Gnar Reveal: The Missing Link Between Freljord and Bandle City

Gnar is the fourth and final champion coming to Legends of Runeterra in the Curious Journey expansion. As a hybrid champion, he brings the Freljord and Bandle City regions together in a very unique design.

Check out the scrappy little cave Yordle right here in his preview video.

Gnar sets some very unique precedents. He is the first Freljord unit with Quick Attack. His consistent ability to generate Pokey Stick means he’ll eventually net you card advantage, in ways very similar to Zoe. He’s also the first champion that can switch between level one and two, and the consistent changing between his two modes makes him feel very close to his League counterpart.

Gnar’s biggest precedent is his “easy” level-up. Damaging the enemy Nexus once causes him to become the big and aggressive Mega Gnar. Just like in League. When he’s big, the Overwhelm and spreading of Vulnerable keywords brings him back to feeling very Freljord. Every other round, he’ll then shrink back down into little Gnar, meaning you’ll need to get damage on the enemy nexus again for him to hulk out.

Gnar’s champ spell is Wallop. Dealing one and stunning a Unit is a potential extra ping that may put Ping City back into a strong state.

In yesterday’s reveals, we saw Chief Nakotak. Designer Alex Lee confirmed on Twitter that leveling up a champion counts as transforming a unit, which is another way to grant this heal and buff, as well as all of these dinosaur beasts, and of course Gnar.

Primal Strength is a strong pump spell reminiscent of Flamespitter. The buff to health that Strength gives may be better in slower, Freljord decks to be able to survive sweepers like Avalanche and Ram Stance. Flamespitter is better in more aggressive shells and has the added benefit of being found by Conchologist.

The most impressive is Minitee. If you’re willing to pay seven mana for a unit, the easy requirement means it flips into Megatee which both applies Minimorph and Can’t Block to the strongest enemy. Will this replace Minimorph? Probably not, but the raw power of having this unit exist is not something to ignore.

Gnar is joining the card pool in the Curious Journey expansion, set to release on February 16th. Check out Gnar and all of his scrappy support cards are ready right now in the RuneterraCCG deck builder.

Stay tuned right here on RuneterraCCG for the Gnar theorycraft article, and the first new decklists for the Curious Expansion season.!