Empires of the Ascended LoR Card Impressions: Azir (Arise!, Emperor’s Deck, and More)

Day 13 of Empires of the Ascended (Azir’s Reveal)

Hey everyone, Precipic here with the thirteenth day of breakdowns for the revealed Shrima expansion cards.

This is the final day of Empire of the Ascended reveals as the set officially goes live tomorrow!

Today’s reveal finally marked the arrival of Azir. Similar to Renekton and Nasus, he has a third level up form.

Here are the final Shurima cards from Empires of the Ascended:

• Azir (champion level 1-3)
• Arise!/Azir’s Arise! (standalone spell and Azir’s champion spell)
• Emperor’s Divide (spell)
• Rite of Negation (spell)
• Crumbling Sands (spell)
• Emperor’s Guard (follower)
• Eternal Gladiator (follower)
• General’s Palace (landmark)
• Golden Herald (follower)
• Ascended’s Call (spell)
• Sandstorm (spell)
• Shimmering Mirage (spell)
• Emperor’s Prosperity (spell)

Learn more about today’s reveals with additional breakdowns from Swim below.

If you missed out on previous cards, check out the rest of the card reveals.

Azir

• Azir level 1 
  • 3 mana 1|5 champion level 1
  • Text: When allies attack, summon an attacking Sand Soldier
  • Level Up: You’ve summoned 10 units
• Azir level 2
  • 3 mana 2|6 champion level 2
  • Text: When allies attack, summon an attacking Sand Soldier. When you summon an ally, give us both +1|+0 this round
  • Level Up: You’ve restored the Sun Disc

• Azir level 3
  • 3 mana 6|6 champion level 3
  • Text: When I level up, replace your deck with the Emperor’s Deck, then draw 1. When allies attack, summon an attacking Sandstone Charger

The emperor, Azir, is looking like a super-strong champion.

His base form is already pretty great as a 1|5 champion that generates value just by sitting on board.

Beyond this, he levels very easily because he both levels off of taking a normal game action of summoning units and he levels in deck and not just while in play.

His 3rd level form is a bit harder to reach because it requires you to run the Sun Disc in deck but his level 3 form is 100% worth going for.

If you get Azir’s 3rd form the cards he gives you in deck are all absurd game-ending cards that are pretty much impossible to outvalue.

Arise!

• Arise
  • 3 mana Burst spell
  • Text: Summon a Sand Soldier. Create a Fleeting Arise! in hand.

Arise! is an interesting card because getting units at Burst speed is pretty powerful.

If you have some way of buffing your Sand Soldier’s attack then it could be pretty reasonable.

At the very least it’s a pretty great champion spell.

Emperor’s Divide

• Emperor’s Divide
  • 7 mana Slow spell
  • Text: Give enemies Vulnerable this round and summon 6 Sand Soldiers.

Unfortunately, Emperor’s Divide doesn’t hold up to its LoL version as it’s probably not all that great of a card.

Usually, you’ll have a landmark filling out a board slot.

Compare to something like Arise! and it’s a decent amount worse since you’ll usually get a similar number of Soldiers but Arise! is at Burst speed.

It might be a slot in 1 of as a finisher in a Sand Soldier deck.

Rite of Negation

• Rite of Negation 
  • 4 mana Fast spell
  • Text: Kill an ally or destroy one of your mana gems to stop all enemy Fast spells, Slow spells, and Skills

This is a region-defining card, basically Shurima’s version of Deny.

It has upsides and downsides compared to Deny but those don’t really matter because they are in different regions and are pretty much-defining cards for both regions.

Emperor Deck Cards

These are the cards that are included in the level 3 Azir’s deck. They are basically all absurd game-winning cards.

Crumbling Sands

• Crumbing Sands 
  • 4 mana Fast spell
  • Obliterate an enemy follower. Draw 1.

Crumbling Sands is an insanely efficient removal spell.

It should trade up against every single follower in the game.

Emperor’s Guard

• Emperor’s Guard 
  • 2 mana 5|4 follower, Fearsome
  • Text: When I’m summoned, draw 1

Emperor’s Guard is a super powerful threat. 2 mana for 5|4 Fearsome stats is already pretty unfair.

Drawing a card on top of that is just kinda nuts.

Eternal Gladiator

• Eternal Gladiator 
  • 7 mana 10|7 follower, Barrier
  • Text: When I’m summoned, draw 1. Round End: The Strongest enemy and I strike each other.

This is a game-ending unit that should basically always eat a unit for free with its Barrier.

Similar to the previous two Emperor cards, it also provides 1 card draw to boot.

General’s Palace

• General’s Palace 
  • 5 mana Landmark
  • Text: Enemies are Vulnerable. Round Start: Rally.

Fully getting to dictate combat and Rallying every turn ensures that you get to wipe the opponent’s board basically every turn, making General’s Palace a game-winning landmark.

Golden Herald

• Golden Herald
  • 5 mana 6|6 follower
  • Text: Play and Round Start: Summon 2 Sand Soldiers and grant them +2|+2

Golden Herald is essentially a 5 mana 12|12 in stats that also continuously puts out a 6|6 every turn.

It’s a pretty strong game-winning threat.

Ascended’s Call

• Ascended’s Call
  • 10 mana Slow spell
  • Text: Rally. Summon Renekton and Nasus. Immediately level them up to level 3.

This is actually a game over level card.

Getting level 3 Nasus and Renekton should pretty much always win the game especially with a Rally.

Sandstorm

• Sandstorm 
  • 9 mana Slow spell
  • Text: Obliterate 3 enemy units or landmarks.

Sandstorm is the best removal spell in the entire game.

It should play out like a better 1 sided Ruination most of the time.

Shimmering Mirage

• Simmering Mirage 
  • 3 mana Burst spell
  • Text: Summon an exact copy of an ally. It’s Ephemeral. Draw 1.

This is the most situational Emperor card but having a potential Burst speed attacker or blocker is pretty unfair, especially with draw a card on it.

Emperor’s Prosperity

• Emperor’s Prosperity 
  • 2 mana Burst spell
  • Text: Draw 2

2 mana draw 2 is pretty broken and hyper-efficient compared to any of the other draws in the entire game.

This is the thirteenth day of card reveals! If you missed out on previous ones, check out the rest of the LoR card reveals.