By the Numbers – Twenty-One Best Meta and Off-Meta LoR Decks

Update: This is an older article - for the most up-to-date data, check the latest LoR Best Decks article!!

LoR Best Decks

As of early Sunday, these are the best LoR decks right now, according to Balco and MaRu Meta Tier List:

As noted on Weekend Warrior Weapons last Friday, Old Dogs that were Top Dogs a week ago still sit on top of the Meta, with Pirates in particular the undisputed ladder powerhouse when playrate and winrate are both taken into account.

And yet, some fresh new faces – either entirely new, or with a new toy or two – commence to emerge.

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Technical note – About archetypes and decklists, and what we mean by "LoR best decks"

Balco's chart above, like most data sites (including MaRu's Meta Tier List) groups LoR decks by archetype ("archetype" being the aggregate decklists of a specific champion combination) – that's also how matchup data is shown.

Below we'll provide the best specific decklist for each archetype – since in each archetype some decklists fare better than others (and sometimes the difference is quite noticeable), we'll broadly group decklists in four arbitrary categories, by amount of games played in the last three days in the data samples we check:

• Juggernauts: decklists with more than 2100 games – these are the best tried-and-true decks for the climbing job.
• Heavyweights: between 2100 and 900 games played – other excellent choices, with large enough samples to confidently say, "Yeah, this works."
• Punching Up: between 900 and 300 games – we're entering the Land of Small Sample Sizes here, on top of the meta being up in the air, but as far as numbers go, these decklists can put up one hell of a fight.
• YMMV: between 300 and 150 games – risky stuff, but here's where you usually find the spice.

For this article, in all cases we'll look at decklists in Platinum and above, and in the last three days, unless stated otherwise.

Sources: Balco, Legna, MaRu's own Meta Tier List.

If you have any feedback on how these decklists could be showcased differently, do let me know! =)

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Juggernauts – Best LoR Decks

Decklists with more than 2100 games: these are the best LoR decks, tried-and-true tools for the climbing job.

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Miss Fortune Twisted Fate, aka Pirates

Aaand the Jury is back with their verdict: Ionian Hookmaster is superior to Legion Grenadier. That's the only tweak the Meta Queen and King have seen since last week, but the difference is notable: Pirates have not one but two decks in the Juggernaut category, differing only in Hookmaster versus Grenadier, and the Hookmaster version punches 2% harder (at ridiculously high 57%+) across more than 4,000 games.

As we've noted in reports past:

If you want to climb right now, grab this list and get going!!

Only clouds in Pirates' otherwise clear blue sky are Zoe Kayn, Evelynn Viego, and above all Nami TF blends (the Ionia version in particular) – it's otherwise merry murder and plunder as far as the eye can see (the non-patch eye, I mean).

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Katarina Gwen, ft. Elise

Red Gwen is the other Forces from Beyond powerhouse that hasn't missed a step and is connecting boot to butts all over the ladder. And without the need for a single new card!

Like Pirates, these three ladies struggle against Viego Evelynn and Nami TF Ionia (although they seem to be very favored into Nami TF Shadows). Trundle Timelines is not a welcome sight, either, while they stomp over Kindred Nasus, Lone Kai'Sa, and anybody else that goes, "Yeah, imma gonna try this new brew!"

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Heavyweights – Very Solid LoR Decks

These decklists have between 900 and 2100 games in the last three days, making them solid choices with large enough samples to confidently say, "Yeah, this works".

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Vi Jax Timelines

The most popular archetype after Pirates, Vi Jax is arguably also the best archetype with a new Champion right now – its overall WR is nothing to write epic poems about, but the multitude of different lists with okay performance (nearly 52% for our recommended deck, seen below) suggests there's lots of room for refinement.

Its matchups are not too encouraging, though. While only Ezreal Kennen and Nami TF Ionia are what we'd rate as "truly bad", Vi Jax is slightly the underdog in most popular confrontations – on the other hand, this may be due to poorly optimized decklists. If you are in the mood for trying something new, and willing to keep an open mind about tweaks and changes, this is probably the list to check first. And there's even a Lone Jax version, doing quite well in the fringes.

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Lone Trundle P&Z

Concurrent Timelines is the card most folks have taken to the Lab, with Trundle Timelines having a deluge of different takes. A glimpse at Twitter and reddit would also suggest it's not exactly the most loved card (although, to be fair, it also has its die-hard fans; if you are a frequent reader of Sirturmund's & Monte's Tournament Lineups, you probably noted Timelines as one of our writer's happy places)…

… but, with the two big caveats of "Still early to tell" and "Data can't track the fun factor," let's spell it out: Timelines decks seem fairly fine, folks. Strong, yes, but far from broken (thus far).

Lone Trundle, with the Troll King hoarding all the new toys, is currently the most popular Timelines decklist (although perhaps not the best, as we'll see in a bit when talking about Vi Trundle). It is weak to Pirates, Kat Gwen, Nami TF Ionia and Thresh Nasus, utterly destroyed by Ezreal Kennen, and brutally butt-kicked by Akshan Lee Sin – all in all, Lone Trundle mostly trolls new archetypes, while crumbling to refined decks.

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Twisted Fate Nami Ionia

Now, this one looks scary. New (or retooled) archetypes may take a bit to show up, but when they do, they tend to have very high WR, and later be toned down as they gain traction – as a rule of thumb, as soon as a hot new deck becomes popular, its performance decreases.

That being said, punching at 55%+ and judging by its current matchup spread, this is one of the best LoR decks right now:

… with a very solid edge over three of the most popular archetypes, holding its own or beating other strong decks like Kat Gwen or Eve Viego, and struggling only against Kayn Zoe (which is itself not doing too well and is being pushed to the fringes).

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Zoe Kayn

As noted above, as happy as this archetype may Majiin make, it's not doing too well – we've included it today mostly on grounds of novelty, but it barely holds on to a 50% WR. It is favored into Pirates and Nami TF Ionia, so it's not without its merits, but Kindred Nasus, Trundle Timelines, Viego Evelynn and Ezreal Kennen wreck Zoe Kayn most fouly, though.

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Nasus Kindred

Another Forces from Beyond powerhouse that has gotten strongest in this turbulent, unrefined field. Its Heavyweight version, punching above 53%, has found no need for new cards, but other versions are testing toys like The Darkin Halberd, The Darkin Bloodletters, or Forsaken Baccai – expect news from this blend next week!

News on the matchup department, on the other hand, are a touch darker than all rosie: Kindred Nasus folds to Pirates (badly), and loses to Kat Gwen, Ezreal Kennen and Evelynn Viego; in other words, a bit like Trundle Timelines, this blend's success is based on its ruthless capacity to farm unrefined brews.

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Notably Absent – Jhinnie, Trundle Ornn, Akshan Kayn

Trundle Ornn and Akshan Kayn both have decklists in the Heavyweight category by play rate (900+ games), but don't make the cut due to below-50% WRs. In other words: they seem quite bad (or brewers haven't yet cracked the code).

And we'll mention Annie Jhin since it's been a staple of this section for months: show's over, it seems, and the curtain has dropped. Jhinnie's playrate has plummeted along with its winrate, with its Pirates and Kat Gwen matchups being horrendous.

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Punching Up

Decklists with between 300 and 900 games played in the last three days – note that several popular archetypes can be found here, meaning that they tend to be quite "scattered" (ie, have lots of different lists, unlike the Juggernauts in which the majority of pilots choose the same deck).

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Lone Kai'Sa

As reported last Friday, reports of Kai'Sa's demise have been (again!) exaggerated a touch – she's nowhere near the Meta Tyrant she was three weeks ago, though. Punching at 54%, she farms the majority of the field, but awful Pirates and Ezreal Kennen matchups, with a fairly bad Kat Gwen matchup on top, keep Kai'Sa in check. 

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Lee Sin Akshan

As Monte noted in the Tournament Lineups article yesterday, Akshan Lee Sin – a fairly old archetype, although never with too much success – won the Mystic Shot Podcast Tournament earlier this week (and, little spoiler: Leer thinks it's such a good Ladder deck that he's writing the guide for it).

By current numbers, this AkSin list is doing quite well: nearly 53%+ overall in around 700 games, even though it dies horribly to today's usual suspects, namely Pirates, Kat Gwen, Nami TF Ionia and Ezreal Kennen.

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Vi Trundle

If you want to worry about a Timelines deck, this is arguably the one to keep an eye on – close to 600 games, and power-punching well above 56%. Like Lone Trundle (which we saw in the Heavyweight category), it is weak to Pirates, Nami TF Ionia, Ezreal Kennen and Akshan Lee Sin, but Vi Trundle manages to turn around the Kat Gwen matchup, which is favorable for Timelines in this case.

Worth noting: Vi Trundle does lose quite badly against Lone Trundle, but overall it's better against the rest of the field. Also: if you're in the mood for tweaks, rumor has it that switching Parts Made Whole for Kindly Tavernkeeper may improve the Pirates & Kat Gwen matchups.

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Elise Twisted Fate Pandemonium

Monkeys and Powder Pandemonium are enjoying a bit of a comeback: 500+ games, 52%+ WR, burn down the house.

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Ezreal Kennen Ionia

Usual story this early Awakening days: Refined deck goes to town, farming the field with nary a new toy needed. In particular, Ezreal Kennen is what's sometimes dubbed "polarizing" (good matchups tend to be a cakewalk; bad matchups tend to be brutally bad) – EzKenn bloody murders Timelines, Lee Sin Akshan and Nasus Kindred, while dying horribly to Pirates.

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Nami Norra

Norra's code has been cracked! According to Cephalopod, hecate/ilovebees1's brainchild is doing a lot of work right now, with other top pilots jumping aboard the Portalpalooza express.

How does this even win, you ask? Drowning foes in value until they grudgingly accept Norra is a real champ, it would seem!

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Viego Evelynn

Low-key enjoying one of the best matchup spreads this Meta (it's weak to EzKen and Lone Trundle, but beats everything else that is currently popular), this Viego Evelynn deck punches above 55% in more than 400 games, and there are quite a few other lists in the similar play & winrate window – a well-positioned brew with rooms for improvements; definitely worth a look if these Champs float your boat.

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Twisted Fate Nami Shadows

Yeah, well, obvious as the pun is, it's too tempting to pass: totally shadowed by the Ionia version, Nami TF SI is working very well on Ladder, although on the smaller end of sample sizes – from hearsay among top pilots, it may be the better Tournament pick, yet if you want to climb the ranks with this duo, the Ionia version seems like the best pick. If you are a Go Hard diehard, though, this is your brew!

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Ornn Jax

GeneralSchwartz was on the money when theorycrafting his eleven Jax decks on Patch Day – a bit on the Meta fringes, Jax Ornn is a thing: 300+ games, 52%+ WR, and the single deck we can recommend today with Awakening-only Champs!

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Thresh Nasus

Although Kindred looks like the superior choice for the Nasus enjoyer, the Thresh version is doing quite well. Thresh is weaker into all Timelines flavors (these matchups are favored for Kindred, yet not for Thresh), while on the other hand having a very solid game against Pirates (which tend to ruin Kindred's day).

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Your Mileage May Vary

Decklists with less than 300 games played in the last few days – promising, but too little data to say for sure!

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Kindred Viego, ft. Nasus

Quite the old concept, which added Quietus and Heedless Resurrection to the mix. Currently the most promising fringe decklist we can recommend, punching at nearly 56% across more than 200 games.