A Spooky Society

Hello everybody, Redemption here, or Daniel in real life, and welcome to the 1^st article that I am going to make for the website Outof.cards (make sure to check them out, hehe), and tonight (yes, I am doing a deck guide/article on this deck during 10 PM Philippine time) I’ll be going over a deck I am using to climb the Ranked ladder with in the game of Legends of Runeterra, using the regions of Bandle City and Shadow Isles, but most using Bandle City with a tiny SI splash for Atrocity (more on the strategy later on).

Honestly, this deck stemmed from the idea that I want to build a deck that is cohesive, powerful, and at the same time, a “Jack of all traits, Master of none” type of deck, or as the old saying goes, “Throw random stuff in the wall and see what sticks”. And based around this philosophy, I have decided that a couple of days ago, while I was making some decks in the deck builder, I decided, “why not throw a weird champion lineup, and weird card choices, and see what sticks?”. And that is what I did with this weird mish-mash/amalgamation of cards that turned into the deck you’re seeing right now on your screen. So, without further ado, let me now discuss the gameplan of this deck (i.e. its win conditions, card choices, etc.)

GAMEPLAN:

So, the basic premise of this deck is to flood the board with early-game pressure, coupled with the multi-region cards within the deck to level up Tristana and win through sheer board presence and once the opponent’s defenses are shattered, you can just yoink a thick attack Tristana onto the Nexus using Atrocity, which is the SI splash in this deck, which you can pull off pretty reliably.

Now, that is not only the win condition of this deck. In fact, we have an alternate win condition in case our 1^st strategy of swarming the field with multi-region units falls apart vs. very interactive decks (i.e. Frostbite Midrange, Darkness, Sentinel control, etc.) And that is in the form of the Bandle Tree landmark, which you win the game when you summon/play units from 10 different regions, from Bandle City all the way to the Shadow Isles, in which we have the majority of regions covered in this deck (i.e. Poppy from Demacia, Fizz from Bilgewater, Proto Poro and Poro Sled from Freljord respectively, so on and so forth)

Now, in case we don’t execute the 1^st two gameplans, we can just rely on outgrinding the opponent in the mid-late game using the trump card known as: TREASURED TRASH, which is a spell that not everybody is playing around and is a sleeper of a potential win condition as well. Yes, the card can sometimes give you trash cards (lmao it’s in the name), but the card can also give you treasure in the form of good cards to either stabilize and/or win you the game and swing the tide of battle in your favor.

Basically, what I’m saying is that the deck has a plethora of win conditions it can rely on. You can go the swarm route using your Proto Poros, Fizz, Conchologist, Loping Telescopes, etc. then build a wide board using Gruff Grenadier (the Allegiance follower), buffing them up using the Yordle Captain, then swing with them for the win, or to dump your TRISTANA who has a very high attack stat to the Nexus using Atrocity. OR you can resort to Bandle Tree as the alternate win-con vs. Control decks, OR you can just outgrind your opponent using Treasured Trash and win the game from there.

GENERAL MULLIGAN:

Vs. Aggro:

You want to have your early game swarm package (i.e. Fizz, Conchologist, Telescope, Yordle Captain, Poppy, etc.) Try to stall the game and trade effectively into opponent’s units since this deck is a Midrange deck after all, and then go in and get ALL the value from your Manifest and Swarm strategies and just use your board presence to finish the game.

Examples of aggro include: (Scouts, Pirates, Spiders, Lulu/Fizz YIA (Yordle-in-Arms), etc.)

Vs. Midrange:

You want to have your early game package as well, using the same set of cards I just mentioned above when I explained the aggressive side of the format, but also, don’t mulligan Minimorph, because this card is very crucial to deal with massive threats that get out of control really fast (i.e. Nasus, Wounded Whiteflame, Pantheon, etc.)

Also, if you can, keep TRISTANA in your hand alongside Atrocity, because that’s your late game win condition vs. other Midrange decks. Also, keep your threats safe from removal, because so many Midrange decks nowadays run damage-based removal (i.e. Strike spells, Vile Feast, Withering Wail, etc.)

Examples of Midrange decks include: (Thresh/Nasus, Pantheon piles, other Bandle City decks, Landmarks, etc.)

Vs. Control and Combo:

Now here is where the other 2 win conditions I discussed earlier will come into play, same with the 1^st two guides in keeping cards for both aggressive and Midrange matchups, Along with keeping the cards I mentioned earlier (Fizz, Tristana, Poppy, swarm cards, etc.), it is IMPERATIVE that you should keep in the mulligan the following: Bandle Tree, Minimorph, and Treasured Trash, because most control decks nowadays don’t run any counter spells (i.e. Deny or Rite of Negation). But if you run into a deck with a lot of interaction, don’t keep the Treasured Trash. Just go ahead and utilize Bandle Tree as your alternate win condition.

Examples of Control and Combo include: (Anivia, Feel the Rush/Warmother’s Call, Zilean/Xerath, Zoe/Lee Sin, Iceborn Spiders, etc.)

VERDICT:

Now, after I have played this deck on ladder a couple times, WOW! I didn’t expect the deck to be successful. Be careful tho, this deck is kind of hard to pilot, and can suffer from bad draws or bricking, but I would recommend this deck for ladder and tournament play too!

STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES:

STRENGTHS:

1. The deck has a very flexible gameplan and/or angles of attack, and can keep up with other Aggressive decks in the format thanks to the Bandle City swarm package.

2. The deck also has ways to deal with very slow control decks, like Anivia, because if you stick the Bandle Tree on the field, SI/Freljord can't touch it, so find the right opportunity to drop the Tree when they're all tapped out.

3. This deck also just outgrinds opponents using both Bandle Tree AND Treasured Trash to pound the opponent in value, which is awesome!

WEAKNESSES:

1. This deck auto-loses to a very fast deck that utilizes burn tools, specifically Noxus aggro decks (i.e. Spiders, Pirates, etc.)

2. This deck gets DESTROYED by any spell/unit that targets Landmarks to hit the Bandle Tree (i.e. Homecoming, Desert Naturalist, Scorched Earth, etc.)

3. Finally, this deck auto loses to Ionia, every time, 'cause they have every single interaction under the sun or they can just pound you down with Elusive spam to crush you quick.

Happy gaming, fellas <3