Rumble Review and Theorycraft

Do you like yordles? Do you like robots? If you answered yes to both of these questions, you’ve come to the right place as we are going to talk about the Mecha-Yordles that were released and specifically their leader: Rumble.

Not being very knowledgeable on the League of Legends lore, I have to admit I was very surprised to see the Discard mechanic being pushed into the Bandle region – since, for me, this was an exclusive feature of Noxus and Piltover.

Without going too much into details, I find this to be a pleasant surprise, as the Discard archetype has been one of the oldest competitve archetypes there is. I think the fact that it is branching into a new region is an exciting possibility we are going to explore in the next expansion.

Also, the Mecha-Yordles tribe is filled with a ton of dual-region units, which is something the Bandle Tree should be extremely happy to see as it gives the deck a whole new package of cards it can try out.

Guess you have picked on it by now, I am really excited about this batch of cards being added to the game soon, so let’s jump in the review!

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.

Rumble – 4.5

Rumble is a Mecha-Yordle, and so his decks will rely on that particular tribal theme. But he is also tied to the Discard mechanic and could be imagined alongside Draven, Jinx, or even Sion.

Rumble has good stats, and the potential to gain a lot of keywords immediately, making him a solid on-curve threat on turn 4. Just for comparison, if you choose to discard 3 cards with Rumble (which in Noxus is a synergy benefit rather than a downside), you have a Sivir with Impact and an extra health point. A pretty good deal, isn’t it?

Rumble’s level-up isn’t too hard to achieve either, as, with both Quick Attack and Spellshield, he should be great when attacking, and also a fairly safe unit to block with. With the attack token on even turns, Rumble could level on turn 6.

It is important to note that Noxus also has some strike effects, like Bloody Business for example, which could help leveling Rumble even faster.

Once leveled up, Rumble becomes a Mecha-Yordle engine. He triggers his passive “whenever you deal damage to the enemy Nexus”. It doesn’t say it has to be Rumble who deals the damage – but any source that comes from YOU as a player – meaning we could easily enable several triggers per turn, even on defense!

To be honest, I am scared to rate Rumble as a 5.0, but I have a strong inclination to do so, and the champion is looking extremely powerful, both from a tempo and synergy point of view. I feel he could be immediately slotted alongside Draven and/or Sion in the Discard archetype while also pushing new builds oriented on the Mecha-Yordles synergy.

Yesterday we saw the pool of the Mecha-Yordles – there are a total of 11 manifestable units. We have 4 various cards that can Manifest Mecha-Yordles, (not counting Rumble’s level up effect) – they represent a potential 12 slots in our deck, which is quite a lot – and their cheap cost allows us to rapidly get the Mecha-Yordles train going.

If we would be looking to establish tempo early, the 2- and 3-cost Mecha-Yordles are looking great on-curve, as they are all way above the average power level of any other unit at their cost.

The 2-mana Furyhorn Crasher and Geode Mechaforcer look like they could help solydifying a board position early in the game, and both 3-mana options – Salty Spinner and Smash & Dash – are looking great to build pressure and require an almost immediate answer from the opponent.

Entering the 4+ cost territory, we can see more diversity, still with some high power level options, bringing pressure with the Impact keyword. One that I personally find really strong is the 5-mana Dunehopper Mech who looks like an insane game-ending threat, and the Lil Dipper at 6 mana, which if you saw the reveal video about Rumble, has the potential for incredible pressure setups.

Discard is already a well-established playstyle in the game, and Mecha-Yordles add even more value to those synergies. Obviously, to make room for Bandle in the current versions of the deck, either Piltover or Noxus will have to go (spoiler: it’ll be Piltover), but the overall power level of the cards above makes me believe someone sooner rather than later will find a way to make these yordles work.

edit

Yordle Explorer Bandle Swarm created by den • last updated 1 year ago

Regions

Types

Rarities

Mana Cost

Champions (6)

followers (25)

Brightsteel Protector

Spells (9)

This batch of cards could have resulted easily in 3 or 4 different theorycrafts – we could explore the Discard synergy, the Yordle synergy, or the Mecha-Yordles synergy. I decided to go with the yordles as the new Yordle Explorer is the biggest talk of the day.

This deck features no Rumble, but make sure to stop by on Wednesday, as I will have the honor to write a theorycraft piece featuring several decks to try on Day 1 of the expansion – there you’ll see even more ideas on what to do with the cards from today’s batch, including the new Mecha-Yordle champion.

Back to the theorycraft at hand… so, there are several decks that could try and abuse Yordle Explorer. I decided to go with Bandle Swarm as it was the one archetype that looked like it would benefit from the stat bonuses the most.

Yordle Explorer is a card that obviously is pushing for a deck relying on units and maximizing what we can get out of the Yordle tribe. Playing him on turn 2 into a buffed-up Bandle City Mayor on turn 3 is sure to cause some nightmares on the ladder. Alongside the Yordle Captain, the never-ending flow of units Bandle Swarm is capable of creating should be much scarier now.

There are several routes this deck can take. It can focus on protecting its most important pieces with Demacia spells like Riposte or Prismatic Barrier. It could also bolster its draw power with Pokey Stick and Hidden Pathways to make sure you never run out of gas. Lastly, it could maximize its pressure potential and play Relentless Pursuit alongside Golden Aegis to have more chances of finding that immediate Rally punish for an opponent that wasn’t able to keep up on the board.

I decided to go the card generation route, choosing Loping Telescope and Vanguard Sergeant over the aforementioned options. My idea is that the deck now that Yordle Explorer and Yordle Captain have joined the ranks, we have too many must-remove threats. As such, I feel like the deck might simply focus on playing cards and generating resources until the opponent can’t keep up with the flow of too dangerous-to-ignore units like Poppy, Lulu, Bandle City Mayor, Yordle Explorer, and so on.

Squeaker – 3.0

Being the cheapest unit to give us access to the Mecha-Yordles pool, Squeaker should be an auto-include in any build looking to abuse that mechanic.

Its weak statline will obviously limit what it can do as a card, and even if we could buff its attack thanks to the Augment keyword, due to all the pings existing in the game, Squeaker will only be relevant as a way to dig into the Mecha-Yordles pool.

Scrapheap – 4.0

It is the cheap way of manifesting a Mecha-Yordle at Burst-speed. Poro Cannon and Rummage showed us how good that kind of an effect can be, in conjunction with enablers like Reborn Grenadier.

If the Mecha-Yordles do break through into the upcoming metagame, I would put my coins on Scrapheap to be the most used card in order to access the pool.

Flamespitter – 2.0

Bandle is usually a region that is more about tempo and interactive spells, but Flamespitter is an aggressive spell that can affect the trading phase.

It is hard to imagine the card in a lot of Bandle decks – most of them are not relying on trading efficiently but want cheap damage spells to finish the trades.

In decks where Bandle is paired with Noxus, the card could have some merit as a damage pusher, as it effectively is 3 damage for 2 mana on an unblocked unit.

This last possibility feels like the best use for the card, and it most likely will be used in that way as Rumble’s spell.

Overall, I don’t see the card being slotted in many decks, but we should see it a lot with Rumble already on the board.

Arena Mechacaster – 1.0

A 6 mana 4/5 statline needs to provide some great effects with its text in order to compensate for that rather weak statline. Unfortunately, Arena Mechacaster doesn’t.

It feels like the card isn’t good enough to be included in a deck – neither by Bandle nor by Noxus standards.

It pushes for a swarm gameplan that can be much more easily abused through cheaper options like Poppy or Yordle Captain.

Arena Promoter – 3.0

The Tough keyword really is saving this card, as it would otherwise be difficult to imagine it being played.

At 4 mana, it is quite slow, and if we pick a cheap Mecha Yordle, it will have little impact on the board by then. It means only the expensive choices feel really good to pick when playing Arena Promoter.

Also, the best Discard enabler currently is Lost Soul, which gives you a 4-mana Twinlade Revenant – something we also would like to play on-curve possibly. It is also worth nothing that Rumble also 4 mana.

When Arena Promoter gives us a Lil Dipper that we can play on 5 thanks to the cost reduction, that should feel great. Other times, it could be a bit tougher to manage our mana on the next turn.

These simple restrictions in how the Arena Promoter might affect our curve make the card feel a little worse than what I wished it would be.

Bilgerat Rascal – 3.5

While understated for a 3-cost unit, Bilgerat Rascal still passes the test of being a good Fearsome blocker – and granting Spellshield to some key unit should always feel good.

I feel the two 4-cost Mecha-Yordles might be the worst units in the Manifest pool, but we are also likely to run Lost Soul and Rumble, therefore don’t have to pick an on-curve option.

As such, I see Bilgerat Rascal as our setup play, to gather all our pressure-oriented units for later and see if the opponent can resist the continuous assault.

Obviously, if we would happen to have a Draven into Rumble kind of curve, just skip the part with Mecha-Yordles generation and win the game.

Fix-Em-Uppers – 2.0

This is the card in this batch that should be forgotten fairly fast. At 2-mana slot, Discard-oriented decks are already pretty full, and they usually have a setup value phase rather than already push the offensive.

Maybe a deck like Poppy Ziggs could get some use of a card like this because of its ‘deal direct damage’ condition.

Otherwise, it feels like there are better 2-drops available.

Electro Harpoon – 4.0

Electro Harpoon being Slow might be a big enough downside to make this card play out worse than what it feels to me right now on paper. But if a discard deck is born with the Bandle region, I don’t see how it can skip Electro Harpoon.

The card fits the bill perfectly, chipping away Nexus damage while managing the opponent board.

At 2 mana, the card looks cheap enough that it should be able to remove units with the same cost, being on par on tempo while putting some pressure on their life total.

Also, if Piltover is bound to be ditched from the discard deck for Bandle, this looks like a fair Mystic Shot replacement.

Yordle Explorer – 5.0

If you have read any social media related to LoR today, you should already know most of what there is to know about this card.

As a 2/2, the card is understated for its cost, but it doesn’t really matter as this could win you the game without ever attacking.

In the same vein as Bandle Mayor and other engines Bandle City has access to, Yordle Explorer might be the one that makes the region go “over the line” as to what Bandle City can produce in terms of tempo compared to other regions.

This card is a must remove when it touches the playing field, the problem is that Bandle is starting to have a lot of those, and they almost all are Yordles too.

Closing Words

With more time, we will figure how to best abuse the Yordle Explorer. Bandle City has already produced many great decks, and there are so many Yordles in the game that they can push various synergies.

Rumble should follow the same kind of logic, and whether it is slotted simply in a Discard deck as a good champion or as the core of the Mecha-Yordles synergy, he looks too good to be ignored.

I am both very happy and worried about these cards. Happy because they are all good enough to enable some new decks and allow for experimentation, which should be the goal of any card release. But I also totally understand and support the concern of community members when they say Bandle City is looking way too good and powerful with these new additions.

Personally, I will choose for now to ride my excitement and craft a ton of decks that I can’t wait to show you in my theorycraft piece on Wednesday. If the new cards will prove to be overpowered, I trust that the developers have planned accordingly and will react fast enough that we don’t repeat the same mistakes that lead to a stale metagame of the summer.

If you wish to talk more about the new cards and want to share your opinion about them, you are more than welcome to do it on RuneterraCCG’s discord server, or tag me on Twitter with your hottest takes on the upcoming meta!

Good game everyone,

den