Legends of Runeterra |OT| Yay! Now I Can Bat Around the Bodies!

[Sylvee]

Man, I just realized we might be a week or so out from the next expansion being announced. The next expansion should have 17 champs, (9 for each established region plus 8 for the new region to catch up) so the big expansion should have either 9 champs if they bump the amount each later expansion gives up to 4, or 11 if they keep it at 3. If they continue the current trend where they reveal a new champ every other day and have a couple to show off the cards that the non-champ regions are getting, then it's going to take over 2 and a half weeks to show off all the cards. Thee shortened release schedule due to the Ruination event and catching up with it being delayed earlier has certainly had some interesting side-effects.

 

[Dahbomb]

They might change the split on the expansion. That said I do expect this to be their biggest expansion because it's new region + cards for all other regions (which is maximum amount). And they usually start reveal season 2 weeks before release.

And yeah I just saw that this season ends in July which means next expansion can't be more than a couple weeks out after it. I am guessing August 11th is release of expansion and reveal season starts around end of July with the Lab update.

 

[ZeroX]

They might change the split on the expansion.

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I believe the expansion after next is when they started designing with the split in mind

 

[Boat Times]

I thought it was said this upcoming one was the first designed with the split in mind.

 

[Dahbomb]

Yeah I think they said that next expansion is designed with the split in mind.

Time for some new decks. Could only manage to come up with 3. Quite some of them are just random 1 of slot ins in existing decks (like the Freljord and BW cards) so not much point in posting decklists for them.


Akshay Time

https://lor.mobalytics.gg/decks/c3n3mlqsrrndvl1khdsg

Riven + Akshan deck utilizing some self buff synergy. Some people are using Draven at different ratios but without discard fodder or Survival Skills there isn't much point IMO. This type of concept is probably the best way to utilize Akshan. Threw in random Shurima power house cards just because. Gut feeling is that this might be a lesser version of Leblanc Sivir but should still be fine with the random strong cards.


Viego Control

https://lor.mobalytics.gg/decks/c3n3j2briic22j2vq82g

Man this one was really hard to make as Viego is pretty awkward. Went with Demacia for Grand Plaza, Radiant Guardian, Single Combat stuff. I also threw in Snapvine because technically there is strong synergy here (sort of). Honestly might be case that you have to run 3 of the new 7 mana card because it's just that good. I feel like this deck is just 1 to 2 Mist cards from being busted. It's like the Jade Golem deck in Hearthstone only more fair since the minions can be chump blocked and are Ephemeral.


Marauder Pods

https://lor.mobalytics.gg/decks/c3mvfdob8sdgtsik9t60

Now this is a spicy one. Basically I thought of various ways to use the Ionia Pod card. The most practical way to use it is pulling Golden Aegis in Shen Demacia and thats cool but not spicy enough. Then I thought of pulling Survival Skills in Riven + Draven but the speed didn't make much sense (maybe that concept still is fine with a slightly slower build).

So instead I went with Marauders direction with Riven and Draven. And I am pleased with where this ended up. Yeah you are a bit high on 3 drops but you are fine playing most of those cards on turn 4 if need be. It has forking win conditions among Riven, Draven and Marauders. The Pods always pulls Strength in Numbers which allows me to use it as a 2 copy. Rest are Ionian protection tools to save the fragile units.

 

[Pundere]

Maybe I'm not understanding how the Pod unit works, but why would it only draw Strength?

 

[Dahbomb]

Maybe I'm not understanding how the Pod unit works, but why would it only draw Strength?

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It gives a choice of Fast, Burst or Slow spell in your deck (so it displays 3, one from each category). Strength is the only Slow spell in the deck so it will always give that as an option unless you already drew all Strengths prior.

 

[Pundere]

It gives a choice of Fast, Burst or Slow spell in your deck (so it displays 3, one from each category). Strength is the only Slow spell in the deck so it will always give that as an option unless you already drew all Strengths prior.

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Ohhhh didn't realize it let you choose.

 

[Icarus]

Saw this from Rubin on Twitter, might have clear up a few parts with the new cards arriving:



Not sure I agree with the ephemeral reasoning but I guess when we all have access to them it will become super clear.

 

[Evolution of Metal]

Karma eating popcorns is free!
New champ rubbing his face too, but not exactly to my liking.

Riven emote is also good, but I think I will let it go.

 

[jon bones]

Karma eating popcorns is free!
New champ rubbing his face too, but not exactly to my liking.

Riven emote is also good, but I think I will let it go.

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damn, karma popcorn is so good but im going sents first

 

[Evolution of Metal]

where do you see the prices already?

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They pulled reward track from youtube videos on both spanish and korean channels:

And the price is already out, it is the usual almost $10 for the pass. Both passes are nearly identical, with most changes being the sequence of rewards.

 

[ZeroX]

seems like the main point of the choice is which champ you want as a Prismatic? looks like you get everything else eventually

 

[jon bones]

They pulled reward track from youtube videos on both spanish and korean channels:

And the price is already out, it is the usual almost $10 for the pass. Both passes are nearly identical, with most changes being the sequence of rewards.

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i doubt i'm going to be able to get it, but i do want that senna icon

 

[Evolution of Metal]

With the board + pet combos, skins and generally limited slots for card backs/pets/emotes... You get a whole bunch of items, but I don't see how most of them are useful, and they are second-rate compared to the premium-premium stuff. I will wait for THE pet: either spirit dragon, lizard or chip skin + two cool emotes.

Maybe there could be a skin as the final reward, instead the icon...

i doubt i'm going to be able to get it, but i do want that senna icon

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Icons, desirable, hah! I am using the black anus icon from the previous event...

 

[Icarus]

I'm honestly super hyped for the Sentinal board and will definitely go down that route first just so I can get the sentinal card back as well. The Akshan emote is pretty good too.

 

[ZeroX]

Finally tried Zed Sivir and absolutely stomped with it. Really fun. You're basically just always trying to spot a lethal combo and work towards it in a very unique way. Looking forward to seeing how The Absolver fares in the deck, an additional overwhelm source is huge although it'll make opponents even more paranoid about letting your champs level.

 

[Lumination]

Prismatic Viego or Akshan?? Feels like the latter generates more cards and is probably more playable...

 

[Lumination]

The end of the event pass gives you a Senna icon and 1x Senna champion card when the next set releases. So that's confirmed.

 

[jon bones]

The end of the event pass gives you a Senna icon and 1x Senna champion card when the next set releases. So that's confirmed.

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beat me to it haha

i read that and was like What

 

[TheWorthyEdge]

Went with the Sentinels :)

 

[jon bones]

so what is the optimal way to max the event pass?

i never even got close before but the game is too good right now and i want that icon

edit: actually, we may get an Akshan icon in a weekly quest line... THAT would be ideal

 

[Dahbomb]

so what is the optimal way to max the event pass?

i never even got close before but the game is too good right now and i want that icon

edit: actually, we may get an Akshan icon in a weekly quest line... THAT would be ideal

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Just play every day and try to do the specific quests. Even if they are difficult to achieve (like Level up Champion X amount of times), you can do it in AI games or Lab pretty reliably.

Win 3 PVP games (can be in Normal), win 3 Lab of Legends game and then finish whatever quests you can on a day.

 

[ZeroX]

Yeah if you're doing 3 PvP and 3 labs games every day you'll smash the event pass. I've been doing that at the minimum and getting like a level 15 chest.

I was going to get prismatic Akshan because he seems better but shiny tokens might sway me…

 

[Evolution of Metal]

I have learned it a bit of the hard-way, but Expeditions don't progress Events too well. So play more PVP/Labs.

First Expedition 7 wins. Had the guy roll me with 1 life left in the previous rounds, and we met in the 7th again, smashed his punk ass playing around the cards he played in the first match. Sweet victory!

Got a champ card in vault, champ card in Expedition capsule. Haven't found those in like 3 past weeks of vaults and expeditions.

 

[Evolution of Metal]

The crowd goes wild for the second 7-win game: GP/Riven/Swain!

Those barrel cards were god damn useless (Knock them down, barrel boat?), but somehow opponents didn't win.

That 2/6 bull who gets +1 attack for every target spell is quite the duo with Riven's blade.

 

[Dealan]

The Akshan Lee deck is lowkey disgusting, I love it.

Akshan himself also seems a little too good imo. He is practically guaranteed to be great value in all but the most aggro matchups. Too early to tell, obviously, but I wouldn't be surprised if his package gets nerfed in the next patch.

 

[Dahbomb]

Akshan is higher than average floor for value but his ceiling is also pretty high to achieve. The real pay off from Akshan is the proccing of Warlord's Hoard which is hard to do and rightfully so. I don't think he is too OP, he is just fine like many of the other low cost, high floor champs in the game (like basically Elise).

The stuff to nerf for next patch is definitely the Shuriman trio of Merciless Hunter, Ruined Runner, Treasure Seeker etc. Zed Sivir (or Akshan Sivir, it's the same exact deck) is probably the best deck in the game right now and it's being carried by a few very powerful cards. And then there is Absolver. I think in certain decks this is pretty OP (like the new Lee Shurima deck, Absolver is nuts) but in stuff like Leblanc Sivir, Azir Irelia it's a bit win more. It's good in Zed Sivir because it makes Zed level up really threatening but aside from that, Sivir can't use Absolver on the attack she levels up which is a considerable hindrance. This is a card to watch out for, I am in the camp of this is probably fine but stuff like Treasure Seeker and Ruined Runner are a bigger issue.


It's kinda funny that there are potentially 3 tier 1 decks of a single color region (Ionia and Shurima). Kinda insane how much of a difference a single card change made (in this case Twin Discipline).

 

[Evolution of Metal]

I am winning Expedition games, why not try something exotic and fun like supports with Taric <- Loser's mindset. Simply debalanced to the point where you collect useless un-synergetic cards and then get rolled by the "good" picks.

Not even going to bother playing when I cannot pick two synergetic colors in the trial.

 

[Icarus]

Nerf Iona (again). I think they need to take Twin back up to 3 mana personally. I am the biggest hater of Lee Sin and seeing some folks just constantly Retreat/Nopeify/Deny/Twin/Palm/Homecoming their minions to protect them and then recycling your hand again with deep meditation and keeping minions up with Eye of the Dragon for lifegain just sets up for a frustrating game.

It's a bit like when Bilgewater first came out and people were stealing your top cards, it was fun for you to use but miserable as hell for your opponents, that's how I feel every game I see Lee Sin, it's just super oppressive and frustrating.

 

[AWizardDidIt]

Twin for 2 mana is fine to me. It might be an issue in Lee Sin decks, but that's a Lee Sin problem, not a Twin Disc problem. I think Lee just needs to go back to his original stats/cost. Eye of the Dragon probably also needs to be tuned slightly, it just does too much for what is (effectively) a 1 cost card. Have it spawn 1/1 Dragonlings instead, maybe.

Merciless Hunter I think is the card that most needs to be reined in by a future balance patch. I'm actually astonished it didn't get hit by the recent big balance change patch. Ruin Runner could probably also stand to lose a point of power. Shurima definitely has been power crept to be the premier region in LoR and needs to be scaled back a bit.

 

[Dahbomb]

Yeah I am fine with Twin Discipline now especially with how they have power crept 2 mana combat tricks as of late. Eye of the Dragon is just getting silly at this point.

 

[TheWorthyEdge]

Just got stomped by a Karma/Akshan as Zed/Sivir. Jeez. Tried to go quick but they kept up nicely and then pummeled me.

 

[niaobx]

Got to Diamond with good ole AzIrelia. 4 mana Blade Dance spell that recalls a unit can win games on it's own if it hits a big target.

 

[Dahbomb]

Got to Diamond with good ole AzIrelia. 4 mana Blade Dance spell that recalls a unit can win games on it's own if it hits a big target.

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Remember when all the big streamers were saying its a bad card and thank god that Azirelia didn't get something usable and I was like "I don't know man, recalling an enemy blocker while doing a blade dance on the same action is kinda nice"? Good times.

This Reckless Driven deck I have been playing has been sick.

https://lor.mobalytics.gg/decks/c3o6o00b8sdgtsjbr6qg

Pods always gets Survival Skills from Slow or Whirling Death or Nopify from Fast. Might actually cut Nopify just to guarantee Whirling Death.

 

[TheWorthyEdge]

This is my first full ranked season. How does your rank work? Can you lose ranks or just keep risisng ranks? Does it get harder to rank up with every loss?

Just want to figure out how it works before committing to it. Already rose from Iron to Bronze. The difference is stark from the get go haha Does everyone start at Iron at the beginning of each new season?

 

[niaobx]

Remember when all the big streamers were saying its a bad card and thank god that Azirelia didn't get something usable and I was like "I don't know man, recalling an enemy blocker while doing a blade dance on the same action is kinda nice"? Good times.

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Rule number 1: The pro players don't know shit before the new cards drop

This is my first full ranked season. How does your rank work? Can you lose ranks or just keep risisng ranks? Does it get harder to rank up with every loss?

Just want to figure out how it works before committing to it. Already rose from Iron to Bronze. The difference is stark from the get go haha Does everyone start at Iron at the beginning of each new season?

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edit: explanation below is much better

 

[Dahbomb]

Platinum and higher, you always get 20 LP points for winning and lose 20 for losing. You need to be at 0 LP to derank with a loss. If you are at a major tier like Silver, Gold, Platinum then you can't go one tier lower (so you can't go from Gold to Silver) but you can go below tier ranks (so you can go from Gold 3 to Gold 4).

For lower than Platinum you gain more than you lose. You always gain 20 LP for winning but you lose less than 20 LP for losing. Basically you can rank up even with a sub 50% winrate. Even from Plat to Masters you can have like a slightly above 50% winrate to get to Masters though it will take longer.

When the Ranked season resets, you drop 2 full tiers. So if you are Masters then you are Platinum, if you are Diamond then you are Gold etc.

 

[ZeroX]

It's only two days but so far Akshan seems fine. While he's a really good value 2 drop, he has a huge deckbuilding cost as both a champ spot and requiring a minimum # of targeted cards. You still need something else to finish.

I agree with most of the card nerfs suggested, I don't think we need that many huge changes, the meta is largely great with just a little too much Ionia and Shurima (both together and separately).

Merciless Hunter down to 3 attack or 2 health. Card is just bonkers, not much else to say.

Eye of the Dragon down to 2 health. It's rarely blocking anyway, but holy shit are those things sticky and ridiculous engines.

Would Ruin Runner still be playable at 6 mana? Everything about that card reads like a 6 mana finisher. Spellshield Overwhelm is a ridiculously reliable combo, on top of the good stats. I like the card a lot, it's so satisfying to play, but it probably should come out a turn later. Either that or nerf the stats a bit but I actually really like the stat line, maybe it's a 6/5 for 6 instead. I really don't want to see it gone altogether.

This Reckless Driven deck I have been playing has been sick.

https://lor.mobalytics.gg/decks/c3o6o00b8sdgtsjbr6qg

Pods always gets Survival Skills from Slow or Whirling Death or Nopify from Fast. Might actually cut Nopify just to guarantee Whirling Death.

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What's the plan with this deck, level and buff Draven and let him pound the board with Double Attack Overwhelm, then do it again with Ruined Reckoner?

 

[Dahbomb]

Ruin Runner mostly just needs a stat adjustment. Either less attack or less HP by 1.

The plan of the deck is to basically set up a kill combo while protecting your units. Draven is the main engine but Riven works as a side condition too. You protect Draven by using Axes on Survival Skill which is a 0 mana protection tool, absurdly powerful. Axes plus Blade Fragments mean you are triggering multiple spells a turn which is good for Eye against aggro and drawing with Deep Meditation. Double Attack on an Overwhelm unit (which both Riven and Draven can be) is absurdly powerful. Whirling Death to delete blockers and key targets in combat.

This deck is actually very hard to play but surprisingly good. Good against most decks except various Freeze decks and Ez Draven (Scorched Earth and large removal kit). It's similar to Swim's Fisting Riven list but with the added new cards for more consistency.

 

[Sylvee]

Frankly I think Ionia should just never have good defensive combat tricks, they already have like 10 other ways of protecting their units they don't need a super strong combat trick on top of it. Make it so they have to choose another region to get them. Ionia already has the most comprehensive collection of cards that stop the opponent from being able to interact with your gameplan, they don't need a super strong defensive combat trick too. I think that Twin Disciplines at 2 is fine, but they should either reduce the health option or rework it into something else like getting Quick Attack. As it stands now it's a reminder of why they overnerfed Ionia in the first place.

Ruin Runner is super strong but IMO it's a super important card that I think punishes the right decks well and net improves the game with its existence. It's very good against spell-focused control decks like FJ/SI or Ionia+something else while being a bit weak to more aggressive and board-based decks. It's probably the biggest card historically keeping decks like TLC in check and is also important against the current Thralls deck too. Riot's shown that they're fine with obviously above rate cards existing as long as they push the meta in a better direction, and I think Ruin Runner does that.



Unrelated, but I was checking out the League Ruination event and I couldn't help but notice that they have 10 regions for the event. The same 10 regions that get a distinct marker on their online world map, 9 of which are already in Runeterra. I know a lot of people think Bandle City is the most likely option for region 10, but IMO the only real argument for that is the Runeterra logo, while all the other speculation is largely saying how it's not disqualified yet. Just from a future potential standpoint I feel like Ixtal is the most sensible option as Bandle City and Void champs can be easily integrated into other regions, while Ixtal could potentially scoop up some of the excess Ionia champs as well as unaffiliated elemental champs like Annie and Brand.

 

[Pundere]

I've been trying out swim's Demacia Viego deck and it feels pretty alright. Half my wins are kinda just Radiant Guardian + fight spells dunking on aggro. Viego himself just ends up trading for some huge unit a lot of the time, since the rest of the deck can't really deal with them. I think I'd like to try and fit some Threshes in the list and see how it feels.

 

[Dahbomb]

Apparently Swim and co have found yet another infinite combo utilizing Akshan's Warlord Hoard and a ton of recall draw plus win condition.

 

[Lumination]

I think this is the most viable infinite combo deck thus far in that it doesn't just stall and that the win condition is decently consistent. A shame this kind of deck can't really exist in Runeterra due to having the opponent pass 100 times a game.

 

[Dealan]

Akshan enables tons of infinite combo possibilities, I encountered two different infinite combo decks since yesterday both distinct from Swim's version.

Wonder what they'll fix. You can only get each Warlord's Hoard blessing once each game maybe? Would that even be enough?

 

[Lumination]

Akshan enables tons of infinite combo possibilities, I encountered two different infinite combo decks since yesterday both distinct from Swim's version.

Wonder what they'll fix. You can only get each Warlord's Hoard blessing once each game maybe? Would that even be enough?

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Changing all of Hoard kills off tons of synergy. The cost reduction card should be changed. Maybe draw 3 no reduction (this is also pretty op) or cap reduction to 1. Or something more elegant.

 

[Dahbomb]

Yea they will probably fix the mana discount stacking.

Swum thinks the deck is actually completely unfair and is tier 0 currently. Will get hot fixed in 2-3 days guaranteed.

Pretty hilarious to get something like that in LoR lol. They generally print fairly safe cards in terms of scalability.

 

[Lumination]

I usually try to be very measured about how strong an interaction is allowed to be, and I do feel like this gets into hotfix territory.

 

[TheWorthyEdge]

Quinn is...not great.

 

[Dahbomb]

Quinn is...not great.

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Quinn at one point used to be the highest WR champion in the game because Scouts deck was tier 1/best deck in the game.

But yeah Quin feels underwhelming sometimes even in a Scouts deck. Still an OK cars though and Scouts are pretty solid these days.