Beyond the Bandlewood LoR Card Impressions: Manifest, Hungry Owlcat, and More

Beyond the Bandlewood LoR Spoilers Day 4

I’m Jordan “WhatAmI” Abronson and while the Gnar reveal that many were expecting has not seen fit to grace us with its presence we’ve got a bunch of fun ones today.

From game enders, to archetype enablers, to my favorite, tiny value engines, these cards are looking to make an impact – let’s see what they’ve got.

To follow along with past and future Bandlewood card reveals, just click here.

Here are the cards from today’s reveal package:

• Battle Bonds (Targon spell)
• Furious Faefolk (Bandlewood + Piltover/Zaun follower)
• Hungry Owlcat (Bandlewood + Ionia follower)
• Babbling Balladeers (Bandlewood follower)
• Loping Telescope (Bandlewood + Targon follower)
• Bandlewood Commando (Bandlewood follower)

New Keyword: Manifest

Yordle magic has a mind of its own—just go with it. pic.twitter.com/OqSN1zoLgH

— Legends of Runeterra (@PlayRuneterra) August 14, 2021

So this one is really interesting, especially because we don’t know exactly how it works yet. For the example we have in Loping Telescope it could happen any number of ways.

You could choose one of its three options and get a randomly selected card of that type. You could choose one of its three options and then get three more options to choose from.

You could theoretically even be given three different cards, one of each type, and choose your card from the start.

I think this will be a powerful and skill testing mechanic whatever variation Riot chooses to code in as it involves both decision making and card creation.

As an invoke-lover I cannot help but be happy about it.

That said I am at least personally hoping that this tilts more in the direction of knowing what you are going to get before you choose, ala the deck building constraints of Scattered Pod, than choosing what kind of random thing you get.

Either way though as a value gamer this mechanic will shoot to the top of my to-test list as more cards with it are likely revealed.

Battle Bonds

• Battle Bonds
  • 4 mana Slow spel
  • Text – Grant 2 allies +2|+2.

For a long time now there has been a Targon/Freljord or Targon/Ionia elusive buff deck that has been hovering at the edges of competitive play looking for its moment.

I don’t know if this is enough to push it over the edge but this card will lead to some busted scenarios.

While this level of mana commitment is certainly some level of terrifying, the benefits are huge.

Imagine this going off on turn four, hitting a Sparklefly and a Zoe. Feels pretty game ending to me.

This feels like trying to make a nod in the direction of a more aggressive Targon deck rather than the Controlling and Combo decks we tend to have out of that region.

I have no idea whether it will be sufficiently powerful, but this definitely goes in my “for testing,” pile rather than my “for sleeping on,” one.

Furious Faefolk

• Furious Faefolk
  • 7 mana 5|4
  • Quick Attack
  • Text – When I’m summoned, if you’ve dealt damage to the enemy Nexus 4+ times, grant me Impact 4 times.

Very interesting to put what is effectively a plunder effect outside Bilgewater/Freljord.

That said, this doesn’t need to be on different turns for this effect to trigger.

Ballistic Bot and Stattic Shock are this cards best friends, as well as any Shroom effects you may have going on in the background.

If this isn’t dealt with immediately it will effectively begin Decimate-ing your opponent ever other round.

That’s pretty nasty, but I’m not sure it’s enough for seven mana with only four health behind it.

That said take note that the Impact Keyword reads “strikes while attacking.”

This is probably more meme than dream but Single Combat, Concerted Strike, Bloody Business, Whirling Death, and even Judgement can do some pretty silly things with this trigger. Vi reworked to Impact 5 anyone?

Babbling Balladeers + Hungry Owlcat

• Babbling Balladeers
  • 3 mana 2|4
  • Text – When I’m summoned create a Hungry Owlcat in hand.

• Hungry Owlcat
  • 1 mana 1|2
  • Spellshield

This is the absolute perfect card for the Bandle Tree combo deck.

It blocks down well early, provides a little bit of value for more blockers or pressure as needed, gets us an Ionia trigger, and depending on our build can even give us discard targets.

I think outside that the stat line may not quite measure up to where we need it to be since summoning the Owlcat does take it up to four total mana.

We’ll see though, cards that create cards should almost never be underestimated.

Loping Telescope

• Loping Telescope
  • 2 mana 2|1
  • Text – Play: Manifest a random Celestial that costs 3 or less, Epic, or multi-region follower.

This card looks like it works like Scattered Pod where you’ll choose one of the three and then get a random one of that variety.

If that’s true then this is my favorite kind of card. It’s a small body that can block down and trade stapled to some very real value.

It even overcomes the Avarosan Sentry problem as refusing to kill it simply won’t help.

I may be a bit more down on it due to the random factors after testing, but this is starting as a three of in all my Targon decks and probably most of my Bandle City decks as well.

Bandlewood Commando

• Bandlewood Commando
  • 2 mana 1|2
  • Elusive
  • Text – Nexus Strike: Create a Hungry Owlcat in hand.

This nonsense however I predict will be the bane of any control deck anywhere trying to deal with the Bandle City.

It’s almost always getting a hit in, it’ll often find two, and every hit is another body that your sweepers ignore the first time through.

Perhaps I am over-valuing the Owlcat here, but I can already picture myself seething with impotent rage every time I am playing control and see this card hit the field on turn two.

It’s like Zoe in follower form and it scares me. Pack your Mystic Shots or wish that you had.

We’re revealing the new Beyond the Bandlewood cards every day at our spoiler page. To build decks with the new cards, head to our Deck Builder.