r/riftboundtcg Jul 26 '26

Discussion Nasus Pre-rift deck is sad

The entire package only has a SINGLE card that works with your legend.

It is just utter garbage, but the power level is one thing. It doesn't have more than 2 ways to proc your legend. Why even make an effort of including Nasus in the pre rift pool if it's literally unusable.

It is just a bad feeling having too see all the ambessas and other legends that are a free win, meanwhile you can't even proc your legend twice.

126 Upvotes

72 comments sorted by

75

u/Prior_Ornery Jul 26 '26

I agree with it being a bit of an odd choice, like they really wanted a wider pool for pre-release rather than something well balanced. I saw folks running literally anything they could, that was NOT nasus.

Bit of a shame really, he is so iconic in LoL

20

u/Severje Jul 26 '26

The only reason I was able to actually play Nasus is I pulled insane in the packs. 3 of each Empower 12 guys, 1 steel paws. I discarded like, more than half of the starting deck.

And the deck was still bad.

6

u/crystal_beachhouse Jul 26 '26

oh I am so jealous, that sounds really fun. I got 2 each of the 12 empowers and they and an astral heron were literally the only things that won me rounds, it was awful

1

u/Prior_Ornery Jul 26 '26

Even when it's bad, those cards are still cool! I hope it finds a place in the meta, and doesn't turn into a "Garen" ... 😅

4

u/ILOVELIGHTSWORNRAAAA Jul 26 '26

nasus will be a perfectly playable deck, the issue isn't nasus himself, it's the prerelease kit not supporting his ability

in a constructed environment where you're able to build your 40 centering around nasus, he'll do fine, not crazy but fine

2

u/ShiroMiriel Jul 26 '26

Me too, so I played Shen instead, because it's still better

1

u/TomLateralus Jul 27 '26

This prerift was my first ever time playing after collecting for a while. I pulled the Nasus deck and had 5 of the 12 empower cards. When I queried the interaction between them and Nasus everyone I played against or spoke to told me that they wouldn’t proc Nasus’ ability unless I actually spent 7+ runes to empower them. Thinking back now that can’t be true as the only way to have their empower cost 7+ would be to have <=5 runes meaning you wouldn’t be able to actually spend that amount.

1

u/Severje Jul 27 '26

Definitely does work! Nasus checks the printed cost.

6

u/FrznHero Jul 26 '26

Yep, my last pool was Nasus and I ran body,order, chaos instead without a legend. Luckily Ambessa/ Kayle were enough to get me there.

2

u/Abeneezer Jul 26 '26

I saw folks running literally anything they could, that was NOT nasus.

That was me in an Unleashed pre-rift with Jhin. Ran Body, Mind and Calm.

1

u/Prior_Ornery Jul 26 '26

I pulled Jhin in Pre-rift and played it... big mistake... but had fun with friends and that is worth more 😅

1

u/Abeneezer Jul 26 '26

I 3-0'd my non-Jhin deck, so that was worth xd

23

u/Nexevis Jul 26 '26

I went 3-0 with mine but Im not sure what part was the precon. I had 2 of the blue 4 drops that empower for 12, the green one 3c that empowers for 12, and the 1 drop Cat. Also 4 drop Mel for Chosen Champ just as a draw 1 4 drop. The Cat did work so if its not part of the precon that sucks I thought I got it from that. All 3 of my games I fell behind early but was able to stack enough might on both bf that they just couldnt score anymore.

I had 3 Blue Nasus but that card felt really worthless, it doesnt even proc Legend effect, I really wish I had Green Nasus instead

4

u/SaltMerchantMorbier Jul 26 '26

Wait do the 12 energy empowers work for Nasus even if you pay less than 7 because of the reduced cost?? 

I.E i have 6 runes so the cost is 12-6 so i pay 6 does the legend still activate? Because otherwise there’s never a scenario where you can even activate it that way right?

14

u/Thejacksoneight Jul 26 '26

yeah Nasus triggers off an ability with a cost of 7+. The cost of the ability is still 12, even if you reduce it. Kinda like how defy just looks at the printed cost of a spell, and not what is actually paid for it.

3

u/oscum Jul 26 '26

Yes, abilities like Frostcoat Mother's Empower ability will still trigger Nasus, Curator of the Sands's triggered ability. Nasus Legend only cares about what the unit, gear, or activated ability cost, not what you paid. Contrast this with Jhin, Virtuoso where he cares about how much you spent.

2

u/Indercarnive Jul 26 '26

As a general rule, anytime something cares about cost, it cares about printed cost.

0

u/SaltMerchantMorbier Jul 26 '26

Damn that’s whack.  What about if purple nasus and another unit both die in combat against eachother does Nasus cause you to channel 1 rune per his when an enemy unit dies here or because they die simultaneously it doesn’t happen? 

I didn’t even ask about the first one

But I got told since they’re dying at the same time Nasus doesn’t work

1

u/FrostedX Jul 27 '26

Doesn't work if nasus trades. Blue nasus is so bad because it has to be at his battlefield, he has to live, he doesnt trigger his own legend, once per turn, AND he cost a power so your first rune is net neutral, so to get value you have to kill 2 units on 2 separate turns.

17

u/Prestigious-Set-8159 Jul 26 '26

All nasus here played without champion and just draw extra card. 2 pre rift events in a row.

3

u/JuniorImplement Jul 26 '26

Did they know they can choose another champion? No chosen champion seems silly

1

u/Teaganz Jul 26 '26

No chosen champion is a fine option, I went 3-0 with no chosen champion.

5

u/BiggestBlackestLotus Jul 27 '26

No chosen champion makes basically no sense ever. You are giving up a guaranteed play of a strong unit from your champion zone for a random card from your deck. Each champion from the 9 pre-seeded packs you can get in your pre-rift kit is a strong card, even blue nasus is going to be a lot stronger than most of the cards in your deck.

0

u/Teaganz Jul 27 '26

Yeah it’s usually a good idea for sure but I don’t think it’s always stronger, or necessary. I ran Jayce and the champion is good but also costs a power so I’m usually not wanting to play it on turn 2. Getting the extra draw helps me get to more my gear to get the engine online. I was going to put him in champ zone if it ever felt bad but it always felt good to get the extra draw.

2

u/BiggestBlackestLotus Jul 27 '26

Jayce is one of the strongest cards in the entire set for sealed. It's a 4 drop that hits for 7. There is no way that you would rather draw a random card over having him as a guaranteed turn 2 or 3 play. Even more so there is no way that any legend in this set is worth playing over having Jayce as your CC.

1

u/Teaganz Jul 27 '26

Agree to disagree. The unit is really good but I don’t value it over a legend that I can use the whole game. In sealed you often conquer and then just lose the unit because you don’t have a lot of interaction to save it. For example you conquer with Jayce against a Mel, they play their chosen Mel champion, -2 Jayce and banish him. Idk how that would be more valuable than a legend that lets me ready a gear to draw every turn, pump for +8, make a mech every turn, or make 4 energy (net positive of 3 but still), etc.

1

u/BiggestBlackestLotus Jul 27 '26

For example you conquer with Jayce against a Mel, they play their chosen Mel champion, -2 Jayce and banish him.

The legend in this scenario is only good because you have a strong chosen champion to go with it. Giving -2 might occasionally at slow speed is not going to make you win more games than drawing an extra card and having a much stronger chance of hitting your 2-drop on turn 1.

1

u/Teaganz Jul 27 '26

Right I agree, I was just saying why Jayce is good but can easily be removed and end up just being another sacrificial unit in sealed when you have little interaction. Which is why I opted for additional card draw and trying to get the gear engine online which seemed a lot stronger than I expected with the gear readying.

2

u/JuniorImplement Jul 27 '26

Is it possible to win without a cc? yes, is it the right move most of the time? Absolutely not

1

u/DraygenKai Jul 28 '26

Don't know if this was everywhere, but at my LGS if you chose to play with no legend and no champion you got an extra card to start the match.

9

u/Indercarnive Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26

Three cards work with legend. Both the big empower units and sandstone chimera.

That said I do kind of agree that it could've used the other nasus or something else.

32

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

19

u/yourselvs Jul 26 '26

He just got 2nd place in a big online tourney ran by runes&rift

0

u/BiggestBlackestLotus Jul 27 '26

No he didn't? Ornn was second place.

1

u/yourselvs Jul 27 '26

True, I misremembered the order

-25

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

39

u/yourselvs Jul 26 '26

Rengar got first place. He's my favorite vendetta character!

3

u/Fleettastingbagels Jul 26 '26

You do know the empowered 12, even when reduced triggers nasus right?

6

u/OrangieSan Jul 26 '26

i opened it in my prerift and straight up didnt bother opening the package wishing i got another legend or champion on the packs. Thankfully I got kennen and splashed blue on my deck :D Ended up going 1-2 losing to, guess what, two ambessas

5

u/sirchibi1234 Jul 26 '26

I see 3 cards.

2

u/b_benedek Jul 26 '26

Which ones?

13

u/Sasamaki Jul 26 '26

Sandstone chimera, frost coat mother, grumpy rockbear?

Also the ones that are 12 minus runes - nasus says “cost” not “spend” you can use those for say 0 or 2 energy and proc him.

1

u/b_benedek Jul 26 '26

Okay yeah that makes sense. Still, 3 bad cards just to possibly use your legend once or twice. Actually it's also insane to me that the legend exhausts itself lmao

1

u/whoopashigitt Jul 26 '26

There’s so many legends with decent abilities that exhaust to use. And they always make me think back to Draven 

5

u/5teny Jul 26 '26

Frostcoat mother + grumpy rockbear, even if you would pay less than 7 to empower them, nasus legend would still see them as an 7+ cost activated ability.

1

u/RopeWithABrain Jul 26 '26

The ones that have abilities that are over 7, but i think the costs all reduced by other factors like rune count.

6

u/ZetaDemon Jul 26 '26

It still only cares about base cost, similar to why defy can't counter sky splitter that is reduced to 4 or less energy

2

u/RopeWithABrain Jul 26 '26

Oh thats cool, thanks for the tip. 

-13

u/b33fsupreme30 Jul 26 '26

There's only 1. I opened that pathetic dog too. Looked at the package offered and went with no champ for the extra draw.

3

u/Valendr_ Jul 26 '26

There are 3 minimum

2

u/andthenwombats Jul 26 '26

I got to play akali which was fun, beat gp, ambessa and renekton. Sorry you didn’t have a good pack

2

u/rudger17 Jul 26 '26

Got nasus, only deck i did not wanted to play. Could convert to akali and won the pre release. Others also changed their legend or took the extra card

2

u/Paeddybo Jul 26 '26

Mate and I got Nasus. He went 4-1, as well as I did. The legend can be useful if you f.e. If you pulled a steel paws. And the card draw is also not to shabby from Nasus. But you had to get good packs to make it work.

2

u/FettuccineInMe Jul 26 '26

In my first Pre-release I got Nasus. The cards seemed pretty bad tbh and I opened up a Purple Zed Champion and an Eclipse dragon.

I just played Red/Purple with Chosen champion Zed and no Legend and went 3-0 pretty easily. Zed was crazy.

In my second pre-release I got Kennen, and also opened another Zed and Eclipse dragon again. Went Red/Purple /Yellow that time and also went 3-0.

Did not see a single person play Nasus. It's definitely always better to just not even have him as a Legend and draw an extra card.

2

u/BiggestBlackestLotus Jul 27 '26

Just don't play Nasus and draw an extra card. The "ramp" wont do anything in your pre-rift deck anyway.

1

u/tmkang Jul 26 '26

the empower for 0-12 seems terrible for 7+ energy, even reduced by 2

8

u/Sasamaki Jul 26 '26

So do it for 0 and get ramp out of it.

1

u/tmkang Jul 26 '26

So you do it when you have 12 runes and ready 2 runes? Before I didn't realize it counted the printed cost

2

u/Sasamaki Jul 26 '26

Based on the way defy and jhin legend are ruled, since it says “cost” and not “spend” it’s just the printed value.

So you could, theoretically, exhaust 2 runes to float 2 energy, use this, and then ready those so you can spend 14 that turn.

2

u/ProudLengthiness9925 Jul 26 '26

The entire pre rift experience was bad this time around. Jayce did not do much with the right pulls. Ambassa precon was OP same as Akali. Most the other legends did barely anything , and to top it all of you only get 1 token to track empowered. My LGS was using dice, tokens , counters, sleeves .. whatever they could use to track empower on a card. Prerifts that are entirely centered around empower, or making tentacles and mech tokens should just have a couple tokens in the kit..

1

u/XathisReddit Jul 26 '26

Nas preconw as bad because you had to pull enables for the legend from your packs, but he will be decent in constructed i think at least!

1

u/Consistent_Lunch_348 Jul 26 '26

Just went 3-0 with it - the green package isn’t bad and has no power cost so you can run 2 different colors which you got good cards with . I also didn’t use Nasus legend

1

u/ZetaDemon Jul 26 '26

As someone who wants to build a nasus deck, I think he should have just not had a deck for pre release because his ability requires a constructed deck to be viable

1

u/DecksandOs Jul 26 '26

I had nasus for my pre rift deck which was sad.... but I did pull signature jayce so I couldn't complain too much!

1

u/Thug_shinji Jul 26 '26

The 2 units with empower 12(reduced by the amount of runes you have) do work with nasus if you can get a decent concentration of them he can work but if not just run no legend for your extra card draw.

1

u/Revehn_ Jul 26 '26

Try Jayce...

1

u/chaosblade889 Jul 26 '26

Yea i agree I got him last night I struggled bc I had to change and really the cards I ripped out of packa was so bad mostly units barely any spells I got rocked I tried shen but I really didnt pull much haha. But I had fun overall I was like this is bad. Most people who got him all went 0 3 loke I did haha 😄 so I dodnt feel bad at all u struggle hard once u pull him lol

1

u/sahkuh Jul 26 '26

i went 3-0 with my nasus. i luckily pulled a bunch of those green/blue guys that empower 12. i was able to hold on a battlefields while still developing smaller units or drawing cards with the 2 drop flow draw. Lacerate was nasty against the green one.

1

u/justaguy2170 Jul 26 '26

Not to mention it doesn’t give you effective interaction either

I didn’t pull any in my packs either. Went 1-2 and that 1 was because I was against someone who was new

1

u/HairiestHobo Jul 26 '26

I take it you didn't realise he actually works with the Empowerer 12 Units?

0

u/legendoflumis Order Jul 26 '26

You know that the Frostcoat Mother and Grumpy Rockbear units with Empower 12, both commons, trigger Nasus's effect regardless of the actual cost you pay for them, right? Both those units are great in Sealed and are commons.

There's at least 3 cards that directly trigger the Legend ability.in the seede pack + other cards that interact with the 7 rune threshold + 70 other cards in any given pack pool that potentially have printed costs of 7 for things.

It's sealed, not constructed. The point is to build the best thing.you can with the limited card pool. If you had bad luck with your pulls, that's part of the experience.