[2023] Patch 4.5 Variety Cards Reveal!

Note: We’ve hit a small malfunction with the billions of porobots that make up our website– we have a localized article with this information coming out soon but wanted to get some important context to you all ASAP-

Check out all of the new cards being added in the upcoming patch. Full Patch Notes can be found here tomorrow, May 23rd with full details of upcoming content and all of the Eternal Balance changes being introduced. As a small exciting addition to this patch we’re introducing four new subtypes. Full details on those can be found in the Full Patch Notes as well!

Also, check out the cards at the following sites:

Dak.gg

Runescola

MasteringRuneterra

Condense

Variety patches are a great place for us to give little, thematic tools that can help boost a region's identity - and no region does "tricky" and "tiny" like Bandle City. You'd have to be pretty dense to not see all the opportunities here, whether it's making your own tiny version of an opponent's big Play Effect minion, or even just rerolling on a Conchologist for an extra 1 mana.

Perfidious Promoter

Following close on the heels of Sett and Jack, this shady supporter always has what you need, at a price you can exactly afford. Never let those excess coins go to waste again! And even if you end up not liking what he has to offer, you'll still be expanding your vocabulary when you look up the definition of "perfidious."

Altar to Unity

In the last Variety set, Demacia got a premiere unit with excellent stats for the cost. But what about poor Silverwing Vanguard and Dragonguard Lookout - is there a place for them in the square statted Demacian legion? Well, with just a small dedication to Demacian Unity, now all of your cards can be as buff as a badgerbear!

Blowback

While discard and damage aren't new concepts for Piltover, Blowback gives you a lot of options for both in just one card. Need to dump your hand and take a chunk off the opposing Nexus? Blowback has you. In topdeck mode and need just a bit more damage? Blowback's never a blank. While this is obviously another strong weapon in Jinx's arsenal, we also think Blowback has a place in other PZ strategies that can end up with extra cards hanging around.

Captain Indari

While Samira has been doing just fine without her full complement of crewmates, we wanted to be sure every level of her squad was well represented. While Indari tends to play a little more cautiously than some of her plundering allies, she can forge your aggressive early units into game ending threats.

Innovative Blacksmith

While we just wrote an article detailing how we're removing some healing from Freljord's identity, we do want them to access it under more specific conditions. In this case, we want to make sure that Ornn and his forgehands can withstand the heat until the late game, and this smith can give the drip healing you need to live until the hammer drops.

Sacrificial Scholar

There's nothing worse than going all-in on a Fated unit, only to have your incredibly rude opponent Vengeance it. Or maybe you're feeling bad about spending your buffs early, knowing they won't be there to help build Pantheon into an incredibly powerful well-oiled fighting machine. But with the Sacrificial Scholar on your side, you can buff freely, knowing you'll get your investment back once he's gone.

Editor’s Note: As mentioned above, we have four new animal subtypes being introduced in this set - Birds, Cats, Dogs, and Reptiles. While we'll be going back through existing cards and adding these subtypes where they make sense, we also wanted to introduce a representative of each faction in the Variety set.

Royal Shimmerwing

Up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a... no, it's definitely a bird. Birds in LoR are generally great at starting fights and less great at surviving them, but with the Royal Shimmerwing around, they can peck away at the opposing units without losing a feather.

Grave Companion

With this good boy on your side, no dead body goes to waste, as he'll throw you a bone to replace the first thing you lose each turn. With dogs being more spread out across Runeterra than some of our subtypes, it didn't feel right to focus on a "play as many dogs as possible" card right now, since trying to build a dog deck may leave you barking up the wrong tree. But Grave Companion is still a strong generic Shadow Isles tool that may fit in well with a certain Dog Champ.

Editor’s Note: It’s Nasus. Nasus is Dog. Dog is Nasus. If this tidbit doesn’t leave you wanting more details from the article tomorrow, I don’t know what will.

Pack Attack

We've all heard that cats have nine lives, but in reality, they just have made eight ephemeral copies of themselves. While cats can fit a lot of different strategies, being able to get a free attacking copy of them is almost always strong, and may get even stronger with kitties we have yet to release.

Beguiling Cobra

Wait, is this ANOTHER Ionian card? We did intend to show off a Reptile, but do we really want to? Yes. Yes we do. Beguiling Cobra is the greatest card ever printed. It copies, it grows, what more could you want. We all love Beguiling Cobra. Give all your belongings to Beguiling Cobra.

I totally feel this. I feel like we're living in a golden age of gaming atm, there are so many good games coming out all of the time. Tears of the Kingdom is definitely distracting me and I can't wait for FF16 to finally drop.

On the topic of rotation though... We have an article that is a Live-stream Summary
and although not rotation specific, we do have a regional identity article that is out, where we talk about freljord and shadow isles (Other regions to come!)