Hey everyone! Welcome back to our Meta Decks Report for Legends of Runeterra.

As always, these deck recommendations will be provided by our experts, Kuvira, Shugo, and Scarzig!

Note that our experts update the tier list often so there may be some lag time between this blog version and the one on our site.

When in doubt, use the LoR Meta Tier List feature for the most up-to-date tier list.

Best Runeterra Decks

• S-tier: Ezreal Seraphine (Noxus + Piltover/Zaun)
• A-tier: Pantheon Vayne (Demacia + Targon)
• S-tier: Vayne Zed (Demacia + Ionia)
• S-tier: Pantheon Varus (Runeterran + Targon)
• A-tier: Swain TF (Bilgewater + Noxus)
• A-tier: Seraphine Viktor (Piltover/Zaun + Shadow Isles)
• A-tier: Rumble Vayne (Demacia + Noxus)
• A-tier: Gwen Katarina (Noxus + Shadow Isles)
• A-ter: Jax Vayne (Runeterran + Demacia)
• A-tier: Annie Jhin (Runeterran + Noxus)
• A-tier: Pirates (Bilgewater + Noxus)
• A-tier: Akshan Lee Sin (Ionia + Shurima)
• B-tier: Plunder (Bilgewater + Freljord)
• B-tier: Gwen Vayne (Demacia + Shadow Isles)
• B-tier: Lurk (Bilgewater + Shurima)
• B-tier: Katarina Yasuo (Ionia + Noxus)

LoR Meta Decks

Whether you like to play aggro, midrange, control, or combo, we’ve got meta deck archetype for you. Enjoy!

S-tier LoR Decks

Ezreal Seraphine (Noxus + Piltover/Zaun)

Deck code: CECACAQDBEAQMAYXAIDAIDQVAEAQIJAEAIAQGKZOAEDAGDQCAECB6NAEAYCBMIBFFADAEBQECIVQCAIEAEAQIBAHAEBQICYBAMBQ2AIEAMFA

[See Ezreal Seraphine deck details]

General info

Ezreal Seraphine takes the classic Noxus PnZ shell and spices it up with some extra splashy goodness. Instead of building up Tribeams, this deck aims to cast a large variety of spells in order to build up and support Seraphine’s doubling abilities. Once online, the combo of Ezreal + Seraphine can burst down the enemy nexus out of nowhere!

👌 Strong Against: Katarina Yasuo, Rumble Vayne, Akshan Lee Sin, Pantheon Varus, Lurk

👎 Weak Against: Pantheon Vayne

How to play

🃏 Mulligan 🃏

Look for removal that matches up well against the opponent’s deck. Sentry + Flock is a great combo against Demacia decks. Back Alley Bar is a good keep against the mirror.

💡 Tips 💡 ‎ ‎ ‎

• Depending on the matchup, consider playing Seraphine only after she’s leveled. This ensures at least some value before she is potentially removed.
• Maintaining a proper hand size is very relevant with Seraphine. It’s very easy to refill our hand by doubling up cheap draw spells, along with the fact that many cards replace themselves. Sputtering Songspinner is hard to cast when our hand is completely full, so be mindful of that.
• Always count the amount of damage you can do with the Ezreal + Seraphine combo. This deck can often guarantee a burst finish simply by adding enough targetting spells to the stack and killing the opponent before they even get the chance to respond. Don’t give the opponent a window of opportunity when you don’t have to.

Pantheon Vayne(Runeterran + Targon)

Deck code: CECAEBIJAMCQEBQJAQQACAYJEMAQMAAVA4BACAANDIAQGCJTAEDAACYCAYEQMKACAQAAEAYCAUEQIDIBAIAACAA

[See Pantheon Vayne deck details]

General info

Pantheon Vayne is the latest Fated variant, with Vayne an incredible amount of support to this Demacia Targon staple. Saga Seeker carries the deck’s early game as it builds up towards leveling Pantheon. The addition of Vayne gives access to more free attacks to abuse our massive Fated threats!

👌 Strong Against: Swain TF, Ezreal Seraphine, Gwen Vayne, Gwen Katarina

👎 Weak Against: Pantheon Varus, Vayne Zed, Jax Vayne

How to play

🃏 Mulligan 🃏

Look for Saga Seeker as our priority #1, but also try to pick up an equipment card. Equipment turns on Lunari Cultist and The Expanse’s Protection, as well as provides an efficient source of triggering Fated.

💡 Tips 💡 ‎ ‎ ‎

• Aim to target at least one unit per turn in order to threaten Pantheon level-up ASAP. However, this shouldn’t be at the expense of wasting a card and/or mana.
• Picking the Scout weapon off of Wandering Shepherd allows us to turn Tumbles into Rallies.
• Single Combat and Concerted Strike are our only form of interaction on the stack. Remember this in case you need to develop a unit before a possible open-attack.

Vayne Zed (Demacia + Ionia)

Deck code: CECQKBQAAYFAWFIYAIDAEDJCAMAQEBQJBQAQMAYXAECQADACAEBQEFABAEBDCAA

[See Vayne Zed deck details]

General info

Zed is back with a new Demacia Ionia core, and now that Vayne has made an appearance, it’s more efficient than ever before! Forget Rallies, Tumble allows Zed to freely attack with ease, all while equipping him at the same time. Combined with powerful combat tricks like Momentous Choice and Wuju Style, it’s sure to put the opponent on a short clock!

👌 Strong Against: Rumble Vayne, Pantheon Vayne, Pirates, Gwen Katarina

👎 Weak Against: Swain TF, Ezreal Seraphine

How to play

🃏 Mulligan 🃏

This deck relies heavily on getting its champions and equipment early. Vayne and Zed should be top priority, but Ionian Hookmaster is also a solid pickup.

💡 Tips 💡 ‎ ‎ ‎

• It’s important to save some spell mana in order to protect our champions. One of the deck’s greatest strengths is Ionia’s efficient combat tricks, so be sure to have mana ready going into each turn.
• Ranger-Knight Defector + Tumble = Free Rally on the opponent’s turn.
• Take proactive passes when necessary. You can force the opponent to either play cautiously and make subpar plays, or risk overcommitting and getting blown out by a big Tumble turn.

A-tier LoR Decks

Pantheon Varus (Demacia + Targon)

Deck code: CEEACBQCEIBAKCIDAUBQMCIEEAUACAYJEMAQMAZCAEDAMJYBAYASEAIGBQEQGAIGA4CQCBQJAYAQGCKVAEAQMBZI

[See Pantheon Varus deck details]

General info

Pantheon Varus plays similar to other Pantheon lists, except it trades the free attacks and Rallies for a variety of powerful support spells via Varus’ Origin. Additionally, instead of relying on Pantheon as the main win condition, Varus is equally capable of closing out the game. Those attack buffs stack up fast!

👌 Strong Against: Pantheon Vayne, Jax Vayne, Gwen Vayne

👎 Weak Against: Ezreal Seraphine, Lurk

How to play

🃏 Mulligan 🃏

Our actual equipment suite is quite low with only Lodestone, Shepherd, and Varus. Prioritize Lodestone and Shepherd in order to enable all of our “if you have equipped” cards.

💡 Tips 💡 ‎ ‎ ‎

• Momentous Choice counts as two spells towards the free Varus draw. Keep this in mind, as it’s an easy way to get Varus online early when he isn’t already in hand.
• Varus grows incredibly fast and can be leveled mid-combat to gain Overwhelm and threaten lethal.
• The Unending Wave is powerful draw, but fleeting is a real cost in this deck. Be sure you have enough mana before casting it in order to increase the likelihood of playing both drawn cards.

Swain TF (Bilgewater + Noxus)

Deck code: CECQEAQDA4EQEBQGA4PACAYGBABACAZOG4BQEBQ2EYWQGAIGAYRAEAQDAEEACAQGDQBACAIDCYAQGAYN

[See Swain TF deck details]

General info

Swain TF is the more controlling side of Bilgewater Noxus. It takes advange of the Sentry + Flock package and utilizes cheap units and spells to win the board. Swain levels incredibly fast with Watchful Idol, and once flipped, becomes a massive threat that the opponent can not ignore!

👌 Strong Against: Lurk, Vayne Zed, Gwen Katarina,

👎 Weak Against: Pantheon Vayne, Ezreal Seraphine

How to play

🃏 Mulligan 🃏

Watchful Idol is the perfect start to turbo level Swain by turn five. Additionally, look for cheap units like House Spider or spells like Make it Rain to halt early aggression.

💡 Tips 💡 ‎ ‎ ‎

• You can cast spells on Swain’s blockers in order to push through Overwhelm damage and trigger his nexus strike effect.
• Consider saving chump blockers in order to enable Flock/Scorched Earth/Noxian Guillotine. Similarly, keep in mind when you’ll need to preemptively cast a spell to avoid awkward enemy open-attacks.
• Riptide Rex can clean up a lot of board states or create a large dent in the opponent’s nexus. Just be sure you have a way to trigger Plunder as the deck has limited options to enable it.

Seraphine Viktor (Ionia + Piltover/Zaun)

Deck code: CEBQCBQFEABQMBAOCUUACAYEAMCAIBQECQLCAKYBAUCBQAIBAQ2AEAIFAEUAOAQBAQNSOAQGAQJB4AIFBJ3QCBAEA4AQGBICAECQIEIBAICAC

[See Seraphine Viktor deck details]

General info

Seraphine Viktor takes the explosiveness of Seraphine and adds the control side of Shadow Isles. The PnZ SI combinations gives access to most of the best, well-rounded removal spells, aimed to punish the opponent and take over the game.

👌 Strong Against: Katarina Yasuo, Pirates, Annie Jhin

👎 Weak Against: Jax Vayne, Rumble Vayne, Pantheon Varus

How to play

🃏 Mulligan 🃏

There are a lot of 1-ofs and 2-ofs in the deck in order to consistently capitalize on Seraphine. Focus on finding the right removal spells for the matchup. Seraphine and Viktor are always welcome keeps.

💡 Tips 💡 ‎ ‎ ‎

• Be cautious of potential SpellShields in the matchup and hold pings when necessary in order to prevent getting blown out.
• There is a pretty sizeable amount of variance between cards like Back Alley Bar and Fanclub President. Knowing when you can afford to take a tempo loss is important, as you won’t always be lucky enough to find or generate the perfect card.
• Don’t be afraid to use your cards. Piltovan Tellstones and Sputtering Songspinner can fill your hand very quickly if it gets low.

Rumble Vayne (Demacia + Noxus)

Deck code: CEDQEAYDAEBQCAIADUBQMAYWC4NACBAAAMAQMAAVAECAGFQBAUFFQBABAUBQ2AIFAAGACBQDEQAQCAYLAIAQCAA2AECAAAQ

[See Rumble Vayne deck details]

General info

Rumble Vayne is an all-in combo deck that utilizes Legionary Charge to consistently find Rumble, then swing in multiple times per turn with free attacks. Rumble’s SpellShield + Tumble + Great Hammers is an incredibly fast clock when unanswered!

👌 Strong Against: Gwen Katarina, Gwen Vayne

👎 Weak Against: Vayne Zed, Ezreal Seraphine, Pirates

How to play

🃏 Mulligan 🃏

Hard mulligan to find Rumble or Legionary Charge. Most units are simply here to provide discard targets for Rumble. Vayne is a solid keep if you’ve already found Rumble.

💡 Tips 💡 ‎ ‎ ‎

• Rumble’s SpellShield is the only true form of protection. Be careful when casting Tumble or Catacylsm once the shield is removed.
• Remember, you only need to discard three cards to Rumble the first time you play him. Afterwards, just toss one to gain the additional point of Impact.
• Whirling Death can clear an enemy blocker while simultaneously pushing damage through with Overwhelm.

Gwen Katarina (Noxus + Shadow Isles)

Deck code: CEDAIBQFBQHBAHABAIBQSAQBAUUDCAIBAMVACBADCYAQKAYPAMBAMBINEAAQMAYXAEAQGLQCAEDAKJIBAECQG

[See Gwen Kat deck details]

General info

Efficiency and tempo are the name of the game. Go wide with cheap units as you pressure the enemy nexus. All three champions are difficult to block as they build up to threaten even more damage each turn. The Reckoner duo denies blockers and launches attacks even on defending turns.. And once we reach that final dance, the board floods with an endless rallying army!

👌 Strong Against: Pirates, Annie Jhin

👎 Weak Against: Swain TF, Jax Vayne, Vayne Zed

How to play

🃏 Mulligan 🃏

Focus on early units such as Boisterous Host, Burgeoning Sentinel, House Spider, and Phantom Butler. Gwen is a great keep alongside an aggressive hand.

💡 Tips 💡 ‎ ‎ ‎

• Be aware of which unit will receive the Hallowed buff before committing your attack. Similarly, be aware of which unit will be revived with Eternal Dancers.
• Reviving Katarina or Ruined Reckoner enables extra attacks and/or rallies. You can use this to set up sneaky lethals. This lets The Harrowing launch an attack without needing the attack token.
• Ruined Reckoner on Gwen can flip her on the same turn.

Jax Vayne (Runeterran + Demacia)

Deck code: CECQKBQABMIRKGY5AEDAGFYBAYGAQAIGAYOQCBAAAIBQEAIADIOQCBQCDQBAMAAGDEBQCBQADIAQMCIEAEBAAAI

[See Jax Vayne deck details]

General info

Equipment beatdown is the name of the game, and Jax takes it to a whole new level. With help from Vayne, Jax flips very quickly. Then all it takes is a few free attacks or Rallies to end the game.

👌 Strong Against: Seraphine Viktor, Katarina Yasuo, Lurk, Pantheon Vayne

👎 Weak Against: Akshan Lee Sin, Pantheon Varus

How to play

🃏 Mulligan 🃏

Look for an efficient curve, as you don’t need to bank much spell mana early on. Early Improvise units should be prioritized in order to maximize Tumble efficiency.

💡 Tips 💡 ‎ ‎ ‎

• Zealous Ranger-Knight is a powerful beater when equipped. This is especially true with the Scout weapon, as the stat buff will trigger and compound. An excellent target for free attacks.
• You can use Fish Fight as a means of moving a weapon from one ally to another (as it goes back to hand). Additionally, Tumble can reequip it again efficiently.
• Kind-Hearted Recruit can be used both offensively or defensively. In this deck, it’s essentially a five mana Brightsteel Formation!

Annie Jhin (Noxus + Runeterran)

Deck code: CEEQCBQDBQAQEBR4AMAQGAQMFAAQCBBWAIBAGAYEAECASDIBAYBAGAIFAEDACBQMAIBACAYFAYAQIAYDAA

[See Annie Jhin deck details]

General info

Annie Jhin is an aggressive burn deck that utilizes some of the most efficient 1-drops in the game. Flood the board wide early and stun any blockers that get in your way. Then finish the game with burn!

👌 Strong Against: Pantheon Varus, Gwen Vayne

👎 Weak Against: Pirates, Seraphine Viktor

How to play

🃏 Mulligan 🃏

Look for multiple 1-drops to threaten a wide aggressive start, or Jhin to help proc additional free damage.

💡 Tips 💡 ‎ ‎ ‎

• Taking damage is okay, you usually want to keep your stun cards for attack turns.
• Be okay with sacrificing Annie to push burn damage especially if you have another one in hand.
• Playing Jhin before the attack to setup for multiple stuns on the next turn is a great way to push lethal damage.

Pirates (Bilgewater + Noxus)

Deck code: CECQKAQGCYNCMLJ2AQAQGAQMB4UACBIGAEAQEAYDAEDAMHQCAEBAGBABAEBSKAA

[See Pirates deck details]

General info

Classic Pirates is one of the most aggressive burn decks around, but with support from Eye of Nagakabouros, it can even outlast the typical aggro deck. ‎

👌 Strong Against: Annie Jhin, Lurk, Rumble Vayne, Gwen Vayne

👎 Weak Against: Seraphine Viktor, Vayne Zed

How to play

🃏 Mulligan 🃏

The deck runs twelve 1-drops for a reason, so always mulligan to ensure you have one. Consider the matchup when prioritizing one over the other. Legion Rearguard is great against decks without 1-drops and can avoid 1 damage pings like Vile Feast. Precious Pet and Legion Saboteur are best against other units, as Pet can avoid blockers with Fearsome while Saboteur can trade while still pushing one damage.

💡 Tips 💡 ‎ ‎ ‎

• Zap Sprayfin is guaranteed to pull either Make it Rain or Noxian Fervor. Be sure to factor in that potential damage when looking to find those final points of damage for lethal.
• Eye of Nagakabouros can be used as a burst speed 2/2 attacker. This is especially relevant when you need to push just a bit more damage before finishing the game with burn.
• Utilize Noxian Fervor to deny enemy Lifesteal or in response to the opponent’s removal.

Akshan Lee Sin (Ionia + Shurima)

Deck code: CECQEBQCBYRAGBAHQAAYEAMKAEAQMAYXAEAQEMIBAIBAMAYDAYDQIBJGAIDAEDJEAMBAEAYFBAAA

[See Akshan Lee Sin deck details]

General info

Akshan Lee Sin is a OTK deck that uses Absolver and Warlord’s Hoard to threaten a near-unstoppable combo kill. Utilize spells at the perfect time to punish and kick your opponent to victory!

👌 Strong Against: Gwen Katarina, Jax Vayne, Pantheon Vayne

👎 Weak Against: Pantheon Varus, Ezreal Seraphine

How to play

🃏 Mulligan 🃏

Akshan is extremely important for the deck, so hard mulligan in order to find him. Vekauran Vagabond can be a reasonable Plan B if you’re unable to find him.

💡 Tips 💡 ‎ ‎ ‎

• We’re ideally looking to set up an open-attack with Lee Sin + SpellShield buff + Absolver. Aim to have Lee Sin already on board so that you can immediately combo before giving the opponent any action to respond at slow speed.
• Try to hold up enough mana for Deny in order to have insurance against decks that can answer your combo.
• Save Tellstones and Palm for when you really need them. It’s okay to take some damage and chump block with our units. We lack removal overall, so be sure you have answers to any problematic threats.

B-tier LoR Decks

Plunder (Bilgewater + Freljord)

Deck code: CECAMAQGBMKCAIJNHIAQKBQBAMDAMFI5DYAQEAICAEBAEBQSFABACBQGDQBAEBQCEY

[See Plunder deck details]

General info

The classic Plunder archetype is a Bilgewater allegience deck that aims to deal damage to the enemy nexus each turn in order to level-up Gangplank and Sejuani. These are two of the strongest level two champions in the entire game, but they require a bit of work and planning. Nab adds an element of RNG to the deck, but adds potential for some cheeky plays like using the opponent’s own Deny against them!

👌 Strong Against: Lurk, Rumble Vayne, Swain TF, Annie Jhin

👎 Weak Against: Pantheon Varus, Gwen Vayne

How to play

🃏 Mulligan 🃏

Look for early plays that can kickstart the Plunder game plan. Warning Shot is a reasonable keep alongside cards like Jagged Butcher or Black Market Merchant. Shellshocker also pairs well with Parrrley to pick off one health enemies while still presenting a unit.

💡 Tips 💡 ‎ ‎

• Combat damage is ideal for triggering Plunder on our attacking turns. So when possible, save spells to make progress while defending.
• Eye of Nagakabouros can be used as a burst speed attacker to help go wide enough to trigger Plunder.
• Jagged Butcher can be played without its Plunder condition if it can get you a Gangplank or Sejuani trigger.

Gwen Vayne (Demacia + Shadow Isles)

Deck code: CEBQIBQFBQHBAHABAECTCAQGAAFRKBYCAYCQGDIBAMAA4AIBAANACAIFFABAIAACAMAQMAAGAEBAAAIBAEDAKIA

[See Gwen Vayne deck details]

General info

Gwen Vayne takes advantage of Rallies and free attacks to capitalize on Hallowed triggers. Gwen’s power grows incredibly fast, especially when you can stack it up multiple times per turn!

👌 Strong Against: Gwen Katarina, Plunder

👎 Weak Against: Pirates, Rumble Vayne, Pantheon Vayne, Vayne Zed

How to play

🃏 Mulligan 🃏

Look for early Hallowed units to start building up the buff. Both Gwen and Vayne are definite keeps to start applying major pressure to the board.

💡 Tips 💡 ‎ ‎ ‎

• Opulent Foyer is often best played on the opponent’s turn. The free Ephemeral blocker is often enough to deter combat, then once the turn passes, another one will summon immediately.
• The Overwhelm weapon works wonders with Gwen to push her massive damage over the top. The Scout weapon is a solid second choice to turn Tumbles into Rallies.
• Our only real form of protection is Sharpsight, so be extra mindful of the cards you’ll need to play around.

Lurk (Bilgewater + Shurima)

Deck code: CEBAIBAGAEBQKDYGAQDRGFSBIRFFAAYBAYDQKAIEA5CQCBAGA4CACBAGAQAQMBZBAECAOOYBAYDC2

[See Lurk deck details]

General Info 

Lurk is centered around proccing the Lurk keyword as much as possible. It’s an archetype for players that like to attack and swing face with huge statted units.

👌 Strong Against: Gwen Katarina, Pantheon Varus, Pantheon Vayne

👎 Weak Against: Pirates, Jax Vayne, Ezreal Seraphine, Rumble Vayne, Seraphine Viktor

How to Play

🃏 Mulligan 🃏

We’re trying to trigger Lurk as much as possible so prioritize mulligan for a good early curve.

💡 Tips 💡 ‎ ‎ ‎

• Snapjaw is best used on off turns in order to trigger more Lurks.
• We want to avoid playing Rek’Sai unless we can level her that turn, or if we plan on using her on a turn we also want to cast Pyke’s Bone Skewer.
• Predicts are perfect in order to ensure we have a Lurker on top of our deck or to grab key cards when we need them for a matchup.

Katarina Yasuo (Ionia + Noxus)

Deck code: CEDACAQDBEBAMAQKBYBQCAQIBQHQCBQDC4BACAZKFYAQEAQFAMAQGAQUAIAQELRRAEAQGBABAIDAGGRB

[See Katarina Yasuo deck details]

General info

Katarina Yasuo is a deck that pops off once it has time to assemble its stun engine. Keep your enemies at bay with an arsenal of stuns, then strike right back at them!

👌 Strong Against: Off-Meta Decks

👎 Weak Against: Seraphine Viktor, Jax Vayne, Ezreal Seraphine

How to play

🃏 Mulligan 🃏

Yasuo, Katarina, and Windswept Hillock are crucial pieces for the deck. These cards create a powerful engine, but it can take time to set up. Prioritize these cards, plus other early interaction such as the Sentry + Flock combo.

💡 Tips 💡 ‎ ‎ ‎

• Assembling your engines is how this deck wins. Don’t be afraid to pass before putting down your main cards until you have additional mana to protect them.
• Be patient with saving your interaction for the most vital scenarios when playing against value decks. Against aggro, spend your cards to minimize damage as we generally can’t afford to be greedy.
• Fae Bladetwirler can apply a lot of pressure on the opponent and often force an answer, or help keep them on the backfoot. Take advantage of this to help sustain through the early game.

Conclusion

So there you have it! We’ll be updating the decks regularly so check back here. We also have our dedicated meta feature for LoR within our platform. See you next time.

Thanks for reading! To explore all the cards in LoR, check out our Card Gallery or jump straight into our Deck Builder if you already got some ideas from our article. Show us your best decks in the comments below. 

The post Legends of Runeterra Best Decks – Meta Report appeared first on Mobalytics.

Hey everyone NicMakesPlays here.

Today I’m going to go over my Fearsome deck that works amazing with the new Nocturne buff!

To explore more decks created by the community, head to our Deck Library.

To craft your own, head to our Deck Builder.

Deck Code: CECAOAIFBYIBMJZPGU4ACAIDB4BQGBIDAUGQCBQFDQAQEAYFAQDAA

[See NicMakesPlays Fearsomes deck details]

Goal of Deck and Mulligans

The goal of this deck is to deal tons of damage in the early game through the Fearsome keyword and then finish off the game with a leveled Nocturne. The expected turn to win the game with this deck is turns 6-7.

In this deck, you want to mulligan for a Fearsome for turns 2 and 3. If you already have a Fearsome for both of those turns, then you can mulligan for a 1 drop, Wraithcaller or Nocturne.

Mark of the Isles is great in this deck in case you miss your 1 drop, you can bank 1 spell mana for it later. If you are attacking on turn 3, then you can hold Stygian Onlooker for his Nightfall effect that turn.

Precious Pet / Stygian Onlooker

Precious Pet and Stygian Onlooker are two of your 1 drops in the deck. Precious Pet is your Noxus splash and allows you to start applying pressure early which benefits aggro decks.

This card also is generically good as a cheap Fearsome, helps level Elise, and benefits off Frenzied Skitterer. Stygian Onlooker is both a Nightfall unit and a Fearsome unit. You can save this card for its Nightfall effect to turn it into a 4|1 Fearsome unit for only 1 mana. Stygian also levels Nocturne when it attacks afterward since it’s a Nightfall unit.

Phantom Butler / Mistwraith

Phantom Butler is an extremely powerful 2 drop in this deck. First off, it’s a Fearsome so you can apply aggro pressure. Phantom Butler is also great at trading. Often times your opponent will play a 3 attack unit to block your Fearsomes, so you can lead with Phantom Butler.

If they block the Phantom Butler then the Hallowed keyword will buff your units the rest of the game, if they don’t block it then they take 3 damage. This makes Phantom Butler the correct unit to summon often in the early game since it trades the best out of your 2 drops.

Mistwraith is another 2 drop Fearsome in the deck and also one of the stars of the show. Mistwraiths buff other Mistwraiths everywhere when summoned, which can be done frequently throughout the game.

Mistwraiths themselves buff each other when summoned, Wraithcallers summon a Mistwraith as well, and you can find multiple Mistwraiths off of Stalking Shadows. Mistwraiths can easily get to 5+ attack damage in the late game, which packs a punch when combined with Fearsome.

 Elise / Nocturne

Elise and Nocturne are your Champions of the deck. Elise is the best 2 drop Fearsome in the deck. She has 3 health which is great for the early game and also summons a Spiderling whenever she attacks.

In the early game, Spiderlings can get massive value by whittling away the enemy’s health when they block, or even trading against decks that have 1 health unit. If they don’t deal with Elise she will continue to summon Spiderlings and get free value.

Elise can also level easily due to the addition of Precious Pet, and turn all your Spiders into Fearsome units with Challenger. This can either deal tons of damage or act as removal. Nocturne just got a huge buff and is why this deck is on a resurgence.

Nocturne now also levels when Fearsome units attack. This entire deck is based around attacking with Fearsome units so you can level him as early as turn 4. His level 1 form can give Vulnerable to an enemy Fearsome blocker to hook them out of the way, then -1|0 all other enemies for a huge Fearsome swing.

His leveled form can be used both offensively and defensively. Offensively you can summon units to lower the enemy blockers out of Fearsome range and go for game. Defensively, you can summon units to weaken the enemy’s attack.

Stalking Shadows / Doombeast

Stalking Shadows is your refuel of the deck and Doombeast is your reach. Stalking Shadows allows you to replenish your hand full of Fearsome units. You can get Doombeast to do burn damage, Stygian Onlookers to push damage for cheap, or Mistwraiths to buff each other.

Doombeast gives your deck burn reach after your opponent stabilizes and you need the finishing damage. You can duplicate Doombeast with Stalking Shadows and Fading Memories for more burn damage.

Fading Memories / Risen Mist

Fading Memories and Risen Mists are two spells in the deck that give you a ton of utility. Fading Memories let’s you duplicate key units such as Skitterer to stop Fearsome blockers, Doombeast for Burn reach, and Mistwraith/Wraithcaller to buff your Mistwraiths.

Risen Mists allows you to go for huge damage with Burst speed open attacks. You can use Risen Mist as your first action to summon a Mistwraith and attack before your opponent can play a blocker. This is another way to easily finish the game.

Good Matchups

This deck has a great matchup against without many Fearsome blockers in the early game. You can keep your aggro pressure up by summoning Precious Pet on one and other Fearsome units on turn 2 and turn 3.

Mark of the Isles is great at protecting your units to push damage through removal. You can finish the game by going wider than them with Wraithcaller or weakening their board with Nocturne.

Bad Matchups

Hard matchups are decks with tons of Fearsome blockers such as Daybreak. Most Daybreak gain stat buffs or stun when they are the first card summoned each turn.

To play around with this you want to set up huge boards, then open attack as your first action before they can use a Daybreak effect.

Tech Choices

This deck can cut copies of Cithria, Relentless Pursuit, or Wandering Shepherd

Unto Dusk – This card gives you both draw power and the ability to activate Nightfall effects again.

Boisterous Host – This card is another great one-drop that reliably allows you to mulligan for aggressive openings.

The Harrowing – This card gives you a top-end bomb that can win you the game when you run out of steam.

For more decks, head to the Deck Library! To build your own, head to the Deck Builder.

Catch NicMakesPlays live at twitch.tv/nicmakesplays 6PM-1230AM EST

The post LoR Deck Guide Nocturne Elise Fearsome appeared first on Mobalytics.

Hey everyone Kuvi here, today I’m gonna show you 6 different new decks to try on ladder with the new champs and cards from the latest LoR expansion Domination.

Most of these decks are competitive enough to be used to climb to Diamond or Masters from any starting rank, but they’re also great if you’re just looking to have fun and try new cards.

Check out the rest of our reveal articles if you’d like to see our expert breakdowns for the cards.

To explore more new decks head to our community Deck Library. Or, head to the Deck Builder to make your own creation.

Let’s start with Varus!

1. Varus Master Yi

Deck Code: CUDACAQCAMAQMCJAAEDAGFYBAYCCKAIGBQEQGBQCBAHCEBIBAEBDCAIGAERACBQCEAAQMAZCAIBAECAJAQAQMAQQAEDASKABAYCAOAIGA4UA

[See Varus Master Yi deck details]

This first deck is a spell combo deck using copied Cultist spells to enable Flow, and quickly draw and level up Varus. This deck has a lot of interaction and defensive abilities that allow you to maintain control of the board state in the mid and late-game.

After you play Ionian Hookmaster or Varus, all of your Cultist spells will be activated, allowing you to easily activate Flow each turn and take over the game.

Vastayan Disciple and Deep Meditation are here for the consistent draw value and The Violent Dischord, Furious Wielder, The Unforgiving Cold, and Unworthy Soul are here to stop and slow down opposing threats.

2. Varus Riven

Deck Code: CUDACBQABIAQMARCAEDAYCIBAYDQKAQDAMBQOAQGAMLSIBQBAQBRMAIGAIOACBQDEIAQMBBFAEDAOKACAYESAKACAEDAMJYBAYBSK

[See Varus Riven deck details]

This deck is a more aggressive way to play Varus, taking advantage of Riven’s blade fragments to otk your opponent. As a more aggressive deck, there’s a higher focus on early units to push chip damage and make the finish easier later on.

Ionian Hookmaster and Varus enable our Cultist spells and followers this time as well. Rune Squire is a great new addition that helps us Reforge faster and gives us some much-needed interaction.

Varus provides Riven with a lot of efficient protection that Noxus lacks, including Momentous Choice, The Expanse’s Protection, and Heedless Ressurection, helping us push through and end games.

This deck requires a good understanding of timing and knowing when to go all-in for the win, usually off the back of a Ruined Reckoner combo with multiple attacks.

3. Seraphine Master Yi

Deck Code: CEBAGBQCBAHCIBAGAQHBKFRIAYAQEAQFAECAIBYBAYBCAAIGAQKAEAICBQYQEAIEDM2AEAICAIFAEBQEEAVQ

[See Seraphine Master Yi deck details]

Seraphine with Master Yi seems to be one of Riot’s new prebuilt deck archetypes, both synergizing with and using Flow to out-tempo and out-value their opponents in the later stages of the game.

Spell ratios are important here to best take advantage of Seraphine and Back Alley Bar’s “new” text, which is a card you have not played yet in a game.

Spells that also generate other spells, such as Retreat, Ionian Tellstones, and Sputtering Songspinner are also great at synergizing with these, as well as enabling Flow easily.

A key to taking complete advantage of Seraphine is to discount the cost of your spells so she can copy more expensive, stronger spells, with her level up, which we can do using Acorn, the Hextechnician, Fanclub President, Master Yi, Drum Solo, and Back Alley Bar.

Because this deck doesn’t have a distinctly clear win condition, it might be a bit more challenging to play than this next deck.

4. Seraphine Aphelios

Deck Code: CICACAIEGQAQKBAYAICAIAQHAMDAIFAVCYAQGAYJENONSAIFAEAQIGYBAUCAYAIGBEWQEBQEEAVQQAYJBELSUM2JKRLGE

[See Seraphine Aphelios deck details]

Seraphine is a big fan of great cheap spells, and when you think of regions with great cheap spells, few come to mind sooner than Targon. Between Guiding Touch, Pale Cascade, Gems, Moon Weapons, and Celestials, Targon offers Seraphine almost everything she wants and more.

Seraphine’s new Flow package and Targon both excel at outvaluing and outgrinding their opponent, playing tons of cards each turn, and being incredibly flexible.

On top of this, Targon gives her a proper win condition with the use of Celestials, some might say it’s a match made in the stars, pun intended.

Like many Targon PnZ decks before it, this deck aims to play in a very flexible way, from tempo beatdown to board control to value, you’ll have to put your thinking cap on while playing this deck.

5. Vayne Jax

Deck Code: CUCQCBQGDMAQMAQ4AEDAGFYBAYGAQBQGAAFRCFI3DURAGAIEAABACBQABIAQMBIDAECAMAAGCIMBY

[See Vayne Jax deck details]

Vayne and her followers love an abundance of equipment stacked up in your hand and what better way to do that than with weapon masters. Improvising the perfect weapon for Vayne to tumble into combat with is a great way to quickly level up both Vayne and Jax at the same time.

We’re also taking advantage of the new Demacian Darkin equipment, Joraal, which should also be great against many of the new Seraphine and Varus spell-based decks.

Importantly Jax gives Vayne and Demacia some much-needed value through card draw with Entrancing Lure and Parts Made Whole. This deck should be able to build up some truly terrifying boards and put lots of pressure on the opponent in the midgame.

6. Vayne Riven

Deck Code: CEBQEAYDAMDQEBQDC4SAIBQABIFRCFIHAEBAACQBAMAA4AIEAABQCBADCYAQMAQ4AEDAGGQCAYABYIQA

[See Vayne Riven deck details]

Riven in Demacia with scouts has been tried many times before, but I don’t think it’s ever quite looked as good as this. Vayne enables Riven to get more value out of blade fragments and generate more fragments with multiple attacks per turn.

Noxus also gives Vayne access to Ionian Hookmaster and Great Hammers as equipment options for her and her followers, which works even better the more attacks you have.

Between Tumble, Ruined Reckoner, Cataclysm, and Scouts like Ranger-Knight Defector and Bloodcursed Harpy, we have no shortage of incessant attacks every turn, always keeping our opponent on the backfoot.

Feel free to DM me on Twitter if you have any questions or just want to talk about LoR stuff!

To build your own deck, head to our Deck Builder. If you want to explore community decks, head to our Deck Library.

The post 6 New Domination Decks Worth Trying Out appeared first on Mobalytics.

Gatalyst is one of the newer cards in Legends of Runeterra that hasn’t seen much experimentation, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t fun decks to be played with it! This includes Jhin!

Jhin has unique deck building due to being a Runeterra champion which allows you to play a variety of cards that have skills on them. Many of these skills do direct damage to the Nexus itself including Jhin himself. Gatalyst capitalizes well off this.

There are multiple ways to play this deck, including a slower version of the deck with Funsmith. Funsmith will have a buff soon, so that might make her even better in this deck in the future.

This deck primarily focuses on burning out your opponent quickly and efficiently, so if that’s a playstyle you enjoy this deck might be for you!

To explore more new decks head to our community Deck Library. Or, head to the Deck Builder to make your own creation.

Deck Code: CEEQCAQGHQAQCAZIAMAQICBUGYAQGBAFAECQCBQBAMCQMAIGAQQQCBQDB4AQMDACAEBACBA7E4BQCAQDAQAQMAYNAEAQIDI

[See Gatalyst Jhin deck details]

Deck Overview

This deck is an aggro combo Jhin deck that capitalizes on the frequency of skills that do damage. It is one of the few Jhin decks that use Manasoul Student as this card is a slower tempo card, but in this deck, it is able to get the value from it as with Gatalyst it deals 2 damage to Nexus rather than 1.

On top of this, the plethora of skills make it easy to get Jhin to snipe the Nexus and in some games even level and finish off the game by attacking for 4 plus direct damage.

This deck relies on being incredibly efficient with your resources and not to miss out on any damage as it can make the difference between beating your opponent or not.

To see just how fast and efficient this deck can be, check out my video playing it:

Game Plan

As I mentioned earlier, it’s important that you are efficient with all your damage in this deck as it can easily make a difference between winning and losing. Throughout the entire game, you need to be keeping track of your mana and spell mana as you don’t want to play a Ballistic Bot when you aren’t able to have one mana to spend on the Ignition.

You also have to be extremely careful with what you put your Gatalyst on. You will want to do this when you can ensure that you are able to get the damage down. You aren’t able to protect your Gatalyst with this deck so the big thing is to play it on either units that are bench sitters such as Manasoul Student and Ballistic Bot or are lower value.

You want to try your best to get the most damage from Gatalyst possible and whenever your opponent does deal with it, it isn’t too hard on you. Using Gatalyst at the correct time can easily make or break your games and this changes drastically depending on what deck you are playing against.

Generally, you don’t want to play Jhin on the board unless you are completely running out of resources or that your Jhin is leveled up and you can get an attack in with him. Of course, there are cases where you don’t have another option and have to play Jhin before these cases, but that is not ideal.

Mulligan Strategy

The good news about this deck is that the deck plays very linearly which means you don’t care about your opponent’s deck when it comes to mulligan. Your game plan is the same – to burn out your opponent.

This means your mulligan is the same almost every game.

Of course, Jhin is the star of the show so you always want to mulligan for him. You miss out on so much damage without him that I’d argue you are supposed to hard mulligan and find him. You don’t want two though, so if you have 2 in your starting hand make sure to pitch the extra!

The other cards you are looking for are Crackshot Corsair, Legion Saboteur, Boomcrew Rookie and sometimes Teemo as he does a great job of activating Crackshot Corsair and getting chip damage in against the opponent. Tusk Speaker is also okay to start with, but I generally wouldn’t keep this in my starting hand when given the option.

Against slower decks, I am more likely to keep Ballistic Bot or Manasoul Student, but you can’t really go wrong mulliganing for Jhin plus early drops that have skills on them.

Match-Ups

I had the best luck against midrange decks that couldn’t handle the damage to my deck output. Surprisingly, I even did decently against Ionia and Shadow Isles and I expected their natural healing and disruption to cause issues for me, but generally, that wasn’t the case.

I’d assume this deck has a harder time against slower, value-based control decks such as Targon that can continuously heal and keep units on the board.

Tech Choices

Funsmith: If you want to make the deck a bit slower but better against slow, value-based control decks than this would be the card for you to add!

Progress Day: I’ve seen some versions of this deck run Progress Day due to running out of cards. This is a way to help with that.

Additional Spellslinger: This is to slow down your opponent a bit more if you are playing against opponents that have tall threats rather than wide threats.

Conclusion

Generally, this deck is a for fun deck that I wouldn’t recommend for ranked and isn’t optimized for it, but due to it being a Jhin deck a lot of it builds itself. There are only a limited number of tech choices in this deck for that reason.

I hope you have a fun time with this deck if you try it out as I know several have already! Good luck!

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, feel free to ask Silverfuse during her streams (usually daily from 2-6PM CST).

Catch Silverfuse live at www.twitch.tv/silverfuse

The post LoR Deck Guide Gatalyst Jhin appeared first on Mobalytics.

Turn the clock back a nerf or three and Pantheon was an absolute house of a card dominating an entire metagame.

I’m Jordan “WhatAmI” Abronson and I’m here to let you know that while he can’t be an entire deck to himself anymore, with the right support this particular aspect of Targon can still shine.

To explore more new decks head to our community Deck Library.

Or, head to the Deck Builder to make your own creation.

Deck Code: CECQEBQHAQCQEBAHHOBACAQGBECAMAIDBEUACBIJAMCACBIJAUBQGCJDGNOACBIHCYBAIB4AAGBQCAICAQDV3CQB

[See Darkin Fate deck details]

Protect the Queen

And by right support, what I mean of course is “enough synergistic secondary win conditions to give anyone even attempting to play the control deck against us fits. It’s strange that a deck whose mana curve ends at four might be one of the strongest mid game decks there is right now, but that’s the power of the Darkins.

What lets this deck function is the fact that you are essentially running twelve champions. Pantheon can’t be enough on his own to consistently close games, but what he can be is another powerful tool in a completely overloaded arsenal of such weapons.

With the way this deck cycles equipment Akshan’s landmark levels are almost unbelievably fast. Creating a huge discount turn as early as six or seven and quite often by eight, all while applying other pressure is absolutely nuts. And if you already have all your pieces in play, simply spell shield up and slam away.

Xolani gets underestimated in basically every deck she enters. A single card that can create two mana 4|3’s, a six mana 7|7 Overwhelm, and trigger fated or Akshan for negligible mana cost? Darkin Bloodletters is one of the top stars of this deck and I will open keep it in many matchups.

Last but not least my true Targonian love is Horazi. In either form, she can combo with a Sparklefly to do some incredibly busted things. Wandering Shepherd will also allow some sick keyword transfers and in a pinch, even a random Absolver will allow the big darkin lady to close out games quite quickly.

Phase One: Looking Ahead

This is a deck that will highly reward those who can skillfully read the future of the game state and brutally punish any who neglects this most important aspect of play. From the start of the game, there are a couple of important questions you need to be asking yourself.

Number one, what turn am I realistically trying to level Pantheon? This becomes more or less important if the erstwhile aspect is actually in your hand, but just like Nami, you need to keep the level-up condition in mind from the word go. Otherwise, when you draw him later, he will sit there sad and unleveled.

Number two, what particular set of pieces and I trying to put together to make powerful units? Your deck has thirteen targets in it. Akshan, Pantheon, Saga Seeker, Vekauran Vagavond, and Sparklefly. Mountain goat can do in a pinch, but he’d rather be there to help out and block if he can manage.

You’ve got nine pieces of equipment to help those targets shine. Darkin Bloodletters, Darkin Lodestone, and Wandering Shepherd all create the boosts and consistent targeting you are looking for.

Depending on the matchup and your opening hand figuring out when and how to put those two together in the right way will be a big part of your game. How much pressure we need to apply versus how defensive we need to depend almost entirely on the speed at which your opponent wants to play the game.

This is a deck that counterintuitively wants to match the speed of its opponent. Against an aggressive player we want early blockers and to have Sparklefly carry. Against a later game deck we are happy to lean in hard on Akshan’s landmark and look for Pantheon and out Darkin friends backed by Rite of Negation to close.

Phase Two: Interaction

Other than blocking we only really have seven pieces of real interaction in this deck. There are of course a few more than that if you count champion spells, both Akshan and Pantheon provide meaningful board interaction when you double draw them, but seven is the number we have without any caveats.

Four pieces of unit removal and three ways to counter spells. What that means is that with most hands we need to jealously hoard the opportunities we’ll have to cast these spells. You have to ask each time you are tempted to use that counter to a spell or unit if this is the right time.

I’ve had games against control decks where I have spent the entire match threatening a Rite of Negation that I never cast and then won the game. Just because a large threat is going to die doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the right time to save it.

Instead of auto-piloting those units or removal spells, think if stopping this unit or this piece of removal is what is going to put you in a potentially game-winning situation. If the answer is yes then fire away. If the answer is no, then think two or three more times before you pull the trigger.

Phase Three: Darkin Destruction

While this is a pantheon deck, I honestly win quite a few more games by simply casting my big Darkin units. Xolaani herself is a 7|7 Overwhelm, just two points off being a six mana castable Frozen Thrall. That’s some serious beat down power right there if you have any other kind of pressure at all.

Beyond that, Horazi with any kind of backup will turn literally any unit into a gigantic threat. Obviously Sparklefly is the dream, but sometimes all you need is a random board full of 7/7 units to crush through your opponent’s dreams. Spellshield is a very real keyword no matter where you put it.

What all this means is that going into turn six plus you need to be very conscious of how you equip your Darkin weapons. You don’t want to get stuck with them in play when the time comes to start slamming your endgame threats.

Make sure you can cycle through equipment to what you need to cast, or if you can’t, strongly consider not deploying your Darkins. Ensuring they will be there when you need them is often more important than an extra +1|+1.

Key Choices

This deck is extremely tight, so a lot of what folks will notice right off of the bat is what *isn’t* here. First, of all, Zenith Blade has simply been hurt too much to be a realistic plan. Committing a full three mana to that small a buff is simply not something we can justify any more.

Secondly, we’re only running two non-Pantheon-fated units. That’s simply because those aren’t the best targets for the buffs in this deck. Akshan’s landmark and Sparklefly both use the power that we can give far better than simply making something a touch bigger.

Last but certainly not least you’ll not the absence of Yuumi. While the original kitty equipment was quite strong in the Demacia version of this deck, we lack any rally effects. What that means is that we can’t turbo-level her and attack at a normal speed she is simply too slow for the metagame we live in.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask WhatAmI during his streams (Tuesday-Thursday around 3PM PST and weekends for tournaments).

WhatAmI streams at twitch.tv/xxwhatamixx Tuesday-Thursday

The post LoR Deck Guide: Darkin Fate appeared first on Mobalytics.

In this patch breakdown, we’ll discuss all the buffs/nerfs/adjustments from the latest balance changes.

We recommend following along with the official Riot patch notes if you’re looking for their explanations related to game design.

With just a week and a half till seasonals the meta is about to get turned fully on its head.

I’m Jordan “WhatAmI” Abronson and you better start up those brewing engines because we’ve got a patch that is going to demand some new strategies be brough to the forefront.

Balance Changes

Leona

Coming down on five in her own deck we can reasonably assume this lady of light will always be leveled. That means we’ve been given a five mana 4/6 with challenger, barrier, and a stun effect for your opponent’s strongest unit.

I don’t know if that will be enough to catapult Leona to dominance but it is an absolutely huge tempo swing. One that might be enough to let some powerful midrange strategies shine.

Sun Guardian

A three mana 3/4 is nothing to sneeze at. And one that will continue to grow is pretty nice. With no keyword this will never be anything but a brick wall, but if a wall is what you need Badgerbear 2.0 is here to deliver.

Solari Stellacorn

This looks like a bit of an innocuous effect at first glance. However, I want to keep in mind the power of adding health to challenger units. Four mana is a lot to ask for this effect, but stellacorn is now at least worth taking a look at in the right kind of archetype.

Morning Light

This is actually quite the scary turn five play with Leona if you have banked mana. You can still buff your board while stunning three potential blockers from your opponent. Anyone planning to combat your aggression with units is going to have some serious issues.

Sunburst

I was already occasionally willing to play these alongside vengeance. Taking it down to five mana gives this card a niche of its own and I am excited to see all the different possibilities that will be unlocked.

Nocturne

The lord of the night is finally also the lord of fear. This will unlock huge amounts of deckbuilding potential for this powerful tempo four drop. Who knows where he’ll land but it is great to see him unhooked from an otherwise quite linear and defining archetype.

The Twisted Treeline/Vilemaw

I enjoy this kind of buff. The kind that allows things to be more powerful thematically while at the same time unchaining them from specific decks.

That said this still starts actually attacking extremely late in a deck that wants to be quite aggressive. I’m on the skeptical side of this one.

Hate Spike/Kennen

I put these two together because they are effectively reverts of recent buffs.

Both of these cards were proven to be extremely powerful after the nudge they were given. Unfortunately, this may mean they regress into unplayability, but only time will tell where they land.

Concurrent Timelines

The difference between one mana and two is absolutely huge. More even than just the tempo it saps from the deck that wants to play it, this powerful effect now has significant counterplay in Nopeify. This might not kill the deck entirely, but I suspect it will take it out of tier one contention.

Targon’s Peak

Alas, peak game play has been delayed another turn. That said this card was almost always coming down early thanks to the region it tended to be paired with so it’s more like they’re setting it back to the turn it was meant to be on all along.

The god draws of this deck will still do crazy things, but the average has been touched up just a bit to take the sting off of trying to play against it. I think that this will be a welcome nerf for many. Let the meme decks stay meme decks.

Viego

Oof. Possibly one of the hardest ways to nerf a card is to up its mana cost. Going from five to six is a serious hit.

Along with multiple other rough moments for his favorite decks Runeterra’s favorite misty lad may be bound for the outskirts of the metagame once more.

Sai’Nen Thousand Tailed

This nerf will hit the defensive capabilities of this card while not particularly effecting its planned place in the decks that love it. This is a well-deserved hit but not one that I think takes the fox out of playability.

The Harrowing

Bringing this powerful slow spell back to its original mana cost makes some amount of sense when you are buffing the deck that uses it best. Fearsome aggro was a powerful force, so we’ll see if it still enjoys this card at the ten mana mark.

Rite of Calling

The difference between zero mana and one is catastrophic. There might still be decks that want to use this card, but they will be few and far between. Single champion Shurima decks are definitely going to feel the sting of this one.

Riptide Sermon

This will take what was arguably the best card in the game and tell it to slow down a minute. You still basically get a three point tri-beam for six mana so I could see it making some decks. It just won’t be the auto three of in every bilgewater deck it had become.

Decimate

Jayce players rejoice. The time for six mana eight damage directly to face has come! In all seriousness this will sadden a great many burn decks, but perhaps that means we can get some additional power for our aggro lovers in other exciting places now?

Tahm Kench

I think this officially un-benches Mr. Kench here. Sir Thomas Kenchium has decided that Runeterra moves too quickly to wait a turn and will begin devouring the instant he hits play.

This is going to lead to some crazy tadpole mirrors, let me tell you.

Fiora

Any time a card says “Win the game,” I get scared. That said the pushing of this powerful lady to four mana means that you can’t really build a deck with her as the only card anymore which I approve of.

We’ll have to see if her new powerful stat line can carry the deserved mana cost increase it brought with it.

Master Yi

While this is an absolutely huge buff I don’t know if it solved the fundamental problem that Yi had. Namely that he was quite effective on turn three and basically useless later in the game.

We’ll have to see if the ceiling being raised so high makes up for the continued depth of the floor, but I remain skeptical.

Ornn

If there is a deck that can make Ornn come down leveled up consistently then I could see some cool things happening here. That said a seven mana card with no protection and no instant effect is not something I am particularly thrilled to play in a metagame filled with Ionian bounce triggers.

Swain

Holy overwhelming game ender batman. The level one buff is cute but the level two buff is absolutely mind blowingly powerful.

If you can consistently drop this leveled on turn five or six Swain will now single handedly end games. Noxus is on the rise and its general is ready for war.

Illaoi

It’s nice to see this powerful lady get her point of health back.

That said I doubt this will be enough with all the other hits that her archetype has taken. I think unfortunately our lady of tentacles will remain sidelined.

Iula

Grant is a huge upgrade to this card. I may just be a degenerate but my first thought here isn’t “Yay pantheon buffs.” My first thought is “Huh, now I get to spellshield my Zoe un-interactably on turn three.” Good times.

The Paper Tree

Erm, I guess this is technically an upgrade. Kind of giving half a forge each time a unit that is equipped manages to attack though doesn’t quite seem like it’s good enough? Maybe this will do something cool with Bandle City Jax but I am not exactly holding my breath.

Shrieking Spinner

This will turn spiderlings into must-block threats and any fearsome spider into a terrifying damage dealer. I don’t know if the decks that want it can justify slowing down on turn four to spend all their mana on a slow threat like this, but it is now definitely worthy of consideration.

Ritual of Renewal

I’ve got to admit I’m still not really sold on this card. A four mana do nothing is better than a seven mana do nothing for sure, but it’s still not really something I’d like to main deck. Karma buff maybe?

Leviathan

Remember earlier with Viego where I said mana was one of the hardest points on a card you could hit? Yeah. Along with the swain buff this warship has me quaking in my boots and trying to figure out the best Noxus tempo deck I can find.

Magical Journey/Realm’s Caretaker

I’ve lumped these together because I don’t really think the buffs here get them into the realm of playability.

Maybe if you can guarantee your chime hits Nora? But other than that, I’m not really seeing the power here.

Grumpy Rockbear

While an extra point of health is obviously nice this is still a random stat stick without any keywords that comes down too late in the game to really be worth it. I understand what Mr. Rcokbear is grumpy about and I don’t think this buff is going to help with his mood.

Mammoth Shaman

This card’s gargantuan stats were not really the issue here.

Being six mana and not doing anything the moment you hit the board is a rough place to be. I’m going to be on the doubting side of this particular shaman.

Windsinger

Elusive is an absolutely huge keyword to put on any unit. And 3/3 is a respectable set of stats for an Elusive unit to have. Six is still quite a lot of mana, but this could potentially turn into a powerful one of in some specific decks.

Funsmith

Again, the thing that has been adjusted was not really what the card needed. It’s nice that when this card is forced into combat it can actually do anything now, but she still doesn’t want to be there. I don’t think this will take Funsmith into top tier viability any time soon.

Bonus Deck: BloodMoon

Deck Code: CEBQIAYJC5EWBWIBAMBAGAIHBEAQMAYXAMBAGCKWLQBACAZOG4AQEAYIAMBQGCITEMZQEBIJBUHACBADAI

You know what powerful champion loves playing a value/tempo game and does a bunch of damage to help with Swayne’s level up? That’s right, moon boy is here to help our new Noxian overlords realize their reign of terror. Even better Sunburst also just got a powerful tune-up.

Six damage is half of Swayne’s level up condition all on its own. And removing almost anything for the now quite reasonable price of five mana is nothing to shake a crow at.

Beyond that we’re just running a suite of powerful units and solid removal spells. Midrange find your own win condition decks have long been some of my favorites and I will definitely be trying to make this one work come patch day.

Thanks for reading! For more expert impressions, check out our other LoR guides.

The post Legends of Runeterra Patch Notes Breakdown (Patch 3.13.0) appeared first on Mobalytics.

Hey all, it’s Trevor “Shugo” Yung here and today I’m bringing you my version of Akshan Kayn!

This was a popular archetype at the beginning of the expansion, but the deck fell out of favor after a week of mediocre results.

Akshan Kayn does inherently broken things if the deck is built to exploit them, and if you ask me, the previous lists weren’t.

Allow me to introduce you to its true power!

Deck Code: CEDQEBQHAQCQCBQCEIBAIBZGQIAQCBQFAYAQKBYWAEDAGIQBAYGAKAQBAYDSABIEA4GTWRK5NUAQCBQHFA

[See Akshan Kayn deck details]

Deck Overview

Akshan Kayn is a midrange Shurima deck that utilizes equipment and strike spells to take over and dominate the board. What makes this list different is it’s built with much fewer units, and a lot more interaction.

Once we’re able to get our champions and equipment going, the rest really doesn’t matter. Unless heavily pressured by a wide board, there’s no need for additional units. And in those cases, an equipped Keeper of the Box can drastically turn the tide in our direction!

You may also notice the lack of Cultist units. We aren’t playing Shadowblade Fanatic or Ranger-Knight Defector as they just aren’t quite good enough, and that’s okay!

Thanks to The Darkin Bloodletters, drawing our free Kayn is easy! This rounds out the deck a lot better and saves us from playing mediocre cards.

Mulligan Strategy

Due to a severe lack of overall units, against aggressive decks, we’ll want to keep any unit we can get our hands on. Against everything else, we really want our champions and equipment. It can actually be nice to keep one Kayn in hand. This may sound odd given the guaranteed draw, but having access to Kayn’s Shadowstep is a huge advantage that can swing the game when timed correctly.

• Always Keep:
  • Akshan
  • Buried Armory
  • The Darkin Bloodletters
  • Forsaken Baccai
• Situational Keep:
  • Kayn: Always keep unless against aggro.
• Keep Against Aggressive Decks:
  • Keeper of the Box
  • Rock Hopper

Example Hand 1: Akshan – Buried Armory – The Darkin Bloodletters – Forsaken Baccai

Example Hand 2: Buried Armory – Forsaken Baccai – Keeper of the Box – Kayn

Game Plans

Akshan Kayn has access to two of the best equipment cards in the game, and each of them serves a unique role.

Buried Armory provides Treasure of the Sands, which grants +4|+4 to your unit of choice for only three spell mana. That is an incredible rate for stats, and better yet, it can be reused again and again! It also allows us to have a 6|6 Akshan as early as turn three! Or against aggro, a 6|6 Keeper of the Box.

The Darkin Bloodletters is our second equipment, and if you ask me, it’s the best equipment in the entire game. In fact, I think it’s probably the best card of the expansion.

Equip this early and happily trade, because in that exchange, we get a free 1|1 that becomes an immediate 4|3 beater. That alone is already powerful, and that’s not counting the fact we can do it repeatedly, AND later summon a 7|7 Overwhelm threat!

Beyond the baseline power of this equipment, they also serve another key purpose; turbo-leveling Akshan! By utilizing two Darkin Bloodletters, it’s extremely easy to cheaply proc Akshan’s landmark and get it closer to finishing its countdown. But in general, equipment provides an easy access, non-committal way of progress, whereas in most cases it comes down to interactive spells.

During the early game, our goal is to hopefully find equipment and start jamming early units. Akshan and The Darkin Bloodletters are our most important cards in the deck, and Forsaken Baccai can help us find them.

Darkinthralls are great early threats that can pressure the enemy or force favorable trades with help from Ruthless Predator or Rock Hopper.

As we reach the mid game, we want to get Kayn down as soon as possible. Kayn can be pretty weak initially… But one safe attack plus an additional strike will flip him into a monster! However, if there’s one thing that is absolutely crucial with this deck, it’s properly timing our actions.

In order to pilot this deck well, we really need to understand how to utilize our actions effectively. A lot of the powerful things this deck can do take time to set up.

We can often be extremely vulnerable to open-attacks, as we often want to play a unit or equipment beforehand. While interactive spells such as Desert Duel and Kayn’s Shadowstep are powerful, they are slow. We can be stuck choosing only one option and falling flat to the enemy’s assault.

It’s for this very reason that Furious Wielder is so important. It’s our only true form of Fast speed removal and it can even double as a healing spell when used with Keeper of the Box. Unless the situation is dire, we should rarely cast this proactively, even when it can flip Kayn.

Kayn already has Challenger, which means every second turn there’s a chance to proactively strike and force the opponent to respond. When we want to go one step further and level-up, that’s the time to cast Desert Duel or Kayn’s Shadowstep.

If they reply with removal, that’s the moment Furious Wielder (or Rite of Negation) can come in. Do NOT waste Furious Wielder if we don’t have to!

Rhaast is the correct choice 90% of the time, as The Shadow Assassin has really poor synergy with Kayn’s champion spell. The combination of Challenger + Overwhelm already fills a similarly evasive role, as we can always pick off any weak units on board.

The one time where this deck can really struggle is against another much larger unit such as Nasus. In tough spots like these, we have two choices. Either we find a combination of strike spells to answer the threat, or find an opening to push damage around it. Usually it’s the latter.

Xolaani can help push through that final damage and Ruthless Predator can let us drag the big blocker away. Even without that, a couple turns of challenging weak units with Rhaast can be enough, with Shadowstep as the extra icing to top it all off.

And if they choose not to play other units, we can often threaten wide with an army of smaller equipped units.

The final piece to note is knowing which spell we want from Akshan’s Warlord’s Hoard. If we have a healthy hand of answers, the SpellShield buff makes Rhaast nearly unstoppable. With a lighter hand, be sure to take the draw two, as all we want at that point of the game is interaction.

General Tips

Each piece of equipment can only be played once each turn. When trying to progress Akshan’s landmark, consider whether you’ll need to equip something this turn in case you limit yourself next turn.

Furious Wielder as Kayn’s second strike allows him to ghost block an enemy or dodge removal thanks to the recall on level-up.

Don’t equip level one Kayn with Treasure of the Sands unless you really have to. It’s a major tempo loss once he returns to hand upon level-up.

Be careful casting a strike spell with Kayn pre-combat when the opponent has the attack token. Leveling him up will send him back to hand and leave you defenseless to their open-attack.

Don’t feel forced to attack if the opponent doesn’t want to commit any mana. If the opponent passes when you play Kayn on turn five during your attack token, just pass back and burn their mana. Tempo is far more valuable than the strike trigger.

Shugo’s Productivity Thought of the Day

When trying to build a new habit, we often plan up the ideal scenario and outcome. We envision the best case, hoping to set ourselves up for success, until life inevitably gets in our way.

We feel defeated… But it doesn’t have to be this way!

While our initial plan may be foiled, we can always have a Plan B, Plan C, or Plan D! The next best thing is often just as good, or at the very least, good enough for one day.. And that will keep us going long enough to try again tomorrow.

For more decks, head to the Deck Library! To build your own, head to the Deck Builder.

The post LoR Deck Guide: Akshan Kayn appeared first on Mobalytics.

Anyone who knows me knows that while I might play basically anything I can get my hands on these days, my first real love in Runeterra is Targon/Shadow Isles midrange.

I’m Jordan “WhatAmI” Abronson and for the first time in a couple of seasons, this combination of regions is actually looking to have some real power behind it again.

How could I not do a write up on it?

Let’s dive in, starting with our list and deck code for you to try.

Deck Code: CECAKAYJBEUESVWZAEAQMBIGAMDASBAGFUAQCBIBAMBQGCJDFUZQCBQJEEAQCBIZAA

Protect the Queen

This is the deck that I pushed through to masters with this season so I actually have some quite real level of confidence in its game plan. What specifically is that game plan you might ask? Well, we have so many different win conditions it varies from game to game, but the central theme remains the same.

We’re going to want to select our unit, or units, that we are investing our resources in, get some solid equipment on them, and then use their power to either win the game outright or at least grab huge amounts of tempo. Plenty of games will end with an Atrocity pointed at the face, but it’s how you get there that ends up mattering.

Either of your champions’ leveling is always going to be a solid game plan. There aren’t many decks out there that survive long against a board full of Elusive units or a constant barrage of gunfire. Beyond that, though you’ve got six life steal units you can pump up, and at the top end is our piece de resistance.

The card that makes this deck possible is Horazi. A piece of solid equipment in the early game and an absolute beating later. She can even come down on turn seven courtesy of Moonsilver, which will hold onto its cost de-buff though uses of your Darkin Lodestone.

Phase One: Making the Plan

Your game with this deck starts before your first turn. While mulligans are of course key for any deck in Legends of Runeterra, this is never truer than in an archetype with as diverse an array of potential win conditions as this one.

While your champions are basically always solid keeps, what else wants to stay in your hand varies wildly depending on the matchup and what your game plan needs to be.

Against a grindy control deck for instance, I might open keep Celestial Trifecta, even with potential plans to cast it on turn three.

Keeper of the Box and Sparklefly are your all-stars when it comes to more aggressive matchups. Looking to suit those up is your primary win condition. Don’t be afraid to block with an early Zoe or sometimes even Aphelios in these matchups.

You out scale hard and if your opponent cannot answer an evasive life stealing threat then a win is not going to come there way. Even worse if you happen to spike a Draconic Bands onto it. Suddenly they can’t even attack without feeding your giant Sparklefly and making their situation even worse.

Phase Two: Control Cosplay

While we’re definitely not a hard-core control deck, we also don’t tend to actually win the game until turns seven to nine or so. That means that your mid game plan needs to involve a significant amount of interaction with your opponent’s game plan to ensure you get there.

There are a couple of ways to handle that. The most obvious is Vengeance. Against any single tall threat, you can simply knock them out of the sky. Aphelios can also help out here quite a bit by cycling through Gravitum and Calibrum to keep your opponent’s board in check.

I will point out two other important paths to keep in mind though. First are the small celestials you can generate through Space Sketcher and Zoe. Because of how hugely over the top you go of most strategies, you can often afford to lose some mana tempo for a double stun to keep you alive.

Last but far from least are your six life steal threats. Sometimes you can simply let your opponent do most of what they are attempting. As long as you can keep your life total coming back enough to hold on for Horazi or Celestial Trifecta then that may simply be good enough.

Phase Three: The Kitchen Sink

This deck has such a variety of ways to actually close out a game it is almost disgusting. Sometimes you’ll simply get there with a cadre of elusive units kept alive with equipment. Tricksters are often the front-runner of this plan, but sometimes Zoe and Sparklefly can get it done all on their own.

A leveled Zoe will let your entire board waltz by your opponent, which is always a nice sight. I think the most common victory condition though is Horazi.

Give any number of broken equipment, an Infernum from Aphelios, or even just a random Elusive ally to buff up, and the game will close quite quickly.

Last but definitely not least is the card this deck is named after, Atrocity. When combined with Celestial Trifecta this will often be the one-two punch to any late-game situation. Summon a ten-power Elusive unit, bonk them with it once, and through it at their face to close the game out lickety-split.

The real trick with a deck like this is figuring out what you need to protect, what you need to commit to, and what you can let go to keep you safe along the way. My biggest piece of advice is to always be asking yourself “How and when am I winning this game,” and let that answer guide you as best as possible.

Key Choices

The first thing I usually get asked when people see this deck is “Where are the vile feasts and what are those random Soraka/Tahm Kench tools doing in our midrange Targon/Shadow Isles Deck?” It’s funny because I actually started with Vile Feast in this deck.

What I found though is that card is primarily an anti-aggro tool, and it wasn’t actually how I was winning most of my aggro matchups. No, basically every aggro game, was won by making a large life steal unit and then keeping it alive.

To that end, especially against the more midrangey pirate lists that have been plaguing ladder, it turned out that Guiding Touch and the slightly larger Astral Protection were the final pieces of the puzzle. Healing to keep you and your important units alive against pesky burn spells, tentacular or otherwise.

You might never get to physically see it, but imagining the look on your opponent’s face when they commit their six mana kill spell only for your giant life steal unit to miraculously heal to full is a wonderful time. This deck may be some of the most fun I have had playing Runeterra ever, and I wish you the best of it.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask WhatAmI during his streams (Tuesday-Thursday around 3PM PST and weekends for tournaments).

WhatAmI streams at twitch.tv/xxwhatamixx Tuesday-Thursday

The post LoR Deck Guide: Darkin City appeared first on Mobalytics.

Hey everyone NicMakesPlays here.

Today I’m going to go over a deck I made that climbed 350 lp at a 88% winrate in Masters, Poppy Lulu!

Deck Code: CEDACBQKDIBACAAVDUBAKAAKBQBQKCRJOTVQCAIDAIBACBAAAICACAQAA4BACAAJGMAQGAAOAEDASBAA

[Lulu Poppy deck details]

Goal of Deck and Mulligans

This deck utilizes Bandle City Mayor to allow you to swarm with a ton of units.

After this, you summon Poppy or Lulu to output huge pressure.

When your opponent is low on blockers you can use Rally or Yordles in Arms to win the game.

In this deck, you want to mulligan differently going first or second. In this deck, you want to mulligan for a Challenger + Lulu. If your Challenger is Fleetracker then you can also mulligan for a 2 drop such as Yordle Smith or Durand Sculptor.

The main difference is you keep Poppy when going second but not going first because you can attack with her on turn 4.

Card Choices & Key Synergies

Fleetfeather Tracker / Byrd, the Bellringer

Fleetfeather Tracker and Byrd, the Bellringer are your 1 drops of the deck. Fleetfeather Tracker is a 2|1 that becomes a Challenger when you play another ally.

You want to play this on turn 1 and then save it to be combined with Lulu, Yordle Smith, or Brightsteel Protector to get free combat trades with its Challenger. Byrd, the Bellringer is your other one drop.

You can play it on one and utilize the Chime it gives in the early game to summon strong units and gain board control. For example, a 4|4 Lulu can single-handedly win you the early game by being stronger than all your opponent’s units in the first three turns.

Yordle Smith / Petricite Broadwing

Yordle Smith is one of the most important cards in this deck and part of what makes it so strong. The deck revolves around making wide boards with Challengers to create huge combat swings, and Yordle Smith gives them all Quick Attack.

You can use Lulu to buff Yordle Smith and give your whole board Quick Attack so they have no good blockers and take huge damage or lose units in the process. You can also combine Yordle Smith with Challengers to get free kills and weaken their board.

Petricite Broadwing is another Challenger for the deck that combines well with Yordle Smith, Lulu, and Poppy. You can continuously buff Petricite Broadwing to break down the enemy board throughout the game with its Challenger.

Lulu / Poppy

Lulu and Poppy are your Champions of the deck. Lulu is the main card of the deck because she can swing the game heavily in your favor on turn 3.

You can combine her with Challengers to generate free kills and get ahead on board. You can also combine her with Yordle Smith so your whole board gets Quick Attack and they have to either take huge damage or lose units in the process by blocking.

You want to use the Challenger units to hook what can block Lulu so she can stay alive and continue to use her ability to gain your advantage.

Poppy is strong in this deck to buff wide boards and make your units deal more damage and be harder to kill. Even one swing with Poppy can make a board so powerful that you outright win the game. Both of these Champions are multi-region so they are discounted by Bandle City Mayor and combine well with Rallies since they get effects when they attack.

Bandle City Mayor / Wandering Shepherd

Bandle City Mayor recently got buffed to a 2|3 and buffs all your multi-region units such as Lulu, Poppy, and Wandering Shepherd. With the addition of Weaponmasters, Bandle City Mayor has more strong cards in the pool to generate when played.

Lulu and Poppy are already incredibly strong units and become even stronger when discounted by 1. Bandle City Mayor serves multiple roles because it can cause pressure through its discounts, or give you refuel through its unit creation.

Wandering Shepherd is a Weaponmaster that is also discounted by Bandle City Mayor. You can use her to Improve on units such as Poppy, Yordle Smith, or Challengers that benefit from having an extra attack.

The Weapons also go to your hand when the units die which gives your deck more longevity and grind game.

Golden Aegis / Relentless Pursuit

Golden Aegis and Relentless Pursuit are your Rally spells and how you regularly end the game. Both of these spells combine well with Lulu, Poppy, and Challengers because they all benefit greatly from having the attack token to activate their effects.

Golden Aegis gives a unit Barrier, you can put this on your Champs to keep them alive when they attack or put them on Challengers for free unit removal. Relentless Pursuit buffs a unit +1|+1 and Rallies.

You can buff Poppy or Yordle Smith with this to make sure they are stronger than your board so they can use their buff effects when they attack.

Good Matchups

This deck can run through slower decks such as Targon’s Peak and Viktor Lee Sin. You want to open a strong curve when your key units such as Challengers + Lulu/Poppy/Yordle Smith.

You can freely put on tons of damage since they don’t run many units, and use your Challengers to clear the ones they do summon. When the time is right you can Rally while they’re setting up and finish the game early.

Bad Matchups

This deck can struggle against decks with Shadow Isle removal spells such as Evelynn Viego and Heimer Norra. Cards such as Ranger’s Resolve and Durand Sculptor help your units live through their Hate Spike + Vile Feasts.

Quietus is a really strong card against this deck since it can remove units such as Poppy and Yordle Smith. You can use Sharpsight against Quietus to buff your unit to 3 attacks so it lives against Quietus.

Tech Choices

This deck can cut copies of Cithria, Relentless Pursuit, or Wandering Shepherd

Combat Cook – Combat Cook is a strong Weaponmaster that is also discounted by Bandle City Mayor.

Pokey Stick– Pokey Stick gives both interaction and refuel which can help greatly against decks that have 1 health units such as Pirate Aggro.

Riposte – This card can help clear stronger stated units and ensure your key cards like Poppy and Lulu live and win their combat trades.

For more decks, head to the Deck Library! To build your own, head to the Deck Builder.

Catch NicMakesPlays live at twitch.tv/nicmakesplays 6PM-1230AM EST

The post LoR Deck Guide: Lulu Poppy appeared first on Mobalytics.

Back Alley Bar was a new landmark introduced in the latest expansion: The Darkin Saga Awakening and it gives players even more ways to play value, almost singleton-like decks.

Due to benefitting from playing new cards – this makes playing a card for the first time during the game more valuable as well as playing new, created cards. To get the value needed out of this landmark for it to be worth playing, it is best to not play a deck full of 3 copies unless they are generating new cards you can capitalize off Deck Alley Bar’s passive.

On top of this, a leveled-up Viktor can further reduce created cards, so in some cases, your cards will be reduced by 2 cost instead of 1.

There are currently two cards that love decks that play multiple different cards and thankfully both of these cards are in the same region – Piltover and Zaun!

These cards are Subpurrisible which is a strong Elusive cards once you have played 10 unique cards. Purrsuit of Perfection is the other card which creates a 30|30 Overwhelm after you have played 20 unique cards. It is a way to end games if you aren’t able to outvalue your opponent through Zoe, Aphelios, Viktor, and your created cards.

Code: CECACAYJBEAQCBACAEBAIAICAYCCAKACAIBQSVGZAEAQCBBBBABAGBADCIBACBA3GQBQIBACA4IAGBIEBQMBSBIDBERSUM2JLQAQMBBLAEBAICQCAYEQILI

[See Purrsuit 1 Ofs deck details]

Here is my current Back Alley Bar list, but there are so many ways to play this deck, so be sure to try things out!

Deck Overview

This deck has 3 unique champions, 3 Back Alley Bar Landmarks, 15 followers (11 which are unique), and 16 spells (12 which are unique). If you take a closer look at these card choices, you will notice that almost every card creates another card to further the unique card count.

For example, Lunari Duskbringer creates Duskpetal Dust which can be used with Aphelios or Pale Cascade while adding to the unique card count. Mountain Goat can create a Gem that adds to the count as well. Multiple spells also create cards or offer you a way to draw more cards from your deck.

Regardless of what hand you draw, you will almost always have the option to create or draw more cards to work toward Subpurrsible or Purrsuit of Perfection. They are also cheap which makes it easier to cycle Aphelios’ Weapons and level up Zoe or Viktor.

This deck can often level up Zoe quite easily as the cards are fairly cheap as well as Sputtering Songspinner is essentially a hack for this deck as it counts for 4 unique cards for Zoe while giving 3 cards toward Viktor’s level-up condition.

This card gives so much value to the deck and is easy for players to overlook!

If you want to see this deck in action be sure to check out my video playing the deck!

Game Plan

This deck can generate an incredible amount of value while having a lot of flexibility especially when it comes to defensive options. Due to the amount of flexibility your deck has, the key thing to figure out at the start of the game is what your opponent’s game plan is and what your best plan to react to that is.

This deck rarely starts off being the aggressor due to the amount of value it generates – it generally looks to respond to your opponent and either outvalue them or put pressure with Elusives, a leveled champion, or Purrsuit of Perfection to finish games.

Generally, you can’t go wrong with keeping Zoe in your starting hand. She generates value as a 1 drop Elusive and her threat of leveling up and inevitably winning the game is always good to get going.

You don’t have many ways of protecting Zoe, so holding her in your hand often doesn’t do much since the extra mana doesn’t allow you to protect her anyways. Keeping other low-cost units can also help progress your win conditions.

In a lot of cases, the Back Alley Bar Landmark will allow you to get plenty of value and outvalue your opponent later in the game. As well as all of your champions can get level-up progress from cards that are reduced by this landmark.

Your champions and the Purr cards are your bread and butter, but this landmark can accelerate champion level-ups as well as allows you to put more pressure on your opponent later in the game.

Mulligan Strategy

Your mulligan strategy will vary drastically depending on which type of deck you are playing against.

For example, against another value-oriented or hard-control deck, you will want to consider keeping Back Alley Bar, Viktor, Sputtering Songspinner, Ferros Financer, and Subpurrsible.

Cards that give you more value than their value. Despite being a value card, you don’t want to keep Purrsuit of Perfection in hand because it requires you to play 20 other unique cards first. Having a Purrsuit of Perfection stuck in your starting hand isn’t where you want to be.

Against aggressive decks, you will want to keep your low-cost cards in your starting hand so you are able to trade and keep up responses to their aggression. Generally, you will want to pitch most of your high-cost and value cards. In a lot of ways, your mulligan is almost the exact opposite of mulliganing for playing against a control deck.

In almost any match, you are good with keeping Zoe in your starting hand as she is a low-cost value card that demands attention or she will win the game.

Match-Ups

There isn’t much to say about these, but against value-oriented decks, you will want to focus more on Viktor and Zoe. Aphelios can be okay as his guns work toward your unique card count and are incredibly flexible.

I found myself using Gravitum to delay my opponent as well as Severum to heal up. These are the weapons you tend to use against aggressive decks as well, but Calibrum removing a follower or Crescendum adding another blocker might also be more worthwhile as well.

Against aggressive decks, you are focused less on your champions and are more focused on staying alive and stabilizing. Generally, you’re not stabilizing with your champions unless it is an Aphelios Severum healing you up a large amount.

You also don’t typically win with your Purr cards as they are more clunky due to their cost and require playing multiple unique cards beforehand.

Tech Choices

This deck has so many choices that I don’t even know I’d label them as tech choices, but in general just choices for the deck. There are plenty of examples of cards this deck could use!

Shifting the champion ratio: For example, you can be less Zoe-focused and become more Viktor focused especially if you want a bit more consistent value as well as another more consistent way to end the game. For example 1 Zoe, 2 Aphelios, and 3 Viktors.

Spacey Sketcher: Another card that creates more cards and allows you to have flexible response to your opponent’s cards.

Zaunite Urchin: A strong, cheap cycle option that can get rid of useless created cards that you don’t plan to use or in cases where you double draw Purrsuit of Perfection when you don’t need them.

Ballistic Bot: A value oriented card that can pick away at your opponent while activating augment and adding an extra stack to unique cards and created cards for your deck’s win conditions.

Piltovan Castaway: Another weapon generator option that creates addition card that can be used throughout the game or discarded.

Sump Fumes: Additional removal that can be useful against most decks.

Get Excited: A little extra reach or removal. Overall just a good card.

Thanks for taking a look at this deck as it allows you to consistently play Purrsuit of Perfection. The amount of created cards as well as the number of one of’s in this deck helps make it feel unique each game and makes it more replayable. I hope you have as much fun with it as I have!

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, feel free to ask Silverfuse during her streams (usually daily from 2-6PM CST).

Catch Silverfuse live at www.twitch.tv/silverfuse

The post LoR Deck Guide: Back Alley Bar Purrsuit of Perfection One Ofs appeared first on Mobalytics.