Mogwai's Ashe Noxus Yetis Deck List & Guide - Runeterra Deck Spotlight

Hail, champions! It's Wednesday, and we've got another weekly Runeterra Deck Spotlight for you. Today we're looking at one of Runeterra's more established archetypes, Ashe Noxus Yetis -- specifically, Mogwai's recent variant on this deck which features 2x Riven. This is a tremendously powerful archetype that virtually disappeared overnight once the K/DA cards were introduced due to its horrible match-up against Go Hard / Pack Your Bags. While we feel that Go Hard is still very strong, we're seeing its overall playrate declining meaning it's a great time for some of the decks which were forced into remission to return. And if Ashe Noxus Yetis wasn't strong enough in its own right, its Frostbites are really strong against Plaza decks and Lee Sin decks, both of which are very popular right now.

Ashe Noxus Yetis Strategy

This deck is the quintessential Runeterra midrange deck. The basic gameplan is to play thick units and back them up with combat tricks like Frostbites and Troll Chant, out-muscle your opponent's board, and ultimately overwhelming them with traditional attacks. Trifarian Gloryseeker can be used to trade into almost any unit in the game or just punish slow decks. Avarosan Hearthguard and Trifarian Assessor both give you slight advantages that can make the difference in close games. 

Culling Strike and Reckoning are your removal spells. Not only are most threats in the meta within Cull's "3 or less power" limit (Lee Sin, Miss Fortune, Ezreal, Twisted Fate, Fiora, Tahm Kench, etc), but you can combine it with Frostbite effects to target even bigger units. Reckoning is even more punishing : almost all your own units default to 5 power making them immune whereas your opponent is probably losing most of their board. There is virtually no comeback from a successful Reckoning + Harsh Winds combo.

It should be noted that this deck can struggle against extremely fast decks such as Draven + Jinx Discard and Miss Fortune + Gangplank Pirate Burn, which will often be burning off the last of your nexus health right as your tempo is starting to ramp up. If you're in one of these matchups, prioritize preserving your health over your board and hard mulligan for your Kindly Tavernkeepers.  In general, though, this deck wants to be very reactive. Outside of those burn matchups, though, feel free to slow-play your early turns and carry over spell mana. Being able to cast a Flash Freeze or Troll Chant at the perfect time is almost always more impactful than having 1 additional chump unit on the board.

Riven is the latest change to this archetype, and even the deck author admits her inclusion is questionable -- not because she's bad but because she's just not appreciably better than your other options. There are some nice synergies with her blade fragments. Keen Blade Fragment's Quick Attack can turn a Reckless Trifarian into a menace, Heavy Blade Fragment can discourage chump-blocking your 5-attack units, and Glinting Blade Fragment can turn a 3/3 into a 5/3 immediately prior to playing a Trifarian Assessor or Reckoning. This also is shaping up to be one most competitive applications of Riven, so if you're a fan of the character you'll definitely want to take note. Don't feel obligated to craft Riven if you don't own her, though -- we'll discuss some acceptable alternatives later in the Card Substitutions section.

Here's Mogwai's deck guide in video format:

Ashe Noxus Yetis Mulligan Guide

• In general, you're looking for Avarosan Trapper, Ashe, Icevale Archer, and 1x of either Troll Chant, Flash Freeze, or Brittle Steel.
• Against burn decks, mulligan fairly hard for Kindly Tavernkeeper
• Against slower decks, look for Trifarian Gloryseeker to punish a lack of development.

Ashe Noxus Yetis Deck List

Ashe Noxus Yetis Card Substitutions

• Ashe is the strongest card in this deck. The deck will be viable using only the 2x copies you'll get from the first-week login rewards, but you'll want to prioritize crafting the 3rd copy ASAP.
• The 2x Riven and 1x Sejuani, on the other hand, are arguably just sidegrades compared to other variants of Ashe Noxus Yetis. Feel free to experiment with whatever combination of Sejuani and  Riven cards you have available -- last fall, the preferred variant actually ran only 3x Ashe + 2x Sejuani. Alternatively, you can even try experimenting with copies of Katarina, Draven, and Trundle. 
• Avarosan Hearthguard is an incredible value tool and a big part of this deck's success.  You should have at least 2 copies from your starting collection, and a 3rd is a worthy craft investment. If you must substitute, though, try a 3rd Babbling Bjerg.
• Reckoning can make some massive plays -- not only do so many of your units have 5 attack making them immune to its effect, but your many Frostbite effects will let you temporarily reduce your enemies' attack, making them vulnerable. You should have 1x copy from your starting collection; use a 3rd Bjerg or Kindly Tavernkeeper if you don't have the 2nd. Prioritize crafting the 3rd Hearthguard over the 2nd Reckoning.
• Captain Farron is just a 1x; you should have this in your starting collection.

That will be it for this week's installment -- a big thanks to Mogwai for the decklist, and to Agigas for "inspiring" me to cover this archetype instead of Discard Aggro this week. You can follow Mogwai online:

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