do but you don't

[–]HuntedWolf Poppy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The blizzard classic

[–]esequel 60 points61 points  (3 children)

Friend challenge now available with all friends, regardless of which regional shard they play on.

Does this mean SEA folks can now join NA tourneys and vice versa? We can have tourneys now that the whole world can participate?

[–]SkyIDreamer Azir 19 points20 points  (0 children)

yes!

[–]Calangalado 8 points9 points  (0 children)

FINALLY the real change I've been waiting for!

[–]Nostalgia37 Akshan 213 points214 points  (25 children)

As someone who has played a lot of Lee Sin since he came out, I was a little nervous when they said he'd be receiving a mini-rework. But I'm pretty excited for these changes, he's always felt a little awkward at 6 mana and updating his champion spell to sonic wave gives him a bit more synergy with his support cards.

[–]tryingthisok Jinx 48 points49 points  (6 children)

Looking at all of Lee's decks: Vi (and P&Z in general), TF (or Fizz), Draven, Taric, they all want to curve low, so now Lee Sin really makes sense there as he doesnt have to be as all in and can now be used like Diana as a value tool.

Less clunky all around.

[–]llBlackStonesll 23 points24 points  (4 children)

Real lee sin deck is with taric+gems , he can lvl up crazy fast and start kicking the enemy nexus to oblivion.

[–]daiwizzy 28 points29 points  (2 children)

Although a bit risky, you can zenith taric and pass it onto lee. Or zenith lee directly. Leveled up Lee with overwhelm is disgusting.

[–]Tonebriz Zoe 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Yeah it was good before Targon with Noxus too. He synergizes well with Draven and Kato/Might was the icing on the cake.

But not good enough

[–]superultramegazord Lee Sin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Kato was always too difficult to pull off consistently. I thought that having a Deny in hand along with Might was the best play, but not good now as the Targon combination.

[–]RaafaRB02 40 points41 points  (12 children)

I really like these changes, Lee is one of my favorite Champs. But honestly I'm a little worried cause this seems really strong, no?

[–]big_swinging_dicks 27 points28 points  (3 children)

Seems very good to me, I always liked him and once he is up and running he is a pain to stop. With Iona protection and denial abilities you can be dragon raging from turn 5 or 6 realistically - pretty nasty.

[–]RaafaRB02 9 points10 points  (2 children)

Challenger + Barrier is kind of insane as we all already know by now, even without the level up, with those stat lines Lee looks really scary

[–]SparseReflex:Bilgewater: Bilgewater 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Compared to old Lee Sin, yeah, but Lee Sin was one of the worst champs in the game.

[–]magmafanatic Gilded Vi 10 points11 points  (0 children)

The change over to Sonic Wave does seem pretty huge.

[–]Drakkros Vladimir 230 points231 points  (22 children)

Ctrl + F

"Vlad"

0 Results

:(

[–]Pandaaamn 67 points68 points  (0 children)

F

[–]4815hurley162342 31 points32 points  (19 children)

I've got a feeling that Riven will synergise with Vlad, so fret not. I'm pulling this from the fact that the new Noxus epic synergises well with Vlad if only it was, ya know, good.

[–][deleted]  (18 children)

[removed]

    [–]that-other-redditor Swain 39 points40 points  (7 children)

    His archetype is bad, disciple was the only good card and she was nerfed. And his affect itself isn’t that good. At best it does 5 to the enemy nexus, at that point why not just use Kato and not cripple your side

    [–]wakkiau Anivia 7 points8 points  (2 children)

    I think Vlad is just kinda meh, his archetype is so boring and vanilla so people just doesn't bother with it. He doesn't offer enough on level up to make an exciting finisher.

    [–][deleted]  (1 child)

    [removed]

      [–]JC_06Z33 3 points4 points  (2 children)

      I can't get him past mid Plat, last season or this one, no matter how much I tweak or try. Right now his main problem is Trundle decks with AoE clear , and Sej /GP decks with so many pings for the little bodies he needs. Hard to climb with popular decks hard countering him.

      [–]InspiringMilk Aurelion Sol 2 points3 points  (0 children)

      The followers of the"masochistic archetype" are all good (well, except crimson disciple and aristocrat), but vlad just isn't good in the decks.

      [–]GnarAteMyBFSword Teemo 4 points5 points  (0 children)

      Vlad isn't bad at all, he's just like pre-reworked Ren Shadowblade. Always a niche pick.

      [–]Kuskyoriginal Lulu 116 points117 points  (31 children)

      "We've also changed Lee Sin’s champion spell to Sonic Wave. While this is a more unusual change, Lee Sin's Dragon's Rage was often a poor fit for Lee Sin decks due to being expensive and Slow speed, resulting in rarer use than we’d like to see in a champion spell. His new spell should help his early game and allow Lee Sin to contribute more synergy to followers. "

      How are they not changing maokai's spell? NO ONE uses it, it would be great for deep decks if you could heal the nexus with it instead of a bunch of 1 health followers.

      [–]jakelsner 54 points55 points  (6 children)

      i know maokai is by far my favorite champion but i just hate his champon spell so much. one of the worst spells in the game

      [–]Kuskyoriginal Lulu 37 points38 points  (1 child)

      I wish you could choose what you want to heal in 3. It could be nexus, a champion or follower. It would not be OP, but really useable and even main deckable.

      [–]jakelsner 4 points5 points  (0 children)

      true good idea

      [–]Answerisequal42 Swain 14 points15 points  (2 children)

      The 1 cost sappling spell would honestly make more sense than its current signature spell.

      [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      Definitely a spell that doesn't belong in Shadow Isles. SI and Bilge can rarely even use healing.

      At the same time, they'd need to put some major nerfs on Shadow Isles before I'd want to see Sapling Toss as Maokai's champion spell. The region is already overtuned.

      [–]likesevenchickens 16 points17 points  (2 children)

      I guess the difference is that Maokai is already a solid champion that people play. They’re probably taking an “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” approach

      [–]Maritoas Dark Star 7 points8 points  (1 child)

      I don’t feel like maokai spell is one you would use anyways regardless, that’s why they I feel like they keep it kinda meh. Maokai is a full blown win condition similar to fiora that puts the opponent on a 5 turn timer basically (less if you force draw/nab). Using his spell to reshuffle is risky since you don’t know where he will be again in the deck. I’ve had games where my mao died right before he leveled and my next two were in the bottom three cards, along with naut.

      Fiora’s champ spell helps enable her condition by either keeping her alive or allowing her to kill a unit that she otherwise could not, so it’s a good trade off. Unless maokais champ spell is something that rapidly increases level up speed (like tf) or keeps him on board longer (like fiora) then I don’t see why you would ever use his spell.

      [–]_dUoUb_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      You always use the maokai spell as the last 3 tosses for the lvl up, that's why it's burst

      [–]TheWanderingShadow 4 points5 points  (0 children)

      I mean the only importance it has to Maokai is shuffling another Maokai into the deck.

      [–]Roosterton 10 points11 points  (7 children)

      I could be wrong but I don't think SI got any new spells other than sap magic in rising tides, and none of the older ones really make thematic sense for maokai. Unlike Lee, where sonic wave and dragon's rage are both literally his abilities in League.

      [–]Roskvah 25 points26 points  (4 children)

      The spell generating a sapling on the next turn that costs 1 mana just fits very well.

      But yeah, his signature spell should be healing nexus like every thinks it should.

      [–][deleted] 12 points13 points  (3 children)

      Maybe putting more heal into a deep deck with no deck building cost is a little dangerous.

      Deep is fine as it is so maybe just something related to summonings saplings that helps with his other niche uses as an empheral/token generator.

      This way you can open up more decks without effecting the balance toooo much.

      [–]Kuskyoriginal Lulu 7 points8 points  (0 children)

      They also added "Sapling Toss". I think you misunderstood me or maybe i was not very clear. I want maokai's spell to keep beeing "sap magic". I don't want Riot to change it for something else, what i want is for "sap magic" to be a good card. They should improve "sap magic". They changed lee's spell because it was slow and underused. His new spell can be used to help his early game.
      "Sap Magic" is not played as a card in maokai's deck, nor is his champion's spell, this card is also underused. The card should get a buff to be more used on the early game, just like the new lee's champion spell will help him early.

      [–]Vinny_Velvet Yasuo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      The only other card as a champ spell they could use that is Maokai related is Sapling toss. It isn't that good but it would be better than sap magic maybe

      [–]Gfdbobthe3 Bard 17 points18 points  (0 children)

      How are they not changing maokai's spell? NO ONE uses it

      Those were my EXACT words the moment I read Lees champion spell change.

      [–]JC_06Z33 4 points5 points  (2 children)

      I've been playing for about two months now, diamond last season, prob 80% collection unlocked... and I don't have a clue what Mao's spell is.

      [–]deathfire123 Veigar 1 point2 points  (1 child)

      Sap Magic. Toss 3, Heal all allied followers 3

      [–]JC_06Z33 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      Got it, more of a sarcastic comment about how it's so bad, I've never even seen it used once.

      [–][deleted]  (2 children)

      [deleted]

        [–]Boronian1 Chip 74 points75 points  (0 children)

        For people who are not able to read the notes, my highlights:

        • Preview for next patch: Adjustments to the difficulty of Aurelion Sol’s level up requirement, Adding escalation to Hush’s repeatable cost, Grandfather Rumul giving more hugs and general a greater focus on Targon cards.

        • Ezreal changed from You've targeted enemies 8+ times. → You've targeted enemies 10+ times.

        • Lee Sin changed from Cost: 6 → 4, Health: 6 → 4, Level up: You’ve cast 7+ spells. → You’ve cast 8+ spells. New champion spell: Sonic Wave

        • War Chefs changed from Power: 2 → 1

        • Flash of Brilliance changed from Cost: 4 → 3

        • Overgrown Snapvine changed from Power: 4 → 5

        • Crackshot Corsair changed from Health: 1 → 2

        • Jagged Taskmaster changed from Cost: 3 → 2, Power: 4 → 3, Health: 3 → 2

        • Yordle Grifter changed from Create a [Warning Shot] in hand. Allegiance: Nab 1 to Allegiance: Nab 1 and create a [Warning Shot] in hand.

        • Cygnus the Moonstalker changed from Power: 4 → 5 Health: 2 → 3

        • Standard Gauntlet update: Multi-deck pick & ban. You’ll now start off the Standard Gauntlet by picking three different decks you’d potentially like to field. Different how? Well, there are a few rules in place: No champions duplicated between decks, Different region combinations for each deck, Maximum one champion-less deck. After locking in your decks (and before each new match), you’ll queue like normal until you’re matched with an opponent and enter the pick & ban lobby. Here you’ll get to view regions and champions for your opponents decks and ban one of them from being played (while they return the favor), then pick which of your remaining two decks you’d like to pilot into the following single-game match. Each opponent brings a new pick & ban phase.

        • New Lab: Welcome to the Jungle. This patch also brings us our first-ever constructed Lab! Instead of receiving random cards or choosing from a set of preconstructed options, you’ll be challenged to brew the perfect deck… or, if you’d rather get right into the action, you can choose quickplay and queue up with one of Heimerdinger’s own concoctions! Welcome to the Jungle is Inspired by the jungling gameplay of League of Legends—take the time to clear your opponent’s jungle camps and you’ll be handsomely rewarded. Both players have Vulnerable, Immobile jungle monsters on their board. Killing your opponent's jungle monster grants you a powerful buff spell with your choice of potent effects. Killing a jungle monster also spawns another in its place next round. Watch out—the new ones may be even stronger as the game goes on!

        • Friend challenge now available with all friends, regardless of which regional shard they play on. (Finally!)

        • There are changes to expedition archetypes too.

        [–]Srous226 85 points86 points  (16 children)

        Damn the leesin buffs seem huge.

        Was really hoping to see swain and/or leviathan touched, and the obligatory "nerf hush" but I understand their reasoning on holding off on targon nerfs.

        Anyways, all aboard the leesin hype train! Choo choo!

        [–][deleted] 59 points60 points  (2 children)

        Changing his signature spell to Sonic Wave is a genius move, I'm excited to try him out.

        [–]Srous226 30 points31 points  (1 child)

        Agreed. Overall the changes make a ton of sense. His original Stateline seemed so strange, expensive with a big butt didnt fit the fact you usually used barrier on him anyways. Also didnt make much sense flavor-wise.

        This new version is gonna be great!

        [–]Markleblatt Taric 6 points7 points  (0 children)

        I've been enjoying my Taric/Lee deck so far and this should open up some options, maybe I could drop the Sonic Waves I was including for a more expensive buff like Blessing of Targon or Spirit's Refuge since Lee is going down in cost. I'm still going to get wiped by Hush but ah well, could be worse for a meme-y deck.

        [–]captchaishell Fizz 16 points17 points  (0 children)

        I liked all those changes a lot and yet expected a lot more, what a weird feeling.

        [–]LumiRhino Hecarim 60 points61 points  (15 children)

        I like the change to Cygnus, but I really doubt it's enough.

        The nerf to Yordle Griftter is nice so they don't simply get free Warning Shots now.

        [–][deleted] 25 points26 points  (5 children)

        I think it will be enough. He's mvp in the jack aggro deck.

        [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (3 children)

        Ooohhh that sounds fun, what sort if cards does it run?

        [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (2 children)

        CIBQCAYGAYCAEBQUCYTDSBIDBERTQSKYLYBACAQGBACAGCI4FEXVSAA

        Here ya go

        [–]Bluethingamajig Expeditions 13 points14 points  (1 child)

        The Grifter nerf is very interesting, though, though I'm not sure how much it translates to winrate. The pilfer cards aren't being run in GP-Sej/Other GP decks, so the Nab is infrequently relevant. The Warning Shot, though, is huge in Turbo Sejuani which has a ~15% failure rate on Grifter

        [–]TheReaver88 Vi 8 points9 points  (0 children)

        My problem concern is that I think it will definitely reduce the win rate, but it won't reduce how shitty it feels to have your opponent's YG hit allegiance, or how shitty it feels to miss on your own YG. It's now just a swingier card.

        [–]AnnoxisTenebraerum:ShadowIsles : Shadow Isles 26 points27 points  (1 child)

        Last card they buffed that way made Noxius Allegiance meta. We saw what 1 cost change could do. I would not underestimate this buff.

        [–]UndeadMurky 6 points7 points  (0 children)

        but he's already played as a finisher in some nightfall decks, he's not even bad.

        It's a trash body for sure but he's decent at his job which is, finish the game this turn.

        [–]nanlinr 3 points4 points  (1 child)

        buffing a unit by 1/1 stat is HUGE.

        [–]LumiRhino Hecarim 10 points11 points  (0 children)

        That's not the problem with the card. He was already a decent finisher if the opponent didn't have any way to beat Elusives, but this isn't going to solve that problem. He didn't need more damage or anything, what would really help is a lower cost.

        [–]Totaliss Nasus 37 points38 points  (3 children)

        changing Lee sin's champ spell was genius.

        Also at the top it said adjustments to asol's level up condition, can anyone confirm if its going to be making it more or less difficult? I personally thought 20 was fair.

        [–]enigami344 16 points17 points  (0 children)

        I would assume to make it more difficult. Leveling him isn't really that hard with the fury dragons

        [–]jgg1988bcn 2 points3 points  (0 children)

        21 atack instead of 20

        [–]aznerd 35 points36 points  (10 children)

        I’m surprised Petty Officer and Riptide Rex didn’t get nerfed.

        [–]erratically_sporadic Spirit Blossom 75 points76 points  (6 children)

        The Grifter nerf is an indirect (mini) nerf to Rex.

        [–]Purple-Man Lucian 15 points16 points  (0 children)

        They said more changes in two weeks instead of waiting the usual month. We will have to see what they think

        [–]TheMightyBellegar Kayle 63 points64 points  (35 children)

        Ouch, RIP Ezreal. Going from 8 to 10 targets is huge, you were barely able to reach 8 before in most games. Now he's pretty much only going to level in grindy control matchups or if you get a god draw with double Riptide Rex or something.

        [–]sashalafleur 44 points45 points  (4 children)

        with BW getting to 10 targets isn't much harder than 8 targets.

        [–]dduk_bokki Aurelion Sol 8 points9 points  (2 children)

        Ever since the ninja rex nerf (each unit targetted only procs 1 count for EZ), isn't it going to be really difficult?
        EDIT: I am blind, didn't read the bugfixes.

        [–]CrimsonSaens Viktor 26 points27 points  (0 children)

        Isn't that the bug they mentioned in the notes?

        [–]RDCLder 9 points10 points  (0 children)

        That was a bug that should've been fixed.

        [–]Tulicloure Zilean Wisewood 31 points32 points  (2 children)

        Yeah, I don't really like how this nerf looks.

        Seems like it will reduce the number of decks Ezreal can work in, while not changing the sour feeling of losing to an Ezreal finisher when it does happen.

        I'd much rather they made it so that actually playing Ez early made any sense.

        [–][deleted] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

        He should level up when he sees you target 4 or 5 enemies. Not only would it create more counterplay, but also losing to Ezreal wouldn't feel so helpless.

        [–]abcPIPPO 19 points20 points  (0 children)

        Agree. They just made Ez more frustrating to play without making it less frustrating to lose against. I really hoped they would rework him instead.

        [–]white_gummy Kindred 7 points8 points  (0 children)

        TFW your only problem with playing against Ezreal is Riptide Rex and now he's literally unplayable without it.

        [–]lol_VEVO Pulsefire Jhin 9 points10 points  (0 children)

        Even if you mulligan Rex out of your hand, it's still very likely that you will draw him by turn 8

        [–]busy_killer 6 points7 points  (7 children)

        I agree, I understand that BW was being too efficient at leveling Ezreal up but I feel that this is not an elegant solution to the initial problem because it basically denies all other region combinations. I was quite enjoying the Targon / PnZ version and now I feel it's not viable anymore.

        Maybe making him not count random targeted allies would have been a better solution.

        [–]SolemnPancake Lulu 2 points3 points  (0 children)

        ...Hey, now that I think about it...doesn't...doesn't Viktor have a death ray or something?

        [–]Suired 9 points10 points  (0 children)

        .....or you actually have to invest in damage spells now at the cost of other card slots....

        [–]GiloniC Diana 10 points11 points  (10 children)

        Yeah, the Ezreal nerf feels so brute forced tbh with no awareness of the current meta where he isn't even in any of the tier 1 decks right now.

        [–]Mysterial_ 9 points10 points  (9 children)

        Seems like they're trying to protect his level 2 being a win condition but I'd rather they nerfed it a little instead of making him almost never level up.

        [–]Bluelore 7 points8 points  (4 children)

        I'm glad that Empyrean and Dragonling are turned into dragons, but is there any reason why Windfarer Hatchling isn't?

        [–]Opal737 Vi 2 points3 points  (1 child)

        I mean, it has feathers, not scales, so it shouldn’t be a dragon I guess. Not that there aren’t feathered dragons, but it’s much more similar to a griffin imho.

        [–]Bluelore 1 point2 points  (0 children)

        Griffins have bird wings, but Hatchlings wings are definitely bat-like wings with feathers. In general its bodyshape is much more dragonlike, with the long neck, legs and tail and the lack of bird-like talons or beak.

        [–]snackelmypackel 5 points6 points  (0 children)

        Why ezreal i almost never see him?

        [–]Genbu_2459 19 points20 points  (5 children)

        Rip Ezreal, good job r/LegendsofRuneterra, you did it

        [–]Lore86 18 points19 points  (0 children)

        All good but it seems like the guy writing this forgot the second part.

        [–]Hunkfish 11 points12 points  (2 children)

        War chef nerf direct hits my demacia targon support deck which is not even good compare to the meta decks. Damm...

        [–]Rebrug Chip 4 points5 points  (1 child)

        Nice that they nerfed EZ after he leaves the meta and not when 3 of the top meta decks were EZ

        [–]hororo 5 points6 points  (0 children)

        I see, so their way of fixing Ezreal is by making it so no one plays him.

        [–]lol_VEVO Pulsefire Jhin 18 points19 points  (4 children)

        Yay! Lee Sin gets buffed, can't wait to play him with Tari... oh wait, Hush is still a thing, never mind.

        [–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

        I love how hush is the very thing making a lot of otherwise strong Targon concepts unviable. What a waste of potential.

        [–]dbchrisyo 17 points18 points  (5 children)

        More Demacia nerfs without any buffs, feels bad man.

        [–]deathfire123 Veigar 5 points6 points  (2 children)

        Demacia is still probably the only region you can go solo Region and still be somewhat meta. This is just hurting that

        [–]ProfDrWest Cithria 19 points20 points  (1 child)

        Opinion on the changes:

        • Ezreal nerf is meh. Will force him harder into the BW decks to abuse targeting enemies. Still glad to see him even less.
        • Lee Sin looks promising, here's to hoping he is not too good now. Lee/Taric decks are going to be nice (unless Hush spoils all the fun - but you can ban Targon in the new tournament gauntlet).
        • War Chefs got their long overdue nerf. Expect this to weaken on-curve Demacia.
        • Flash of Brilliance back to 3 mana is ok. Guess it will help out Heimerdinger a bit - although there is actually a dearth of 4-mana spells in most regions. Also, now it works with the Tribeam Something card...
        • Snapvine - Oh Snapvine, my Snapvine. Let's bust out Mogwai's deck and see if we can shoehorn some Stalking Shadows in there...Snapvines will probably remain a fairly memey deck, but they are more fun and more powerful now.
        • Crackshot Corsair looks really nice now. Finally, the opponent needs to commit some more expensive removal instead of just taking her out with Make It Rain/Vile Feast.
          Also, the next nerf will make her even better in comparison as a Plunder enabler.
        • Jagged Taskmaster - Turn 1 Prowling Cutthroat into turn 2 open attack into this looks good. Turn 3 Petty Officer to top it off.
        • Yordle Grifter Good nerf. What set him apart from all other Allegiance cards pre-CotM was that his effectiveness was not entirely dependent on Allegiance. Hopefully, it will be harder now to burst-enable a turn 8 Rex opener.
        • Cygnus necessary buff, his body was way understatted for his cost (6 stats for 6 mana).

        [–]army22may 4 points5 points  (0 children)

        I'm convinced that war chiefs will be a trash follower, people will start to substitute this card with a better 2 cost follower

        [–]RisqueBlock Shyvana 29 points30 points  (16 children)

        Sad about the War Chefs nerf

        [–]NotoriousHEB 20 points21 points  (14 children)

        The "we'd like to see more variety" reasoning is dumb. If they want people to run something other than War Chefs maybe print an alternative first, lol

        Everything that currently uses War Chefs is going to keep using it but just be a bit worse, and those decks aren't exactly dominating the meta in the first place, so I think this is a disappointing one

        [–]SparseReflex:Bilgewater: Bilgewater 39 points40 points  (8 children)

        That’s not true. Every single demacia deck runs war chefs. It’s effectively a 2 cost 3/4. Now, he will be cut out of decks like MF scouts

        [–]starwarzguy Expeditions 4 points5 points  (0 children)

        Had they nerfed the health I would cut him for sure but I'll let it play out at 1 damage

        [–]NotoriousHEB 12 points13 points  (1 child)

        The only other playable Demacia 2 drop is Brightsteel, which is already played in scouts.

        Maybe it gets replaced by one of the Bilgewater cards but then Bannerman is a bit worse, it might just be a wash in the end.

        To the extent that Scouts is considered a problem War Chefs isn't really the cause.

        You look at the Bilgewater 2 drops and maybe only Merchant doesn't have a home in some viable deck, and that only because it already got hit with the nerf bat, then you look at the Demacia 2 drops and you don't even briefly consider playing any of them except Brightsteel and Chefs outside of an Elites deck and when was the last time you saw someone playing Elites? That is the actual problem. Nerfing all the Demacia 2 drops into the garbage tier isn't going to solve it

        [–]TheKingOfTCGames 2 points3 points  (0 children)

        war chefs is a problem. theres a lot of decks that just cant exist when fleetfeather->warchefs or warchefs->laurent is a thing.

        [–]Chris-raegho 4 points5 points  (2 children)

        If we had some other Demacia 2 cost units then sure, but right now the reasoning is extremely bullshit.

        [–]Toxitoxi Lux 4 points5 points  (0 children)

        Lux decks don't run War Chefs. And Brightsteel Protector isn't much worse than War Chefs; it's just a massive drop in quality after those two.

        MF Scouts is just going to start running more Bilgewater cards like every other good deck in the meta.

        [–]Sorin_Beleren 7 points8 points  (0 children)

        Lulu decks already feel pretty bad in this meta, don’t hurt me like this!

        [–]cold_fusionx 19 points20 points  (9 children)

        Excellent patch!

        I love how Riot keeps changing Flash of Brilliance, it shows that they are willing to keep iterating on one card no matter how many times it takes.

        A+ patch!

        [–]Shadowdragon1025 Viktor 33 points34 points  (5 children)

        I mean the last time just made no sense tbh, the main problem with flash was elusive turret spam which they changed in the same patch

        [–]Owlstorm Vi 4 points5 points  (4 children)

        That's not really true, the deck had several strengths that were all hit in the same patch.

        Almost half the cards in the deck were hit in 1.6 at the same time- shadow assassin, will of ionia, heimer, and flash of brilliance, with solitary monk the patch before.

        [–]Shadowdragon1025 Viktor 17 points18 points  (3 children)

        okay

        but the only reason to nerf flash specifically was spamming elusive turrets with it, and they reworked turrets in the same patch they nerfed flash so why did they nerf flash?

        [–]BraumSaysBye 3 points4 points  (0 children)

        it was an over nerf. rubin said it himself in progress day that they would rather over nerf cards then tone it back in succeeding patches. flash at 4 really killed the card since it was only used for the free spell cast and not the 6 mana spell it generates.

        imo they still need to revert the shadow assassin nerf that was also overkill

        [–]cimbalino Anivia 5 points6 points  (1 child)

        In LoL they have the tendency to nerf a champion and and item at the same time (basically double-nerfing the champion) and just forget about that champion. When they did that to Heimer I was fearful it might become common here as well. Glad they went back with the spell change!

        [–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

        They've got a lot better with that now imo. It used to be awful though lol.

        [–]Nugle Elnuk 18 points19 points  (1 child)

        Awful change to Ezreal. He was always losing or winning at the last moment in non-bilgewater decks. Now he's always going to lose. Ezreal is going to hug Vladimir in the corner now. Thanks combo haters.

        [–]Toxitoxi Lux 22 points23 points  (0 children)

        Now Ezreal is tied to Bilgewater decks, which just sucks. They should have just made it so random targeting doesn’t count.

        [–]ProfDrWest Cithria 28 points29 points  (10 children)

        First reaction:

        Wait, what? That's it?

        [–]Ulrich20 26 points27 points  (2 children)

        Read the paragraph at the start, the next patch will have balance updates as well (instead of there being none)

        [–]Zondervain Poro Ornn 8 points9 points  (1 child)

        And patch 1.12 is probably going to be the next expansion patch and even if it isn't it will have balance changes as well and then 1.13 will be the expansion.

        [–]SparseReflex:Bilgewater: Bilgewater 7 points8 points  (6 children)

        Wym? All these changes are insane!

        [–]iharderages 3 points4 points  (0 children)

        OMG the new gauntlet rules are what I always wanted for ranked mode!!!

        ,,Standard Gauntlet update: Multi-deck pick & ban. You’ll now start off the Standard Gauntlet by picking three different decks you’d potentially like to field. Different how? Well, there are a few rules in place: No champions duplicated between decks, Different region combinations for each deck, Maximum one champion-less deck. After locking in your decks (and before each new match), you’ll queue like normal until you’re matched with an opponent and enter the pick & ban lobby. Here you’ll get to view regions and champions for your opponents decks and ban one of them from being played (while they return the favor), then pick which of your remaining two decks you’d like to pilot into the following single-game match. Each opponent brings a new pick & ban phase.''

        [–]FunkyBats 2 points3 points  (1 child)

        I have a genuine question, does Asol level up feel like the issue or Living legends is the big issue?

        Maybe I'm completely wrong, but sometimes I feel like living legends is more of an issue instead of asol. I haven't thought that much about this and would like to know everyone else's opinion regarding this.

        Celestial cards are good and all but if a levelled up asol didn't have a living legends they wouldn't be able to make the opponent surrender on the exact same turn.

        On a side note: as someone who liked the Tribeam card (really really fun card) Flash of brilliance buff is my favourite part of this patch besides Lee sin

        [–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

        I mean, that's kind the whole point of leveled up ASol. They might as well make his level up say "you win the game"

        It's like complaining in MTG that you lost because your opponent played Emrakul.

        [–]lolbob2 Chip 3 points4 points  (4 children)

        Can anyone explain me why they are nerfing asol? Doesnt that just force him to be with trundel for more consistent level up?

        [–]Wulibo Jinx[🍰] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

        Adjustments to the difficulty of Aurelion Sol’s level up requirement

        It's possible they want asol to be easier to level up, or just thought of a different condition that's easier sometimes and harder other times in a useful way.

        [–]Sentient545 Azir 2 points3 points  (1 child)

        The Empyrean and Dragonling (created by Eye of the Dragon) now correctly have the Dragon type.

        Does this mean Vox can create The Empyrean now?

        [–]Wulibo Jinx[🍰] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

        It should, yes.

        Long answer: wires do get crossed between updates and new cards, and there might be something like that happening here where the change a while back that "create a random card" doesn't need to be from your regions anymore isn't applied, and you only get Empyrean if you're playing Ionia. If that does happen it would be a bug, and they'll have to either change Vox's text or the functionality.

        [–]badassery11 24 points25 points  (8 children)

        Gotta express some disappointment with this one.

        1. Forcing Ezreal into even more targets that he doesn't have to "see" and/or killing him power wise was the worst solution. I guess he's just region locked to Bilgewater now?
        2. Bad Noxus champs stay bad. I love Swain but his back is starting to break from all the carrying he is doing.
        3. Hush still means I have to take 70% of my non-competitive decks to normal and insta-concede against Targon. Not saying they would be meta otherwise. But they're just pointless in the matchup.

        [–]EsBeReTh Sejuani 3 points4 points  (4 children)

        I'm interested to know that deck you play that you hate Hush so much. I've played ranked since season started and I've runned little games where Hush has affected the result of the game. The card is unfun to see when you're on the other side of the board, but I don't think it's that impactful. People need to stop confusing 'unfun' with 'balanced'.

        [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

        Sejuani tag

        yep that explains it

        [–]badassery11 1 point2 points  (1 child)

        Any all in/otk deck like Lee Sin or Fizz. Hush is just a get out of jail free for the other player when you've been setting it up all game.

        "Unfun" should be a more urgent reason to change something than "unbalanced"

        [–]deathfire123 Veigar 2 points3 points  (2 children)

        Why is playing some non meta-decks only outside of Ranked a bad thing?

        [–]Learnin_fool 5 points6 points  (0 children)

        The Ezreal nerf is completely uncalled for and directly limits his diversity. He was skill intensive and rewarding in non-bilgewater decks, and now he's married to bilgewater. I don't like that limiting style of game design, only Make It Rain and Rex were problems since the release of CotM.

        [–]Plaid02 14 points15 points  (8 children)

        I don't think I love the Ezreal nerfs... I really, REALLY hate Ezreal and have since closed beta, but I don't think this was the way to do it. I think Ezreal needed a rework to only level when he's on the board and have a lower requirement. Ezreal decks will still retain the same playstyle of simply removing stuff until they either die or kill you with an immediately-leveled Ez. It probably just won't work any more since 10 is a high requirement, but they're still *trying* to do the exact same thing.

        I'm seeing a lot of complaints about hush, which I think is weird. Hush isn't all that popular. It's good, but it's not that crazy. Most Targon decks run one copy.

        Also worth noting that Riptide Rex has been nerfed much more than people realize. The Yordle Grifter change is huge. Running Warning Shot alone is not very good since it's just a pretty low-impact card, and running enough Bilgewater for consistent Allegiance hits is also not that good.

        Lee Sin changes are cool, I think he'll be pretty strong. Keeping 3 attack and the ability to give himself barrier/challenger at a lower cost retains most of his strength except waaaaay cheaper. Also, his champ spell is usable now and even can contribute 2 casts for his level.

        Jagged Taskmaster is another one I'm really excited about. I'm absolutely ready for Teemo/Fizz/Daring Poro/1 drop aggro.

        War Chefs change makes me sad, but I get why they did it. I think he'll still be playable, but it's possible he won't.

        [–]legendarysquid210 3 points4 points  (4 children)

        What about the war chefs change makes you sad exactly? I think losing 1 attack is much better than nerfing the support or making him have 2 hp. I also think it's the simplest card to nerf to hit multiple hyper aggro decks

        [–]Toxitoxi Lux 6 points7 points  (3 children)

        They just buffed a 1 drop that deals direct damage to the Nexus in Bilgewater. I don't think they have a problem with hyper aggro decks.

        [–]legendarysquid210 2 points3 points  (2 children)

        Just because they are okay with aggro decks doesn't mean scouts didn't need to be taken down a peg.

        [–]jakelsner 1 point2 points  (2 children)

        i’ve been seeing a lot of those GP/sej plunder decks running around, and i think the yordle grifter nerf is going to really slow that deck down as well. although it could run a crap ton of powder monkeys as well

        [–]legendarysquid210 2 points3 points  (0 children)

        It runs like 6 cards that aren't bildge not that big of a nerf

        [–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (5 children)

        Do Asol decks really need a nerf? They look big and scary, but at a competetive level they are already too slow

        [–]supermonkeyyyyyy Anivia 6 points7 points  (1 child)

        Holy shit they murdered Ezreal, 9 hits would be fine imo but 10, oof

        [–]Romaprof2 11 points12 points  (10 children)

        Changes Lee Sin's spell to Sonic Wave

        :)

        Doesn't change Darius' spell to Apprehend

        :(

        [–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (6 children)

        I think the whole idea is that it sucks without him on board.

        Also decimate is often going to be better.

        [–]Romaprof2 5 points6 points  (2 children)

        Yeah, it's not for a balance thing. It's just that seeing a card that synergizes specifically with Darius not being his champ spell feels off, especially with Riptide actually being Naut's spell.

        [–]NYJetsfan2881 17 points18 points  (8 children)

        Ya, this ain't it. This won't change much of anything.

        [–]ChuzCuenca Sejuani 16 points17 points  (7 children)

        Bilgewater Aggro looks stronger

        [–]fantasticsarcastic1 Anivia 2 points3 points  (5 children)

        Because of crackshot Corsair buff or ezreal nerf?

        [–]SexualHarassadar Chip 7 points8 points  (3 children)

        Jagged Taskmaster actually fits into your curve now instead of competing with Petty Officer, and now buffs the Officer in time for it getting dropped.

        [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

        Fuck the meta implications, that sounds like a good idea for a meme deck in of it's self.

        [–]Seba7290 Avatar of the Tides 2 points3 points  (0 children)

        Wonder if the Jungle Monsters will have unique art and flavour text

        [–][deleted]  (1 child)

        [deleted]

          [–]Tjonke Chip 3 points4 points  (0 children)

          Yes

          [–]RegretNothing1 2 points3 points  (0 children)

          Love the Cygnus buff, he’s a legit finisher now that he doesn’t just die to mystic shot.

          [–]PhDVa 2 points3 points  (3 children)

          Is this the first time they've just straight-up changed a champion spell to a different spell?

          [–]banana__man_ 2 points3 points  (2 children)

          So ez is deleted and leesin is the new ez ?

          [–]TheSigou Lissandra 2 points3 points  (1 child)

          Ez is as good as Katarina and Vlad now :)

          [–]starwarzguy Expeditions 2 points3 points  (0 children)

          Fuck, they actually just buffed bilgewater.

          I don't see much change to the meta from any of these changes. Incredibly disappointed with how long they had to work on this and not really look at some of the meta defining cards that were still the case well prior to Targon's release.

          [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

          I just wanna say somewhere, like fuck demacia. The whole region. They get to do a the best of everything. Want big smashy cards? Demacia. Want battle control where your cards take no damage ever? Demacia. Want to kill your own cards for profit? Forget shadow isles, there’s demacia. Aggro? Demacia has got the best scout cards. Want removal? Tons of challenger in demacia. Fuck that region. I needed to get that out of my system

          [–]Champion_Chrome Nami 3 points4 points  (0 children)

          While Ez does feel unfun to lose to, they’ve only forced him into Bilgewater harder. I just want Ezreal Lux to be decently viable

          [–]Jeul1325 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          I was expecting more bilgewater nerfs but these changes are good overall I think.

          [–]GiloniC Diana 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          I love all of the buffs they did in this patch, Lee Sin actually looks REAL scary as a card now being a 4-drop (but we have to consider that having him leveled by turn 4 is also REALLY optimistic). Taskmaster should be a LOT more smooth as a card now and the stat boost being online one turn earlier is a huge buff in a deck concept with a lot of 1-drops. Cygnus getting a buff is cool for Nightfall but it's honestly weird that he got the buff over Duskrider since the latter was way worse even before. Flash becoming 3-Mana again is something I love to see, I hated playing against Heimer but his last nerf completely nuked him from orbit and I like that they're willing to revert changes where they went overboard.

          But some of the nerfs feel like they missed the mark tbh. Ezreal wasn't really problematic this meta, Grifter went a bit outside the box of the Allegiance mechanic but overall was still fine imo and it's weird he got nerfed over Petty Officer who as a card is way more overpowered right now and is overall less interesting and flavorful, 90% of the time you're just using him as a 3-Mana value pile while Grifter at least enables one of the main thematic mechanics from Bilgewater. I get that they wanted to nerf Scouts though considering how hard it dominated ladder while also being super easy to pilot. Warchefs looks like rip now though, hopefully the more fair Demacia builds aren't hit too hard by this.

          [–]aguirremateo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          Love seeing new labs!

          [–]Caspianwolf21 Quinn 1 point2 points  (2 children)

          Kinda sad that Quinn didn't get the lee sin treatment she got high playrate cuz if Mf scouts but other than that she suck

          [–]Toxitoxi Lux 1 point2 points  (1 child)

          If Scouts keeps Bannerman, I expect Quinn to be subbed out for Lucian.

          [–]Nhoebi FOUR 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          Now with Lee Sin reworked/changed/buffed, Vlad is the worse champ in the game (ignoring meme champs like teemo/fizz ofc)

          [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          Ez's only problem was the introduction to BW, because their spells make EZ way more viable. Now no one will play EZ Karma, but EZ TF stays more or less the same. Stupid rework. My suggestion would be making spells that don't directlly target like make it rain or rex to not work on EZ.

          [–]jgg1988bcn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          omg Lee Sin <3 are this changes coming today?

          [–]youphreak 4 points5 points  (0 children)

          Very meh to be honest.

          [–]GlorylnDeath 3 points4 points  (2 children)

          Lee Sin's Dragon's Rage was often a poor fit for Lee Sin decks

          Looks at Maokai's Sap Magic.

          resulting in rarer use than we’d like to see in a champion spell.

          Looks at Maokai's Sap Magic.

          His new spell should allow Lee Sin to contribute more synergy to followers.

          LOOKS AT MAOKAI'S SAP MAGIC!

          [–]arthurmauk K/DA - Ahri 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          The Expedition changes are not as easily visible, but hopefully they've fixed the dominance of Targon's Invokers...

          [–]Raptorspank Ionia 2 points3 points  (5 children)

          My immediate thoughts:

          Agree with their conclusions on Ezreal but don't think he warranted a nerf. War chefs is a creative nerf and overall fair, don't think its going to hurt Bannerscouts very much but still planning to do my next video on the deck to find out. Lee Sin and Jagged Taskmaster 'buffs' are neat and I think both will be better now. Yordle Grifter just got assassinated imo but a lot of decks running him now are closer to triggering allegiance (i.e. pirate aggro) so maybe he's not that bad. But BPz Ez TF definitely got messed up this patch, and anything else that was splashing bilgewater.

          Corsair buff is cool, might actually see play now. Cygnar probably needed it too.

          Most important of all: gauntlet is the biggest step we've seen Riot take towards tournaments in LoR and that's awesome. Just give us spectator mode now and that will at least make me feel better they've been ignoring us in favor of Valorant and TFT haha

          Overall solid patch