Cassiopeia is blatant false advertising || Casual Champion Review 

Lots of Casual reviews lately, experiencing a bit of burnout lately fellas, i apologize for that. But soulfighter video should be out next week and i have many other things planned/in the works rn

She is a fun knowledge checker. I've had a game once where one dude was raging on our teams cassiopeia to buy boots.

"One of the characters I forget exists" is the best way to describe her

if Cass ever got a visual update I think it'd be cool of they gave her a hood, one it'd fit into her canonical self loathing after her transformation, and two because it'd give her a more visually interesting ult animation where she can pull it down to petrify people as they see her face.

Honestly, I think Cassiopeia would have worked way better if Xerath just turned her into a Baccai. It would have made more sense than the "guardian serpent" (which is never really explained) turning her into a snake lady because reasons, and it would have fit thematically too. Xerath "rewards" Cassiopeia for setting him free by gifting her the power she wants at the cost of her human appearance, which we KNOW is something he can do thanks to both his LoR cards and the fact that he made the cobrah-lion.

If I were to update her lore, it would probably be something like this: 1. *Keep* the Noxian aspects (Black Rose and all). 2. *Make* the curse an actual curse; have her slowly exhibit snake-like tendencies; like a Baccai, but keeping her intellect. 3. *Have* her daylight as a returned Ascended to the public while moonlighting as an assassin for the Black Rose. As for her design, they could just change her green to a dark crimson while adding scales forming around her face.

She would be much more interesting if she was the first true APC for Bot Lane instead of Mid, considering she has a lot of consistent damage in her kit and good mobility.

I think the most interesting thing about Cass is that she’s Katarina’s sister. Seeing as Katarina is Garen’s equal and opposite between Noxus and Demacia, I think it would be interesting if Cass was that for Lux. While Lux wants to unite and protect mages in Demacia, Cass could do the same for the Black Rose, acting as the guardian Angel for their agents. I’m thinking the way she is transformed into a snake person is that she was gifted a dagger from Shurima obtained by her mother. Cass swore to her mom that she would use it on herself if she was ever going to be caught by agents of Swain so they couldn’t torture her or worse. Eventually comes the day where she has to use the dagger, only for it to turn her into a super powered monster allowing her to escape. Of course she’s horrified to have become a monster, with her mother explaining and apologizing that she just couldn’t bear to let her go (her mom also wasn’t 100% sure what the dagger would do, but had an idea that it might be bad either way. Cass and her mom go to the black rose where it’s decided that Cass will now act as a protector for other black rose members so that none of them will ever have to face the choice and consequences she did. Basically Cassiopeia believes that she and the Black rose are morally righteous since they’re trying to hold back the return of Mordekaiser. She wants the black rose and Noxus to unite so as to put to use the resources of Noxus to better cause as opposed to the senseless wars of expansion (in her eyes). As for her remaining family members, the assassins all have an idea that something has gone wrong with Cass, but for the sake of maintaining an outward projection of power, none of them prod at it. This is sort of parallel Lux’s open secret of being a mage in Demacia with her family.

Technically this is a Nami comment but back in the old shop, if you were Nami and typed hat into the item search, boots would appear. This is a reference to The Little Mermaid fairy tale where the mermaid finds a boot and mistakes it for a hat. Neat little nod there.

ngl i forgot she existed but since you mentioned naganeka. i think theres something interesting they could do for a visual update. i think they could actually make the snake statue actually based off naganeka during the darkin war and as for the venom, they could make it so that her venom is infused with the darkin blood magic and that's what turns people into sneeple. the point i'm getting at with this is that they could make cass kinda like tryndamere where he got powers from aatrox and cass got hers from naaga.

Look up Medusa's skins in Smite. They come up with a lot of creative ways to handle the tail and not just keep making a snake lady. They even did the centipede one that Nicky mentioned.

I think my biggest issue with Cassiopeia is that Riot can't decide if she's supposed to be horrifying because she's been changed into a snake, or still beautiful even after her transformation (or even more so for some kinky folks). a lot of internal confusion on what kind of story she should have

I like Cassio as a concept she’s basically someone that was evil and then she got cursed so she became good and is now paying the price of her evilness in the past but they never take the time to explain nor justify the things she does (?) I for one do think her model does reflect this ugly aspect of hers that her splash art doesn’t really does because In the splash art she looks just like any other beautiful woman but with snakey features sort of but in the game she does look more creepy and ugly

Casio could be such a killer design, instead of making her a generic medussa creature (just like how Panth used to be a generic spartan), they could fully embrace the snake part and make such a cool monster champ.

I will not stand for this Cassiopeia slander😤 But I do get that she's quite old as a champion and the main thing that attaches me to her is the fact that I'm a sucker for any snek character. A cool visual update would be the separation of the serpent aspect of Cassiopeia and her side as a seductress. Instead of having a snake tail how about she is riding a monstrous snake beast. It would show that her charm is so powerful that she gained control of the monster as well as showing how she'd use anything for power.

I usually remember that she exists as a threat. Many of my favorite champions for mid lane struggle against her

The WORM gameplay

How the hell Velkoz wears shoes riot?

I think that the reason why she was so upset about her transformation and considered herself ugly was because she felt inadequate getting used to her new body and not controlling her powers. Also, she lost that element of harmlessness she used when coaxing out information or manipulating people. Previously she posed like that elegant young lady. And it was supereasy for her to pretend to be vulnerable and fragile (according to her Spirit Blossom iteration), making suitors lower their guard and spill the beans or do something for her. However, after Cassiopeia got transformed, I doubt anyone would have fallen for her tricks. Like, lady, you have a tail that can crush my ribs like a piece of chalk and poisonous fangs, you're clearly NOT defenseless or vulnerable. So, what Cassiopeia mourned was losing that luxury of acting innocent or charming people. Even if she was accepted by the Noxian society, everyone would always stay alert of her predatory aspects, complicating her tasks and making her less useful to the Black Rose (that was still more about espionage). After all, Cassiopeia wasn't a scientist or a mage. Manipulation and scheming were her forte and her appearance helped a lot. She probably felt that she failed her mother and Black Rose, which made her so sour about her change. She had to rediscover herself to get over it. As for her hunting bad guys...I don't think she did because she had a moral compass. She went after people who were dangerous to test herself -- and too loathsome to ever be missed. Also, it felt like some kind of rationalization for herself "Yes, yes, everyone calls me names, but at least I'm not THAT bad". But I do wish Riot did something else with her, Kata (who I consider to be a lot more boring character) takes all the spotlight .

Riot loves to say "this character is a horrible abomination could never be seen as human or given empathy" and they're a conventionally attractive young woman

For a while now, I've wanted to see a full overhaul for Cass where they tie her into the Bakai lore. Make her some scheming figure in the Shurima plot where she becomes Bakai and tries to play politics with the Ascended.

I love Cassio, she's one of my favorite champions (as is Katarina). They should make that she alone feels like she's a horrible monster, but she's actually still pretty and her story is about her trying to figure out her new life/joining the Black Rose. And maybe reuniting with Katarina/Talon.

Iirc the passive was to make her slow early game that ramps up movement speed until late game. This was when Cass got the rework from a vanilla poison DoT mage into an E Spamming mage.

It could be nice if they explored deep insecurity in her design. Things like scales or similar discolouration can make a gradient appear as disfiguretion rather than perfectly naga’ified woman. The curse is a curse, so it shouldn’t seem perfect, but Cass was so used to perfection. If she retained features her beauty (primarily focusing on her face), Riot could make her mostly cover her face, mainly unveiling it in her R and probably showing a peak in her splash. Riot realistically would want to keep her as a feminine middle ground, but this could help improve the delivery. In a similar fashion, her undergoing tragedy and experiencing deep insecurities could reason the regained empathy/humanity, as she might understand through suffering. Still delusional though, she is accepted by the black rose and is aware she is an inherently evil person with a predatory instinct. Evelynn is heavily sexualised as a succubus demon, Elise gained both beauty and a deadly other form and Ahri is Ahri. Having a beautiful character who resents ‘no longer being perfection’ even though they still fit the bill at least provides variety in the similar use cases. As a final note, they should add some accessories like robes draping around the upper snake tail, since this enhances the silhouette for future skins to have more than just ‘a smooth snake tail’

Hey Nicki I dont think you mentioned this but the tomb that cassiopeia open needed to be opened by royal blood and azir was sivir's great grandpa or more greats but this opened and along with renekton and xerath being free from the tomb so did Azir being reborn from said tomb with azir not being able to be ascended saving sivir from tomb before sivir dies granted azir to be worthy of said ascension

Design wise, Cass feels like another solid "Champion design saved by Legends of Runeterra" candidate like Zilean, Jax etc.

the centipede idea sounds terrifying, I love it

Tbh i like cassiopea gameplay. She feels like adc, and i love playing adc champions. Was considering playing mid at one point and shw was noe of the champions i liked to play

Cassiopeia is one of those champs for me that I completely forget exists (even when shes in my own games), but I will be brutally reminded of that because of that one cass player who goes 20/0 and 1v9s the game meanwhile I’m like “Yeah I totally knew what she did and that she was a champion in the game League of Legends.”

I don't think she is that much unplayed, there are characters with way less play, and she is kinda-ish meta for a long time, and her gameplay is actually enjoyable a lot for some players - like me, even though I dont play her specifically, I love this kind of playstyle, Zeri especially (most fun adc imo)

ngl, I've just been here staring at Nicky's Ping in awe of being consistently 18. Great video, but damn that ping got me actin' up

I always interpreted her descriptions of being monstrous and horrifying as something more of how Cass envisions herself. She's always been beautiful her whole life. She had learned to use her wit and beauty to get what she wants indirectly. I think it would be pretty neat if they ever decide to put her in LoR to develop her character to be more accepting of how she is now. Instead of seeing her transformation as a curse, she now sees it as a blessing instead because now she can take what she wants for herself without solely relying on her beauty while still recognizing that even after acquiring a tail and some scales, she's still beautiful. She has so much potential as a character and I hope Riot would develop her character and lore more in the future, perhaps even an inclusion in LoR

shes actually one of my most favourite champ, shes rpetty much an ap adc.

Also fun fact Noxus was supposedly heavily have a color pallet of dark green, black and grey After they changed it to red and black

Smite's Medusa has some interesting skin designs, or as interesting as HiRez are capable of anyway. She has a centipede/millipede skin, two that change the tail into a long and tattered flowing dress as a jailer and a holy priest, the obvious and beloved mermaid adding the fins to the tip, etc. I think with some work Riot could make Cassio have huge design potential, but they've just cemented themselves into the snake-only category.

The best thing about Cassiopeia is the crushing your bones line from the Spirit Blossom VN.

15:12 aurelion literally has a voice line for buying boots "i tend to burn through footwear"

Tbh it would be potentially really weird but you could make it like a long flowing gown and just have it not snake. Also just giving here an April fools skin where she becomes one of those fuzzy string worms. Like give her googly eyes and everything.

You can't understand why someone might find an entirely unwanted and unasked for dramatic change to their body so upsetting? Like a magically extreme form of body dysphoria? Or how someone might see themselves disgusting even when everyone else can't see anything wrong? Like a magically extreme form of the psychology behind some (not all) types of anorexia?

If cassiopia's death scream wasnt in the pentakill song deathfire Grasp i would have completly forgotten about her existance by now tbh

I love Cass in the new TFT set and I have a friend that has rhe snake throwing skin, which makes me smile.

You used to be able to buy boots on Cass but the community memed about it for so long that Riot changed it. It's dumb because they didn't make the same change for other champions without feet.

As a player from Season 3, who played the game for Cass, old lore had her find a serpentine sword in the FRELJORD and turned her into a snake person. That looks like a jungle snake. Wild time to learn league and read lore. I still love her gameplay tho. Hurts my head because cant play her on braindead mode.

I think Cass has potential, due to her transformation being due to Shuriman magic I headcanon that she's almost like a baccai, that the guardian used ascended magic on her but instead of killing her it partially ascended her (or maybe that's the intent of the guardian? idk), and with her being set up since Talon is now in a Noxian camp in Shurima, I would love to see if that theory is actually true and if so, how powerful Cass really is

Gameplay wise I think it is a lot more fun if you focus on running and gunning, like zeri you should be re positioning between shooting each E, so it is fun to stutter step and try to use your W to zone and kite

Hmm maybe in a rework she could have been grazed with the Sundisk beam and wasn't worthy so became a Baccai which part animal transformation, uncontrollable powers, and could be new patches of more scales or other animal bits or patches of her normal skin color in the tail for a spotted pattern

When you said centipede I instantly thought of brood mother Medusa from smite. A redesign I have for cas is I feel riot wouldn’t make her a true monster so what if half her face is beautiful and the other is morphed and warped into a grotesque snake. It’d show her isolation, too monstrous for society but to human for vastya so she’s completely alone.

I think they should just make her full serpent, I thought her thing was being smart, not charming, although I guess the two can overlap. The closest thing league has to a snake is Asol and hes a space puppy, not a space worm. She could still wear ornaments and stuff for her skins (I mean have you seen snakes wearing little hats?). I could be wrong, but I get the feeling more people play her because snakes are cool and not because monster girl. Would also make her spitting venom make more sense. Lots of human women in league, no snakes. I would love an actual snake champion. Just think of playing as a snake, man that would be so cool. Making her either into a cobra shape or more draconic, but I think cobra would be better, its her thing you know. Her skins shouldnt be too difficult to convert either but im not sure what they would do for SB in particular. I like your centipede idea but im not sure when or where that would fit, fright night maybe? And giving her a toy skin with that worm on a string would be hilarious, it would look really dumb and it would be great. Your content always comes as a welcome surprise (I keep forgetting what day of the week it is), I look forward to seeing more.

Something to came to my mind: Imagine Nicky does this whole series; he gets all the way to, say, Zilian; he still hasn't gotten a visual update.

I always felt like the "Oh I am so monsterous." came from Cassiopeia as in; On paper, no, she isn't scary or horrifying or even all that special but she herself sees her body as that. And thus she hides away

Personally I think that all Riot has to do to make her fit the monstrous looks role is simply by making part of her human body more snakelike, in my head it'd be half of her body chest up with patches of scales elsewhere. Her arm that's affected would have long claws that contain venom, the snake side of her mouth would have no teeth except for a single fang and the jaw would work independently from the other to open wider, allowing for a bite, albeit an imperfect one. And instead of that bra thing she'd wear a ragged cloak with a hood to hide herself and be less noticeable. Gameplay appearance wise I'm thinking to make her a bit like Kayle's change (not as extreme though), she'll start off wearing the ragged hood and once she gets her ult she'll take it off, revealing her monstrous form that's so terrifying it causes people to stop in their tracks. Edit: Just scrolled down to see someone else with the hood idea so credit where credits due

Another friday, another week closer to Lewis the gator’s champion review

I feel like casa could be remade into a half ascended half snake half human. Azure partner who was accidentally effected by create trying to steal the ascension from azir idk if that would make sense. I’m more interested in the void lore than shurima

If the ever VGU or ASU or whateverU Cass they should design her with more Reds and Blacks give her more a connection to Noxus and The Black Rose, also black snakes are more common in warmer climates like Cobras, Fe der Lances and Bushmasters so it would make sense that "Shuriman Snakes" have some visual overlap with Noxian Dark and Gray aesthetics. (Bonus if it connects to the original design of Naganeka so we can get a kinda idea of what they looked like before you know being turned into a chicken/weapon thing).

Wait honestly… there’s Minotaurs running around Noxus I just realized she probably wouldn’t be that weird…. and then half her lore falls apart

Next week is my boy, cant wait for Cho

on the shoes thing, it always bothered me that Vel Koz needs boots too. though i do like the image of little sorcerer boots and his tentacles lmao

The not having boots thing was Riot's response to the meme of Cass wearing boots. That's the only reason, there's a lot of characters who can't wear boots but she's the one it was memed with so she's the one who gets the No Boots Buff

If you want to check out some interesting ways Riot could make some skins for her, check out Medusa's skin catalog from Smite. Theres som serious bangers in there.

I swear all of Noxus is legit gaslighting Cass to think she's hideous at this point 💀

The fanarts about your cassiopiea asu? Vgu? Made me want to watch this video.

Honestly I think if I had to improve the Cassiopeia lore, I'd honestly just put her on friendly terms with her sister Katarina but keep her in the Black Rose thing, giving her conflict of loyalty and make her lore more interesting. The Shurima incident can just be Xerath giving her a cursed mask that turns her into a snake woman if she ever takes it off. Her struggling with her powers turns her mother to stone, but it also provides her a degree of freedom from the Black Rose. If she could stop her mother, why not some kind of other evil doer? So, she becomes a Noxus vigilante, hiding her face with a mask and allowing her to turn people to stone by taking it off. It would also honestly make making skins for her more interesting. She loses the snake tail sure but it can come back during her ults.

red hood or robin hood, but love this review also man just pops off on her while reading /talking about the lore lmao

when i was reading up on champions a couple years ago curious about what might come to LoR I remember stumbling upon Cassiopeia and...having that exact reaction to reading her bio. "turned into a horrible creature" Uh huh. Suuuuuure Riot.

who would have think that this video leed to the cass rework

They clearly wanted her to be a Medusa character from the backstory to the ultimate but I don’t understand why they made her “sexy”? Like her story is literally about losing her beauty

Spirit Blossom Cassio is one of my favorite skins I wish that was her default design. Or that she was more fun to play...

I think even though it was probably unintentional, cass not being able to buy boots kind of fits her playstyle since she doesn't need the flat magic pen from sorc shoes since she's not a burst mage

I feel a really cool concept for a video would be comparing League's characters that are based off real Mythological gods, and their skins, to SMITE's gods they are based off of, and THEIR skins. When you said "OH maybe a centipede skin for Cass" I was like, yeah SMITE did that, you'd like it :) Food for thought

I know her as the opener for This Is War 6.

Spitballin' here, Idea for the ASU, she was created before Lore was in-depth right? Maybe make her some sort of half ascended being from the bite, or even basically turn her into a baccai of sort, curse of the tomb. OR make it where the bite made her part vastayan, We got Xayah and Ahri, who are basically what Cass is trying to be, just fully commit. Wouldn't even mind if they just straight up gave her a snake head instead, would make more sense to why she feels she isn't beautiful anymore.

WORM ON A STRING CASS IN MY NEW FAVORITE THING

All i want is a skin that replaces the snake tail with a gummy worm

Cass passive is nonexistent early game and pointing out that you're faster than an inactive mobi boot blitzcrank when you're fed and a much higher level than everyone else is silly. Cass has to be much slower to lane than her enemy laner for a good bit of the game which makes tp usage more important and she can't benefit from pen boots earlier in the game which is usually a huge power spike for a battle mage. I think the only really valid complaint about cass passive is just that it's really boring.

Samira moved to Noxus and works as a bounty hunter for hire. It makes sense that she'd look Noxian. Cass moved fro Noxus to Shurima, and works as a spy she needs to look shuriman to blend in and not raise eye brows from Shurimans when she is working with while undercover. I don't think her visual appearance in terms of beauty or ugliness is an important part of her story/character/gameplay either way. Whats important is that she's a resourceful, smart, competent spy who collects relics of power for the black rose. The question is what does she do now that she has this body and failed her previous task. Does she start looking for a cure, does she now search for rare chemicals the BR can use and she can use for poisons or a way to turn her back? U do make an interesting point that the fantasy of a legendary spirit is compelling compared to her current lore.

I rewrote her lore to make her a Vastaya. Her and her tribe were transformed by void energies South of Ixtal. Empowered by the void she returns to Ixtal to unite the Vastaya tribes, through force if needed, and wage war against Ixtal who have looked down upon Cassiopeia and the other Vastaya.

The fun part is that if they went for making her a more monstrous-looking snake lady she'd actually just be Medusa from Dota full stop.

15:05 Aurelion Sol piterally says he doesnt buy shoes because they tend to burn right off anyways 🗿

15:21 Nah, I think Cho'Gath uses Shaq sized shoes

Ah yes, the snake lady. Sometimes i forgot she even exists as well lol

I will always say by the lore she should be way more like the yugioh card deity of Poisonous Snake. This true monster instead of a just a Naga, it would be so cool

I think they could've used Vladimir's group to explain how she became beautiful again, like she has connections with the Black Rose, the option is there. Like she was more of a monster and she changed herself, and then making her more of a tactician idk.

Idea- the more abilities she uses in a row the more snake like she becomes

You can make a dragon tail. Make her part of the Swain and Zyra's side of the dragon universe

I'm fairly sure the intent in her short story wasnt to be a vigilante, but just that she had stalked this man for a while and therefore knew of his exploits

I really just realized what you said, Cassiopeia and Zeri kinda do the same thing with a different key, weird they are different I know but I find it weird that both exist now lol.

Medusa from Dota2 is the exact thing that you are describing in this video! She sacrificed her noble looks to gain powers (so she can save her family) and she looks HORRIBLE. Check her out!

the comment about her breaking stone like glass made me think that it would be super cool if Cassiopeia was like a super buff monstrous snake women like her entire kit would just be being fast sinking their teeth in and holding their like a teemo Warwick

Bro wait, Nickyboi just turned into Tobias Fate at the end there 16:48

Centipede Cass legendary sounds amazing actually

NickyBoi: 18-1 Cass Also NickyBoi: "I'm bored. Cass, you're boring me."

Skin idea: Human legs, snake torso and head

yall think we'll get skarner's rework by the time the time 'll come for his casual champion review?

I cannot forget cass exists because both her and taliyah annoy me so much when they randomly show up in aram and i now don't get to have fun because 80% of the champs in this game are built around dashes but riot added 2 die if you wanna dash champs. on the otherhand lamia lust.

It would fun if they related her to baccai

The boots thing is cos the guy who made that patch is a cassio main, no joke, he just gave his main a buff for no reason under the pretext of "haha snake no boots"

Spirit Blossom is her best, but Coven is also amazing

The idea of making her Demacian so that even though she’s still obviously conventionally attractive we would be able to buy that she gets treated like a freak? Great idea but doubt they would swap her region at this point. Cassiopeia would hugely benefit from a modern glow up that properly places her in Noxus. Who’s to say she even needs the Shuriman aesthetic? I’d be interested in seeing that dropped almost entirely.

I think a "Noxian" skin for Cass would be nice, maybe play up her relation to her sister? As for the monstrous appearance, I think it would be interesting if it played into body dysmorphia that she has towards her own appearance. Her family and Noxus as a whole wouldn't see anything wrong with her appearance, but she insists that she is monstrous. As for the shoes, iirc someone said Nami wears her boots like a hat.

On using the Vastaya as an excuse weren't they at war or still at war with Ionia which I think is the only place that has them? So that would Heavily ostracize her from her countrymen and on her morality is it worse by our standards or is it worse by noxian standards? I feel like that would be an important distinction.