… and on LoR Ladder News: The Stylish Tide Ain't Over Yet!
… and on LoR Ladder News: The Stylish Tide Ain't Over Yet!
Leona Samira fights tooth and nail with Ashe LeBlanc... while Samira Fizz, with a few tweaks, is again on the rise!
As of Saturday, this is how the Runeterra meta looks like, when checking the best LoR decks:
Notice that both Ashe LeBlanc and Samira Fizz show up twice – the Inferna & Dashing versions for the latter, and the Trapper & Reckless versions for the former – with the (clearly!) better versions having smaller play rates…
… in other words: odds are that, if you're playing Ashe BL or Sammy Fish, you're playing the wrong list! =)
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Cream of the Crop – Best LoR Decks, with WR over 57%
Hits like a Truck – LoR Decks with WR between 54% and 56%
Can't Go Wrong – Popular LoR Decks, WR over 52%
The Spicy Stuff
Sources: MaRu's data (which samples Plat+ players) and Legna's data (which tracks those players that ended in the Top 1K of their respective shards last Season) – both sources in turn get their data directly from Riot (via Riot's API).
Cream of the Crop – Best LoR Decks, with WR over 57%
These are the Runeterra heavy-hitters: LoR decks with more than 2K games in the last three days, and sky-high winrate.
A Tale of Two Styles: "Dashing" Fizz Samira
Wait…
… wasn't the stylish, fishy tide over!??
Not quite, it would seem!
The most popular Fizz Samira list, the one we nickname 'Inferna' in the graph that opens this article, yep: It has lost both the "Most Played" crown, and the "Deck that Punches the Most" crown too.
But turns out the Desert Rose hadn't shown us all her stylish flair just yet: with just a couple of tweaks – mainly pruning Inferna to make room for Elegant Edge and Dashing Dandy – Samira Fizz is again on a tear, today showcasing the highest win rate (nearly 59%) from among decks with more than 1,000 games played.
"Dashing" Fizz Samira – Link to full deck list
It's hard to say, from the matchups, where this version's dashing edge comes from (since it's hard to discriminate matchup data from the other Samira Fizz versions) but the deck's performance speaks volumes.
And if you're on a different version: make sure you switch! =)
Leona Samira
On the other hand, Leona and Samira have stuck to what had become, by last Thursday, one of LoR's scariest ladder menaces.
Leona Samira – Link to full deck list
Also: There were some doubts last Tuesday about whether the version with Kayle was superior, but there's nothing in the current data that supports playing the Kayle version on the ladder.
Samira Leona enjoys an enviable matchup spread:
It's the clear underdog only against a couple of fringe brews (like Riven Varus Samira, or Gnar Norra),
Has a slightly unfavored matchup against Elites,
Has good to great odds against the majority of the Top Dogs (Karma Sett, Fizz Samira, Gwen Quinn, Lurkers, Annie Caitlyn, and the list keeps going on!).
"Reckless" Ashe LB
Here's another tale of two slightly tweaked versions: Ashe LeBlanc's most popular deck, packing Avarosan Trapper, is doing great: it's the most-played LoR deck right now, and punches above 55%.
But Ashe LeBlanc's best version (mostly by switching the Trappers with Reckless Trifarians) pushes a crazy 2% better, and across a huge 5,000-game sample.
"Reckless" Ashe LB – Link to full deck list
To cement its dominance, Ashe LeBlanc has favorable odds versus Samira decks (slightly), Gwen Quinn (fairly large), Elites and Aatrox decks (ROFL!!), while also slapping around other up-and-comers like Ekko Jinx, Illaoi Swain, and Udyr Galio.
Interestingly, it has precisely one weak spot: Annie Caitlyn – the very same deck that emerged as the strongest counter to the early Samira Fizz tide, but which earlier this week was pushed to the sides as Demacian decks rose to prominence…
… yet, as we'll see, it may be time for Tybaulk to return!
Hits like a Truck – Decks with WR between 54% and 56%
Just a bit below the Cream of the Crop, these LoR decks punch above the 55% win rate mark, also having from big (1K+ games) to huge (5K+ games) sample sizes.
Illaoi Swain
Priestess and Grand General had quite a few ups and downs in the last few days, but have largely settled on "Upwards!" as of now: 55% win rate in 1,100+ games for the best Illaoi Swain deck:
Illaoi Swain – Link to full deck list
… and with a couple of variations doing almost as well.
They do have a weakness to both Ashe LeBlanc and Leona Samira, though (while being roughly even against other strong decks, without clearly easy prey), so the next turn of the tide may prove rough for these champs.
The LoR Mint: Karma Sett
After a few tweaks and refinements (you definitely want to cut Serene Sky-Singer, and add Shadow Assassin to this smooth mix), the best Karma Sett deck is back at printing LPs: 55%+ in 5,000+ games!
Karma Sett – Link to full deck list
This is the one deck that Annie Caitlyn fears, and can go toe-to-toe with Ashe LeBlanc – and, outside of Leona Samira, has no glaring weak spot.
Nautilus Maokai, aka Deep
You do need to dig deep to find Deep's good list (admittedly a low-effort pun, although I swear it is accurate!), but here it is:
It's the third most popular (although all top three lists are in the 1,100-1,500 games range, so it's close), and the performance gap is huge: nearly 5% for the list above, for a 55%+ win rate deck.
Deep gets blown out of the water by Samira Fizz (matchup against that pesky fish is horrible), but Ashe LeBlanc is an even matchup, Karma Sett is favored, and Aatrox is a walk in the beach – all in all, it looks like Deep joins the list of pre-rotation archetypes that have ended much stronger in the current Standard field.
Pyke Rek'Sai, aka Lurkers
Another proud member of the "What doesn't rotate you makes you stronger" club, Lurkers are having an absolutely wonderful time in the Runeterra ladder right now, with their best deck punching above 54%, across 2,200+ games, and with a couple of other versions tweaking just a single card getting almost there.
This is the best Pyke Rek'Sai deck right now:
Pyke Rek'Sai – Link to full deck list
Pyke's crew have a target in their backs when it comes to Leona Samira: that's probably as close to auto-lose as you can get in LoR when piloting a strong deck…
… but most other bad matchups are not worse than 45% for Lurkers (including the extremely popular Samira Fizz), and they have a slight edge on Ashe LeBlanc, Karma Sett, Deep and Annie Caitlyn.
Malphite Taliyah
Saying that these two champs' performance is rock-solid may be another (very) low-effort a pun, but it that doesn't make it any less accurate: Another example of a pre-rotation deck that not only survived, but came out stronger, Malphite Taliyah keeps punching above 54% in more than 2,500 games played – the best track-record this deck has ever seen.
Malphite Taliyah – Link to full deck list
The Landmark Duo is particularly weak to Fizz Samira, while quite apt at smashing Illaoi Swain – but other than that, seems to be a fairly "fair" deck: most other matchups are in the 45/55% range.
Can't Go Wrong – Popular, Strong Decks
None of these LoR decks look like the next meta-breaker, but they all have solid winrates (in the 52-54% range) with sample sizes going from 1K to 7K games in the last three days.
Gwen Quinn
Last Tuesday we argued that Gwen Quinn was perhaps the strongest deck in LoR…
… so much for trying to predict the future! =)
Still, what was Demacia's spearhead against the early onslaught of Karma Sett and Samira Fizz remains a great deck, only a tiny bit away from a 54% win rate and with nearly 8,000 games played in the last three days:
Gwen Quinn – Link to full deck list
Like most Demacian decks, it reliably beats both Samira Fizz and Karma Sett, also punching Deep, Aatrox Kayn, and Lurkers…
… but, like most Demacian decks, has a lousy matchup against Ashe LeBlanc – and whenever Gwen Quinn bumps into Garen's gang, it's hardly a doubt who's the real Elite Demacian in that battle.
Garen Jarvan, aka Elites
LoR's social media bubble is chock-full of (non-Demacia) pilots joking about how Elites players haven't gotten the memo about Bannerman rotating, and therefore Elites not needing to be an Allegiance (that's to say, a mono-region) deck.
Yet the data suggests the joke is misplaced: mono-demacia Elites again shows up as a very solid deck (53% over 1,300 games), while experiments with splashing Elites with other regions have yet to find success.
Garen Jarvan – Link to full deck list
Elites share a similar fate to Gwen Quinn: very good against the new Champions, but suffers horribly when confronting Ashe LeBlanc.
Galio Udyr
Now, if you want to mix Demacia with another region, this is the brew that's currently showing the most promise (while having very little overlap with Elites):
Galio Udyr – link to full deck list
With a similar performance to Elites both by win rate and games played, Galio Udyr demolishes Karma Sett while not having such a bad time into Ashe LeBlanc (even if still an unfavored matchup). The main drawback here, when comparing to Elites, is that Leona Samira goes from favored to very unfavored.
Annie Caitlyn
Now, this one is an interesting story! =)
As seen last week, back when the ladder seemed about to get drowned in a Sammy Fish tide, Annie Caitlyn was both a good deck overall, and THE deck you wanted to bring if you wanted to slap Samira hard.
As it turned out, it was the surge of Demacian decks that put a stop to Samira Fizz – which was awful news overall for Annie Caitlyn (as those tend to be losing matchups)…
… but, what do you know: turns out Annie Caitlyn is excellent against Ashe LeBlanc, and as such it's seeing a resurgence:
Annie Caitlyn – link to full deck list
Bear in mind that Annie Caitlyn looks like what's usually nicknamed a "polarizing" deck (as in, having several matchups in which the deck is largely favored, or disastrously the underdog), and therefore tends to acutely feel any swing in the LoR meta. In particular, Annie Caitlyn has awful odds against Deep and Karma Sett – two decks that, as of late, seem on the rise.
Ekko Jinx
The Zaunite pair have kept a solid 3,000-game play rate in a three-day window, although losing a bit of steam on the win rate department and falling to about 52%.
Ekko Jinx – Link to full Deck List
Ashe LeBlanc is probably one of the culprits of Ekko Jinx running a bit cold – on the plus side, though, the Zaunites make quick work of Annie Caitlyn, the deck that as we've seen above is Ashe LeBlanc's worst nightmare.
Other Solid Options
If none of the above fit your playstyle or budget, here are other LoR decks that have seen both quite a bit of play (at least 1,000 games) and decent performance (slightly above 51% win rate) in the Runeterra ladder:
Caitlyn Jayce – The Piltovan friends have been in a roller-coaster as far as winrates go; they are doing okay as of now, and may see their fortunes improve if Annie Caitlyn (a deck they easily nuke) gets traction.
Caitlyn Kennen Seraphine – An iteration of the Seraphine Bandle Bar concept, and showing a modicum of success in a fairly large sample,
Jarvan IV Sett Shen – An interesting case of data disagreement: MaRu's data puts JSS as a potential powerhouse, but Legna's data show it as a promising yet (still) discrete brew.
The Spice Must Flow!
All the above decks are all well and good, but…
… what if you're after something a bit less worn out?
Here we'll check a few decks that have between 200 and 1,000 games played in the last three days, and all with win rates above 53% – proceed with caution, but no reward comes without a little risk! =)
Gnar Norra: If you enjoy Lord Broadmane but Annie Caitlyn isn't your cup of tea, this may be your brew – and gaining a scary amount of steam in the last couple of days.
Riven Samira Varus: Pilots and brewers have been hard at work trying to make Riven Samira work – and by the nice chunk of games with good performance, they may have broken the formula.
Evelynn Kai'Sa: Without quite the same success as other surviving pre-rotation pairings, Eve Kai'Sa looks nevertheless like a very solid, if fringe, brew.
Illaoi Ornn: Smash 'em with Tentacles; then Bone Club 'em in the head some more!
Annie Swain: A partnership that never quite gelled when Annie arrived in Runeterra – new cards, plus the lower-power post-rotation field, have brought Grand General and Burning Brat back together.
Evelynn Lucian: Toy Sentinel and Lady of Pain keep showing they make a very good match!
Samira Tristana: Desert Rose and a Fae deluge – our fringest brew today, yet one of the punchiest. If you enjoy low-to-the-ground and Leona Samira is too popular for you, this may perhaps be what you are looking for.
Wrapping Up
In another turn of the tide, Samira Fizz may return to being on top of the Runeterra meta, if its Dashing version gains traction and proves to be a solid choice when adopted by the majority of the archetype's pilots.
On their part, Ashe LeBlanc and Leona Samira don't seem to have too many predators in sight…
… but perhaps Annie Caitlyn will be willing to tip the scales here in Samira's favor.
At any rate, looks like we still have at least one more week to go before calling the current LoR meta "settled".
Hope you have enjoyed today's selection, and good luck out there! =)
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We’re passion-fueled — but an extra cup of coffee always helps! =)
If you like what we’re doing and would like to support us, here’s our PayPal Tip Jar:
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