Were you as glued to last Friday's Reckoning tournament as we were? It was a fantastic event: not only did the matches showcase a high level of skill, but this was also the first major Legends of Runeterra tournament since the expansion released. This gave us some insight into what professional Runeterra players are thinking and where the meta might go. So what did we learn? First, a big caveat: one of the things we love most about Runeterra is that you don't need to play meta decks. In the hands of a skilled pilot, the difference between an "S Tier" deck and an off-meta deck is probably less than a 10% win ratio. That said, however, whether you want to anticipate what you'll be facing or just want to score some quick wins, it does pay to keep a pulse on the meta. With that in mind, here are some trends we're expecting in our upcoming future.
The New Face of Control
If there was one fact that became immediately apparent, it was this: if you want to play competitive control decks this fall, you'd better plan on including Aurelion Sol. Simply put, old school value engines such as Karma's free spells and Warmother's Call's free summons seem archaic compared to A-Sol's free celestial cards. Expect him to define tournament metas for the foreseeable future. Of the 16 competitors, 7 chose Aurelion Sol for one of their decks and -- with the exception of one noble effort from Cephalopod -- the others declined to bring any control decks and instead focused on combo, midrange and aggro. There is some debate about what exactly is the best deck for Sol, but it is indisputable that once dropped, he puts the opposition on a clock.
- The tournament winner, Glop, paired him with Trundle and built a Targon + Freljord ramp deck
- 3rd place winner Fresh Lobster also did Targon + Freljord but used Leona to create a more tempo-driven deck
- Winding God didn't do quite well enough to place but nonetheless had a very successful run with a Diana & Sol in a Targon + SI deck
Some Familiar Faces
The most popular deck by far was Swain + Twisted Fate, with 7 out of the 16 competitors selecting this archetype including all top 4 finishers. Perhaps this shouldn't be unexpected: between Swain's stuns and cheap pings from Red Card and Make it Rain, this is one of the few decks that can stall out Aurelion Sol if only for a few rounds. It's also a very refined and powerful archetype in its own right that has been a mainstay of Runeterra competitions for months. All 7 decklists were identical save for a few minor tech choices.
Combo Makes a Comeback
Another archetype that made a resurgence is Ezreal Combo decks. Again, this makes sense in hindsight: Ezreal is one of the few cards who can bypass Aurelion Sol, often delivering lethal nexus damage at burst speed. Only 4 of the 16 competitors chose him, but all of those 4 placed well so look for more to follow suit in the future. There again is some variety in how he is partnered:
- Winding God and Agigas brought traditional Ezreal & Karma decks
- Swim brought the newer Ezreal & Twisted Fate archetype that features Riptide Rex
- Gvuardya invented a fascinating Ezreal & Vi deck that utilized the synergy of both with Gems
Fading Stars
Just as significant as which decks competitors chose are the decks that they declined. Most notably, both the Noxus Ashe and They Who Endure archetypes which have been prevalent in competitive Runeterra for so long were completely absent. 2 other popular archetypes, Deep and Scouts, were picked by Sudrakon and Szerro respectively, but their scarcity combined with those competitors' quick eliminations imply both are on a path for Tier B- territory.
Improving on a Classic
There were a few surprising decklists from the tournament that caught my eye. Even though they didn't have the same success as the aforementioned, they are still worth checking out as A.) they are unrefined and therefore subject to improvement, and B.) even a mediocre tournament deck can excel on the ladder.
- I honestly expected a lot of Lulu decks, Sudrakon brought the only one. His particular variant is a Demacia-heavy deck featuring Shen and Screeching Dragon.
- Swim's other deck was a Mistwraith deck (much more well-rounded than my own early theorycraft) which combined staples like Mistwraith and Stalking Shadows with tempo cards like Omen Hawk and Elise
- PrincessPowerful upgraded a Phantom Prankster burn framework with Doombeast for additional reach and Stalking Shadows for additional gas.
New Kids on the Block
Finally, I wanted to call attention to some brand new archetypes which didn't make a big splash at this event but that I think have some real potential. Watch out for them in the future as their decklists become more refined, especially on ladder where the opposing decks are generally much more diverse.
- Both Szerro and 4LW both brought Diana / Nocturne offering aggressive nightfall strategies
- Hyped brought a Taric & Lee Sin deck that tried to level Lee Sin quickly off gems and then swing with a buffed Lee Sin, Dragon RageBADCARDNAME'ing any significant enemies into nexus
- iannogueria brought a midrange Swain & Trundle deck that looks to loop Trundle into the popular Swain + The Leviathan combo. While didn't give him much success on Friday, did help him win a Brazilian tournament earlier this week
What decks have you been seeing? Let us know below!
Comments
I really waited to see some Vi decks in torunements but iirc none brought one.
I personally thought that Vi/Diana and/or Vi/Taric is better than Lee Sin/Taric deck.
and I saw that noone tries to make Apprehend work except me. It is so good in a Taric/Darius and a Thresh/Darius with The Undyings deck. I have been disappointed to not see some in tournements.
Same thing over and over again, all of them brought same decks etc.
Noone is brave enough to make some difference.
Also, fuck Aurelion Sol and its random shitfest.
There was a Vi deck, a Ezrael/Vi with gems, it is in the article
Invoke isn't all that random -- it's always a safe bet that it will give you something useful. The reason some people find it hard to play against is because you can't automatically read the person's hand at that point. I'm glad the game now has a way for you to generate unknown resources. It's boring when everyone knows exactly what's in the other player's hand at all times.
Invoke is nothing but randomness. It completely ruined expedition for me. Expedition used to be about deck building skills and making the right plays, but now it’s only about what random ass cards you can invoke. Obliterate after obliterate, elusives after elusives. You can’t play around cards anymore after your opponent has invoked like fckn 3 times in a round cause there already is no point in doing that. This can’t be healthy for the game for sure.
All I can say is, I had a 7-win expedition over the weekend using Demacia and Bilgewater. I lost to a Targon deck exactly once, and beat several others.
Did I win because they invoked garbage every time? No, because as I mentioned, it is nearly impossible to invoke garbage, ever. I won because I took advantage of the fact that every Celestial card is slow, and I played in such a way that they didn't get a chance to blow me out with slow spells.
I mean, remember how frustrating to play against 5x Ice Block mage ?
Same thing for Runeterra right now. I don't have any problem with playing against unknown resources, My problem is 5x Obliterates and such and pool is so limited which means you always have higher chances to get what you want 5x.
There is maximum card limit while deckbuilding for a reason and this mechanic abuses it and I don't think this is a healthy one. Like how Nab wasn't.
Very good article.
Thanks for the report! There's a lot of food for thought, and several interesting new decks that had not yet come across my radar.
I've been playing Swim's Mistwraiths list, and it's definitely good. However, I'm super not-sold on the Omen Hawk. Yes, sometimes it buffs Kalisa or Elise, but sometimes it buffs Cursed Keeper. And man is it a feel-bad moment when Cursed Keeper gets the buff.
Also, though I cannot confirm this, it seemed like Omen Hawk did not work with Stalking Shadows. I played a Stalking Shadows expecting to see a buffed option, but the cards offered did not show the buffs. I don't know if this is a bug or intended, but it seemed like you're guessing which cards were buffed and which weren't. And if you don't pick a buffed one, you just wasted both buffs.
This sounds like an unintended side effect of the way it's coded. I say this because of the animation when you play Stalking Shadows: It seems to obliterate the card you choose, then puts two copies (one with Ephemeral) into your hand. This would be fine if they were exact copies, but I guess they are not.
This is, of course inconsistent with the card's text, which clearly says you draw the card, then make a copy. Drawing the card should never erase buffs. And even if you're just guessing wrong, the cards presented should show any buffs at the very least.
I hope they push a bug-fix patch before the three-week update. Between stuff like this and the invisible unit bug, there's a lot of inconvenience to deal with.
I won't be able to help with sending in any data for the Omen Hawk thing anymore, because I've officially decided that Swim's build of the Elise/Kalista Mistwraiths is not correct. Over the course of about 10-15 games, I had the following happen:
So, that does it. Omen Hawk is just not correct for this deck. Even just one bricked Wraithcaller will essentially lose a game immediately. My solutions are as follows:
-3x Omen Hawk
-1x Atrocity
+2x Hapless Aristocrat
+1x Neverglade Collector
+1x Ravenous Butcher
Agree 100%. I tried the deck a few times, and I always felt like Hawk was the most pointless card.