Welcome to Day 2 of new card releases from A Curious Journey!
New Keyword: Attach
play me on an ally to give it my stats and keywords while I’m attached. When that ally leaves play, recall me.
So basically you have units that instead of playing as just a unit, you can play them as a spell, in Targon. As if Fated wasn’t enough of a powerhouse. It seems to follow the same timing restrictions of normal unit play, so nothing silly like mid-combat Yuumi and friends at least. Looking ahead at today’s offerings, this allows you to grant Spellshield, quick attack, double attack, and elusive in addition to Yuumi’s own buff. The keyword seems exclusively linked to the Fae, so we may see a couple variants of Fae decks by the end of all this, and in general when it doesn’t take a card to buff something, that can be very powerful. The guaranteed value, and the fact that it RECALLS specifically could lead to some interesting shenanigans in the future. One interaction that may impact how powerful Attach is is Silence, if they still recall while the attachee is silenced, then that’s fine, but a lot of value is lost if a hush can give you a 2-for-1 on a Yuumi and friend.Â
Yuumi (Level 1)
3 mana Fae Champion
Bandle City/Targon
2/2
Attach (play me on an ally to give it my stats and keywords while I’m attached. When that ally leaves play, recall me)
Round start: Grant the unit I’m attached to +1|+1. Otherwise grant me +1|+1 instead.
Level Up; I or the unit I’m Attached to have attacked 3 times.
Yuumi (Level 2)
3 mana Fae Champion
Bandle City/Targon
3/3
Attach, Spellshield
When I level up or Round Start: Grant the unit I’m attached to Spellshield and +1|+1. Otherwise, grant me Spellshield and +1|+1 instead.
This one already seems stranger than I’d expect. Stacking buffs (or ‘scaling’ if you’d prefer) suits Yuumi, the cost is higher than I’d expect, same with the base statline. The prospect of giving something Spellshield every round is quite powerful, Anything that wants to get in there would love to have a cat on them. Pantheon, Shyvana, Taric, Poppy, there are few BAD targets for Yuumi since you can just toss the cat on someone and have them gradually get bigger in the worst case scenario.
Prowling Projectile
2 mana Fast Spell
Bandle City
Deal 1 to a unit. Grant an Ally +1|+0
Simple, effective, removal and buff. The fact that that +1|+0 will more often than not be +2|+1 due to Fated makes it a lot more appealing as well. This spell is made to set up for two-for-ones, and great value swings. Be it punishing what the opponent thinks is a few safe blocks, or just triggering Pantheon for the turn, this is a ping to look out for, even if it doesn’t have the draw a card stipulation of Pokey Stick, filling two purposes at once makes up for that rather effectively in some decks.
Assistant Librarian
2 mana Fae Follower
Bandle City
2/2
Fated
Nexus Strike: Draw a spell that costs 3 or less
This one is interesting, it has the rivershaper ability of finding specific spells if you’re a spell-light combo type deck, but with the Zap Sprayfin stipulation of only small things. Nexus strike on a small unit without elusive is usually tricky, but having fated makes any early block while you have mana a tough ask for your opponent, as this mouse gets big fast. Being able to help refuel it’s fated triggers as well is very appealing. I could see him holding a Zenith Blade very well, and filling out the early game curve of Pantheon lists very effectively.
Friendship!
4 mana Burst Spell
Bandle City
Give an ally Barrier or Spellshield this round
Okay, now THIS is closer to the Bandle City Deny I suppose. Focused on protecting your key units, flexible, I could see this doing good things. It clearly has a cost associated with the flexibility, seeing as it is +1 mana from Prismatic Barrier and missing the +1|+1 from Bastion. This one will see play in any sort of ‘protect the queen’ style decks where keeping one unit alive guarantees you the game, Veigar comes to mind as a champion that loves this card since he can stay alive much more often due to it, I’m uncertain how loose the spots are in current Darkness lists, but we could see an adaptation thanks to this!
Quick Quill
2 mana Fae Follower
Bandle City
1/1
Attach, Quick attack
Not the most efficient for mana, but very efficient for cards, as Bandle City is known to be. The lower than average statline on Attach cards makes me uncertain about how effective they will be overall, same as the others though, this is one that could definitely see a deck form around itself and fated to great effect. At the very least, Wounded Whiteflame is likely to take up writing by the looks of it!
Scholarly Climber
4 mana Yordle Follower
Bandle City/Targon
5/4
Spellshield
Beefy boy, no fated there but good statline for good cost with protection built in. Good target for Yuumi since he can’t be targeted immediately, but not certain beyond that. Multi-region and fairly large so this could see some play in Tristana, maybe. Besides that, not much of a home for this fella.
Papercraft Dragon
5 mana Fae Follower
Bandle City
2/2
Double Attack, Attach
Huge cost, but huge payoff. Double attack is (rightly), a very hard keyword to get onto units since it can often end the game almost instantly. The notable curve of Pantheon turn 4 into Papercraft on him Turn 5 makes a fierce 7/5 Overwhelm Double Attacker that ends the game VERY quickly. Tossing this on any Elusive makes for fun and fair gameplay, seeing as the last time we were able to give double attack to Elusives in a very restrictive manner, that card got nerfed. Whoever you want to beat face with, toss them an origami. If they die? Toss the origami on someone else!!! The fact that the Lantern card from yesterday brings this cost down to 3 is spooky as well, as it makes the efficiency of this beast massive! Even a Sparklefly wears this fella quite well.
Also, why isn’t it a dragon? Sad Shyvana.
Mushroom Ring
3 mana Fae Follower
Bandle City/Ionia
2/2
Quick Attack
When I’m Summoned or Round Start: Give me power this round equal to the number of other allied Fae in play or Attached.
This bouncy buddy turns into a 5/2 quick attack very quickly, but lacks the immediate impact that similar cards have. Understated to begin with, but once again a very good target for overwhelm granters, could just be a solid middle of the road beatstick in a Fae deck, not a massive payoff for the cost.
Rainbowfish
4 mana Fae Follower
Bandle City
2/1
Elusive, Attach
This is silly. Wounded whiteflame on 3, Rainbowfish on 4, Papercraft on 5. Really though, curving Librarian into these or LITERALLY ANYTHING is horrifying. Granting Elusive on a non-temporary basis does a lot for trying to curve the power of elusive based decks, as it gives another way to block them. At the same time, it just makes Elusive that much more of a menace since it can go on anyone. The fact that attaches happen instantly, but your opponent does get a priority opportunity to interact is very important and we’ll have to see just how the deck shake out after this.
Thoughts:
Fated was powerful before we got all of it’s support. The level of power on these cards genuinely makes me wonder if they’re going to leave Ahri kennen as is and throw down the gauntlet by pumping up everything around it which interests me. The flexibility of these cards makes it so you can do many different zany Attach decks and I’m excited to see where it brings us… but hope Riot is watching closely with the old Nerf hammer…
Bonus points for making Yuumi’s stuff on release busted just like they did for Yuumi’s League release. Fiora may also come back with all these tools.Â
Edit; After this was posted, it was revealed by a Rioter that silence and transform effects will NOT remove the buffs or attachment from a unit. This means the archetype is much harder to counter than we may expect it to be.
