Why Eternal Tier Lists Need To Happen

So it's been confirmed that the next Runeterra open is going to be in Eternal to celebrate the unlocking of eternal ladder in 30 days.

One interesting problem tho, with all pro players busy arrogantly dismissing this format nobody actually knows what's good right now.

I might come the closest because I've literally spent all of this season playing and winning in Eternal casual with no ladder available.

But I was masters last season and that was as close as we've gotten to the eternal card pool thus far.

So  for all the pro players out there let me illuminate you by starting with updating the old tier lists:

1. Jayce - still a fine deck but the difference from eternal to last season is that aggro got all the tools

2. Elites - also a fine deck but it will feel quite midrange compared to the most aggresive options out there

3. Anna - I'm not convinced anna is better than the new pirate aggro, just the fact that pirotte exists and now you can have a cheap stun outside  of Runeterra region, so probably 50/50 for ana vs Samira

4. Ramp - while there were no competitive ramp lists last season except the ones I piloted this is an archetype that has massively advanced with the addition of Jack. Coins, plus trundle, plus auto level for 12 mana, plus regular ramp tools equals a deck that is probably faster then ASOL.

5. Ryze - Another deck that keeps getting better as the card pool expands I wouldn't be surprised to see the winrate of this deck go from 50/50 last season to 53% this season

6. Nora - while there is no such thing as an amazing Nora deck, she shows up in so many lists that I'll just say the Nora deck that gets played this eternal season

7. Sett - sett is one of the best new ionia control tools available he's very strong and there's a decent chance he will have an eternal list worth playing

8. Shadow control - I think shadow control has changed quite a bit from it's previous iterations just because it got new control spells. There's the mini ruination for 6 mana that will help quite a bit with the more aggressive matchups. I will say Heimer has felt very bad for my opponents every time they play that old list into my new aggro decks.

But like that's kind of it, this is all uncharted territories here and it doesn't matter if your name is Majin Bae, or Mogwai, because honestly they will have no idea what the Runeterra Open is going to look like with all their recent standard experience being practically useless.

Quote From Nifty129

But like that's kind of it, this is all uncharted territories here and it doesn't matter if your name is Majin Bae, or Mogwai, because honestly they will have no idea what the Runeterra Open is going to look like with all their recent standard experience being practically useless.

I honestly cannot tell if you're being tongue-in-cheek or serious here. But I'll go ahead with a brief description of how a pro or semi-pro gamer prepares for a tournament.

1) If it's a format that has a ladder, obviously they play a lot of ladder. But this is not really tournament preparation - it's more just getting to know how your decks work in a wide variety of situations, including niche ones.

2) Regardless if the format has ladder or not, most of the intense prep comes with "scrims" against other pro players that are on their team, or possibly with friends who are also very skilled. Many hours of just playing against each other while discussing what they are doing and seeing over voice chat.

3) After many such scrims, they decide which decks give them the best chance of winning against the widest range of likely opponent deck choices (countering the meta). Or alternatively, they can just bring three decks that are very strong in general and trust in their ability to pilot those decks effectively (comfort picks).

They will absolutely not just walk blithely into the Eternal format tournament and think their standard deck works. They might even be preparing for the tournament right now, off camera, doing scrims with their teammates, using the Eternal format.