LoR Ladder News: War of the Roses
As the LoR meta settles down and the Runeterra Open approaches, Ashe LeBlanc, Samira Fizz and Samira Leona vie for the top
We're almost two weeks since 'Glory in Navori' reached Runeterra, and it looks like it's time to start separating the chaff from the wheat among LoR meta decks.
Today we'll look at data from three different groups of players:
Current LoR Master players, from Legna's data,
"High Diamond" players (technically, players that ended in the Top 1K of their respective shards last Season), again from Legna's data,
"Plat+ Players," tracking all players that were Masters in the previous season (and, therefore, today are at Platinum or higher), from MaRu's data.
(Data-crunching note: the source of all the above data is the same, namely Riot's in-game data acquired through Riot's API – the difference is the specific players tracked by each data sample. In all cases we're looking at games played in the last three days).
Let's start with Legna's "High-Diamond" players, looking at decks that, in this sample, have more than 1,000 games played in the last three days, and win rate above 50%:
Notice that, like last Saturday, there are two versions of Ashe LeBlanc (one playing Avarosan Trapper, the other playing Reckless Trifarian), with the most popular also being the worse – yeah, some folks just didn't get that memo.
Samira Fizz also shows up with two versions, but folks at the top have caught up that the one with Dashing Dandy is the correct one.
Here's what Master data looks like:
… and notice how:
Several decks now drop below 50% win rate,
Fizz Samira Dashing improves noticeably,
Leona Samira remains the most-played option at the top.
Let's dive now into all of the decks mentioned above, plus quite a few less-played decks that are doing quite well when looking at Plat+ data.
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Top Ladies(& Yordle) – Best LoR Decks
Hits like a Truck – Strong LoR Decks
Rock Solid Decks: Good Play Rate & Performance at Plat+
The Priestess' Brews
Flowing Spice
Gnar Norra, which maintains a very solid performance,
Samira Tristana, lowest-to-the-ground deck around,
Annie Jhin, yeah, that Annie Jhin – it's been doing some experiments and it's working scarily well now!
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).
Top LoR Ladies (and Aquatic Yordles)
These are the Runeterra heavy hitters: the current best decks in Runeterra if your goal is to climb the LoR Ladder.
Fish and Chip Damage: "Dashing" Fizz Samira
As Legna's Master data shows, if you know what you are doing then Samira Fizz is probably the best deck in the current LoR Meta.
"If you know what you are doing" includes, though, piloting the best list!
In this case (and unlike Ashe LeBlanc, as we'll see in a bit..) most folks seem to have gotten last Saturday's memo and have switched to the best Samira Fizz deck – trimming Inferna to make room for Elegant Edge and Dashing Dandy – which, in MaRu's data, punches above 56% in more than 5,400 games.
"Dashing" Fizz Samira – Link to full deck listÂ
Fizz Samira's matchup spread looks excellent right now: it's the underdog against several other top brews (including Ashe LeBlanc, Leona Samira and Gwen Quinn) but only by a small margin – while the matchups it dominates (like Deep, Malphite Taliyah, or Lurkers), it dominates clearly.
And, as we've seen from Masters' data, skilled players can improve those edges by quite a bit even against the toughest field.
Solar Flair: Leona Samira
When looking at MaRu's data, Leona Samira emerges as the scariest thing you can bring (or run into) the Plat+ ladder: a brutal 58% win rate across 11,000+ games, and as we've seen, it's a deck that doesn't slack its performance when piloted at the very top.
Leona Samira – Link to full deck list
The Solar Flair ladies have a single weak spot: Gnar Norra. Other unfavored matchups against popular or semi-popular decks are at least 45% for Leona Samira, while the matchups it dominates (like against Karma Setta, Gwen Quinn, or Lurkers) it does so in brutal, flairy fashion.
Frost is the New Flock: Ashe LeBlanc
Alright, folks, lissen up!
The Avarosan Trapper version is good.
Very good, even, if you're still clawing your way to Masters: punches above 55% in MaRu's Plat+ data.
But!
If you swap the Trappers for Reckless Trifarians, you get an even better deck.
That can even perform well at the peak of the LoR ladder, as we've seen from Legna's data.
So!
Unless you're inordinately attached to Yetis (I mean, there's no accounting for taste, that's for sure), just make the switch – today's data is consistent with what we saw three days ago; that's the best Ashe LeBlanc deck.
"Reckless" Ashe LeBlanc – Link to full deck list
From Plat+ matchups, Ashe LeBlanc has a single weak spot (Annie Caitlyn), and a bit of a struggle against Jack Seraphine; confrontations against Samira decks and Karma Sett are roughly even, while matches against any Demacia or big-butts-on-board decks (like Illaoi brews) are favored (and usually very much so).
Hits like a Truck – Popular, Strong LoR Decks
Just a bit below the cream of the crop, these LoR decks punch above the 53% win rate mark, in all cases with huge (more than 4K+ games) sample sizes.
The LoR Mint: Karma Sett
Another example of the current LoR meta's maturity, with pilots migrating to the best version (which eschews Serene Sky-Singer in favor of Assassins, Clocklings, and lil' furry fellows):
Karma Sett – Link to full deck list
Karma Sett demolishes Annie Caitlyn, is even against Fizz Samira, gets brutally murdered by Leona Samira.
And it has a hard time against Deep…
… unless you've read Moe's reddit tips for that specific matchup, of course! (Quickly: Mulligan and dig for 2x Karma; don't kill Deep's weenies, since that accelerates Maokai's level-up; when Enlightened, Karma will put two copies of herself in your deck if you cast her Champ spell, thus avoiding decking out).
Gwen Quinn
The Opulent ladies have stabilized at a very solid 54% winrate in Plat+, with a big chunk (5K+) of games played. The best Gwen Quinn deck remains the same as last Saturday…
Gwen Quinn – Link to full deck list
… and is a solid option against Karma Sett (although the abundance of Aftershocks seems to be diminishing the edge here), Fizz Samira, Lurkers and Deep.
The two big thorns on Gwinn's thigh are Ashe LeBlanc and Leona Samira – while not unwinnable, they are clearly on the "I'd rather not bump into them" end of the spectrum.
Nautilus Maokai, aka Deep
Yet another archetype following today's trend of their best version rising to also become the most played (rather than you having to dig deep to find it, like it was the case three days ago), the best & most popular Nautilus Maokai deck accrues nearly 4,000 games with win rate surpassing 53%:
Deep – Link to full deck list
Fizz never stops asserting his seaborne dominance here, and Samira Fizz is close to auto-lose for Deep, yet Nautilus' school can reliably beat Karma Sett (unless you've been paying attention to Moe!), Annie Caitlyn and Jack Seraphine.
A Word about Jack, the Champion
If you go strictly by ranked data, there's not much reason to play Jack Seraphine on the LoR ladder: none of its popular versions can get past 48%.
But Jack Seraphine does have some very good matchups (notably among them Fizz Samira and Ashe LeBlanc), and as such may be a very good pick for a Tournament lineup – just like MajiinBae did to top last week's MaRu $1000 tourney.
For clarity, Jack Seraphine is not a deck I'd recommend if your main goal is to climb the LoR ladder, but as seen above it's a very strong consideration for Best-of-Three, and therefore trying to climb with it may be a great way to get your reps in; here's the most popular Jack Seraphine deck.
Rock Solid LoR Decks
None of these LoR decks look like the next meta-breaker, but they all have solid winrates (in the 52-53% range) with sample sizes going from 1K to 2K games in the last three days.
Pyke Rek'Sai, aka Lurkers
What doesn't rotate you makes you stronger!
When confronting Leona Samira, Pyke's crew has THE worst matchup from among strong decks, with 80% odds in favor of the Solar Flair girls – but outside of that, Lurkers have proven as resilient as the tide:
Pyke Rek'Sai – Link to full deck list
In particular, Pyke Rek'Sai beats both Ashe LeBlanc and Karma Sett, also having a slight edge on Jack Seraphine.
Malphite Taliyah
We didn't see Malphite and Taliyah in today's graphs due their low play rate Masters, but this is a deck that's performing fairly well at the upper echelons – and, when looking at Plat+ data, the Landmark Duo is having a jolly good time, smashing well above 53%:
Malphite Taliyah – Link to full deck list
This is yet another deck that's being kept down by Samira (Fizz doing most of the bashing in this case), but that has otherwise a very solid matchup spread: no other glaring weaknesses, and an edge against Karma Sett.
Ekko Jinx
The Zaunite friends have recouped a bit their boom-boom, punching today at 53% across 1,700+ games:
Ekko Jinx – Link to full Deck List
By the way: some folks have been experimenting with a Lone Ekko version, packing Secret Keeper (which, when played, will activate Voice of the Risen), but that version has been doing quite poorly.
Annie Caitlyn
Sheriff and blazing brat have stabilized their win rate at around 52% – as commented last Saturday, this is a deck that has had several ups and downs in the current meta, yet thanks to excellent matchups against Samira Fizz (which was what propelled it forward in the early post-patch days) and now Ashe LeBlanc, looks like a very solid ladder choice.
Annie Caitlyn – link to full deck list
Do bear in mind it's a bit of a "polarizing" deck: good matchups are often great, but bad matchups (Karma Sett, Deep or Jack Seraphine, for example) can be awful.
The Priestess' Brews
Brewers have been experimenting quite a bit with Illaoi, and with a nice chunk of success at that – three Illaoi brews, in three different region combinations, are looking quite promising right now.
Illaoi Swain
Priestess and Grand General have tweaked their ratios a bit, and improved their last Saturday's performance to a 56% win rate:
Illaoi Swain – Link to full deck list
They currently look a bit weak to Annie Caitlyn and Ashe LeBlanc, but can go toe-to-toe with Samira decks, have a slight edge versus Karma Sett and Gwen Quinn, and teach Deep a lesson about who really rules the sea.
Illaoi Jarvan
Prince and Priestess were a powerhouse back when Illaoi was released – many patches (and a rotation) later, they seem eager to resume their partnership, punching at a great 55% across 1300 games:
Illaoi Jarvan – Link to full deck list
Illaoi Ornn
Tentacle Club is thus far the weakest of the of these three Illaoi decks, but has nevertheless reached a 51% win rate in about 1,300 games – which, in a settling field like we have now, is not a small feat:
Illaoi Ornn – Link to full deck list
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, with win rates at or above 52% – proceed with caution, but no reward comes without a little risk! =)
Gnar Norra: Although it remains a fringe brew, Gnar Norra keeps doing consistently amazing – its best version has now added Bandle City Mayor and an extra Captain Farron for a wonderful 56% punch.
Both Riven Samira Varus and Jarvan Sett Shen have deflated a bit, but remain playable, and the only good decks for Riven or Shen.
Don't sleep on Samira Tristana, folks: Yordle Gunner and Desert Rose has grown from very fringe to very scary brew in just three days, packing a 54% punch today and looking amazing against Samira Fizz.
Evelynn Lucian: Toy Sentinel and Lady of Pain have added two copies of Form Up! to their arsenal – with Eve Kai'Sa not doing too well, this currently looks like the best Evelynn deck.Â
For our fringest brew today… Annie Jhin! Thus far, bullet buff and blazing brat have been among the decks wiped out by rotation – but with Pirouettes and, what do you know, Augmented Experimenter, they have been on a 56% tear as of late.
Wrapping Up
The LoR meta is showing signs of settling down, pushing out the weaker brews and with pilots migrating to each archetype's best decks.
Still…
… while far from hard science, it's not rare for new decks to flourish by the third week after a patch, probably due to a combination of brewers having had more time to brew, and a clearer picture of what they need to target.
And, let's not forget: next Saturday we have the first Runeterra Open of the 2023 competitive season (from 7:00AM-9:00PM, Shard Time), so we'll see what decks end up on top.
Hope you've enjoyed today's selection, and good luck out there!
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... and any deck you're curious about, and would like to see the stats for, just let me know! =)
Am curious to what something like jack/nami looks like stat wise? Only in mid plat at the moment but pretty much cruising through everything not named karma/sett. Most things have seemed even but that’s just purely Anecdotal