Strongest Decks in the Latest LoR Meta (Patch 2.5.0)
Let's take a look at the strongest decks in the current meta of Legends of Runeterra
With the latest patch, Legends of Runeterra has celebrated his first year of release, introducing new emotes and reworking many VFX related to the latest keywords released.
But the greatest changes to the gameplay were felt in patch 2.5.0 when the trifecta of Aphelios, TF, and Fiora were nerfed to the ground and significant buffs were given to the Deep archetype and Bilgewater. That being said, let's take a look at what decks have risen to top tier since then and will likely see play in the upcoming Seasonal Tournament.
Thresh/Nasus
Code: CEBQEBAFAMIAIBAHDIXVC6IFAECQWKBQGE2AEAIEA45QEAIFDERACAIDAUDQ
Difficulty: Medium
Playstyle: The first sketch of this deck was drawn even before the “Empires of the Ascended” expansion was released, but back then suffered from the strength of Targon that, as we'll see, could easily disable the deck's primary win condition with both silences and burst-spell heals.
In fact, this deck's gameplay is divided in two phases: the early-turns phase where you want to pressure the opponent's board with all the low cost drops that it maindecks, trying to lower as much as possible the enemy's HPs, and the post-turn 5 phase.
After you get your Thresh on board you can choose, depending on matchups and board states, to either commit to his evolution, which will grant you a free Nasus summon upon attack, thanks to all the cheap removals you have at your disposal, or just cycle through your deck using your Glimpse Beyonds and Spirit Leeches.
Once you get your Nasus on board, however, you just have two things to do: make him level up so he gains a free spell-shield and then as soon as you have 10 mana saved slam you opponent with an Atrocity targeted at his nexus. If he tries to respond he has to waste mana to first pop the spell-shield and then play a removal, so with your Rite of Negation you will always have a declaration of lethal damage.
The most notable counters of this deck are, as briefly mentioned before, both the burst-spell silences of Targon and the frostbites of the Frejlord, but it also suffers decks that simply can afford to ignore his gameplan to quickly reach a faster win condition, like some fast-paced aggro decks.
Matron Combo (Lissandra/Trundle)
Code: CECAGAIFCMWC6BAEAECQSCQOAUAQCAIDA4OTEAIDAEDAAAIBAQCQE
Difficulty: Easy
Playstyle: While during the last week this deck has seen some tweaks to his decklist such as the addition of Spirit Journey, Kindly Tavernkeeper, and Ice Shard, while the spell Three Sisters replaces the previously maindecked Flash Freezes and Avalanches, the playstyle is basically unchanged since the first time we covered it.
The core of this deck allows you to survive just long enough to get to Turn 8, when the combo that gives it its name can be played. you need a Pillar that Trundle will create upon summoning, a copy of Fading Memories, a Lissandra, and a Spectral Matron, all in your hand.
After playing the first Pillar, your mana will be refilled, and so will happen again with the second created using Fading Memories. At that point you just play Lissandra to evolve her and get a Watcher in hand and on your attack turn special summon it with the Matron. If the opponent counters its play in any way you will just be able to play a second one from hand because its cost will be dropped to 0.
Ezreal/Draven
Code: CECAIAIEDMSCMNABAIBQSAYBAMKC4NYBAMCBCAYDAECACHZHAEBQIBIBAEBTGAQCAEBQIFQBAQBQU
Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Playstyle: This particular combination of champions exists since the days of the Beta, only to be later replaced by a more stable and stronger Karma/Ezreal. With Ezreal's rework that later went on into dismantling that archetype and the consequent shift of the meta, this deck was reborn from his predecessor's ashes.
Draven/Ezreal is considered one of the most skill-based deck of the entire game, and when at first glance the deck might seem to have a simple-to-execute gameplan, it largely varies based on each and every matchup, being the most versatile between the top tier lists.
In fact it doesn't have a proper and defined win condition that will always be reliable: you can use your Ezreal to control and stabilize board with Mystic Shots and evolve him to overwhelm the enemy nexus with your burn, or instead you can chip down the enemy's HPs and end the game with Captain Farron and his Decimate as finishers. All the spells and units played only serve the purpose of controlling the game and stall until you can unfold one of your win conditions.
The deck has bad matchups mostly against decks with either silences to stop the strength of levelled up Ezreal, decks with access to heals like Starshaping, or decks that can out-pressure it, like TF/Fizz with its Elusives.
As highlighted by its difficulty value, mastering this deck it's not an easy task even for seasoned players, so if you want to play it at its fullest potential be prepared to grind even hundreds of games to understand matchups and mulligan phases.
Turbo Deep (Nautilus/Maokai)
Code: CECQEAIFFAXQMAQGC4SSOLZVHAAQIBIPAEBQKBACAICQQCQBAIAQKHJCAA
Difficulty: Medium
Playstyle: After a very long slumber in the depths of the sea, following the huge buffs that were given to the archetype last patch, the sea monsters are finally back in a top spot of the meta, ready to draw all the other lists into the darkness where they came from.
This deck's gameplay is very straight forward: get Deep as soon as possible to control the board with your big-statted pieces. This particular version of the deck can take advantage of both healing spells in case the opponent opts into an aggressive strategy and value based spells like Lure of the Depths and Stalking Shadows, which will discount and allow you to draw your units to make your own board pressure and make sure you don't run out of fuel.
Nautilus, The Titan of the Depths, serves as primary win condition. In fact, at turn 7 and after, when he will be played, you will most likely have already reached Deep so he will show up as a giant 13/13 with the effect of greatly discounting all your other depths-empowered units, that the opponent will not be able to handle.
Of course, the alternative Maokai win-condition is a relatively easy thing to achieve in this deck, and since it's not your primary tool to victory, don't feel afraid to play him just for 1 or 2 turns of value to then bait enemies some big removals.
While many versions of this decklist exist, this one is probably the most consistent for ladder, while in tournaments there were also shown lists that put emphasis on treasures and winning through even more value with the Shipwreck Hoarder.
Discard Aggro (Draven/Jinx)
Code: CEBAMAIEBQGRYJZIFUDACAYHBEGBIJZXAIAQGBASAEAQIAIA
Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Playstyle: This deck is an old glory coming back from the void where it was confined for the past few months, but it must not be underestimated. The only things that were holding it back from returning on top were the insane playrate of Targon and the strength of Area of Effect removals that were played to counter Fizz/Twisted Fate.
Now that those conditions are not met anymore, this deck can quickly get you from 20 HP to 5 in just 3 rounds, and from that for most decks there is no coming back. The keyword for playing this deck is one: go face, hit enemy nexus, SMorc, and take it in range of either Jinx's Rockets or Get Excited!
You will scarcely run of fuel because this deck also provides lots of draw potential, that can be combo-ed with Jinx passive skill when levelled up to get turns with insane value in terms of cards played and damage done, while the Augmented Experimenter will get you out of many tricky situations with his 3-draws skill.
As mentioned before, this deck has good matchups with all the decks without AoE removals or massive amounts of healing, like Ezreal/Draven, just because it kills them before they can return the favor, but of course it suffers from those very things.
Moreover, while it's not easy to find a faster aggro than Discard, many other aggressive decks have much more consistent mana-curves while this deck is extremely reliant on high rolls and good top decks.
Conclusion
As you have seen through this article, the meta has greatly changed from the last meta report, signaling an huge shift to a fast-paced meta full of other aggros that we have not covered today (like the Diana/Nocturne Nightfall that still lurks beneath the top tier surface).
As always, a huge thanks for the data provided by Kozmic that improved the quality and the accuracy of this report.
There will not be another balance patch before the Seasonal Tournament, and although these will probably be the most played decks at the event, I will also cover those in an upcoming article.
Hope you've enjoyed the content, good luck for your climb and have fun.
