1.8 Patch: Call Of The Mountain – Part 3 – The Meta Shift

Hello! Kairux here once again for the final part of my The Meta Shift series regarding the 1.8 Patch: Call of the Mountain. In this series, I talk about all the new stuff that comes along with the 1.8 patch. Part 1 is about the new keywords, part 2 is about the new champions, and part 3 is about the new notable non-champion cards.

The 1.8 patch brings us 82 new non-Champion cards split across 8 different factions, majority of it going to Targon. That’s pretty much a given since its a new region. In this post, I’ll be walking through the new notable non-Champion cards and my thoughts on them.

Let’s get right to it.

Freljord’s Trolls

The new 1.8 patch brings us Trundle’s trolls. Most of them makes use of the Beholder keyword, making them great additions to decks that generally carry multiple 8+ cost cards for big end game finishes. They have good stat lines – average attack but high Health coupled with Regeneration makes it difficult to remove them from the board. Trolls are good for defensive usage, dragging out the game and gunning for the late game.

Young Witch

Elusive Support unit that grants +1 / 0 and Quick Attack. Young Witch generates pressure in the early game with the Quick Attack Support bonus along with her Elusive keyword. She’s difficult to deal with unless you have an Elusive unit that can be used to block her or a removal spell. Great addition to any Support-based decks.

Spacey Sketcher

Low-cost Celestial enabler. Spacey Sketcher Invokes a Celestial card that costs 3 or less. This is particularly helpful to get you through the early rounds of the game or to enable Celestial spells that require you to Behold another Celestial. I strongly feel that Spacey Sketcher will be a staple in most Celestial decks.

Mentor of the Stones

Mentor of the Stones will be a staple in Support-based decks. For 3-mana, the least you can get are 3 Gems back in your hand in case he does not even get to attack. That’s still pretty good. On the other hand, you get a +2 / +2 on one of your units if he gets to attack. Even if he dies during combat, that’s still immense value for a 3-drop unit. Definitely a must-have on Support decks.

Hush

Hush has the potential to turn games around especially in the late game during crucial turns of attack. Multiple Burst Silences on ANY UNIT as long as your mana permits it is no joke.

Written In Stars

One of the best Celestial spells to come out with the 1.8 patch. Written In Stars is like a jacked-up Entreat, reducing the Champion’s cost by 1 and boosting its base stats. While the boost in base stats is solid, its the cost reduction that makes this card great. You can drop your Champion 1 turn earlier than you normally would have and that makes a huge difference.

Rahvun, Daylight’s Spear

Rahvun, Daylight’s Spear is the fix to Daybreak’s inherent limitation of being activated only once per turn. Consequently, expect Daybreak decks to run 3 copies of him as he will be a staple for the archetype. Aside from that, his Daybreak effects also let him generate another Daybreak card on your hand which essentially makes him a +0. Solid card overall.

Encroaching Shadows

Ever since I started playing the game, I’ve held this fascination towards the Ephemeral archetype and how it plays. Since Ephemeral units die immediately after attacking regardless of the result, they’re mostly geared towards overwhelming the opposition through massive offensives. Encroaching Shadows takes that a step further as it boosts your deck’s overall attack power in exchange for them being Ephemeral units. I can definitely see Hecarim decks using this card. Right now, I’m currently very tempted to do some experimentation with this card. If I ever get around that, I’ll definitely post my findings here.

There you have final part of my personal rundown of the 1.8 patch. I hope you enjoyed reading through this series and that you learned some new insight on the new update.

Many thanks for indulging me in this post. I hope you enjoyed and learned something from this. If you want to read about other Legends of Runeterra content, you can find them here at Captain.

Until the next post. Ciao!