Patch 3.11: Day One Decks – Scissors and Succubuses and Star Guardians, oh my!

This is an article from a previous patch -- here is the lastest Day One Decks article!!

Another day, another Expansion!

This time we got Forces From Beyond, the newest Legends of Runeterra set that introduces three new Champions: Shurima’s Kai'Sa, Shadow Isles’ Gwen, and Runeterra’s Evelynn! 

They come with new keywords – Evolve and Hallowed – and Evelynn, as a Runeterran champ, has her unique Origin that affects deck-building rules.

Will they shape the meta, or fall just short?

Only time will tell, but let's see some new decks we can brew!

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Kai'Sa Evelynn

Two new champions that seem to go together?

Evelynn and her Origin package create different Husks, which have 10 different keywords, and Kai'Sa wants to see many different keywords to help her Evolve, or to copy with Second Skin. 

I think the better Husk generators are Sultur and Domination. Hate Spike is pretty decent as well, but the rest are kinda meh. I included a copy of Solitude just for the potential keyword high-roll, and added Steem because he’s actually not too bad if he gets a good keyword from a Husk, and he has Scout for Kai’sa to copy.

Otherwise the deck just kinda plays itself: slam your cards, buff 'em with Husks, and get Evelyn/Kai’sa to stick and level.

You have Void Abomination to help with some late-game rounds if things go on – it should ideally have a ton of keywords by the time you play it.

And, finally, Scrying Sands could be anything really, I felt that it might be a good inclusion to protect your units and find champs.

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Gwen Kalista Noxus

This is a concept that I talked about with Yangzera when we were going over cards, and which he plans to further refine.

Gwen and her Hallowed units seem quite strong. Hallowed is a buff that you will always receive when attacking, which means that as soon as you stack up the Hallowed counters, you’ll always be attacking with at least one big unit.

That also means you’ll be able to trigger something like…

… Trifarian Training Pits, to rally each time!

The idea behind this deck is to attack with Gwen over and over with Training Pits and Ruined Reckoner. Gwen draining 2 or more as she attacks can set up some massive swings, and as long as you have about two Hallowed counters, most of your units will trigger the Pits.

There’s also a funny little infinite rally you can do if Ruined Reckoner is your strongest dead unit, and you revive it with Eternal Dancers. When Reckoner is resummoned, she’ll create a Midnight Raid over and over which you just use on Eternal Dancers again and again. 

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Fizz Lulu P&Z

Here we are with Fizz Lulu again!

A dominant deck a few metas ago, and might be back once again now that we have a new (better!??) Yordles in Arms -type card.

Sneezy Biggledust! looks quite strong right off the bat. Giving your board +1/+1 at Focus speed is ok… but giving Created units +2/+2 instead is quite good.

Especially when your board consists of Created, Elusive Daring Poros and Challenging Flame Chompers!.

On top of the new mini YiA, Salvaged Scrap is a nice addition to the deck, allowing you to discard cards and generate more units in hand. While Rummage draws you 2 new cards from your deck, Scrap guarantees you get units to fill the board with, and at a discounted price.

Aside from that, the deck is still pretty standard – I think it’s mostly the number of copies that need to be tweaked.

Or maybe even a different champ besides Fizz?

And Yordles in Arms might also not be needed too much since Biggledust is possibly better?

Only time will tell!

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Xerath Zilean Bandle City

Rite of Passage is a card that has been talked about a lot since it was revealed, mostly about being used with Blighted Ravine, and a bit in conjunction with Time Bomb.

It’s also important to note that it’s a Manifest, so it works with Curious Shellfolk.

In other words, you can spam Time Bombs quite a bit if you can get to play Shellfolk + Rite of Passage.

I’m going with Xerath, since he should level-up quite quickly, and on top of that the control he offers with Time Bombs is crazy. He also discounts Glory's Call by 2 which helps a little bit.

Speaking of Glory’s Call, that’s another new Manifest effect that can net you a crazy card from the Emperor's Deck. Most of the cards in there are very good depending on the situation, and most also draw you another card when played.

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Evelynn Maokai

This one seems… interesting.

Good?

Who knows!

Evelynn and Maokai work together through the Husks – their deaths count towards Maokai’s level-up, and also trigger Sea Scarab which in turn contributes to Maokai's progress as well.

Domination is also a great card for this since she not only buffs the Husks, but Sapling too.

I threw in Neverglade Collector to help us stay healthy and apply pressure: since our board is constantly dying and replacing units, the Collector's drain should work well.

And Maokai getting a keyword like Spellshield or Tough from a Husk should help him survive in the backline, which is a nice plus.

This is definitely worth a try.

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Kai'Sa Aphelios Pantheon

I want to try this one out because I think Kai’sa will work well with a lot of the Targon cards, Aphelios and Pantheon specifically.

The Fated units also work well with Shuriman cards like Lucky Find and Supercharge.

I think the way this will play is like a little slower Pantheon deck. You play your Fated units like Saga Seeker or Wounded Whiteflame, you buff them when you can with Gems, or Lucky Finds, or Moon Weapons, and you make yourself some big, bad units with big, good Keywords.

You also have the added benefit of going a bit wide and dropping The Winding Light on your board to push through a lot of damage – it might be overkill, and I can see it being taken out, but it seems okay as a one- or two-of in theory.

You have quite a bit of protection for your champs as well here, with Ancient Hourglass, Pale Cascade, Rite of Negation and more.

Targon will, I think, be one of the better region pairings for Kai'sa – we just need to find the right build.

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Lucian Evelynn

Finally we have Evelynn Demacia!

The champion I went for is Lucian – I was between him and Poppy, and I think either one could work, but I like the added synergy of Husks counting towards leveling-up Lucian.

Giving Lucian or Senna, Sentinel of Light a good keyword from a Husk like Overwhelm, Elusive, or Fearsome will make them a huge threat. And even Challenger, Spellshield or Tough is a decent hit.

We also have the usual Demacian Challengers, Fleetfeather Tracker and Petricite Broadwing, that can make use of the Husk keywords. And your Formidable units will make extra use of the health they receive.

Royal Decree is another new card that is quite decent, by giving a unit Challenger and +2/+2 or just giving you an Honored Lord. I’ve seen some people fitting Dawnspeakers into this concept, and I think it could finally find a home again here in this new deck.

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Final thoughts

Lots of different decks to try out, but we’ll have to see how they stand up to last meta’s winners, like Papercraft Renekton, Aphelios Winding Light, and Heimerdinger Jayce.

I think there’s a lot of potential to find a place in the meta for these new cards, especially Gwen – I think Hallowed is a really strong keyword, but we’ll see in the coming days.

I hope you enjoyed these brews, or at least got some ideas on what you want to try yourselves. Enjoy the new expansion!

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About the Author

Playing LoR since beta, consistent masters player. LoR Dreamhack Champion/Aegis Season 0 Champion(BEAU) and other high-level tournament win/top cuts. Crazy deck builder, omega cracked player. I like garlic bread.

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