Patch 4.11: New Cards Review (November 2023)

The Variety Patch is here, and with it, a bunch of new cards were released to Legends of Runeterra. These cards always come to the game with the goal of supporting a weak mechanic, or targeting a very strong mechanic in the meta.

Let's see which new cards will be available from November 8th onward. This article is based on my 3-year experience casting and competing in several Legends of Runeterra tournaments.

We'll use the following rating system for the cards - from ★☆☆☆☆ to - ★★★★★:

★★★★★ - Very strong card, that will probably define the meta, and will be present in many decks.

★★★★☆ - Strong card, that will be important for specific archetypes.

★★★☆☆ - Good card, that only shines in specific archetypes.

★★☆☆☆ - Bad card, that only works in very specific situations.

★☆☆☆☆ - Very bad card, that doesn't make sense in any archetype.

★★★★☆ - This unit is quite solid and can be an extremely consistent control tool in Midrange Noxus lists. This card is also a great addition to Neeko piles, as it is a type of unit that previously didn't belong to this archetype.

Even though it has somewhat weak health stats, Enraged Firespitter is a versatile unit that can help you control the opponent's board through its direct damage and the Challenger keyword.

This unit is a commemorative follower honoring the community player "Rusticles", and therefore it isn't fair to grade this card. I strongly recommend reading Riot Games' article, "Dev For a Day", on the main Legends of Runeterra website, to understand more about this card and the whole story behind it!

★★☆☆☆ - This unit is unfortunately very expensive, and it is difficult to make it work. Chemtech Drake will deal damage to the enemy Nexus for each card you obliterate when you draw with a full hand. For that, you need to set up on your board a combo setup that makes it possible to deal enough damage to your enemy to kill them, destroying your own deck in the process.

It isn't the least bit clear how this card's combo will work, and, as it is an extremely expensive unit, it is fair to give it a bad grade, because it probably won't see play.

★★☆☆☆ - Boadir unfortunately occupies 3 spaces on your board, and that really disrupts the strategy in lists that work around Lissandra's archetype. This card also doesn't bring any keyword, and is extremely expensive.

Even though the thralls landmarks that go on board through this card already have their countdown set to 2, Lissandra is really weak right now, and Boadir of Blackened Ice doesn't help this archetype enough to make it see play.

★★★★☆ - This unit has an expensive cost to be summoned, but you can pay it with something other than mana. You must destroy up to three units, or 3 mana gems, to summon Dune Swallower. You can also alternate between slaying allied units and mana gems, destroying 2 gems and an ally, for instance. Like so, it is still a very strong unit, which carries with itself very strong stats, and very relevant keywords in the context of the meta currently.

Shadow Isles is the region that can support this strategy more synergistically. So, it is possible that some Shadow Isles and Shurima decks will start appearing in the next few days.

★★☆☆☆ - This is one of the most beautiful units of all times in Runeterra. It is the omega-boat. The community meme of "boat" cards drawing their respective champions finds its peak with this unit, that draws all champions in your deck.

It is a unit that enables a few cool combos with Shurima, but, as it is a 9-cost follower, it will hardly see play, besides also not having a keyword.

★★★☆☆ - This unit carries in its effect a built-in Condense effect that only works with Titanic units. This effect is quite strong, and brings a reasonably fair consistency degree. But, as it is a very expensive card, and also as it doesn't have any keywords, it is very difficult to give this follower a good grade.

This unit can potentially end the game with its effect, however, as it isn't guaranteed that you'll be able to take advantage of the effect on your Manifested Titanic unit, it is easy to say that Portia will not see a lot of play.

Maybe it will see play in lists built specifically to make it work right, reducing its cost to make the combo easier to play.

★★☆☆☆ - Out of all followers presented so far, this is the one that can be played with a discounted mana cost that is easier to achieve by abusing level 2 Nautilus' text. However, due to its effect of creating cards randomly not having any restriction, it is very easy to create horrible cards that need synergy to work. Synergies which your Deep list won't have.

Not to mention, you need to play units on board after you develop this unit to make its effect work efficiently, which is very slow.

★★★★☆ - This unit is extremely strong, and can revive Shadow Isles' archetype of killing allied units. For 6 mana, you'll be placing on board stats equivalent to a 13/7 follower divided into two units, and one of them has Fearsome.

Usually, the unit you will slay will be a 1/1 or a 0/1, so, when you play this card on board, it will be a lot of value created for free for a very low cost.

This card, alone, will give new airs to Shadow Isles, which can be aggressive once again.

★★★☆☆ - This unit is quite fair, and has a relatively strong effect that might be interesting, even though it requires you to build your list in an optimized way to make it work consistently.

The problem with this card is that it is too fair, as Targon has many healing and control tools that are much better than Veiled Protector.

If you've read this far, now you know which are the new cards added in the Variety Patch.

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