Day 4 comes in with a SMASH, the big boy has landed and I am so down for it! Today we only get 5.5 cards but they pack a punch!
Galio
7 mana Champion
Demacia
0/8
Spellshield, Formidable
When I’m summoned, grant other allies +0|+3
Level Up
Round end: Your allies have 25+ total health
Galio (Level 2)
7 mana Champion
Demacia
0/9
Spellshield, Formidable
When I’m summoned, grant other allies +0|+3
Each round, the first time an Ally takes damage, Rally
BOY IS HUGE. Effectively an 8/8 for 7, with spellshield, that gives your team a huge health boost the moment he comes down and then is a pain to try and remove. Only thing he’s missing is overwhelm, which I’m fine with him missing. I think this level makes him very powerful but not overwhelmingly (ha) overpowered. Just like his other followers suggested, he goes great with things like Poppy, Soraka, Braum, tons of options. Then after his flip, his pressure and the amount he restricts your opponent’s ability to do much without putting themselves at risk really excites me. Maybe I’m wrong here, but I’m really looking forward to putting Galio’s crew, Poppy, and Yordle smith into the same pile.
Shield of Durand (Galio’s champ spell)
3 mana Burst Spell
Demacia
Grant an ally +0|+3. At the next Round Start, grant it +0|+2
+0|+5 effectively for 3 mana is pretty strong, especially if you consider this is likely going to be +5|+5 in a Formidable deck. A great way to let your units live through combat and get massive for one trick. Helps keep fated units from ever dying to something shy of a vengeance or culling strike. A lasting buff like this in demacia is also a good way to keep more crucial units like say, Fiora alive very efficiently as well. I look forward to busting this out a few times.
Gorlith the Unscalable
9 mana Follower
Demacia
0/10
Tough, Formidable
When I’m summoned, swap my health and your Nexus’ health. I can’t be blocked by enemies with less health than me.
Well that is one spooky owl. Possibly able to come down and literally 1-shot the enemy nexus with little counterplay unless they have removal instantly. Able to heal your Nexus by up to 9 when he comes down worst case scenario, bird has a lot of power to him, unlike some of the recent epics we’ve seen. This guy I expect to see paired with any of the protection regions to make it so he can just bonk the enemy in one go, be it Targon (Bastion), Bandle City (Friendship), or Ionia (Denies and Nopifies), if you get him through once, that’s usually it. With tough it’s hard to chip hm down enough to make him blockable as well. A powerful effect that I’m also excited to be terrified of as a potential Loping Telescope pull…
Mountain Drake
5 mana Follower
Demacia
0/6
Fury, Formidable
Fury grants me +0|+2 instead of +1|+1
6/6 base that heals for 2 on kill is a LOT of stats and very hard to handle, like most of the Formidable units. Like Gorlith and Galio, this guy does lose almost everything if he gets silenced, but if he gets going and the opponent doesn’t have an immediate answer, he’s very hard to stop, as chump-blocking doesn’t really chip him down like his stony brothers. Ruined Dragonguard means he gets MASSIVE as well (+0|+4 per kill!) Like a lot of Demacia stuff, it’s well costed stats and little more, but on a Dragon where Clutch can make those stats a lot more threatening, he could see some play.
Winds of War
3 mana Slow Spell
Demacia
Heal an ally to full. Then, that ally and an enemy strike each other.
Slow but very effective as a fight spell, I’m not sure just how much play this one will see, as a huge part of why Single Combat, Strafing Strike and Concerted are so powerful is their speed making them easy to angle in with. This could see some play in a deck with the Formidables, especially with Soraka where healing is a bonus, but I’m not certain immediately.
Conclusion
Galio and the Formidables are all very efficiently statted units that all get very sad if you silence them, they also have a built in limiter in that if they get too big for their britches, then Noxus with Culling Strike, Reckoning, and it’s ability to execute damaged units can rise up. I feel like Formidable will definitely have a deck, and gives Soraka a great place to exist outside of Tahm decks, it also expands Braum’s pool for what he can do. I plan to play Poppy Galio for a week after he’s released, then prosper, or get very sad at the result. Unlike LoL they really did make Galio and his lot feel as large as they’re supposed to and I like the pressure that Galio exerts from the moment he drops.