… and on LoR Ladder News…
… and on LoR Ladder News…
As the early LoR meta settles down, Samira Fizz's WR dips below 55%, and the Demacian tide grows stronger.
As of Sunday, four days into 'Glory in Navori', and now with a full three-day sample, here are the most popular and potent Legends of Runeterra decks for the Standard ladder, according to Legna and Mastering Runeterra Meta Tier List:
The main takeaways today are:
In general, all across the board, win rates for all strong decks has decreased – in other words, the LoR meta has settled quite a bit in the last two days, and
In particular, Samira Fizz's winrate has dipped below the 55% threshold.
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).
Juggernauts – Best Legends of Runeterra Decks
Here we showcase LoR decks with more than 2100 games since 'Glory in Navori' reached Runeterra – given both the amount of data collected this time (since the data sample is "players that were Masters last season," and folks seem to be playing a ton), this is the first time in these articles that we have so many Juggernauts.
Fish 'n' Chip Damage: Samira Fizz
Alright – maybe Sammy Fish not the new Ziggs Acolytes! =)
As noted last Friday, data for the first two days did show Samira Fizz as performing over two of Riot's "This May Be Broken" thresholds (play rate above 15% and win rate above 55% for the whole archetype).
But, as of now, and while its play rate is still bonkers, Samira Fizz's win rate (both for the archetype as a whole, and for its most popular variants) is in check. The most popular version, with a mind-boggling 24,000+ games played in the last three days, is punching at 54% as of now…
… and the other two most popular variants are doing slightly worse.
This could of course be related to the huge influx of (probably still inexperienced) pilots, since decks usually go down in win rate when their play rate surges – but, as per today's current snapshot, Samira Fizz's performance is in the "great-but-not-broken" range.
The reason, in one word: Demacia.
Be it one of the new Juggernauts, Gwen Quinn, or the returned Aatrox Quinn Vayne, or all-in Elites, or the resurrected Scouts… everything coming from Garen's homeland has an edge over the Desert Rose and her fishing crew.
And, as noted previously, even in matchups where Samira Fizz is indeed favored, it's not favored by a lot (as far as strong decks are concerned): odds against Karma Sett, Lurkers, or Aatrox Kayne, for example, are just in the 52%-55% range.
Karma's a Boss: P&Z Karma Sett
Similar trend as we saw on Friday: the most popular Karma Sett version (which would be this one) is doing okay (WR of about 51% in 8,000 games), but the real-deal seems to be the second most popular formula, going heavier on Followers (in particular, adding Acorn and Augmented Clockling), punching at close to 55%:
Karma Sett is contributing to pushing Annie Caitlyn down; it also has great odds against several board-focused decks, from Norra builds to Samira Fortune.
Interestingly, it has the same weak spot as Samira Fizz: Demacia (and Aatrox Quinn Vayne in particular).
The Secret to Victory: Gwinn
… aaand this would be the main (although not the only!) reason why, since Friday, our early LoR meta went from:
"We may have a broken deck here…"
… to the current…
"Alright, maybe things will take care of themselves, and balance themselves out!"
Quinn, paired with Gwen, spearpoints the bulk of Demacian decks that are doing great in the current field, above all since they counter the two recently-arrived Juggernauts, namely Samira Fizz and Karma Sett.
In particular, with nearly 10,000 games in the last three days and a 56% win rate, Gwen Quinn is the best-performing Juggernaut today…
… yet, as noted in the overall trends, even this top performer has mellowed its performance a bit (its win rate was above 59% just two days ago) strongly suggesting that it will be, like Samira Fizz, a "great yet not broken" deck.
Gwen Quinn remains a deck without too many predators in sight – it is only disfavored against Scouts, Ashe LeBlanc, and one of today's findings, Kayle Leona Samira.
Rotate Deez: Pyke Rek'Sai, aka Lurkers
Good ol' Lurkers keep doing their thing – 3,200 games with a 53% win rate.
It's clear by now that Pyke & crew are one of the rotation's survivors!
Their matchup spread is not too impressive: Lurkers are farming Caitlyn Teemo and Jack Sett – two popular but weak decks. On the other hand, though, they don't have too many weak spots, either, with only Kayle Leona Samira looking pretty awful.
Return of the World Ender: Aatrox Kayn and Aatrox Quinn Vayne
The World Ender has kept its Friday pace and trends: Aatrox Kayn is the most popular of the two, now with close to 2,700 games played and a 55% WR with its best version…
… while the Aatrox Quinn Vayne trails slightly behind in play rate (about 2,500 games) but with an extra 1% in the punch-face department:
Matchups against the strongest decks do seem better for the Vayne version, in particular with much better odds against Samira Fizz, Karma Sett and Lurkers (to the point of flipping the Sam Fizz and Lurkers matchups from losing to winning). Still, by overall stats, both versions are doing similarly well, so ultimately pick by personal preference!
Other Very Popular Options:
Other very popular, although less punchy brews right now:
Annie Caitlyn, which is amazing if you want to ruin the Desert Rose's day,
Heimerdinger Jayce, which is hanging in there without being amazing,
Jack Seraphine, which seems well positioned against some of the surging Demacia decks (like Gwinn, and above all Scouts).
None of the above are doing amazing in the overall data (hovering just a bit above the 50% win rate mark) but surely playable.
Don't play Caitlyn Teemo, though!
Heavyweights – Strong LoR Meta Decks
These Legends of Runeterra decks have between 900 and 2100 games in the last three days – although the LoR meta is nowhere near settled yet, these decks have enough games under their belts to be considered very solid choices.
FuryCheesecake's Kayle Leona Samira
FuryCheesecake got to rank #1 by refurbishing Trinathan's Sunburn (which had already mutated to Kayle Leona last patch) and adapting it to these modern, post-rotation times.
Care should always be exercised when grabbing a rank #1 brew (because, you know, high piloting skills may have been involved, so YMMV when driven by common mortals) but data is quite yummy here: win rate north of 54% in about 2,000 games with its most popular version:
Matchups look quite yummy, too: KLS has a solid edge against Sam Fish and Gwinn, a huge edge on Karma Sett, and obliterates Lurkers, with Elites as its only serious predator.
The Elites Onslaught: Garen Jarvan
Elites join the overall trend of strong decks settling down in performance, with its win rate in this case decreasing by 2% – yet remaining, as last Friday, as one of the heaviest-hitting decks you can bring to the ladder.
Like other Demacian blends, Garen Jarvan has good odds against Samira Fizz and Karma Sett; it also seems to have an edge versus Annie Caitlyn.
Fortune Favors: Scouts, and the New Pirates
In what's probably the most low-to-ground deck right, now Miss Fortune partners with Samira for Pirates'(*) new, elegant look:
(*) Once upon a time, and by "once" we mean "for the longest time, and right until last patch," the mixture of aggressive, low-cost units from Noxus and Bilgewater lead by Miss Fortune has been known in LoR as "Pirates," mainly because the original formula did, in fact, include many pirates (chief among 'em Captain Gangplank 'imself!) and the name stuck, even during metas when the build contained only traces of Pirate-ism. Interestingly enough, the current build, with Jagged Taskmaster and Citrus Courier along the Jagged Butcher staple, does indeed include a handful of Gangplank's merry crew.
Elegant Pirates punches at nearly 55% in about 1,400 games – it is looking a bit like a bully, though, mostly farming weaker brews while folding to the real-deals like Karma Sett, or anything with Demacia in it, above all Elites.
Speaking about Demacia, though, Miss Fortune also favors another old staple…
… Scouts!
If you're new to LoR, do not let the shared Champion, and deceptively similar "Let's jam a lot of cheap troops!" deckbuilding approach fool you: Scouts do not think like a Pirate. In particular, Fortune will practically never level up in the latter, whereas flipping her is the former's main goal.
And, perhaps more importantly: Scouts, unlike Pirates, have a field day against many of the strongest decks (they blow Samira Fizz out of the water, with solid odds against Karma Sett and Gwen Quinn). Just don't run into the World Ender, and you'll be printing LPs.
Timewinders: Ekko Jinx
Old Zaunite friends get together to blow shit up!
And they do so with very convincing numbers, by the way: around 1,400 games played with an excellent 56% win rate with Ekko Jinx's best deck:
By the way: a couple of Forge Chiefs seem crucial here. Nearly identical versions (minus the FCs) are doing much, much worse.
Awful into Aatrox, struggles against Lurkers and Karma Sett (and dies horribly versus Deep, although the latter seems in the decline) – on the other hand beats Sammy Fish and Gwinn, and seems to have a huge edge on Elites.
Pantheon Samira
These two seem to not have been a fluke!
A handful of different versions are all doing well, with the most popular achieving a nice 53% WR in close to 1,000 games:
You really don't want to run into your Sammy Fish cousin when piloting Pantheon, but (across a smallish sample) it would seem PantS has the upper hand against Demacian decks.
Other Popular Options
Other decks you could consider, all having between 1,100 and 1,600 games played and positive win rates:
Will Ashe LeBlanc pull it off this time? These two Champs are often found doing well in early metas, only to be pushed to the fringe later – amazing odds against all things Demacia may finally revert this trend, though.
Lissandra Taliyah, aka Thralls, keeps losing win rate points but still hover over 50%,
On the other hand Nautilus Maokai, aka Deep, seems to have improved a bit since last Friday.
Your Mileage May Vary – Fringe LoR Decks
Looking for something a bit spicier?
Illaoi Swain has been making quite the waves: brewed by lukebridwell, other top pilots are having great results with it.
And if you want a fringe option that is looking very hot, then try Jarvan Jack: same region pairing as Scouts, but with a completely different Follower mix.
Wrapping Up
Pretty much every strong deck seen last Friday has mellowed its win rate (with Samira Fizz in particular dipping a bit below 55%) – in other words, the LoR meta has settled quite a bit, and no deck right now looks utterly broken.
Still, as often said in these articles: with merely five days since the Expansion and Rotation landed, it's too early to tell.
Hope you've enjoyed today's catch, and good luck out there! =)