We stand on a precipice, friends. In less than 7 days the looming Champion Rework patch will hit and everyone including yours truly is expecting the current meta decks to be blown away, replaced by some abomination involving Garen
of all things.
While it’s fairly hard to anticipate what the patch will bring, what we can do is make use of the stable meta we currently have and rapidly climb before everything shifts around!
For this list I considered three main factors for what decks to mention. First, they have to be fast, so you can get in the most games possible as fast as possible. Second, they have to be powerful in the current meta, with multiple relevant decks that they play well into. Finally, they have to be fairly easy to pick up, so you aren't spending days learning a deck before you can win with it.
With that in mind, I present you with four of the best decks to rapidly rank up with right now so you can hit Masters and beyond before the patch-pocalypse hits!
Choice #1: Fizz
Lulu
Yordles in Arms 
(Link to Guide)
17 cards
23 cards
23 900
If you know me, you’re no stranger to how much I enjoy this deck.
It has been my go-to deck for climbing this season since it’s very powerful, versatile, has numerous lines for skill expression and throwing your opponents off balance. It can be played as a combo deck through setting up Lulu and Flame Chompers!
to start picking off your opponent’s board or chunking in for a ton on Turn 3 onwards. You can build up a wide board and pop off a Yordles in Arms to destroy the enemy’s board or win on the spot. You can even play a grinder midrange game by developing some Yordle Captain
s and forcing your opponent to gradually chump down while you peck away at their life total.
The deck has a great winrate into the menace of Mono Shurima (60%), and one of it’s greatest predators; Pirates (62%).This combined with the fact you can win as early as turn 5 means you have a good turnaround time on games and can learn the deck through trial and error fairly quickly as well. I feel it’s a great pickup for climbing right now.
Choice #2: Mono Shurima (Link to Guide)
40 cards
27 300
If you can’t beat them, then join them before something changes. As it stands Mono shurima boasts a +55% winrate in the current meta, with numerous matchups hovering around 70% favored for Sun Disc (Darkness 86%, Ezreal
Caitlyn
68%, Sivir
Akshan
68%). The average game for the deck ends at turn 6 or 7 after your cut scene plays, and up to that point you simply develop, trade off your board, and play your champions when it is safe, or when you can protect them.
Even at the highest echelons of play there are people finding success to the tune of over 75% winrates, proving it isn’t easy to handle unless your opponent is on a hard counter deck like Pirates or Azir
Irelia
. It’s worth shot to see if the deck is your style, as it is quite fun at the very least.
Choice #3: Pirate Aggro
18 cards
22 cards
26 100
When in doubt, Decimate
! Pirate aggro has come back in a big way. It has a straightforward gameplan, incredible speed, and is able to demolish Combo and Tempo decks. As of writing it stands at a 72% winrate into mono Shurima, Taliyah
Ziggs
, Yuumi
Pantheon
, and Zoe
Aurelion Sol
.
It’s gameplan and mulligan are fairly straightforward; look for Three one-drop units, and look to curve out beyond that. Developing three units by turn two is a hard thing for most decks to answer effectively, and the efficiency of Pirates’ followers is beyond comparison. One other rule of thumb is to avoid using any burn tools on your opponent’s units unless absolutely necessary.
Whether you’ve won or lost is usually decided by turn 5, so it is easy to get in multiple games of Pirates in a short session.
Choice #4: Drumble (Draven
Rumble
)
18 cards
22 cards
23 900
One thing that a lot of the ‘all in on one unit’ decks that are based around Viktor
lack is reliable protection from Quicksand
, Rumble has protection built into his kit. The premise is pretty clear, play a few early units like Boom Baboon
s and Draven to establish a bit of a board, then drop Rumble by discarding value cards such as Flame Chompers!, Reborn Grenadier
, Fallen Rider
, and Lost Soul
to get a 5/4 with Quick Attack, Spell Shield, and Impact on turn 4.
At this point you swing and can force damage through a chump blocker with Might
and Whirling Death
, resulting in a leveled Rumble who re-gains spellshield if they popped it, and generated massive, cheap, mecha-yordles whenever you deal damage to the enemy. They won’t last for long with this ability in combination with your burn. This makes it easy to push through for the win.
Drumble aggro hits a sweet spot where it’s a bit bigger than the average aggro list, and still fast enough to capitalize on combo lists. It sports a 63% winrate into Mono-Shurima, 59% into Pirates, 68% into Taliyah Ziggs, 58% into Yuumi Pantheon. If you want to go fast, mechs are a good bet!
Conclusion
If you aren’t sure what deck is best for you, and you have the cards to spare I recommend trying out a few of them. Spend a couple games on each to see what feels intuitive to you and suits your style. End of the day it is a game and we’re all here because we enjoy it I hope!
These tools should help accelerate your climb. If you’re looking for further advice, feel free to give me an @ in the MasteringRuneterra discord or on Twitter. I’d be glad to try and give tips or thoughts whenever I can.