Kennen has been revealed as the first new Champion coming to Legends of Runeterra, in the Magical Misadventures Expansion on December 8th.
As we saw from yesterday’s new, Bandle City themed monks and ninjas, this new champion plays with a lot of Recall synergy. You can see him in action for yourself right here in the official preview video.
As Sion brought a new lease onto the discard synergies from the core set, Kennen is looking to make Recall into a powerful tempo deck, giving you value from bouncing and replaying your own units.
A lot of Kennen’s synergy comes from him zipping in and out of your hand. Kennen reliably generates a 0 mana card called Mark of the Storm, playing two of them works as a powerful Stun effect. The advantage of Kennen being 1 mana, and his Mark being 0 mana is that the investment to recall and replay him constantly is mitigated by his being so cheap.
As showcased in his reveal video, playing Kinkou Wayfinder means you can reliably summon him from deck to work to his level up and Mark generation. His hybrid Ionia Bandle City regions works well to bring the good Recall effects to his usual deck. Retreat is a strong inclusion in a Kennen deck.
As for who Kennen is, his story is shrouded in mystery and intrigue. He’s the only Yordle member of the Kinkou, making him a close ally of Shen and a staunch defender of Ionia with mastery of ninjutsu and lightning magic. Read all about him on the League of Legends site here.
His level up requirement, summoning the same ally 5+ times sounds steep at first, but the intention is to recall and replay a lot of the same units in a deck that includes him. Another deckbuilding approach may be to summon “tokens” such as Dragonling or even the ghosts from Haunted Relic.
Alongside Kennen, we got to see his signature spell and a great many more supporting cards.
Kennen’s Champion Spell, Lightning Rush, is a reasonable if highly costed burn spell that adds to the recall synergy.
Ember Monk resembles what happened when Sparring Student graduated. The constant growth in power and Quick Attack will make it a threat to respect.
Rissu, the Silent Storm is a very fun target to recall and replay, or clone with a Dawn and Dusk. The Stormcloud she generates are heavy hitting threats that an opponent must answer with a trade or spell better served elsewhere.
Kennen looks to be a very unique champion, pushing a lot of new design space possibilities, and bringing a strong tie that unites Bandle City and Ionia.
Kennen, and his support cards are ready in the RuneterraCCG deckbuilder for you to begin your brewing. Keep your eyes close to RuneterraCCG.com for the Kennen theorycraft article coming very soon.
