Hail, Champions! If you haven't been spending too much time in the new PvE lab, you've noticed how much this latest champion expansion has shaken things up. We wanted to go over some of the outstanding decks that have caught our eyes these first 48 hours.
New Decks Without Aphelios
Believe it or not, there are some interesting new constructed decks without Aphelios -- and just to prove it, we'll start with them first!
zTurtlee has an update to Zombie Anivia utilizing the potential Anivia + Gluttony -> The Rekindler combo. We saw several theorycraft decks with this concept, but zTurtlee's deck seems to survive the reality test -- he claims a 14W-6L rate testing it on ladder. Part of his secret: cutting to just 2x Gluttony, since it's so limited outside the combo.
Swim has been trialing multiple different decks, but he seems to be having the most success with a Draven + Riven Overwhelm / Noxus Allegiance deck that splashes 3x Flurry of Fists. Casting Flurry of Fists on a unit that already has Quick Attack and Overwhelm is disgustingly powerful, and between Draven and Riven you should have plenty of opportunities.
Meanwhile, DogOfWisdom returned to the ole' Kinkou Wayfinder archetype. It turns out The Flight is a solid fit -- it elusively pushes 2 Nexus damage similar to Navori Bladescout, except instead of leaving you a vanilla 2|1 chump blocker it draws you a card. It even opens up a few options that Bladescout doesn't -- e.g., you don't have to play them on the same round as Windfarer Hatchling to push the additional damage.
New P&Z Decks With Aphelios
Right now, the most popular region to splash with Aphelios seems to be Piltover & Zaun. We'll start with FiVE's Aphelios + Viktor Give It All deck, which features Viktor, an impressively low curve (34 out of 40 cards cost 0-3 mana), and 3x Give It All as a finisher.
BruisedByGod took the same champion partnership but implemented a more value-oriented approach, utilizing Invoke cards like Solari Priestess, Eclipse Dragon, and the new The Fangs. Starshaping simultaneously heals and generates the usual win condition.
A hat tip to Jasensational who immediately saw the silver lining in the recent Hush nerf: at 3 mana, Hush now counts towards Tri-beam Improbulator progression. He went 11-3 on the first day using this Aphelios + Heimerdinger deck. Starshaping again provides the usual win condition, but Give It All provides a backup plan.
Finally, we have this Zoe + Aphelios + Vi Invoke allegiance deck from Rekia which also includes Starbone and The Veiled Temple. Vi provides some additional interaction; Starshaping yet again provides the finishing power.
New Ionia Decks With Aphelios
Next up we'll be looking at some Ionia decks, whose control style seems to really appreciate all the additional value Aphelios provides. Let's start with this update to Lee Sin OTK from FrozenWinterer; besides Aphelios, we also see 2x The Veiled Temple.
We were skeptical how good Aphelios + Karma decks would be -- her L2 passive just feels a little underwhelming compared to say Aurelion Sol or Feel The Rush -- but we're pleasantly surprised to find we underestimated this archetype. This offering from Alanzq features the newly-buffed Homecoming along with a 1x Minah Swiftfoot.
New SI Decks With Aphelios
We didn't see as many new Shadow Isles decks as we expected. The one that did stand out to us was NicMakesPlays' update of his Nightfall deck, substituting out Nocturne for Aphelios. This is a generally slower version of the deck which also now includes The Sky Shadows and The Fangs.
That will do it for now. Check back later after things have settled down a bit, and we'll see which of these decks will be defining the new meta!
Comments
Yep, too much Lab time.
I really want to try Gluttony Anivia.