Zoe is officially coming to Legends of Runeterra in the Cosmic Creation expansion, Riot confirmed today.
Riot revealed Zoe alongside five other collectible cards for the Targon region: Supercool Starchart, Paddle Star, Starry Scamp, Spell Thief, and Sparklefly.
Zoe is a one-mana champion unit with 1/1 combat stats and the Elusive keyword. She also has a Nexus Strike ability that creates a Supercool Starchart in your hand or reduces the cost of a Supercool Starchart in your hand by one if you already have one. Zoe reaches her leveled form once she sees you play 10 different cards.
When Zoe levels up, she gains +1/+1 in combat stats and imparts a powerful effect on you for the remainder of the game. Whenever you summon an ally, its keywords are permanently shared with your other allies. In addition, her Nexus Strike ability improves to create a zero-cost Behold the Infinite instead of a Supercool Starchart.
Like other one-mana champions, Zoe is a slippery Elusive unit that can get past enemy lines. This means that Zoe’s usefulness is dependent on going first. While leveling up is a gargantuan task for her since she needs to stay alive to see 10 different cards get played, the payoff is monumental. The ability to share keywords is powerful in LoR, but the price has always been high.
Aside from having the chance of being created by Zoe, Supercool Starchart is also a collectible card. For two mana, it’s comparable to Behold the Infinite, but it only can Invoke cheap Celestial cards in a similar fashion to Spacey Sketcher.
Starry Scamp is a two-mana common unit with 2/2 stats and an ability that reduces his cost by two if you Behold a Celestial unit. Since Zoe, Spacey Sketcher, and other cheap Invoke spells are a part of a cycle that creates accessible Celestial cards, it’s easy to get a free Starry Scamp to help fight for the board.
Paddle Star is a three-mana common Slow spell that deals four damage to an enemy that attacked this round or is Stunned. While Targon doesn’t have too many ways to stun an opponent, the ability to deal four damage and serve as removal even after an attack is a tool that the region was severely lacking.
Spell Thief is a rare one-mana Burst spell that lets you pick between one of three spells that your opponent cast this game and then create a copy of the selected card in hand. Spell Thief has the power to reach for cards outside of your region to turn them against your opponent. But essentially having a one-mana tax to repeat a card your opponent played will be tough to use in a competitive environment.
Sparklefly is a common three-mana 1/2 unit with Elusive and Lifesteal as keywords. Similar to Fledgling Stellacorn, its combat stats are too low to be impactful. But when combined with Zoe’s leveled-up form, it has the power to grant your entire board Elusive, which is a devastating combo.
Since Zoe was the second LoR champion confirmed for this expansion, Riven is expected to be the final champ revealed within the next few days due to previous leaks.
Zoe will join the champion roster when LoR: Cosmic Creation is released on Dec. 16.
