Hello everyone, Norra, our first Runeterra champion outside of league of legends was revealed for the upcoming Darkin Saga: Awakening expansion! Similar to the lore, the Bandle City Yordle champion uses portals in-game, teleporting units directly to the battlefield.

I’ll review Norra along with her supporting cards and theorycraft a deck that takes advantage of Norra’s ability to empower Mysterious Portals.

Here’s our rating scale:

• 5.0: Meta-defining card, should prove itself as a staple in multiple top-tier archetypes.
• 4.0: Archetype staple, or auto-include in multiple archetypes.
• 3.0: A solid playable, could serve as a staple for some archetypes.
• 2.0: Could be used for specific synergies, or to counter some decks.
• 1.0: Unlikely to find its place in the meta.

Norra- 4.0

Norra is a 2 mana cost champion with 1|2 stats and an Elusive keyword. She resembles Zoe‘s mechanic, striking the opponent’s Nexus grants you value that helps advance your game plan. Her 2 health is sufficient to withstand 1 damage ping spells, but she is still vulnerable to most damage spells or challenger units.

The first thing to point out is that Norra doesn’t have to see you summon created allies to level up. You’re able to work on her level-up while she’s in hand or in the deck.

The Mysterious Portals she plants in the deck can be great to build a board and advance your Norra’s level-up condition. The value it generates can be difficult for your opponent to keep up with, especially since Mysterious Portals can burst summon a unit on the board and potentially set up a strong attack or a defensive blocker.

Norra isn’t difficult to level up. You don’t have to solely rely on Mysterious Portals to advance her condition. Instead, you can run cards that can create cheap units like Grandfather Fae.

Norra becomes problematic when she levels up! Mysterious Portals turn into your main win condition. The summoned units are no longer flimsy 2 or 3 drops, you’re now summoning 4, 5, 6, or 7 mana-cost units. This puts insane pressure on your opponent later in the game, presenting a stronger board capable of slamming down the Nexus.

We can’t ignore that Norra’s ability is a high “RNG” playstyle, which is frowned upon by part of the Runeterra community. In some cases, the random summoned units might settle the game on the spot. Alpha Wildclaw is the first card that comes to my mind that can create an immediate threat to close out the game.

Norra’s Portalpalooza is a bit expensive but can provide an immediate unit on the board thanks to the card draw it provides. It’s ideal in the later stages of the game, once Norra has leveled up.

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Bard Norra created by Sorry • last updated 2 years ago

Regions

34

3

Types

6

23

11

0

0

Rarities

6

1

4

29

Mana Cost

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7+

Champions (6)

2

Norra

3

4

Bard

3

followers (23)

1

Byrd, The Bellringer

3

2

Bandle Commando

3

2

Esmus, Breath of the World

3

2

Grandfather Fae

2

2

Junk Construct

3

3

The Tea Maker

3

4

Yordle Captain

3

5

Living Library

1

6

Maduli, The Gatekeeper

2

Spells (11)

2

Magical Journey

2

2

Pokey Stick

3

2

Proximity Puffcap

3

6

Hidden Pathways

2

7

Eclectic Collection

1

Norra Bard relies on planting both Chimes and Mysterious Portals that work on leveling up your champions.

You’re able to go wide on the board with cheap units and even buff them up with Chimes and Yordle Captain.

Additionally, we’re running Bandle Commando and Godfather Fae to create Hungry Owlcat, which helps you level up your Norra faster!

Once Norra is leveled, she’ll empower your Mysterious Portals, creating a more threatening board ready to swing. Your ability to keep summoning more units on the board means you won’t get punished by trading your units with those of your opponent. In fact, you want those trades to happen to rebuild another board and run your opponent out of gas.

Once your opponent is out of steam, you’ll find cracks in their defense, giving you the opening to start slamming their Nexus and trying to destroy it.

Since you’re a board-centered deck, Bard is important in the list to increase the stats of your units, creating a difficult board to deal with.

Hidden Pathways isn’t just in the deck for the card draw. You can also find a Mysterious Portal which allows you to get a unit on the board at burst speed.

Junk Construct – 4.5

An extremely strong early unit that plants a Mysterious Portal once killed.

You’re basically summoning two units on the board for two mana, but the second unit is delayed.

It can help you build a board and advance Norra’s level-up condition.

Junk Construct is not tied to Norra decks. I believe the card is strong enough to exist in different Bandle City decks just for its solid Last Breath.

The Tea Maker – 4.0

Another strong early unit joins the Bandle City region. The card is similar to Junk Construct. Although the one health is not appealing, the Mysterious Portal still carries the card, providing a second ally on the board in the upcoming turns.

The Tea Maker plants a Mysterious Portal in the deck on summon unlike Junk Construct, which means you get to draw the Mysterious Portal faster.

Living Library – 2.5

Living Library is expensive for the 4|3 stats it has. Although the card draw is beneficial late game, setting the card up can be difficult and a tempo loss if you don’t activate a trap or boon.

Usually, you don’t want to use this card as a blocker, so if you’re behind on the board you won’t be able to play Living Library.

Maybe if Chimes buffs it up, it will be worth playing with the higher stats.

Eclectic Collection – 3.0

An expensive spell with a strong effect, but you won’t get immediate value from it.

Eclectic Collection does require a setup before playing for maximum value, but does offer A LOT of value! Mysterious Portals, Flashbomb Traps, and Poison Puffcaps!

The card can be added to Caitlyn Teemo’s puff cap deck since it plants Flashbomb Traps and Poison Puffcaps. You probably can’t run more than one or two copies of this card in a list.

Realm’s Caretaker – 2.0

Realm’s Caretaker has a powerful ability, capable of creating a strong board with the stat buff and Impact keyword.

The first problem with Realm’s Caretaker is its expensive mana cost and low 4|4 stats. The second is its need to have a couple of units on the board for the effect to be worthwhile.

However, Realm’s Caretaker says “give all allies” so I’m assuming he’ll buff up himself as well, which would make the card much better but still might struggle to remain alive when it hits the board.

Magical Journey – 2.5

You’re technically summoning a delayed unit on the board that could potentially cost 3 mana. The lack of an immediate result can be problematic against fast-paced decks.

The Chimes are an extra advantage that the card offers, making it worth the delayed value.

Closing Words

It’s exciting to see champions that don’t exist in the League of Legends MOBA game make an appearance in Legends of Runeterra! It goes without saying that Norra is a high RNG champion that could either carry the deck with an insanely strong summons from Mysterious Portal or unlucky rolls that could put you behind on the board.

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