The most affected champions by the rule change in LoR

The 3.6 patch update brought significant rule changes for the game - among them, a change which altered 61 cards. The change in question is the merge of Cast and Play, besides Target also being changed to be activated at Play.

And what is to play? To Play, defined by Riot itself in the Patch Notes, is when a card leaves your hand and goes into play or is discarded.

Among the reasons pointed out by Riot to have this change, there are: Unify the time of Spell Casters to have more consistency and clarity, increase the satisfaction of game mechanics such as Lux and Heimerdinger, increase the overall utility of Slow spells and free up space for new mechanics.

But so what, what changed? As the update was launched on wednesday (27), it is still too early to classify everything, but I singled out the main champions affected by the changes and brought explanations to the changes so that you can understand. Let's go!

Starting with Lux and Jayce, which before couldn't level up in case the 6+ mana spells (the ones that weren't burst) were canceled, now just by the spell leaving your hand to go into play, they are able to go into level 2.

The effect of the spell can still be canceled, but it already counted for both champions' progresses. However, now a leveled Lux doesn't generate 2 Final Spark when Jayce copies a 6 mana spell. That happens because now, the copied spell is a creation, so it is not counted as played.

This Jayce Lux interaction is similar to his and Albus Ferros's interaction, which also doesn't increase his skill damage for the copied Jayce spells, only for the played ones.

Heimerdinger also got similar to Lux. Now, when you play a slow or fast spell, Heimer creates a Turret instantly in your hand. Before, that only happened with burst spells, so it was very common that Heimer went into play and got removed without generating any Turrets.

So, the champion is quite better with this change.

Probably the most negatively affected champion, Karma lost much of her power with the rule changes.

Basically, all the decks that she was a main character were nerfed. The Karma Lux itself lost its power because the copied spells by Karma are creations, so Lux only creates one Final Spark when Karma duplicates a 6+ mana spell.

The same thing happens with Karma Ezreal, the deck that until the last update was the most played among the Karma decks. Now with a leveled Ezreal and Karma in play, he will only deal Nexus damage for the spells played, that is: the additional damage that came from Karma duplicated spells no longer exists, and the deck lost much of his potential to close out games.

Speaking of Ezreal, there he is. Now he levels up a lot easier! You know that denied Statikk Shock that didn't count for him? Now just by leaving your hand and targeting the units, Ezreal already progresses 2 points for his countdown to level up.

The opponent can even cancel the spell to not have their units hurt, but it won't affect Ezreal's level up progress. By leveling up earlier, the damage is even worse, because just by playing a spell (be it on the Nexus or on an enemy) the additional damage that he deals to the Nexus already goes through instantly.

So, depending on the opponent's Nexus health, Ezreal might burst lethal without the opponent even realizing it. It's quite broken!

With the change to Target, now it is a lot easier to activate the Fated from Pantheon and crew, because fast spells like Single Combat and Concerted Strike, which before could be canceled and stop the progress from Fated, now by only being played it's activated.

The same works with Taric, who levels up when allies are supported or targeted. Now, with the fast combat spells activating Target easier, the champion levels up much faster.

As Taric's text changed, there are a couple interactions happening which are unexpected to say the least. One of them is with the spell Unyielding Spirit, which by being played on Taric, it's instantly copied to the supported ally, making it imortal. Again, this spell can be canceled on Taric, but as his skill is burst, the supported ally will be immortal.

Now Nami also increases allies' stats when a fast or slow spell is played. The card doesn't need to resolve for this to happen.

Another champion that levels up faster with these changes is Aphelios.

Before, if the target from Calibrum or Gravitum (the opponent's in that case) disappeared, the card would vanish, and if the target from Infernum and Severum was removed (in targeted allies in that case) the card would also vanish.

Now, just by committing the use of the weapon, Aphelios levels up before the card's resolution. Oh, and if the weapons are denied by Deny or Nopeify!, it also doesn't interfere with the progress of the champion's level up, and will only have their effects annulled.

These were only a few of the affected champions. As it is a recent thing, there are still many interactions to be discovered, so, I won't be able to single out everything.

But what about you? Do you know of any new interactions I haven't mentioned here in this article? Let me know in the comment section! ;)