8 Standard Decks to Play on Day 1 of Patch 4.12

I've been playing a lot of LoR early access, and Patch 4.12 has been tons of fun so far! Elder Dragon, Morgana, and Mordekaiser are all powerful champions that fit in different archetypes, bringing a new, unique gameplay to Runeterra.

In this article, I'll showcase different standard decks you can test on day 1 of Patch 4.12.

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Volibear Elder Dragon

The Volibear Elder Dragon is one of the strongest decks I've tested during early access. The plan is to ramp with Winter's Touch and Wild Mysticism to get your big units on the board sooner. Sigil of the Storm also operates as a ramp card, reducing the cost of Titanic units.

The Elder Dragon provides the Dragon Boon value every time you play a 6-cost unit. Additional stats and keywords will empower your units and ensure you dominate the board presence. A Challenger keyword on a Cloud Drake or a +1|+1 buff on Iascylla, Figurehead of the Deep can be huge and difficult for the opponent to deal with. Iascylla, Figurehead of the Deep will also double the Dragon Boons since they're Elemental skills, creating more value from the Elder Dragon.

Once Heisho, Shell of the World drops on the board, you'll be able to play a second high-cost unit, dominating the game and setting up a powerful attack to close out the game.

A leveled Elder Dragon can't be stopped. Make sure to not challenge any of the opponent's units with a leveled Elder Dragon and instead strike their Nexus and end the game.

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Viego Mordekaiser

One of my favorite decks, which uses Legion Deserter as a win condition. The plan is to summon Encroaching Mist and buff up the Legion Deserter.

The Camavoran Soldier and Viego are your Encroaching Mist generators. Playing Mordekaiser on a Camavoran Soldier can revive it, giving more buffs to your Legion Deserter. Keep in mind that as long as Mordekaiser is on the board, slaying your units will revive them! This means if your opponent tries to kill a Viego or a Legion Deserter, you can play a Glimpse Beyond or Death's Grasp to kill and revive it. Both Viego and Legion Deserter will retain their gained stats and keep the win condition alive.

Indestructible can be a great answer to a removal card, giving the Deathless keyword to units like Viego or Legion Deserter, which will gain their stats instead of staying 1-health!

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Akshan Morgana

Akshan Morgana uses both champions as part of its win condition. This deck wants Akshan on the board as early as possible to start advancing Warlord's Palace. The Darkin Bloodletters and Swinging Glaive will advance both champions' level up.

Morgana hitting the board will shut down one of the opponent's units, forcing mana out of them to free their opponent's from Shackles.

The Lucky Find generation from Swinging Glaive and Tomb-Raider Barbara can buff up your champions and turn them into win conditions, especially if you find the Overwhelm keyword.

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Nami Jack

The Nami Jack deck takes advantage of the new Marai Reef Spire to get access to more mana. This sets up more plays and helps you level up your champions. Jack can turn into an Overwhelm threat, whereas Nami will buff up the board, adding more pressure on the opponent.

The new Honest Croupier can gain a bunch of stats, turning into a threat when it goes for the attack, especially since it has the Brash keyword. Perfidious Promoter is your value engine that synergizes with Marai Reef Spire, creating more followers and ensuring you don't run out of resources.

We're pairing Bilgewater with Targon to get access to protection cards like Ruby-Eyed Conjurer, Black Shield, Pale Cascade, and Targonian Tellstones to help keep our key units alive.

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Shyvana Elder Dragon

The Shyvana Elder Dragon takes a more mid-range approach with a powerful late-game. The plan is to develop the board with mid-game Dragons like Shyvana and Screeching Dragon and keep those units alive as long as possible.

We need the Dragons alive for when we drop Alatis the Gallant, which will share the Dragon Boon with all your other Dragons on the board. So picking a Dragon Boon with a stat buff and keyword is the go-to here.

Elder Dragon is the late-game play to create that win condition and force answers out of the opponent. If you're unable to end the game with one big hit, Dragonguard Lookout will activate Rally, creating that winning play opportunity and accelerating Elder Dragon's level up at the same time.

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Norra Mordekaiser

Players are replacing Heimerdinger with Mordekaiser to take advantage of his revive ability in the late game.

This deck wants to swarm the board and start chipping away at the opponent's Nexus. Norra, Junk Construct, Portal Scholar, and Portalpalooza offer the Mysterious Portal that create that swarmy board.

Once Mordekaiser hits the board, you'll be able to sacrifice and revive your units, which reactivates their effect and plants more Mysterious Portal in the deck. This also works for playing removal cards like Hate Spike, Death's Grasp, and Crumble.

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Neeko Jarvan IV

With the introduction of Yadulski Snowdog to Runeterra in Patch 4.12, Neeko has the potential to become a popular meta deck. The Neeko Jarvan IV Demacia deck wants to build up a board of units with different subtypes and attack with them. This advances your Neeko's level up, eventually leveling her up and granting her the Elusive keyword. Neeko will also buff all your units by +1|+1, creating a more threatful attack that can be difficult for the opponent to shut down.

The new card, Red-Barbed Razormace, is a big Overwhelm hitter, especially when buffed by Yadulski Snowdog or Neeko. The Ichor can be a slow-burn win condition, forcing the opponent to commit mana to get rid of it.

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Ryze Morgana

Itching to play Ryze in Standard? Well, this Ryze Morgana deck has more tools to stall the game until you get all 5 World Runes on the board.

Stun cards like Solari Sunhawk, Dark Binding, and Celestial Wonder can shut down your opponent's aggression and buy you more time as you look for the World Runes.

Morgana is more of a supporting champion in this deck. She's a Lifesteal unit that can Curse an enemy unit with Shackles; this forces more mana investment from the opponent to free their unit and continue their attacks.

The win condition relies on Ryze finding all World Runes and attacking to close out the game.

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Closing Words

The new cards bring different playstyles to the game and should shake up the meta. I'm confident there are many undiscovered decks the community will be on the hunt for!