Legends of Runeterra's expansion, Forces From Beyond, came out in late July. It introduced Evelynn, Gwen, and Kai’Sa as exciting new champions, alongside a host of supporting cards. But not all cards are created equal, and some cards from this expansion are definitely more worth crafting than others. And now that the meta has had time to settle, we have a much better idea of which those are.
Even with Legends of Runeterra’s relatively generous reward system, you will still need to allocate your resources carefully. Here are ten of the most powerful cards released in Forces from Beyond.
10 Void Blaster
Void Blaster isn’t the world’s most exciting card. For four mana, you get a 4/4 with Overwhelm and Evolve. But while they don’t exactly leap off the page, those two keywords are perfect for Evolve decks, which rely heavily on keyword synergies. And that archetype happens to be one of the most powerful in the game.
The Elder can be extremely powerful in its own right as well. While its baseline stats are unspectacular, once you’ve triggered evolve, it becomes a 6/6 with Overwhelm for four mana. That is a significant threat, one that your opponent will likely have to commit valuable removal to deal with.
9 Riptide Sermon
One of the only spells on this list, Riptide Sermon might not feel like a powerhouse at first glance. It’s expensive, slow, and hardly game-ending. But you do get a lot for your mana.
Dealing four damage to an enemy unit, spawning three tentacles, and dealing two damage to the enemy nexus aren’t powerful effects on their own, but when you combine that many effects into a single card it becomes more than the sum of its parts. That's why it has found a consistent place in decks running Spawn effects, most notably those with Bard and Illaoi as champions.
8 Domination
In theory, Domination is supposed to fit into a synergy deck built around Evelynn and her husks. However, that archetype hasn’t seen much success. Instead, Domination is finding a home in lists running Azir and Irelia.
Both champions’ abilities are focused around summoning temporary, one-cost units like Sand Soldiers and Blades. Domination is a great way to buff those units even further. It's not the reason that the deck is powerful, but it certainly provides an extra bit of "oomph", helping to push it into the higher tiers of the meta.
7 Phantom Butler
Like the Void Blaster, Phantom Butler is an extremely simple card. It’s a three-mana, 3/1 follower with Fearsome and Hallowed. For those unaware, Hallowed is a new keyword in Forces from Beyond that gives your left-most attacker an extra point of attack for each dead Hallowed ally.
As you can see, every aspect of Phantom Butler is geared toward aggression, and it’s seen play in decks that use it and other aggressive minions to get the opponent to a low health total, then finishing them off with burn spells.
6 Voidling
On the surface, a 1/1 that gets a random keyword isn’t too special. But the Voidling is a phenomenal opening play for an Evolve deck, allowing you to get a head start on triggering the keyword.
And since the Voidling itself has Evolve, it can still have value on later turns. A one-mana 3/3 with Fearsome or Challenger won’t win you the game on its own, but it is far from useless. Put simply, the Voidling is an exceptionally synergistic card in a powerful deck archetype.
5 Belvethi Elder
Belvethi Elder can be compared to the Phantom Butler — it has a 3/1 with Fearsome is strong, but a 3/1 with Spellshield that becomes a 5/3 once Evolve is triggered is terrifying. It’s less outright aggressive than the Phantom Butler, but it can be extremely difficult for many decks to remove, especially those that don’t run early minions.
And of course, it slots in easily into decks revolving around Evolve, doing even better than most other Evolve cards in that regard since Spellshield is such an important keyword.
4 Supercharge
Another spell, Supercharger grants an ally Overwhelm and Spellshield at Focus speed. Since it’s Kai’Sa’s champion card, you’ll see it in every Kai’Sa deck, but many versions of these lists run extra copies of the card as well. And it's easy to understand why, since those two keywords are among the most important to get on your Kai’Sa and your Void Abomination.
There are other ways to accomplish that goal, but adding copies of Supercharger gives you redundancy. In a deck built entirely around that one goal, having multiple ways to reach it is crucial.
3 Gwen
Gwen feels like she should be exceptionally powerful. Her leveled-up form can win games on its own, damaging the enemy nexus and healing yours for massive damage with every attack. But she usually sees play purely as an unleveled, aggressive finisher, landing at the top end of the same deck as Phantom Butler.
It’s certainly a playable list, but it feels like Gwen has greater potential. Given more support, she could see a rise in the meta rankings.
2 Void Abomination
The Void Abomination costs eight mana, which is likely raising a red flag for you. If a card is that expensive, it needs to have an immediate, almost game-winning effect. Fortunately, the Void Abomination fits the bill.
In its base form, it's only a 5/4, but it will almost certainly be a 7/6 when you play it (since, if you haven’t triggered Evolve by the time you reach eight mana, you’ve probably lost anyway). And on top of that, it will have basically every positive keyword in the game. Running such an expensive card can cause draw inconsistencies, but the raw power of Void Abomination is undeniable.
1 Kai’Sa
Kai’Sa taking the top spot is unsurprising. Many of the other cards on this list are powerful in large part because they help to create a situation in which Kai’Sa will level up immediately when played on five mana.
Combined with giving her crucial keywords — notably Spellshield, Overwhelm, Scout, and Challenger — and using Second Skin, you get a unit that's virtually impossible to kill, and will destroy your opponent’s entire board and reduce their life total to zero within a turn or two. Good luck competing with that.