The new Legends of Runeterra Expansion has dropped, with the 2.7.0 patch which was deployed in the morning of May 5th.
The Guardians of the Ancient Expansion introduces three new Champions: Zilean, Malphite, and Irelia.
The Expansion brings a host of new Landmarks, with Malphite Levelling Up when 12+ mana has been spent on Landmarks. The cards that come with Zilean, and mostly fall under Shurima, will synergise well as they add more options to Advance Landmarks. These will also fit in nicely with other Shurima decks, especially those based around the Sun Disc.
Irelia introduces a new Keyword, which mostly seems to be for Ionia only, and that is Blade Dance.
Blade Dance will summon the relevant number of Blades, which then immediately attack your opponent. This attack is free, and can occur with or without an Attack Token, and will no consume an Attack Token either.
Overall, the Expansion brings 42 new cards; all of which can be found here.
Coming with these cards are also two new Challenges to help introduce new Landmark synergies and the Blade Dance keyword. Shurima, Targon, and Ionia's Region Roads have also been extended by 4 levels to coincide with the release of their new Champions.
Personalisation
Coming with the Expansion is a new Board, The Time Temple, as well as two new Guardians, Chip and Chrono Chip.
We also get a Zilean Card Back, Zilean and Irelia Emotes, and a new Shurima Icon.
Card Changes and Miscellaneous
A couple of nerfs are going the way of Atrocity and Blighted Caretaker. Nasus Thresh decks are simply above the thresholds of what Riot deems healthy, so they want to take it down a notch. The focus is on the Shadow Isles part of the deck, as they want to leave Nasus and Shurima intact.
Atrocity's cost is going up, from 6 to 7, while Blighted Caretaker is losing 1 power, down to 1 | 1.
Mushrooms will now do their aggregated damage all at once when drawn, rather than one after the other. Drawing five Mushrooms, for example, will now deal 5 Damage rather than 1 Damage five times.
Effects for Rally and Round Start have been improved, and Cards created by Concurrent Timelines will inherit Prismatic effects. Cross-Shard Friend Challenge is also no longer being supported, as the Challenge used old tech. Removing it means that new tech can be put in place, allowing for development of other features.
Despite hopes of the coronavirus pandemic situation improving, the German Games Industry Association have announced that gamescom 2021 will be a free, online-only event.
