Top 5 Spells Introduced in Call of the Mountain

Every time new cards are introduced into Legends of Runeterra, naturally, a lot of the community focus goes onto the Champions. They are truly the heart of the game, and even beyond that, they are the heart of the League of Legends universe. So obviously it makes sense for these to get showcased and for all of the hype to be built around them.

A lot of the time, Champions are the most impactful cards in a set. They can change archetypes entirely, or even create new ones themselves. Entire decks are built around them, and finding the best Champions to pair is such a fun part of deck building.

But the truth is, followers and spells are often overlooked as they can have this same level of impact and power. And today I want to take a look at the top 5 most impactful spells that were introduced in the Call of the Mountain expansion.

Firstly, this list will be in no particular order. I am putting all 5 of the spells mentioned at the same level of impactfulness, and I will end with a few honorable mentions that didn’t quite make the cut, but still deserved a mention. Also, this list will contain ONLY cards that you can put into your deck – no non-collectibles or Celestial spells.

So how am I rating impactfulness? There’s a few factors to consider:

• Power – How strong is the card? How much does it do for its mana cost?
• Versatility – Is this spell useful in multiple situations? Can it be played efficiently in different decks?
• Staple role – Can this card be considered a staple in an archetype or multiple archetypes? Would these archetypes suffer without this card?

With all that in mind, let’s get to the list!

Hush

The card that is telling you to be quiet actually caused the most noise during spoiler season. This 3 mana Silence that is able to target any unit including Champions, is an insanely strong card. Beyond that, it even creates Fleeting copies of itself for you to use during the round. This card as-is finds its way into a whole bunch of decks. And given that a lot of people want to play Targon these days, we are currently seeing an extreme number of Hush’es on the ladder.

This spell counters so many things and can find use in an insane amount of situations. It can counter any buff, stop Champions from leveling for a turn, shut down Elusives so you can block, and just so much more. The versatility of this card is probably the highest out of these 5 spells presented in the list. Having this at Burst speed just allows an endless amount of situations for it to be great in. If you have 2 deck spots open and are playing Targon, Hush is never a bad choice. 

Starshaping

There are multiple things about this spell that make its power level really high. Firstly, heal 5 to anything including your Nexus for 5 mana at Burst speed is very strong by itself. It has a lot of similarities to Catalyst of Aeons because it is a 5 mana Burst that heals and has a secondary effect useful for more control style decks.

Catalyst allows you to build up and ramp your mana, which is very important when playing late-game decks. But we have also seen the power of Invoke very early in this set and know it can be a full-fledged late-game win-con. Starshaping guarantees that you will Invoke something that costs at least 7 or more. There are only 8 cards that it can possibly Invoke and spoiler alert, they are all very strong.

Generally Invoke is slightly skewed to cheaper-costed cards – this is relevant to cards like Lunari Priestess or The Traveler. However with Starshaping you are guaranteed to get one of the late game bombs that Invoke has to offer. This card obviously fits into any Aurelion Sol deck, but it can also see play in any Invoke deck, or even any deck that just wants to go into the late game and needs a solid healing spell.

Stalking Shadows

Outside of Targon, Shadow Isles got the best spells so far from Call of the Mountain. They got 3 amazing ones, but out of them all, it is Stalking Shadows that will see the most play.

This card is an incredibly potent draw engine. For 2 mana at Burst speed you can scan the top of your deck for followers, pick 1 that you draw, but also get an Ephemeral copy of in your hand. Essentially that is 2 mana for 2 cards drawn. That is what Pilfered Goods started out as before eventually being nerfed to 3 mana!

Regardless of what units you are getting with Stalking Shadows, the card advantage gained is just massive. As long as you are running a normal amount of followers (essentially it means not playing a Corina Veraza list) then this card has a lot of value. It can be used to prime Nightfall effects, add Ephemeral units to your hand for Hecarim decks, find more Mistwraith activators, or in general just help you hit your drops better. It even got to the point that now, when I am building Shadow Isles decks, I am actually cutting Glimpse Beyond for this a fair bit. And Glimpse Beyond was such a massive staple in that region!

Troll Chant

Going into Call of the Mountain, I honestly expected to see this card more than we currently are. This combat trick at Burst speed can potentially net you two positive trades that were originally going to be unfavoured. It can also just be used in one single trade but for a massive swing. This card is a Freljord midrange dream combat trick when you can save 2 units at one time.

The problem here is this often ends up being too situational. To get the maximum effect from this, you need to have 2 unfavoured trades lined up to turn the table. A lot of the time this can be used to just save one unit, which you could have alternatively protect with either Elixir of Iron or Brittle Steel at a 1-mana profit. As more Freljord decks start popping up, I think this card will see even more play. Even though I expected more from this card, we are still seeing it has quite a lot of versatility and is very strong.

Pale Cascade 

I underestimated this card coming into release, and it was mainly because neither of us had any hands-on experience with Nightfall. Not only have Nightfall decks performed very well so far, but this card in particular has been awesome.

As a combat trick, it is pretty solid for trading up, but not so great to save one of your units. The main reason this made the list is because when you can play this while triggering its Nightfall, you get to draw a card. A combat trick that doesn’t set you behind in card advantage is absolutely huge.

Now if this card was stuck in only one archetype, it wouldn’t have the best versatility. And while this card performs at its highest level in Nightfall decks, it is by no means stuck in that archetype. It works amazingly in Daybreak decks as well, because you normally are playing a unit to open the turn, then you have Pale Cascade ready and you will get the card draw now as well. If you are looking for a combat trick for favourable trades and are playing Targon, look no further.

Honorable Mentions

• Risen Mists

This is my favourite spell from Call of the Mountain. It is insanely strong and versatile enough as it can be used as a surprise blocker. But the true strength comes from using this before you open-attack to get a body and board-wide buff on your other Mistwraith’s, all at Burst speed. Risen Mists won’t become a staple for Shadow Isles and will be mostly limited to Mistwraith decks which tend to be mono-SI in order to work at their maximum potential.

• Poro Cannon

This card does so much for the Discard synergy that connects Piltover and Zaun with Noxus. Firstly, it costs 0 and allows you to discard a card to trigger an effect. On top of that, you get 2 Elusive Poros in your hand, which is pretty sizeable card advantage. You will likely burn through all your cards quickly and that is perfect for the aggro synergy that is there. Outside of that archetype, you might see this card in some meme-like decks with Professor Von Yipp or a bunch of other Poros. 

• Sunburst

I underestimated Sunburst, and that is why it is making the Honorable Mentions list. Being able to play this as a Daybreak and have a Silence, then 6 damage lined up is very strong removal. This gets around any buff they could play to save their unit, leaving only a few counters to this card. Obviously pairing this with Leona or Lux gives you added value, but this card is a lot stronger than I was expecting it to be.

• Whimsy!

Before Hush was revealed, I thought this would be the spell card to see the most play out of the new expansion. It is still a very solid combat trick that can save your unit while Silencing and killing essentially any follower. I think Hush outclasses this card, but it still deserves a spot here.

• Guiding Touch

This card is just pure value. 2 mana for a Burst heal 2 – and it replaces itself? What is there to not like about this? It is simple, but extremely effective and will consistently see play for a long time.

Conclusion

So this is the list of my top 5 spells from Call of the Mountain, along with 5 honorable mentions that I had to cut from the list. There were a lot of strong spells that were introduced this set, and I can’t see what else we get from the next two expansions set in Targon.

What spells did I leave off this list in your opinion? What spells don’t belong here? Feel free to continue the conversation and let us know your thoughts!