Welcome to TLG’s latest meta snapshot for Legends of Runeterra, a series in which we give you our insight on the finest decks in the higher ranks of the ladder.
Every Monday, we discuss the decks that are part of the week’s meta and rate them on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. We also look at the evolution of said decks’ ratings across weeks and draw conclusions regarding the current state of the game, all of this so you can delve into your own ranked journey with a head start.
Tomorrow’s patch announcement should have a special significance, as a lot of players have been anticipating a serious shake-up of the current meta, which has seen top tier oppression for about a month now.
During this time, we’ve seen Azir-Irelia become the juggernaut of the meta, forcing every other deck into a secondary role and denying every attempt made by players aiming to counter the deck. Thresh-Nasus is good against it, but also allows other decks to exist, as they can rely on countering Thresh-Nasus.
This is the case for Lissandra-Trundle (TLC), a strong deck that wouldn’t exist if it had to rely only on its Azir-Irelia matchup. As time passes, and no new decks have found a way to establish themselves, players have wanted a considerable balance patch for weeks, and should have their wish granted tomorrow.
Until we know what will be touched in the game, though, Azir-Irelia looks solidly anchored as the best deck in the game and atop our snapshot. One deck that emerged from the attempts to counter the current meta is an archetype that saw some play about a year ago - Thresh-ASol. Ultraman has served you up a delicious new spotlight on this deck, with which you can take on both Azir-Irelia and Thresh-Nasus.
If you have any questions, feel free to drop by our Discord. Best of luck on your climb!
Graphics: WellMax81
Editing: Wusubi, Sebodunum
Writers: Den, Ultraman, Othal
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Difficulty: Easy
Azir-Irelia has quickly become one of the most disliked decks in the history of the game, with crazy highs and frustrating lows, leaving players dissatisfied when both playing with it and against it. That said, we’re here to hook you up with what’s best, and this list is one of the very best as of now.
This deck is a relentless attacker, using (and abusing) Azir and Emperor’s Dais to create multiple tokens, swarming the board until your opponent has no blockers left to protect their Nexus. This could happen in two ways, either because your opponent overreacted and used too much of their precious mana, or simply because you had too many answers for their own responses.
Because, yes, this is Ionia. And as soon as you’re ahead, you get to dictate the pace of the game, forcing the opposition to play proactively, then punishing them for doing so. In the subtle words of BoJack Horseman’s writers:
“Are you punishing me for smoking or for stealing?”
“I’m punishing you for being alive.”
Azir-Irelia punishes you for being alive, basically. Until you aren’t anymore. They’ll punish you with the likes of Lead and Follow, Nopeify! sometimes Retreat if they run it, Shaped Stone... If you land a removal, you better celebrate.
The sole known way of defeating this great evil is, quite simply, outpacing it. Aggressive decks can do that and Thresh-Nasus can still do it better than anyone. The presence of Thresh as a tutor for Nasus also helps with stopping the waves of attackers, since even Ionia fears the power of the almighty Doggo. (Write-up by Ultraman)
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Difficulty: Easy
Thresh-Nasus remains one of the best archetypes as of now, despite the nerfs to Atrocity and Blighted Caretaker. The addition of Merciless Hunter helps dealing with threats earlier (e.g. Ezreal) and allows you to make value trades, as her presence usually requires two cards from your opponent to be handled.
The early tempo of Ravenous Butcher, Cursed Keeper, Blighted Caretaker and Dunekeeper is still unmatched, granting you a great opener with which you can transition into Thresh. If your opponent failed to answer the early pressure every turn, they’ll have to kill both your minions and Thresh. This will force them into poor choices, proactive plays and suboptimal removals that you’ll be able to punish with Glimpse Beyond, Black Spear, Vile Feast or Rite of Negation.
And even if the opponent manages to withstand the early storm, they’ll still have to deal with Nasus. Depending on the deck you’re facing, Nasus can prove an insurmountable threat or a juicy Hush target. Either way, though, his pressure is undeniable and Atrocity will still obliterate the opposing Nexus, even if it costs one more mana now.
Ezreal-Draven especially struggles to answer Nasus - the deck can’t destroy him immediately, so he should be able to level-up and get Spellshield. Once this happens, you can kill them by responding to any spells thrown at you with Atrocity.
Thresh-Nasus also does quite well into Irelia builds, mainly by having access to a lot of early tempo, pressuring them while also taking advantage of the swarming Blade tokens playing directly into the hands of your champions. (Write-up by Ultraman)
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Difficulty: Moderate
Most of the new decks that came out for now are aggressive builds that Trundle-Lissandra (TLC) can easily contain. Looking at our snapshot this week, there aren’t many decks TLC is afraid to face other than Azir-Irelia, which justifies the 4.5 star rating.
The deck doesn’t include new cards, and this list was used by Pespscola to win the latest EU Fight Night tournament. It doesn’t feel like anything new is needed for this deck to perform. The Freljord wide punish package prevents almost every swarm deck from development in the first 4 or 5 turns and Vengeance or the single copy of The Ruination is great help in the later stages of the game against Midrange builds.
TLC packs a lot of draw and can speedrun its combo against other slow decks, besides Deep can’t be found on ladder right now. Basically, TLC doesn’t fear most control-oriented matchups when it comes to reaching its win con first.
The showcased list has enough card draw to be able to play Spectral Matron on Turn 8 every game, which makes it a great pick for ladder, as the high-roll potential is matched with great stability. (Write-up by den)
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Difficulty: Easy
Shyvana and her kin are trending, being able to answer Thresh-Nasus while retaining competitiveness against other popular decks, despite being statistically behind. Quite the conundrum, but fear not, all you have to do is replicate what the Top 10 players show you: play perfectly, and win. Simple recipe in theory, now for the practice...
This deck has ways of answering most opponents, but it requires you to anticipate most of their plays, as almost everything you do is heavy-handed in terms of mana and consequently doesn’t leave any room for error. One miscalculation can be the reason you won’t be able to use Concerted Strike on Turn 8, which can result in a threat getting through your blockers.
Blue Sentinel is strong at stopping the likes of Thresh-Nasus from attacking, as its potential to grant you a Shyvana on Turn 3 should be terrifying for the opponent. Your mid game is good, thanks to combat tricks such as Sharpsight, or just the regular Shyvana into Screeching Dragon play, helping you take back the board from your pesky opponent’s claws.
It must be said that Shyvana has bad matchups against most of the Tier 1 decks, statistically speaking, despite being built to resist the likes of Azir-Irelia, due to the Fury keyword and Radiant Guardian.
Make sure you mulligan for the early game, and don’t hesitate to greed in order to find your win cons. These are ASol against control decks, Hush vs Thresh-Nasus and Laurent Protege, Radiant Guardian or Shyvana vs Azir-Irelia! (Write-up by Ultraman)
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Difficulty: Easy
As each and every season, Ezreal-Draven shines as the anti-fun archetype, wheeled out by players wanting to stamp out those experimenting with new or unoptimized lists. Like a tough old veteran warming up the new trainees, this deck won’t take any of your bullshit. It’s strong and stable, with the ability to remove many threats and switch to more control or aggression-based gameplay depending on the deck it’s facing.
Matchup-wise, the ol’ man struggles against quite a few of the more-established decks, including TLC and Thresh-Nasus, but it compensates for this by utterly destroying any deck that tries to win through board pressure. Watch as the Demacians fall, one after the other, while Freljord Midrange suffers a similar fate.
Against your bad matchups, Ezreal will be your best bet, as he can take advantage of even the smallest window of opportunity once flipped to deal significant Nexus damage. If the opponent ignores him and tries to go for any combo play, you can punish them and take the game with the right tools in hand. (Write-up by Ultraman)
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Difficulty: Moderate
Another patch, another day at the office for Discard Aggro. Thus far, the deck doesn’t look like the mean machine it has been in the past, but it’s still holding a good position in our ranking when it comes to its ability to climb the ladder. With very balanced matchups in the meta, Discard Aggro doesn’t really have a good reason to be played.
For now, Ezreal-Draven seems to be the better deck with the Noxus-PnZ pairing. It’s also true that Discard Aggro doesn’t have horrible matchups across the board either, and players looking for a comfort pick could find it to be the perfect archetype, as the deck is stable in what it does each and every game and packs enough pressure to outpace almost any deck.
With Irelia joining the battle, Ionia has become a more popular region, which is good news for Draven and Jinx, as Quick Attack is a nightmare to defend for the region. Since Ioania is incapable of removing her, Jinx can single-handedly win you the game from the back row if flipped early.
With Thresh-Nasus, TLC and Dragons looking like the early best trio, Discard Aggro doesn’t have great matchups to feed on, but it still looks like a better option than Shurima Burn, a deck that feels much more volatile in its gameplay. The never-ending draw power and constant pressure, mixed with Draven and Jinx’s capacity to be threatening in different ways, gives you the flexibility other Aggro decks don’t have at the moment.
For now, despite once again looking like the best damage archetype, Discard Aggro might look a bit lackluster compared to the new and shiny Irelia decks. However, time will tell us which aggressive mechanics will come out on top. (Write-up by den)
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Difficulty: Easy
A deck that was a bit on and off last month is having a great start in May. With the addition of Merciless Hunter, Renekton has found one more ally to join his cause. Having an effective 3-drop gives the deck a much better curve and helps the Overwhelm mechanic pick its battles more effectively, which of course directly translates into achieving more Nexus damage over time and better trades in the Midrange matchups.
With average to good matchups against the current juggernauts (TLC, Thresh-Nasus, Ezreal-Draven) the deck looks like it could be a solid pick across the board, and several players have trusted it to climb the ladder or even to bring it to the latest edition of the Fight Night tournament (like Agigas or Saltysimon).
The list presented here is actually a mix of both these players’ decks, as Dunekeeper feels great instead of Omen Hawk (better blocking ability and 2 targets instead of 1 for a Battle Fury in the late game) and Ice Shard helps against all of the Aggro decks (Irelia, Discard Aggro, Shurima Burn) but can also help pushing more damage later on, weakening the opponent’s defenses to get more Overwhelm damage during an attack.
Lastly, in addition to Merciless Hunter, Baccai Sandspinner has also found its way back into the list, as the current meta features a lot of chump blockers that we can abuse once they’re given the Vulnerable status. This allows us to level Renekton or simply deal a ton of damage through a 1-health blocker.
If you’re looking to pick up this deck, I would recommend working on timing your attacks. It’s easy to go for big damage turns, but that can be at the sacrifice of the defensive part of the game, which is also very important to consider in order to ensure that you’re the one applying the pressure.
This will help you avoid entering into a damage race which isn’t so easy to win considering we have no healing and no direct damage from hand. Having good timing on when to start looking to push damage will allow you to keep your own allies and Nexus healthy, making a lot of decisions much easier down the line. (Write-up by den)
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Difficulty: Hard
One more meta, one more Lee Sin deck to take into ladder and tournament play. The blind monk doesn’t look like he will slow down anytime soon, even though the deck cannot be compared to our Top 3 anymore, as it lacks in the defensive department against aggressive openings. Despite this, the deck remains a very decent overall pick.
Although only one new card has found its way into the build, Syncopation provides some nice surprises to our opponent. It can serve as a defensive card to get our most important unit out of a spell or a trade, as a damage push later in the game, or simply to force the opponent into trading one of our 2/1 Lifesteal units.
The big strength of the deck is its ability to adapt to the different matchups on the ladder, which can also be a weakness if our meta read was off. For now, Lee should be geared towards beating Ezreal-Draven while getting some help against Overwhelm and Aggro decks. This isn’t an environment that benefits the deck, which explains why you might not see it too much.
In tournaments however, the deck still performs well, as it was part of Pespscola’s winning line-up in the latest EU Fight Night. As the meta keeps on developing, we should gain more clarity on what the best decks are, which makes it easier to tech for the crucial matchups. (Write-up by den)
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Difficulty: Easy
We know that Elusive decks aren’t generally the community’s cup of tea, but this list plays the legendary Trevor Snoozebottom. The whole idea lies behind being able to use Freljordian Fury to buff your units (Fury of the North or Battle Fury), before using Trevor to create an Elusive copy of the boosted unit!
Add to that the potential Elusive or Overwhelm keyword on the original buffed minion, and you’ll get yourself a strong combo, as it can destroy the Nexus of a shocked opponent, looking on in horror at your 20+ damage in one turn.
Obviously, your main weakness is easy to picture, as Hush will end up resetting all those sweet buffs. Outside of Targon, though, the threat is real. Sure, other regions can deal with those combos, but Vengeance needs to get through the two copies of Deny, while freezes need to hit both units and will just delay the deadly Trevor... in theory. This is because Trevor being forced to attack in order to activate his ability means that he’ll likely be traded in the process.
While this combination is as powerful as it is risky to use, other Elusives like Greenglade Duo and Navori Conspirator can help with damaging the Nexus, forcing your opponent into using their removals early. Be opportunistic and build towards a lethal using your buffs and direct damage via Elusives.
Zed plays the role of a snowball mechanic, used on curve to pressure the opponent’s defenses and lessen their damage output, offering you more opportunities to avoid having to block. He also doubles the buffs used on him, creating a Living Shadow just as strong as him. (Write-up by Ultraman)
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Difficulty: Medium
Card games are a battle of numbers. In a lot of cases, the player getting the bigger numbers is at an advantage. It’s upon this foundation that the Cithria-Matron Combo (CMC) deck is built, as Cithria, Lady of Clouds doubles the power and health of her allies when summoned, while also granting them Challenger. The deck isn’t contending for anything close to Tier 1, but it has been gaining some popularity on ladder and could eventually become a decent option in the current meta.
The game plan revolves around aiming to slow down the pace of the early and mid game in order to dominate the late game thanks to several appearances from Cithria. In order to achieve that, the deck uses annoying units that force the opponent to hold their attacks, change their development plans and focus on removing units that’ll become problematic once buffed up. The two most important followers in this role are Radiant Guardian and Mask Mother.
However, the deck is a bit unreliable and lacks removal outside of Single Combat, a card very difficult to use before having one of the two previously mentioned units installed on the board. As such, most decks just play their own game plan without really giving much respect to what CMC can accomplish before reaching that Spectral Matron turn, and it usually is the right way to approach the matchup.
Perhaps now that we aren’t in a competitive environment anymore, players will have the time to work on the deck and some more refined list will see play in the near future. (Write-up by den)
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Difficulty: Easy
What if I told you Burn decks are good in the earliest stage of a new meta? Surprising, right? The rush to Masters increases the playrate of such archetypes, as everybody is more focused on how fast they can climb rather than caring about their winrate.
Quick games is mainly what this deck has to offer, but it also has some redeeming qualities. The Overwhelm Midgame fits in with Shurima’s early game, making for more resilient minions after you damaged the opposing Nexus a bit.
Fight for the board as long as possible, but don’t sacrifice Nexus damage for board control, except if your opponent already has access to a lot of healing in their deck. Most of the time against other decks such as Ezreal-Draven, it’s better to go all-in on the damage and hope for good top-decks later on, or that they’ll miss their answers to Darius or Ruin Runner.
If you start engaging in trades, you’ll just die slowly as your opponent outvalues you. Mostly efficient against poorly-built decks, Shurima Burn punishes the early expansion greed in the best possible way: quickly, so you can climb rapidly. Once in Masters though, it’s best to shelve the deck and switch to something more flexible. (Write-up by Ultraman)
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Difficulty: Hard
Have you ever heard of a deck which isn’t very good, but it has that one matchup where it feels impossible to lose? Well, when that easy matchup is against Irelia, it feels great to play such a deck. This week, that distinction goes to Braum-Vladimir.
Don’t get too excited, the deck isn’t a top tier contender or anything close to that, but if your goal is to deal with a flurry of small minions, then this is the deck you need. It should be seen as a counter-pick and not an overall good deck for laddering. Its linear gameplay and its need to find mechanics that it’s strong against limit it too much for it to shine on the grand stage.
I would personally recommend the deck if you’re in Platinum or lower, as the board control the deck offers plus Vladimir being tough to remove for a lot of decks and providing precious Nexus drain are two solid foundations for winning games. What the deck lacks to reach the higher tiers is some flexibility, as its removal package is limited to small units most of the time and the relative lack of draw is still a problem for the deck.
This list includes a copy of Whispered Words, which feels necessary even though it will have to be played at its full 4 mana cost in a lot of situations. Braum-Vladimir’s evolution will be based on how the meta progresses in the coming weeks, and the deck could either disappear or become the hottest pick available depending on what other decks will be popular. (Write-up by den)
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Difficulty: Moderate
Surprising to say the least, a Landmark archetype is finally viable. While Taliyah still searches for a deck that would accept her, Lissandra takes it upon herself to provide this deck with a win condition, set-up, trades and some early game. She can do it all, and trust me, she will!
She’s not helped much by Zilean, though, as he’s mostly there to contain aggression and be a removal target. That said, your opponent usually won’t be able to avoid answering his potential threat, because a flipped Zilean is a force to be reckoned with. Time Bomb, Avalanche and Blighted Ravine handle aggressive boards, while the Thralls slowly emerge from their icy tombs.
Their emergence can be accelerated thanks to Zilean’s spells, granting you an earlier access to multiple 8/8 Overwhelm units. Draklorn Inquisitor also will also help with this, freeing the Thralls from their deep slumber faster than expected.
Force your opponent into carefully answering each threat, until they either have no pressure left to stop you before Lissandra levels-up, or they misses a removal and you get to have a board full of gigantic minions. (Write-up by Ultraman)
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Difficulty: Easy
While the synergy between Go Hard and Zilean might seem a bit counter-intuitive, they both benefit from having a lot of card draw in the deck. The likes of Glimpse Beyond and Spirit Leech both help you course through Go Hard and Time Bombs as fast as possible in order to level-up Zilean. A flipped Zilean will be amazing, giving you more copies of Go Hard and Pack your Bags, allowing you to destroy the opponent’s board every turn.
The problem with this is that it takes a significant amount of time to level your Zilean. As such, you’ll often find the deck lacks consistency, or just ways of ending the game quickly. You’re able to handle aggression well, but usually end up losing ground against Midrange decks. Nasus is your savior in these matchups, allowing you to trade blows with enemies and force removals. Yet, even the almighty doggo will fall to Hush, Vengeance or Noxian Guillotine.
In order to stop these removals, you’re equipped with Rite of Negation, and a good, reliable Atrocity to steal a game there and then. In the full knowledge that Zilean and Nasus would make prime removal targets in the deck, The Rekindler comes in to bring them back to life.
The main problem is the lack of tempo, and as such, you’ll sometimes already be in a bad spot before Nasus or The Rekindler can come in and help you deal with the opposing board. Pack your Bags is your only hope in such situations, but it can prove difficult to rely on and set-up consistently. (Write-up by Ultraman)
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Difficulty: Moderate
In the midst of EU Masters, an old deck emerged after being in slumber for a year or so. Thresh-ASol was never too effective, and while it saw some play at the start of the Targon expansion, it was soon overtaken by the likes of Trundle-ASol (prior to Trundle’s nerf) and then Zoe versions, such as Zoe-Diana, Zoe-Vi or Zoe-ASol.
As Azir-Irelia has decimated most of Targon’s archetypes, from Lee Sin to Zoe variants, Zoe-ASol had to adapt in order to block more efficiently. It was the birth, or, rather, the competitive birth of Shyvana-ASol, a well-loved archetype and fan favorite since Shyvana’s addition into the game.
Despite being able to repeatedly block thanks to Fury and Radiant Guardian and able to handle the board with Single Combat or Challengers, it wasn’t enough. We needed more control, more reactivity, and we needed some answer to Inspiring Marshal.
The Targon equation in this meta was always one of destroying Thresh-Nasus, while losing to TLC and Azir-Irelia. Some versions could beat EZ-Draven, but you would still end up in a stalemate. As such, the situation was one of going back and forth having to rely on seeing more Thresh-Nasus than Azir-Irelia in order to climb.
A few days prior to the first games of EU Masters, a player called “shARPP” made a Tweet mentioning his arrival in the Top 50, playing a Thresh-ASol deck, focusing on control. The deck contained many efficient removals, such as The Box, Vile Feast and Withering Wail. But it still relied on Targon to create a win con, either through Starshaping or ASol.
Thresh discourages opponents from attacking you, not wanting to risk an early appearance from ASol. But he also helps you when it comes to not losing tempo against the likes of Thresh-Nasus or Azir-Irelia. The Box punishes their greed, while Thresh discourages them from attacking. All this gives you some breathing room in the few turns where your opponent doesn’t force damage, allowing you to stabilize the board state and keep enough mana for your removals.
It seemed like Thresh-ASol could solve the dilemma of the current meta, while being more stable than decks like mono Fiora. But how did the deck perform in EU Masters, which was a BO3 Conquest with 7 decks and 2 Champion bans, with the ruleset allowing Champion repetition?
Put simply, playing it didn’t equate to an instant win over Azir-Irelia. It’s been shown already how difficult (and almost crazy) it would be to try and make a full counter line-up, as this would just end in Azir-Irelia still grabbing a 35-40% win, or the opposing team simply refusing to play the mighty top tier.
Azir-Irelia was banned a total of 27 times in 32 matches played last weekend. What use would Thresh-ASol be, if your strategy involved banning Azir-Irelia? Well, it still retains the strengths of a Targon deck, with healing, a good ability to stall, and creative win cons, e.g. units with Elusive, Overwhelm and Spellshield.
It was a nice way to create a Targon deck that wasn’t as weak against Frosbite, Deep or Overwhelm as the other versions, while still being favored into Thresh-Nasus or EZ-Draven thanks to the combination of Starshaping and Atrocity.
It’s worst matchup is Trundle-Lissandra (TLC) and as such, you must ban it in order to make the most of Thresh-ASol’s value in a tournament setup. As the deck is very stable, this is the sole forced ban, leaving the door open for a second ban on Azir or Irelia, while you now have a flexible build able to go into Midrange matchups with a solid chance to win, due to the SI triple threat of Vengeance, Atrocity and The Ruination.
It should also be slightly favored against other popular Targon builds, with the exception of Dragons, that could summon ASol on Turn 8, a tad too early for your liking. With the many mind games that the 7 deck format engenders, it’s always great to have a solid and flexible deck that doesn’t have many bad matchups and even fewer terrible ones. (Write-up by Ultraman)