Grandmaster Rathe impact on the current meta

In this post I will share the hype I feel now that we are very close to the first Legendary summoner of the Chaos Legion Edition. This honor will be for the life summoner and will be a 6 mana summoner with a kit of tools that in my opinion can have a deep impact on the meta, showing and even increasing a value of an attribute sometimes underestimated: the armor. Hope u enjoy it.

Summoner preview and stats

So here we've got him. The man that will change the whole game dynamics with his set of abilities. A 6 mana cost legendary summoner that gives +1 armor, amplifies, and gives void armor to all his creatures. 2 of the 3 buffs are generic ones (I mean - every creature gets its benefit), and the first impression is that an army lead by Rathe, will be very difficult to melt it (what I mean by melting is when the opponent focuses in a damage source that you have not planned). In my opinion, Magic Armor is one of the most reliable abilities in all the games. There's a part of us that understands that Magic damage ignores armor, but this ability makes to be counted as equal as in melee or ranged. Tanks with Shield like Chaos Knight / Shieldbearer given this attribute will turn them into an authentic Nightmare to their opponents. In addition to this great buff, the +1 Armor will hugely increase the whole Magic resistance of all the army. Amplify is also a great ability that bread and butter creatures like Pelacor Conjurer will receive with arms wide open.

Grandmaster's synergies

There are plenty of abilities with a huge synergy with Grandmaster Rathe. If there is a word that defines Grandmaster's army, will be reliability. His army won't be melted in round 1 or 2. I've grouped abilities in 3 sources:

Armor management: every buff that increases armor will be of great impact thanks to Void Armor and also any Repair will hugely slow enemy progress. There are plenty of options for Protect (Truthspeaker, Sheriff) and Repair Scavo Hireling and Adelade.
Resurrect a great ability for a reliable army. The creature will rise up with 1 health and all armor buffs (minimum +1 from Rathe). Adelade also appears in this list. In my opinion, she will be one of the best Rathe's choices for almost every situation. Just love that creature.
Amplify a great ability that often changes combat dynamics. The first creature that comes to my mind is Pelacor Conjurer with his Magic reflect amplified, shutting down those annoying Magic dealers.

But, my special mention in modern format goes to Shieldbearer (Maybe in tandem with Adelade). Grandmaster Rathe deletes Shieldbearer's main weakness (magic). We've all seen combats and combats where Shieldbearer was melted by magic. This won't happen again as his 6 armor will bring him tons of survivability. And now imagine Adelade in your army also Repairing Void Armor and Rising again a 7 void armor creature thanks to Resurrection. Wow! That's a combo!

Grandmaster's counters

I am extremely hyped about Grandmaster's release. But there are also some roundabouts, some counters that can strike Grandmaster's Edge to glory.

Shatter: Destroying a Void armor will be an interesting first step to allow Magic dealers to do their job.
Rust: eliminating this armor also will be annoying for Grandmaster.
Venom: The only way to directly damage Grandmaster's creature Health will be through venom.
The creature that denies and interrupts Grandmaster's synergies in my opinion is Weirding Warrior. For 2 Mana, he will shatter any rest of the armor and will erase 2 armor of all the army. I love this debuffer.

Combat example

To finish this post I bring you an example that shows how things could be with Grandmaster Rathe on the board. I have chosen the tank with Magic Armor illustrating Grandmaster's buff at least on the tank (legionnaire of Alvar), at the same time I had chosen a double resurrection strat with Adelade and Priest adding the beloved armor repair of the first. Finally, I faced the typical Kelya opponent with 9 Magic damage that usually melted Life summoner. In this combat, you will see Legionnaire of Alvar absorbing a ton of damage and getting resurrected twice with 10 void armor. Hope you enjoy it!