Legends of Runeterra - Card game by Riot Games

Yup, sometimes you have to go all in and hope they dont have it.
I am trying random shit and not trying to climb right now, but have been to D3 and then fell back.
I actually had a nice streak with this Sej/Swain deck to get to D3 yesterday... not saying it's the most consistent, and the idea was taken a lot from Mogwai, not sure how close it matches his version, I just like the idea of Sej & Leviathan. A leveled up Sej will Frostbite the entire enemy team if she sees damage, more powerful than Swain & Leviathan honestly. Also Ember Maiden comes in handy if you don't have Leviathan, will do the same thing with Sej.

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And I have had some limited success tonight with a Yasuo/Swain deck, but haven't played it extensively yet, might suck:

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Here's a deck I'm going to see how far I can go toward Masters, made it to D3 with it so far.
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https://lor.mobalytics.gg/decks/bqsojn5bunq82nl0emeg

Sejuani Demacia deck.
Why I made this...

I love Sejuani, and imo she's really strong! However, Freljord is kinda weak.
Demacia is a very strong region

Bears are super strong
Single Combat is super strong
Cithria is super strong
Bird+Warchief is a damn strong combo

I added more early game to help against aggro
1x Purify for nasty Ledros
Radiant Guardian can win games (Radiant is a good Unyielding target vs Corina decks btw)

So far leveling Sej isn't even a requirement. But the fact she can make a unit Vulnerable when she comes out has won me a lot of games. Frostbite+Vuln is powerful. Also if you have multiple sej, the 4/4 buff is great


Aggro is still damn annoying, so fast, need a good curve and maybe a Radiant on curve with Single Combat backup.
Ezreal is still annoying, but this deck is pretty fast with a lot of 4 health targets, I was able to barrel over an Ez player earlier, then lost to another because I didn't get my bears.
Deep decks might be a challenge, I'd say this deck is slightly favorable, but Unyielding gets countered pretty hard, gotta get the Bears and then a Sej turn to make a big guy Vuln so you can push for the win.
Corina decks are everywhere in Diamond, not sure how prevalent lower, just need to play around Ruination and/or get Unyielding on Radiant which is nearly auto-win. Purify on Ledros helps too.

Questionable cards: Ruthless Raider & Wolfrider. They help push damage but maybe aren't necessary. This is my first iteration of the deck and I like them for now. Raider ignores all the 1 damage AoE bullshit (make it rain, MF, TF). Wolfrider, even without the mana crystal, is a nice body with Overwhelm, can trade into 4 health stuff too.

Update on my climbing deck above:
Made it to D2 so far, was 1 game from D1 at one point. Hovering a 60-65% winrate, which is fantastic.

I did change the deck slightly:

-1 War Chief
-2 Wolfrider
-1 Redeemer
-1 Concerted Strike

+2 Icevale Archer
+3 Quinn

I may change the Archers to Ranger Resolve. Quinn has been a good addition imo. The goal of this deck is drop a lot of stats on the board every turn. Quinn helps go wide. Also Scout is good in this deck.

I streamed some games for 2 hours last night and faced 2 streamers in that time: Dog & Swim

Those games:
Dog: Corina Control



Swim: Burn


Basically all I face is either Corina decks or Burn decks. I can't wait to see what changes they make in 2 weeks (balance patch). Burn needs a nerf, it's way too fast. Boomcrew should have less health. Corina deck is probably fine and a result of Burn being the other main climb deck. Lots of stuff can counter Corina decks. My Mageseeker deck ate them up.

Also really hoping Ezreal is nerfed. He was on the watch list afaik. Either cost more to play or do 1 damage to Nexus. Going from 20 to 0 without being able to react is unhealthy for this game.

Karma was also being watched and I could easily see her being nerfed to a 6 drop. Nerf her & Ezreal's costs would make it a lot harder to secure them both on board in a single turn.

Chris said:

What's the fastest kill in the game and what's the most consistent? I'm operating on the principle that for climbing the ladder a faster deck with a 50%+ win rate is better than a slower one with a higher win rate.

I got Demacia/Ionia with a Turn 5 win if you go first. Skip T1+T2, T3 play Solitary Monk and Stand Alone attack for 7, T4 play Relentless Pursuit attack for 7, T5 attack for 7.

I'm experimenting with an aggro/burn deck with Noxus/P&Z and the damage nexus on play/attack/death cards but not quite got it working yet, doesn't seem consistent. Got Jinx in there to refill my hand which works sometimes, just looking for a 2nd hero, trying Ezrael but I never seem to get him to do much. I do see a lot of this deck with lots of hero variations.

I'm really interested in a Miss Fortune aggro deck, the AoE seems really good? Not sure who to pair it with, seems like Demacia for scouts/Quinn? I never see this deck in mid Bronze where I am right now.

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Burn decks have the fastest kill.
This is from mobalytics: https://lor.mobalytics.gg/meta-tier-list
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Adding champions to burn slows down your TTK, so they typically have none.
I played against a championless Ionia/Freljord Elusive deck that aims to put Battle Fury (8 mana grant 8/4 to a unit) on turn 5, which normally seals the win. I am 1-1 vs this deck and I never see it on a tier list.
Stand Alone can win games fast, but less consistent since you need Monk & Stand Alone(s). Also there are a lot more ways to deal with a single unit. It's just not consistent. But Stand Alone is still very good and usually those decks pack Zed & Fiora which also work really well with it. TTK won't be extremely fast though.

Losing before turn 5 is kinda rare in this game. Turn 5 seems to be the make-or-break it turn when facing Burn decks. It's where they usually run out of gas, if you survive with >4 health you should be ok.

Valderen said:

So much aggro burn right now it’s crazy, not super fun since it lacks interaction, they don’t care much what you do since everything they play is going face or does face damage.

Unyielding Sprit is an awful card since it has so few counter. It’s not played all that much but if you see it and are running a deck that doesn’t have a counter to it, it’s almost auto lose since you won’t be able to do anything about it.

i expect a lot of nerfs in 2 weeks when the balance patch hits.

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Burn is super fast/strong, yea.

Unyielding has lots of counters and even if you don't have one, it's not auto lose. I have many wins against Unyielding by just brute force. Now, if you let it go on a Fiora, then it's probably auto lose. I won against Unyielding Zed with 2x Stand Alone by just utilizing challenge units and flooding the board. Unyielding is countered by Detain, Purify(if non-champ), Obliterate & Recall. Also Frostbite buys turns. I'm not in the camp it's a problem card.... yet.

swayze22 said:

Dove in to this game completely blind. The unique thing that seems to still be throwing me off is that you can only cast spells or attack at one time, not at the same time. Still trying to wrap my head around some of the strengths of each faction.

Seems like it's pretty deep though and i'm having fun exploring and just "playing", even though I lose a lot because I have no clue what the other person's deck is trying to do.

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You can cast many "Burst" spells in a row, everything else allows the opponent to react.

Valderen said:

Ok, first I have yet to see Unyielding Sprit on anything but Champions so far in my games, not saying it won’t be played on Followers, but I have not seen it played that way yet. That leaves 3 cards to counter it, Detain, Recall, and Devourer of the Depths if the card has less health then it does...if you don’t have these cards you cannot remove the Champion that has Unyielding Spirit which makes for a very bad games, sure sometimes it can be played around but it‘s just not fun to not be able to really interact with a Champion.

Now it’s not seen a lot, and can be a terrible play if countered or without a proper target so It’s might not be problematic yet, it’s just the concept that isn’t fun. It’s just way too much of a situation where if you have a counter it’s a bad card, if you don’t it’s awful...and there are very few counters. Sometimes you don’t have a direct counter to a card, and you have to use multiple cards to deal with it which is bad value and puts you at a disadvantag, or you can force a trade by having serious threats that will force your opponent to trade for example, this doesn’t really apply to Unyielding Spirited.

I have switched to a Yasuo deck with recall right now which has been doing well for me specifically to deal with it of course I haven’t seen it since then, I think I went 6-0 with the deck so happy with the change after going 1-4 with others deck, 2 loses were to an Unyielding Fiora which prompted the rant.

As a whole I think the game is in a pretty good place with tons of viable decks.

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For sure it could become a problem in the future, a card to watch! I think if it becomes too prevalent then you could simply up it to a 9,10,11,or 12 mana card. I actually think 8 is low since it can be out on turn 5. I ALWAYS make sure to kill Fiora if they could possibly have 8 mana by turn 5.

Chris said:

You can use your own burst spell in response? I've had combats with multiple spells on both sides and I've counter spelled a counter spell to my counter spell.

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There are 3 types of spells: burst, fast, slow.
Burst you can't react at all.
Slow you can only play if not reacting to something
Fast can be played at any stage but allows opponent to react.


Also a general rule is anything effecting an opponent is not burst speed.

Chris said:

Oh so I'm thinking of fast spells.

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Slow & Fast, spells, yea.
You can react to a slow spell, just can't use it AS a reaction.