… and on LoR Ladder News…
All hail Queen Kayle – unless Lux says otherwise!
Best LoR Decks
As of Friday, roughly 40 hours after the LoR Variety Patch landed, these are the 12 most popular LoR decks according to Legna the Mastering Runeterra Meta Tier List:
All in all, current trends follow what we saw yesterday with 24 hours of data:
Kayle and Lux fiercely fight for the Queen of the LoR Meta crown; Lux Jayce is perhaps the strongest LoR deck right now, but Kayle shows up in two different Juggernauts,
Elites are a powerhouse. Yeah, you read that right: Elites. As in, Demacia Elites. As in, that tag Garen has, that we used to make jokes about until two patches ago,
The buffs to Evelynn's followers (and Steem in particular) look to have hit just the spot, and several Eve decks are bubbling up, with varied success.
Let's jump to the decks, which we'll sort by play rate of the most popular specific deck (as in: not by the archetype's overall play rate, but by the number of games of their most popular build).
Sources: MaRu's data (which samples Plat+ players) and Legna's data (which samples High Diamond & Masters players) – both sources in turn get their data directly from Riot (via Riot's API).
Big Bad Badger: Garen Kayle, ft. Jarvan
Step aside: grumpy Badgerbear on the run!
Their latest follower has pushed Elites from competitive-yet-fringe choice (which they have been since the January hotfix) to bona fide Juggernauts – over 2,000 games with a win rate north of 57% as per MaRu data (which samples Plat+ players), and a staggering 3,200 games as per Legna's data with similar performance. Interesting quirk: the list seems to work best in the Americas shard, and worst (although still a very good deck) in the APAC shard.
Kayle's contribution seems far from trivial, yet Kay-less versions with just Garen Jarvan and lone Garen showcase equally scary numbers.
Elites' showstoppers appear to be Jayce Lux (although just barely) and Heimer Jayce (which seems to have very good odds against Garen's crew). Lurkers may also be a good counter.
Kayle Leona
Yesterday's best build (this one) is still performing very well, yet both per Legna and MaRu the best Kayle Leona deck today is its second most popular build, packing fewer spells (and specifically no Flocks):
56% win rate in MaRu's data and 55% in Legna's data, across a similarly large sample (about 1,300 games).
Elites (and the Kayless versions in particular) are very bad news for Leona Kayle; Jayce decks (and Lux above all) are also rough.
On the backswing, Leona Kayle seems to have the upper hand against most other popular decks, including Ryze, Lurkers, Taliyah Ziggs, and Kalista Nocturne.
Taliyah Ziggs
When it works, it works! With not a single card changed post-patch, Taliyah Ziggs has kept most of its punch.
Interesting quirk: this build's performance in Plat+ data (57%+) seems much better than at high Diamond (54%, as per Legna).
The most important takeaway from the data, though, is that Taliyah Ziggs is currently the only strong deck that can turn Lux's lights out, while also crushing Heimer Jayce and having 50/50 odds against Kayle Leona. The jury is still out about how the Elites matchups look like: odds against the Kayless version are slightly positive for Taliyah Ziggs, but turn downright negative versus the Kayle version.
The Fresh New Take: Gwen Quinn
A deck that showed up by the tail-end of last patch, and still shows legs: a solid 52% win rate in MaRu's data, jumping to a great 55% in Legna's, across a roughly 700-game sample.
Do bear in mind that matchups against Kayle Leona, Jayce Lux and Elites look from ugly to hideous – you should be able to farm Ryze and Heimer Jayce, though!
Kalista Nocturne
Fearsomes are having a really good time these first few days!
Their best build shows a tiny tweak since yesterday (minus one Soul Cleave, plus one Mark of the Isles) for a scary 58% win rate at Plat+ across 700+ games – performance seems to mellow a bit at high Diamond, with 54% WR across a similar number of games.
Like Gwen Quinn, Fearsomes farm Ryze and Heimer Jayce, while crumbling to Kayle and Elites decks.
Jayce Lux
And here she is: Lux, Kayle's only contender to the Queen of the Meta title!
Unlike Kayle's decks (namely Kayle Leona, and Kayle Elites), which currently have a clear best build, Jayce Lux is all over the place, with a myriad of different versions. Here's the most popular today (which is the same as yesterday)...
… showcasing a great 56% win rate across a 600-game sample: for sure a solid deck to take to the LoR ladder, but if you enjoy this champion pairing do be on the lookout for optimized builds in the coming days.
From the PoV of performance, Jayce Lux's selling point is pretty clear, at least this early on: it has just one strong predator (Taliyah Ziggs), while plenty of prey – Jayce decks, Elites decks, and Kayle decks in all their versions are favored matchups for Jayce Lux, while also beating Eve decks, Lukers, and the list goes on.
Heimer Jayce
Another strong archetype that is all over the place when you look at specific builds: its most popular version (this one; no Formula) is pretty 'meh'...
… while the second most popular, which would be this one:
… is looking all colors of scary (but with a 200-game sample size, which is on the smallish end of the spectrum).
Still, Professor and Student look like they are gonna be main characters in this meta's dramatis personae – if you're fond of, or curious about, these two, it's the perfect time to bring them to the LoR ladder!
Return of Evelynn Viego
Steem's buff has pushed Evelynn forward, and Eve's most popular (although not the scariest, as we'll soon see…) partner is again the Shirtless King. With a win rate of around 53% across about 500 games it's definitely a deck showing promise, although not as punchy as they were back when Hate Spike was at its best.
(Notice that Encroaching Mists are 1-cost units, therefore relevant to Steem's text.)
Evelynn Lucian
Turns out that reducing Lucian's cost to one is a buff if Steem's on the board! =)
Eve takes her motley crew to Demacia while Lucian brings the Dawnspeakers, and thus far they are all having a jolly good time: a kick-ass 57%+ win rate across 300 games, with apparently a slight edge versus Elites and even odds against Jayce Lux.
Other Solid Options
None of the above float your boat? Other solid options this early on include:
Darius LeBlanc Yetis: the Hand of Noxus and his furry pals didn't have the best day yesterday, but are regaining lost ground and show a healthy 52% WR today,
Braum Norra, which was already very solid pre-patch, keeps packing a grinning punch across a smallish number of games,
Annie Jhin, because some things just never change,
Lurkers, because see above! =)
Not Looking Good
Evelynn Kai'sa had a good start yesterday but seems a tad deflated today. Likewise, Caitlyn Teemo, Aphelios Zoe, Annie Ezreal P&Z and Bandle City Seraphine have all seen quite a bit of play, but with mediocre to bad results.
The same goes for Ryze; top pilots can really make the Rune Mage click, but as far as average stats go, it's a weak (albeit very popular) deck.
Wrapping Up
That would be it for today's LoR Ladder news – new patch, new cards, new buffs: we're still seeing some old Top Dogs dominate the ladder, but we'll see if what happens during the weekend, once builders get a bit more time to brew.
Good luck out there! =)