Empires of the Ascended LoR Card Impressions: Nasus (Slay, Baccai Reaper, and More)

Day 7 of Empires of the Ascended (Nasus’s Reveal)

Hey y’all, I’m Jordan “WhatAmI” Abronson and I’ve got the answer to your morning spoiler-season cravings.

Let’s see what delicacies chef Riot has served up for us today.

The main course is the latest Shuriman champion, Nasus, and his new keyword, Slay.

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

• Nasus (Champion levels 1-3)
• Siphoning Strike (Nasus’s champion spell and standalone spell)
• Baccai Reaper (Follower)
• Rampaging Baccai (Follower)
• Sanctum Conservator (Follower)
• Spirit Fire (Spell)
• Weight of Judgment (Spell)
• Ruinous Path (Spell)

The new Empires of the Ascended cards will be revealed every morning at Mobalytics so be sure to keep up with the latest cards!

For even more impressions, tune into Swim’s video breakdown below.

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

Nasus

• Nasus (Level 1)
  • 6 mana 2|2 champion, Fearsome
  • Text: I have +1|+1 for each unit you’ve slain this game.
  • Level Up: When I strike for 10+ damage.

• Nasus (Level 2)
  • 6 mana 3|3 champion, Fearsome, Spellshield
  • Text: I have +1|+1 for each unit you’ve slain this game. Enemies have -1|-0.
  • Level Up: You’ve restored the Sun Disc.

• Nasus (Level 3)
  • 6 mana 10|10 champion, Fearsome, Spellshield
  • Text: I have +1|+1 for each unit you’ve slain this game. Enemies have -3|-0.

Ho boy is there a lot to cover with this demon-doggo. First off, Slay looks to count any enemy or ally unit that you kill with damage, strike, or direct kill effect.

So first things first this is not just a bigger better Endure, but it can definitely profit off of things like Single Combat and Ravenous Butcher.

Six mana is an awful lot, so let’s look at what we get. I think Nasus realistically comes down as a 6/6 or a 7/7 in most decks that want to try him.

After that, maybe with some help from a Siphoning Strike, Glimpse Beyond, or other Demacia strike-based friends we can get him leveled.

The leveled version is a doozy. Spell shield finishers have thus far been reserved for the top end of the Celestial lineup and we know their power.

Nasus’s aura also means you’ll need at least four power creatures to block him, and even those will end up getting eaten every turn to feed the beefiness.

If we get him to level three we can assume the game will end as his aura spikes in power requiring six printed attack to be able to block, and quite realistically one-shotting a Nexus when your opponent fails to do so.

I think a key point to ask about Mr. Siphon here will be whether your Ephemeral creatures dying to their own strike will count for his level up condition.  If they do then Blighted Caretaker’s got a new best friend.

As I said at the beginning, six mana is an awful lot, but his payout is also pretty darn high when you examine it closely.

I think this is one we’re going to have to see in play to properly evaluate but I’m excited to try him out both in a Shadow Isles shell and with mono-Shurima to Ascend and deliver the ultimate bonk.

Siphoning Strike/Nasus’s Siphoning Strike

• Siphoning Strike
  • 5 mana Slow spell
  • Text: An ally Strikes a unit. If it dies, grant allied champions everywhere +2|+2.

So I got extremely over-hyped by wild claws during the Aphelios release, and I think that flop has tempered my response to this card a bit.

It seems like it runs into the same problems where it is very counterable via killing either unit it targets, and slow speed on a combat interaction effect is a tough sell.

I suspect this will cause some absolute blowouts as a champion spell when you double draw it with Nasus but is unlikely to see more main deck play than its Noxian counterpart.

Maybe as a one-of in a mono Shurima list that is desperate for removal, but even then I’d probably be surprised.

Baccai Reaper

• Baccai Reaper
  • 1 mana follower, Fearsome
  • Text: When you slay a unit, grant me +1|+0

Okay, did anyone else just instinctively clench at the thought of having to deal with six precious pets out of a Shurima/Noxus aggro deck? No? Just me?

This little dude is a side-grade of a premium aggro card and I would be extremely surprised if he does not see some level of play along the same lines as that frustrating spider.

Rampaging Baccai

• Rampaging Baccai 
  • 5 mana 4|6 follower, Overwhelm
  • Text: Play: If you’ve slain 4+ units this game, an enemy and I strike each other.

Big brother Baccai looks absolutely nasty. First off he is massively stated, providing instant non-chump-blockable offense at five mana.

Second of all if you can meet his conditions, his big booty means you are basically stapling a removal spell to a card that is already potentially creating tempo-swings.

This one looks to be a midrange powerhouse, beat stick, and value tool. Can’t really ask much more than that for five mana.

Sanctum Conservator

• Sanctum Conservator
  • 8 mana 8|5 follower, Fearsome
  • Text: Play: If you’ve slain 13+ units this game, kill all enemy followers, then summon a copy of me.

*Sqwweeeeeeee*! That was the sound of my inner Skies Descend fanboy getting loose for just a moment.

Sorry, I got him back under control but holy ruination does this card look awesome.

I’ll note that I didn’t necessarily say good there, as 13 is an awfully large number to trigger this likely game-winning effect, but definitely awesome. Awe-inspiring, invoking of much explosion-ey goodness.

This just jumped straight to the top of my list to test with come the release, but only investment of time will let us know whether doggo-bomb here is a meme or a dream.

Spirit Fire

• Spirit Fire
  • 7 mana Burst speed
  • Text: Give enemies -2|-0 and “Round End: Deal 2 to me” this round.

In case anyone wasn’t paying attention when I rang the alarm bells of fearsome being a tier-one deck, let me just go ahead and do that for you again. *DONG* *DONG* *DONG* Hear-ye, Hear-ye, blocking has been declared illegal in the land of Runeterra, all shalt fear!

I was worried about the last incarnation of this spell that got spoiled and that one was Fast speed so we could at least Deny it or develop another blocker or Ruination them.

This nonsense drops on Burst and doubles as an over-costed board sweeper. I am not looking forward to those turn 8 Risen Mists+Spirit fire Burst attacks, let me tell you.

Rite of Calling

• Rite of Calling
  • 0 mana Slow spell
  • Text: Kill an ally or destroy one of your mana gems to draw a champion.

This is a huge support tool for the Shadow Isles Nasus deck, no two ways about it.

I can see it potentially seeing play in other extremely champion-centric decks *cough* looking at you Lee, but most of the time you’re going to want killing your own unit to be a good thing and Cursed Keeper and friends are here to help.

You’ll occasionally drop this by murdering your own mana but that is a lot more expensive than it looks, so look to do so only in the very late game when it won’t matter much or as a last resort.

Weight of Judgment

• Weight of Judgment
  • 4 mana Slow spell
  • Text: Deal 2 to a champion or 7 to a follower.

I think I’m going to give this one a resounding, “eeeeh?” It answers Twisted Fate, and that’s nice.

But it doesn’t touch Aphelios, or Draven, or Ezreal, and it makes Soraka and Tahm Kench giggle.

We might end up playing this card in some of our mono or close to mono Shurima decks because we need some kind of reactive answers, but I doubt we’re ever going to be particularly happy about it.

Ruinous Path

• Ruinous Path
  • 2 mana Slow spell
  • Text: Draw 1. If you’ve slain a unit this round, Drain 2 from the enemy Nexus.

Doom Beast? Calling a Mr. Doom beast to the front of the store? We have your child. All silliness aside this looks to be a sick aggro tool.

It provides reach alongside draw into more potential burn or that last small critter you need to go wide and close out a game. Looks like a lock for a three of in Shurima based aggro and may have some applications elsewhere as well.

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, feel free to ask WhatAmI during his streams (around 10AM PST basically every day).

WhatAmI streams at twitch.tv/xxwhatamixx around 10AM PST every day