Riot has essentially admitted that pvp is a mess and that additional focus needs to be brought to the table.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbE_O0rdlI4&t=44s

Only problem, it will be a month till we start seeing those amazing champion balance patches and card tweaks we were getting before.

I'll use some examples from mtg.

Sacrificial altar, flames of intention, companions when they were first released.

All nerfed in some way because they were "op"

But what does op mean in a card game, how can something be over powered in a play tested card game with normalized stats?

9/10 times cards are changed or metas are considered bad because players are articulating the "squeeze" 

The narrowing of the playfield the restrictions on fun, the I can't play the stuff I want to play anymore.

Pro-players on the other hand only care about laddering with established archetypes a narrow meta is good for them it makes it a matter of statistics and time.

So you have a tug of war satisfy your players and Mogwai stops streaming, satisfy your pro players and viewerships decline anyway because nobody is playing your damn game.

So 1 make the players happy 2. Throw the pros a bone every now and then so they feel important.

Do not however ever forget to put the players first or you'll die like gwent.

None of this is beside the point it is the point.

You have two metas broad with many available archetypes, and narrow with only a few polarizing archetypes.

One is good, one is bad.

Thats all there is, that is meta.

If bad card design is released it will narrow the meta, if good card design is released it will broaden the meta.

Everything else is just noise.

We had something like 10-12 viable decks last patch that where 56% and up.

Here are the list of casualties.

1. Riven Viktor

2. Aphelios

3. YOA

4. Feel the rush

5. Azir Irelia

6. Sundisc

7. Pirate aggro

8. Temo Catlyn

9. Darkness (saj)

10. Every gnar deck

11. Every Swain deck

12. Every buffed stance deck

What did we get:

1. Deep

2. Thralls

3. 3 Illoi decks

4. 3 Annie decks

This is what we call a dumb streamer expansion.

It narrows deck variety, makes grinding ladder easier/more polarizing to tech into 

It decreases the number of lists required to store in your deck trackers.

100% not a disaster, but considering how possitive the last two major patches were for this game this is a gold immunity gwent train wreck.

We're entering into one of the most polarizing metas we've ever seen in LOR.

Winrates are down across the board and only very selective deck types are sucessful currently.

You have slow decks that go big, and slow decks that control.

You have aggro decks that go fast and burn decks that go burrr.

Midrange however, is arguable worse than its ever been and as a result is very unfriendly to brewing in general.

Oh you want to try playing Swain that's a 45% 

Ekko not even on the map

Sundisc dead

Every bard deck is 50%

Generally speaking LOR is a game that is more fun when synergy is strong last patch with a million archetypes being viable, and is less fun when I just want to play cool stuff equals I feel like I have cancer and want to die.

This ultimately feels like a streamer expansion, like they got them all in a room to provide ideas for what they thought was fun and would help them climb and kinda neglected the whole 90% of the player base kind of thing.

Just my two cents, high synergy equals fun, card piles equals zzzzz.

I'm not even sure I'm seeing Champs flip anymore that aren't free like Annie or Illoi. 

Like say what you want about movie time but players earned that sheeet. 

Aggro, control equals kill me.

Hard to say, Deep and Thralls became viable again just by offering more support.

So believing Yassao or Kindred is similar isn't crazy so much as wishful thinking.

That being said the new double stun in noxious and stun spider are great for him, they just aren't amazing op.

In a world with massive buffs, insane burn, and giant tentacles.

The main reason Yassao doesn't work is that his deck struggles when he isn't drawn.

So you want to go Targon to tutor, but now you're not getting access to noxious which has his best support cards.

So generally speaking I think right now the double legion general setup is correct

I might be wrong but those 9/9 legion generals are a pretty solid oh no no Yassao but I still win option

So the expansion has been out long enough that we can start talking about the best new decks and their optimized variants that are winning 56% plus to make them top tier.

1. Annie always run with Jhin turns out that the only optimization that this deck needed was having stagehand and sun hawk on 2 for tempo stun so your turn 1 play can guarantee dmg.

2. Illoi probably the scariest and most versatile new card with 56% winrates with Jarvan, Lux, Thresh because it doesn't really matter Illoi is cracked tentacles are good, Overwhelm is good etc, everything else is just control and delay.

3. Bard, always run with Zed but you also do the handbuff stuff with inspiring mentor and greenglade elder which I figured if it wasn't freijord it would Ionia for thr turbo level. Everything else is payoff cards like the maker and highway men.

4. Thralls at 56% percent again thanks to their two new cards sand of time, and the extra 2 mana dude. That's all it takes sometimes.

5. Deep also at 56% thanks to the 4 mana healer, and the 3 mana removal both great cards into aggro.

Decks we are not seeing:

Yassao, despite all these amazing stun tools we just aren't seeing this guy played much. Possible because he has a 3 region spread and Jhin is a terrible stun card so more like 4 regions.

Are any of the old decks bad?

No you can still run your pantheon, your feel the rush, your traditional pirate aggro or scouts. It's just that you're going to feel more competition on ladder now, and more things to play around.

The truth is nobody knows what the perfect Annie list is.

The one everyone plays only has a 52 percent winrate.

Deep by the way hitting 56 these days which is great.

So there are lot's of opportunities to brew, like plunder could be a thing, use annie to flip sejunai

Or have Darius as a big finisher

Or use her control with ezreal, the Swain version isn't great

put her in spider aggro

don't build around her and just do pirate aggro

Run her in stuns with Yassao

Like I refuse to believe that a card as good as Annie cant do better then 52 percent

So running 1 Jyn allows you to essentially have 15 agressive 1 drops - guaranteeing the dreaded tripple one drop round two play

12 2 drops including out of region options

Doom beast on 3

And all the spells you need are decimate, and noxion fervor 

And when your board gets answered just slam augmented experimenter to draw 3 cards?

Thats hilarious, at the end of the day the question isn't is Jyn or Annie a good card.

 Is having guaranteed cheap aggro plays, into burn, into draw good?

It probably isn't without value, without leveling Champs, but man is it funny.

This isnt to do with Annie, but they nerfed demolisionst to a 2/2 and crackshot to a 1/1.

Preemptive concern that Annie would break burn aggro and already compensated on behalf of the developers. So good on them.

https://youtu.be/4gGSfiUrRYc

Confirmed to be a good card already, how's that for credibility lol...just kidding thats not a thing in relation to a video game.

Yeah the fact that she slots so well into burn aggro, but also Swain, yes there is some cute stun stuff too, but even just like being better then Catlyn in a ezreal control deck.

Means yes much like how Zoe was an absolute terror before pokey stick, Anne will require hard tecking. Mystic shot, fleet feather tracker, "gifts for renekton," single combat, avalanche "the spell not the landmark," 

Like she is what kenin used to be aka hard tech against me or complain till we get a patch. That being said as a burn card she only represents 2 dmg as a 1 drop instead of 3 but she is unblockable, soooo yeah somewhere between amazing to plz God nerf now.

So she's 1 mana ezreal, that only has the precondition of needing to be in combat first.

That would be good enough on its own but she has a 2 mana built in kill spell.

So you guys know how I said there hasn't been a good control spell released in ages, this is it.

Flock, disintegrate, scorched earth

Anie ezreal, anie Katarina, anie zillian. Annie Swain!

Like that some scary noxious control value right there.

Annie is essentially fizz for combat instead of spells, you can't block her with a potential disintegrate in hand.

So that only leaves hard removal, strikes, etc.

Pretty good card is what I'm saying, who cares that tibbers is only average, because he's free.

Yeah I've been playing another "bad" deck just to prep for it.

Tahm kench has a similar statline to bard, and slow value oriented play style at 4 mana 

And I've wrecking with this deck way more then I should be.

So it just goes to show that even "bad champs" definately can be built effectively.

In this case I dropped star spring, in favor of good creatures and some actual removal.

Another hot take with specific examples based on newly released card.

- Keep in mind Jhin is a region you can not duel region Jhin

- jhin get access to every single skill card released as his region

- Opposite to bard you don't want allegiance instead wide creature possibilities

Never before has it been easier to just run mono stun.

When it used to feel like no draw Yasso equals no play game

We're starting too see enough tools emerge that yeah it's kinda scary

I'll probably do Jinn Targon for champ tutor off priestess and then just have all these free skill cards that stun and bounce.

With a potential invoke finish off starshaping. 

There's a lot of misinformation going around about this card.

1. Bard is a region

2. bard's support cards are in his region

3. bard can be paired with any region including allegience like shurima and freijord.

4. bard works with temporary board buffs aka tricks

5. bard works with hand buffs

6. bard works with deck buffs but only on cards drawn

If you were to ask if I think it's possible to add say 3 level up points off hand buffs and 3 off tricks and 4 off chimes that spawn for free every round that seems very possible don't think 20 think 10 because attack and defense buffs are added together.

Will bard be top tier, no, will I tutor bard off shurima allegience yes

do I get 3 free chimes every turn just by playing bard with 0 support, yes

do I get another 3 free chimes on attack with bard, yes

do you need to run the whole support pkg no, you can just run the 1 drop, and play allegiance.

He is pretty good in that context.

I dont believe bard is like lurk for example where the two recommended regions are actually correct.

I think bard is slow value engine that requires buffing for value. Something like freijord or shurima have a far higher viability then Targon at the moment with the cards we've seen.

Looking at his stats when does bard "get good" at 2/5 that's terrible, at 3/6 still bad, at 4/7 now we're talking about a swing deck buffing engine.

So whether that's through 1 chime and a omen hawk, or the shurima landmark making bard a 4/5 with spellshield.

Eventually the math starts adding up, I don't think he will be top tier, I think he will be a better braum for the deck buffing archetype whatever that happens to look like.

With his universal region lock he can can even go in Ionia, for some of their hand buffing stuff, like the new bounce card.

Either way I like the design of here's a weird champ now make it work in whatever deck you want. Literally, any two regions, any cards, no restrictions at all.

Also, his "kit" isn't region locked either thanks to his wandering caretaker text, you're guaranteed his chime cards if you want them with 0 region restrictions. That's powerful.

Here for credibilitiy sake I will share every top winrate control deck code.

Because card game honor or something, along with my opinions strength and weaknesses of each.

1. Catlyn ezreal 56% (CQDQCAQDBEAQGAYNAEBQIEIBAUFJQAICAEBS4NYDAECB6JBUAMCQIBQMBUBACAIDGMAQCBA3AA)

This deck essentially wins 3 ways, removal value, big dudes off tri beam or farron, and ezreal.

Is it possible to beat a well balanced 3 prong strategy absolutely, because none of those things are individually great or strong on their own, due to inherent low synergy 

2. Darkness I won't re-share but the list I use is around 70% winrate.

3. Viktor aphelios 57% not really a control deck so much as a combo deck with stall but sure (CICACAIEGQAQEBABAIBQIAYFAYBQSI2JKRLFZWIBAMAQGCKVAIAQIJRHAIBQICYSAA)

4. Feel the rush actually a ramp deck but at 65% winrate this is the deck people think is the best control deck and it's obvious to see why (CECACBABBYBACBIBFABQCAIME4ZAIAYBAMDAUFQCAECACDADAEAQCFBUAEBACBITDE)

So thats 1 control deck and 1 ramp deck that are hitting those high winrates, compared to something like 5 aggro decks.

(Pirate aggro) (scouts) (yoi) (Riven viktor) (overwhelm) (spiders) and more

So generally speaking if there are 6 aggressive decks that have 60% plus winrates and 1 control deck and 1 ramp deck with a 60% plus winrate arguably aggro is better/more prevalent.

There are bad matchups, for sure that's the polarizing nature of the meta. But it plays well into catlyn ezreal, into aggro, into midrange. Most of the stuff that people are playing. Then if you find you're quing badly switch to something else.