Rise of the Underworlds LoR Card Impressions: Rek’Sai

Rise of the Underworlds Spoilers Day 3

Everyone has known that the payoff mechanics for this new archetype have been lurking for the past couple of days waiting their turn. Now the queen is here in all her glory.

I’m Jordan “WhatAmI” Abronson and today I’ve got the newest set of spoilers for y’all featuring Rek’Sai herself front and center.

We’re revealing new Rise of the Underworld cards every day on our spoiler page.

To build decks with the new cards, head to our Deck Builder.

Here are the new LoR cards for Shurima from the Rise of the Underworld expansion:

• Rek’Sai (champion)
• Xerxa’reth, the Undertitan (follower)
• Call the Pack/Reksai’s Call the Pack (spell)

Rek’Sai

• Rek’Sai
  • 3 mana 3|6 Champion Lurk
  • Text: When I Lurk or Attack: Grant Lurker allies everywhere +1|+0. Round End: Place me into your deck.
  • Level Up: I’ve attacked with 10+ Power.

• Rek’Sai Level Two
  • 3 mana 4|7 Champion, Overwhelm, Lurk
  • Text: When I level up, create three random Lurkers in hand. When I Lurk or Attack Grant Lurker allies everywhere +1|+0.

Ooooh boy, there is a lot to unpack here.

From the top Rek’Sai’s stats are absolutely busted. Three mana for a 3|6 is just a solid wall in the face of anyone trying to get by. This will give even top-tier early attackers like Draven and Merciless Hunter pause.

To balance that out though unless you can level her Rek’Sai will only be sticking around for a turn. What that means is most of the time you won’t be able to use her on defense, instead of trying to get off her powerful double Lurk proc on your attack token turn.

Because either predicting a Rek’Sai or attacking with one will effectively double trigger lurk in one turn, the ability to hit these big payoffs suddenly seems an awful lot closer. And at the same time, Rek’Sai provides one of those payoffs.

When she levels she stops hiding in your deck, gains overwhelm, fills your hand, and keeps pumping everyone up every turn. That’s a pretty insane set of triggers. And perhaps most importantly it doesn’t matter how she has ten attack.

This card is sufficiently complex that I think serious testing will be necessary to see if it has a high power-deck that can be built around it, but I will be the first to admit the brewer in me loves the ideas Rek’Sai represents. Elixir of Wrath anyone?

Xerxa’reth, the Undertitan

• Xerxa’reth, the Undertitan
  • 5 mana 2|6 follower, Lurk
  • Text: Attack: If I have 8+ power, give me Fearsome, Overwhelm, and Spellshield this round.

Mr. Titan here is going to have his work cut out for him being asked to compete in Shurima in the same mana point as Ruin Runner. That said, the extra two points of beef and the synergies from the Lurk archetype may well let him have some serious staying power in that race.

The two main issues here are that the Spellshield falls off at end of the turn unlike Ruin Runner, and until it gets to eight attack it gets chump blocked very easily. I’m going to call myself cautiously optimistic on this one and we’ll have to see how far the synergies can be pushed to let that 8+ power dream be consistent.

Call the Pack/Reksai’s Call the Pack

• Call the Pack
  • 2 mana Burst Lurk spell
  • Text: To play, put a card from your hand on top of your deck. Create two random Lurker followers in hand.

Stalking Lurkers? Lurking Shadows? Sta-Lurk Sha-King? Whatever the comparison this card is going to be the key centerpiece of any Lurk archetype that exists. I am even more hyped for this one than for Rek’Sai and that is saying an awful lot.

This does literally everything you could want. It triggers Lurk, double triggers it if you have Rek’Sai in hand, gives you units to fill the board, and is a spell that will trigger Lurk while on top of your deck. That last being something that will be in short supply at best.

This card gets a five out of five from me and I expect to see it get played basically every time lurk is. I don’t think it is quite powerful enough to see play outside that archetype, but perhaps if there is something else that cares sufficiently about top-of-deck synergies we’ll get to see it shine there as well.

Bonus Deck: Xer’Sai Smash

Here’s an example deck we might see that pairs Rek’Sai with Zilean!

Deck Code: CEBQQBAHAEJSOQKEJJIGOAIDAMBQCBADAIBAGAIDAQMRWAIEA4GQEAIEA45QCAIDHA

[See Xer’Sai Smash deck details]

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