Kennen Review and Theorycraft

Gust Monk – 3.0

Gust Monk’s stat-line is quite underwhelming – a 2/2 with no keywords just does not do much. It is unable to block Fearsomes, it is challenged by most playable 1-drops and even trades down against many 2-drops. So is its effect worth the payoff?

In my opinion, it is a little lackluster, but definitely playable. Combat tricks are not exactly Bandle City’s strong suit and Cloud Stance helps with that by allowing the small units to chump block more efficiently and sometimes even trade up. On top of that, it can be used offensively to push extra damage, while activating some of the Recall synergies introduced with Kennen.

Overall, Gust Monk is a playable card that can likely find a slot in a dedicated deck.

Cloud Stance – 2.0

It is hard to tell, without seeing all the cards of the set, how good Cloud Stance is.

I believe this might be similar to Waking Sands. While the card is great when generated, by itself it does not add enough value to warrant a spot.

For now, I don’t believe it is very desired in any Bandle City deck, but we will see what the future brings.

Tornado Warrior – 3.5

Just the first part of Tornado Warrior’s text is good enough to consider it in a deck. 3/2 with a keyword will always be playable, as there are many highrolls that can occur. Challenger, Fearsome, Quick Attack are all good rolls.

On top of that, Tornado Warrior has a synergy with the newly introduced Recall archetype. While recalling own units is not usually desirable, it can happen rather naturally in order to protect them from removal. Alternatively, a cheap enabler like using Monastery of Hirana’s Sanctuary might also work.

The upside here is quite big, as it means that even after a second summon, this card will be a 4/2 with 2 keywords. This is likely one of the staples in a Kennen deck.

Quicken – 3.0

This is simply a solid card. It can be used to protect one of your cheap units, especially cards like Tornado Warrior, Kennen, or Thunder Fist (see below); but also as a tool to delay an opponent’s own game plan – as the recalled unit does not have to be an ally.

Quicken is a mini Will of Ionia that happens to fit into a synergistic deck – what’s not to like?!

Thunder Fist – 2.5

3 mana 2/3 is quite a weak statline, even with Impact. 5/4 Masa, Crashing Thunder with Impact, on the other hand – pretty decent. While I believe Thunder Fist is not completely awful, I also feel like it is simply too slow to be included in most decks.

The 5/4 pay-off seems to be quite strong, but it will almost never come down on turn 3 – which means it is just a little weak. If you compare this card to Enraged Yeti – those are 5/5s that only cost 1 mana and are just as easy to create through Avarosan Trapper.

I just don’t think Thunder Fist will be a great inclusion unless there’s simply no better option.

Lightning Rush – 4.0

If there is any sort of Recall synergy I wanted to see, Lightning Rush is exactly it. This card has many great uses and enables the deck to do some extra things it would not be able to do without it.

First of all, it is a protection spell that can threaten an opposing unit in return. That, in itself, is a great use. On top of that, however, it can work simply as removal or direct damage tool, if you know that your opponent cannot react to it – and all of that while your strategy is full of units that want to be recalled.

Lightning Rush might not be fantastic in a vacuum, but if a Kennen deck is a viable archetype, Lightning Rush is a part of the reason why.

Ember Monk – 2.5

Quick Attack is an incredibly powerful keyword, but this 4-mana unit is likely to just get chump blocked. On top of that, its 3 health makes it quite weak on defense and not exactly resilient against removal.

That said, it can be a threat in decks that create multiple units easily – such as those including Irelia or Azir.

Rissu, the Silent Storm – 3.0

I believe this card is quite alright. The stat split is fairly weak, as the 7/3 on Stormcloud is awfully susceptible to any sort of removal this late into the game – but this card simply works very well defensively.

It provides two bodies that can trade in completely different ways – Stormcloud is capable of trading into large units, while Rissu can both chump block those, as well as simply trade with a 1- or 2-drop.

On top of that, we need to keep in mind that this card likely wants to be played with some Recall synergies – so Rissu can simply be a way to phantom block while using cards such as Lightning Rush.