Graves Joins League of Legends Riftbound

One of the more interesting aspects of League of Legends is that gameplay in the multiplayer online battle arena is a bit like soccer. Some players pick a lane and attack, while others hang back and play defense. For those that prefer more chaotic midfielder roles, where they dive into the jungle and kill neutral monsters while occasionally ambushing or ganking unsuspecting opponents, then they are probably intimately familiar with Malcolm Graves.

Graves is a mercenary, gambler, and wanted criminal who carries an enormous double-barreled shotgun named Destiny. He is also an S-tier jungler, according to data from Mobalytics, which was updated following the Sept. 22 patch. That makes him one of the very best Champions in the game, especially when it comes to climbing the ranks below Diamond.

Despite that prominence and popularity, Graves has never appeared in Riftbound, Riot Games’ physical trading card game, until now. Polygon can exclusively reveal Graves, Blasting Through, a new card coming in Riftbound’s upcoming Radiance set, which has a global release date of Oct. 23.

Graves, Blasting Through is a rare Champion Unit that costs 5 Energy and one Fury (Red) Rune to play. He enters with 4 Might and an ability that activates whenever he attacks or defends: Graves deals damage equal to his Might to every enemy unit at that battlefield, but does not deal conventional combat damage.

That is a pretty faithful translation of his League of Legends play style. Graves’ basic attacks fire a wide spread of shotgun pellets in a cone, while his ultimate, Collateral Damage, launches an explosive shell that damages additional enemies behind the initial target. Riftbound transforms that into a card that does not fight opponents one at a time. Graves does not even deal traditional combat damage. He just blasts every enemy in sight.

How good is Graves, Blasting Through?

On his own, Graves deals 4 damage to every enemy unit in the battlefield whenever he attacks or defends. Because a Riftbound unit is killed once it takes damage equal to or greater than its Might, that is enough to eliminate quite a few enemies all at once. An opponent who has built up a battlefield with several smaller units could lose nearly their entire force to a single shotgun blast.

The fact that his core ability triggers every time he defends is probably the most intimidating thing about Graves. In Riftbound, players earn points by conquering and holding battlefields, and opposing units can move in to challenge their control. Leaving Graves at a battlefield forces an opponent to account for the 4 damage he will deal every time he defends. Even when he never fires, the mere threat of it can discourage an attack or force an opponent to spend removal on him first.

Graves also scales really well with effects that boost his Might. Not only will that increase his survivability, but it means his offensive and defensive counterattacks increase accordingly as well.

Five Energy is a big investment for a unit with only 4 base Might, and Graves does nothing immediately when he is played. He needs to attack or defend to do anything. So opponents can remove, stun, or neutralize him in some other way. Any enemy that actually survives his blast can also still fight back, while Graves’ own text prevents him from dealing additional combat damage. His overall quality is purely circumstantial.

Despite those minor limitations, Graves’ ceiling is extremely high. Most instances of combat involve trading units as players fight over locations. But Graves can potentially erase an entire group of enemies all on his own.

What decks work with Graves, Blasting Through?

Graves belongs to the Fury Domain, so any Legend whose two-domain identity includes Fury can put him in its deck. His ability is fairly self-contained and doesn’t require a particular Legend, or even another Graves card, if you use him as a basic unit. If your Fury deck is suited to manipulating crowded battlefields, then Graves is great, particularly if you have ways to boost his Might.

The real make-or-break here is going to be what Champion card adds into the mix for Graves specifically in Radiance. Graves, Blasting Through has a lot of potential. But every constructed deck begins with a Legend that determines the two available domains for the deck, along with a designated Chosen Champion placed face-up in the Champion Zone. Those two cards have to feature the same character. Historically, Riftbound adds both card types featuring the same character within the same set. We just haven’t seen the Graves Champion yet.

Preview season for Radiance has only just begun, so it is only a matter of time before we see the first-ever Graves Champion. Even without it, Blasting Through means that Graves is going to do what Graves does best: show up where the fighting is thickest and start blastin’.

Source: Polygon