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Detailed LoR Deck Guide: Taliyah Ziggs

Taliyah Ziggs is one of the most powerful archetypes in the current meta. With a 55+% winrate over the past seven days, the deck has already become a meta staple, and a safe pick for your Seasonal lineup.

Taliyah Ziggs is one of the most powerful archetypes in the current meta. With a 55+% winrate over the past seven days, the deck has already become a meta staple, and a safe pick for your Seasonal lineup.

Let me share with you the insight I have gathered this season of Taliyah Ziggs!

Regions
Shurima
31 cards
Bandlecity
9 cards
Rarities
26 600
champion
6
epic
2
rare
15
common
17
eternal
Mana cost
0
0
8
1
7
2
17
3
3
4
4
5
0
6
1
7+
Champions
6
3
Ziggs
3
Ziggs
5
Taliyah
3
Taliyah
Landmarks
7
1
Ancient Preparations
3
Ancient Preparations
1
Hexplosive Minefield
2
Hexplosive Minefield
2
Preservarium
2
Preservarium
Followers
13
1
Inventive Chemist
3
Inventive Chemist
2
Rock Hopper
3
Rock Hopper
3
Endless Devout
3
Endless Devout
4
Desert Naturalist
2
Desert Naturalist
5
Herald of the Magus
1
Herald of the Magus
8
The Arsenal
1
The Arsenal
Spells
14
2
The Absolver
2
The Absolver
3
Ancient Hourglass
2
Ancient Hourglass
3
Quicksand
2
Quicksand
3
Rite of the Arcane
2
Rite of the Arcane
3
Unleashed Energy
2
Unleashed Energy
3
Unraveled Earth
3
Unraveled Earth
4
Rite of Negation
1
Rite of Negation

Deck Breakdown

Let’s start with the centerpiece of this deck – TaliyahTaliyah.

Taliyah

TaliyahTaliyah is the one card that holds this archetype together. Her ability to copy landmarks is incredibly efficient, and her level-up unbeatable at turn five.

And indeed we do level her at turn five most of the time.

Since we run different kinds of landmarks, Taliyah is very flexible. Against aggro matchups, we can copy Ancient PreparationsAncient Preparations, against midrange Hexplosive MinefieldHexplosive Minefield, and against control PreservariumPreservarium

SarcophagusSarcophagus is almost always a good target, as it allows us to out-tempo most decks.

A big part of finding success with this deck comes from simple math. Count how many landmarks you have already played (Taliyah even does that for you!) and plan ahead how you will play enough landmarks to summon a leveled-up Taliyah.

Let’s talk more about said landmarks.

Ancient Preparations Hexplosive Minefield Preservarium

Ancient PreparationsAncient Preparations gives us an early unit in ClocklingClockling that can chump-block, as well as put some pressure on our opponent – this deck might look like a midrange combo deck, which it certainly is, but with the right draws we can lethal our opponent as early as turn five or six. 

The main reason we run Ancient PreparationsAncient Preparations though is the fact that it’s a landmark that helps us level TaliyahTaliyah on turn five.

Hexplosive MinefieldHexplosive Minefield is a situational card that can create some unfair tempo swings. Especially with our landmark-destroying cards, we can create surprising lethal attacks against decks with few units like Pantheon Yuumi or Trundle Tryndamere.

PreservariumPreservarium is a way for us to create card advantage. It is more of a gap filler than anything – but like mentioned in the intro, copying the landmark with TaliyahTaliyah and drawing two free cards can make us outlast our opponent.


Then we have several units that summon even more landmarks.

Inventive Chemist Rock Hopper Endless Devout

Inventive ChemistInventive Chemist doesn’t look like much but it does several things at once. It helps us level TaliyahTaliyah, provides a target for our landmark-destroying cards, and provides us with an early-game unit. Especially against aggro and Miss Fortune Quinn, we will be looking for this card!

Combined with Rock HopperRock Hopper, we get a solid early game. The summoned Roiling SandsRoiling Sands means we don't always play this unit on curve if we suspect our opponent may play a juicy target later. The 3|1 body trades into most two- and three-drops, though it is weak to ping spells like Vile FeastVile Feast or Pokey StickPokey Stick.

Endless DevoutEndless Devout is the second strongest card in the deck. The 3|3 body trades well into most three-drops. The summoned SarcophagusSarcophagus on death sets up an incredible tempo swing with our landmark-destroying cards. 

Our opponent will try to leave this unit alive for as long as possible. Don’t hesitate to take suboptimal blocks, or block a Quick Attack unit like SivirSivir to summon the SarcophagusSarcophagus. Also, Endless DevoutEndless Devout synergizes well with Roiling SandsRoiling Sands as it can force a trade with our Devout.


Let’s talk about our landmark-destroying tools next:

Rite of the Arcane Unleashed Energy Desert Naturalist

Rite of the ArcaneRite of the Arcane helps us activate SarcophagusSarcophagus while removing a key enemy unit like DravenDraven or XerathXerath. It can also create tempo swings (yup, you’ve been hearing these two words a lot, that’s kind of the reason Taliyah Ziggs is so good =) with Hexplosive MinefieldHexplosive Minefield, effectively incapacitating two units in one action.

Unleashed EnergyUnleashed Energy is faster than our other activators at the price of being more situational. We are usually not looking to keep our units alive. Instead, this card helps us push burst-speed damage and summon a Restored DevoutRestored Devout or stun a unit with Hexplosive MinefieldHexplosive Minefield.

Desert NaturalistDesert Naturalist can be a blowout play when paired with SarcophagusSarcophagus. It creates two chunky 5-attack units as well as a 2|4 unit. There’s not a single deck in the game that can keep up with this tempo play. 

Alternatively, like the above two cards, Desert Naturalist can also target Hexplosive MinefieldHexplosive Minefield for a tempo swing, or simply target Scrappy BombScrappy Bomb to summon the 5|4 Grumpy RockbearGrumpy Rockbear.

Don’t forget about the ability to destroy enemy landmarks with this card. Against Mono Shurima, the card can outright win us the game. Don’t overvalue this mechanic though. Against Akshan Sivir for example, summoning the Grumpy RockbearGrumpy Rockbear to not lose on board can be more important than destroying Warlord's Palace.


Let’s talk about ZiggsZiggs now:

Ziggs

While ZiggsZiggs is used in aggro decks like Ziggs Gnar for his premium stats and attack effect, he has a drastically different use in our list. He can still be used against board-centric decks like Miss Fortune Quinn or aggro as an early play, but otherwise, he is a late-game option.

In our deck, ZiggsZiggs is actually a burn tool. He is incredibly easy for us to level and will usually come down after Taliyah (you could call him a real gentleman, with his ladies-first attitude =). 

Sometimes, our turn five/six attack with TaliyahTaliyah isn’t quite enough (or we simply don't draw her), and Ziggs is the perfect tool for finishing the job. Since it is stupidly easy for us to summon and destroy landmarks, ZiggsZiggs can deal upwards of 10 damage to the enemy Nexus.

In certain matchups like Mono Shurima or Tahm Kench Soraka, ZiggsZiggs is our best way of winning. In those scenarios, make sure to only play him when leveled-up, and when having the means to protect him.


Some of our landmark-summoning effects don’t fit in a certain category but work well with Ziggs:

Ancient Hourglass Unraveled Earth

Ancient HourglassAncient Hourglass is one of those means to protect Ziggs. As mentioned earlier, we aren’t looking to keep our followers alive. But Ancient HourglassAncient Hourglass can protect our champions against removal spells like VengeanceVengeance or Thermogenic BeamThermogenic Beam.

Ancient HourglassAncient Hourglass can also be played proactively to summon a Stasis StatueStasis Statue and copy it with TaliyahTaliyah. Sometimes, board states like these happen. =)

Unraveled EarthUnraveled Earth is a surprisingly high-skill cap card. Like with Rock HopperRock Hopper, the Roiling SandsRoiling Sands can be used to disrupt our foe's key turns. It also helps to swiftly level TaliyahTaliyah up. 

Furthermore, Unraveled EarthUnraveled Earth is never a bad late-game draw. It replaces itself through the card draw, and gives ZiggsZiggs more gunpowder to shoot the enemy Nexus down.

Quicksand Rite of Negation

QuicksandQuicksand is a premium tool ever since its buff, which now allows it to target two different enemies. It can protect us against Elusive followers like Mk6: Floor-B-GoneMk6: Floor-B-Gone, or Overwhelm units from Pantheon Yuumi.

It can also help keep Taliyah or Ziggs alive when they get Challenged, or their blockers get buffed by pump spells like SharpsightSharpsight.

Rite of NegationRite of Negation is a double-edged sword. In some matchups, like Trundle Tryndamere, it can deny a Feel The RushFeel The Rush and win you the game. In others, like Mono Shurima, it has absolutely no use and is a dead card.

We never want to have more than one copy of it in hand, and depending on the meta we can run between two and zero Rite of NegationRite of Negations in our list.


The above cards were defensive in nature and might paint a different picture than what this deck is about. We are not a control archetype that scales with time. We only run as much protection as we need to save our champions until they can close out the game.

Sometimes, we can run into similar troubles that decks like Akshan Sivir struggle with – getting chump-blocked. For that reason, we include some easy-to-activate Overwhelm gear:

The Absolver Herald of the Magus

The AbsolverThe Absolver will always be active when we need it – when we attack with a leveled-up TaliyahTaliyah. She is easy to chump block and can struggle to close out the game on her own.

Herald of the MagusHerald of the Magus has the same activation condition as ZiggsZiggs' level-up. She can be awkward to play since she usually will only be active after we attack with TaliyahTaliyah

Nonetheless, Herald of the MagusHerald of the Magus makes sure our champions won’t get chump-blocked after their first attack. She also gives our champs more survivability with a useful +2|+2 buff.

Since she heavily falls off after her first summon, we only play one copy of Herald of the MagusHerald of the Magus. A second copy can be included to draw her more consistently. 

The Arsenal 

The ArsenalThe Arsenal is fittingly the last card in our list. It will usually be the last card we play before winning the game after we've played many landmarks. 

He’s our last resort when our champions get removed and we are on the brink of getting out-grinded. Oftentimes, he will have seven or more keywords, like Overwhelm or Spellshield, which will make him a difficult follower to deal with.

Since the meta currently favors fast-pasted archetypes that can outrace Mono Shurima, we rarely get to turn eight. And even if we get to that turn, we usually can afford to drop below Rite of NegationRite of Negation or The AbsolverThe Absolver mana.

Thus, we only play one copy of The ArsenalThe Arsenal, so he doesn’t become a liability as a dead card in our hand.

Tips

You’re using Ancient HourglassAncient Hourglass wrong

In the beginning, I thought Ancient HourglassAncient Hourglass was a mere tool for us to protect our champions. And while this holds for 75% of the time, its use drastically changes depending on the matchup. Mono Shurima or Taliyah Ziggs don’t have removal tools, so we have to find a different use for Ancient HourglassAncient Hourglass.

Some of these uses include:

  • copying Stasis StatueStasis Statue with TaliyahTaliyah,
  • playing it to set up TaliyahTaliyah’s level up,
  • capturing ZiggsZiggs, so we can play a second copy of him for double the burn, and
  • playing it on The ArsenalThe Arsenal – he gets double the keywords when he is resummoned.

I’m struggling myself with the right moments to play Ancient HourglassAncient Hourglass, so don't worry too much about it at the beginning of your journey with the deck. Intricacies like this will come with your growing experience piloting Taliyah Ziggs.


Inventive ChemistInventive Chemist isn’t a turn-one play

I stole this advice from Sorry’s guide because it’s true. If you lack an Endless DevoutEndless Devout or Hexplosive MinefieldHexplosive Minefield, Scrappy BombScrappy Bomb can be the needed target for Desert NaturalistDesert Naturalist or Rite of the ArcaneRite of the Arcane on turn four.

Since Scrappy BombScrappy Bomb will self-destruct on turn four if we play Inventive ChemistInventive Chemist on turn one, we might want to hold back with it until turn two or three!


Use Roiling SandsRoiling Sands to disrupt your opponent’s key turns

Rock HopperRock Hopper and Unraveled EarthUnraveled Earth aren’t cards we simply play on curve. Try to think about what units your opponent wants to prevent from getting Vulnerable, and when they want to develop them. 

This can mean that you don’t play Rock HopperRock Hopper on turn two against Draven Sion or Akshan Sivir, but rather on turn three to make DravenDraven Vulnerable or turn four to prevent SivirSivir from coming down (depending on when you have the attack token).

Be aware of those turns once you load into the game, instead of deciding this on the fly.


Be open-minded in your landmark choice with Taliyah

In the beginning, I preached the flexibility of Taliyah’s landmark choice. These were only suggestions and are heavily matchup dependent. 

Sometimes, it’s the right play to copy a Hexplosive MinefieldHexplosive Minefield over PreservariumPreservarium against control to deal the finishing blow. Sometimes, you don’t have a choice of which landmark to copy. Try to stay as flexible with your landmark choice as possible and always be open-minded about what could work.


Tech Choices

Instead of looking at single cards in a vacuum, I want to discuss two different lists of the deck. 

Regions
Shurima
30 cards
Bandlecity
10 cards
Rarities
28 100
champion
6
epic
3
rare
17
common
14
eternal
Mana cost
0
0
4
1
9
2
17
3
4
4
5
5
0
6
1
7+
Champions
6
3
Ziggs
3
Ziggs
5
Taliyah
3
Taliyah
Landmarks
3
1
Ancient Preparations
1
Ancient Preparations
2
Preservarium
2
Preservarium
Followers
14
1
Inventive Chemist
3
Inventive Chemist
2
Rock Hopper
3
Rock Hopper
3
Endless Devout
3
Endless Devout
4
Desert Naturalist
2
Desert Naturalist
5
Herald of the Magus
2
Herald of the Magus
8
The Arsenal
1
The Arsenal
Spells
17
2
Pokey Stick
3
Pokey Stick
2
The Absolver
1
The Absolver
3
Ancient Hourglass
3
Ancient Hourglass
3
Quicksand
3
Quicksand
3
Rite of the Arcane
2
Rite of the Arcane
3
Unraveled Earth
3
Unraveled Earth
4
Rite of Negation
2
Rite of Negation

This is the let’s slam all of the best cards of Balco’s optimization table into one list while still making sense list. And yeah, that’s a technical term. =)

This list cuts Ancient PreparationsAncient Preparations and Hexplosive MinefieldHexplosive Minefield for Pokey StickPokey Stick. Since we don’t run Hexplosive MinefieldHexplosive Minefield, Unleashed EnergyUnleashed Energy becomes a lot weaker and thus we cut it as well. Instead, we run a little more defensive list with three QuicksandQuicksand, and a Herald of the MagusHerald of the Magus over The AbsolverThe Absolver as an additional unit on the board.

We also run a third copy of Ancient HourglassAncient Hourglass for more proactive use with TaliyahTaliyah and The ArsenalThe Arsenal, and a second Rite of the ArcaneRite of the Arcane for more protection.

This list is much more defensive and will work better against aggro. For this, you pay the price of not closing out games as fast and racing decks like Pantheon Yuumi with the stuns of Hexplosive MinefieldHexplosive Minefield.


A more aggressive list than the above can be achieved if we include Waste WalkerWaste Walker and slot the Hexplosive MinefieldHexplosive Minefield + Unleashed EnergyUnleashed Energy combo back in.

I got this list from MonteXristo.

Regions
Shurima
29 cards
Bandlecity
11 cards
Rarities
24 400
champion
6
epic
0
rare
15
common
19
eternal
Mana cost
0
0
6
1
11
2
16
3
2
4
5
5
0
6
0
7+
Champions
6
3
Ziggs
3
Ziggs
5
Taliyah
3
Taliyah
Landmarks
6
1
Ancient Preparations
1
Ancient Preparations
1
Hexplosive Minefield
2
Hexplosive Minefield
2
Preservarium
3
Preservarium
Followers
15
1
Inventive Chemist
3
Inventive Chemist
2
Rock Hopper
3
Rock Hopper
3
Endless Devout
3
Endless Devout
3
Waste Walker
2
Waste Walker
4
Desert Naturalist
2
Desert Naturalist
5
Herald of the Magus
2
Herald of the Magus
Spells
13
2
Pokey Stick
3
Pokey Stick
2
The Absolver
2
The Absolver
3
Ancient Hourglass
2
Ancient Hourglass
3
Quicksand
1
Quicksand
3
Rite of the Arcane
1
Rite of the Arcane
3
Unleashed Energy
2
Unleashed Energy
3
Unraveled Earth
2
Unraveled Earth

Waste WalkerWaste Walker is a snowball card that can push early damage and works well with Unleashed EnergyUnleashed Energy to

  1. keep it alive, and
  2. push more Nexus damage thanks to the innate Overwhelm keyword.

We cut some copies of Rite of the ArcaneRite of the Arcane and QuicksandQuicksand for aggro tools, making us more susceptible in the long run against removal. Our game plan changes to out-aggro our opponent and finish the game around turn six. Thus, The ArsenalThe Arsenal becomes obsolete in the list.

Mulligan

Most of the cards we are looking for are matchup-dependent but one isn’t – Endless DevoutEndless Devout. The card is bonkers in the deck and works with everything. In many cases, we mulligan for the devout and one other key card.

In midrange matchups this card is TaliyahTaliyah. While it can be scary to only play some landmarks and an Endless DevoutEndless Devout till turn five, TaliyahTaliyah’s level up makes up for it. Oftentimes, we won’t deal much Nexus damages beforehand and one-turn kill them on turn five or six.

Against decks with few units, like Pantheon Yuumi or Akshan Udyr, I also like to keep Hexplosive MinefieldHexplosive Minefield. If we can stun one or two units on turn five or six with a leveled TaliyahTaliyah, they won’t have any blockers left and take a full 10 damage from TaliyahTaliyah alone.

Inventive ChemistInventive Chemist, Rock HopperRock Hopper, and ZiggsZiggs are the cards we’re looking for against aggro and Miss Fortune Quinn. 

One surprising thing is that we don’t keep Desert NaturalistDesert Naturalist in the mulligan. Even if we have an Endless DevoutEndless Devout, our opponent won’t kill him until turn five or six, at which point we would’ve rather found TaliyahTaliyah.

We want to draw into situational cards like Ancient HourglassAncient Hourglass, The AbsolverThe Absolver, or QuicksandQuicksand later in the game and never have them in our starting hand.


Matchups

Trundle Tryndamere - favored

Mulligan: TaliyahTaliyah, Rite of NegationRite of Negation

Don’t attack on turn two or three if you have Roiling SandsRoiling Sands on board to play around Faces of the Old OnesFaces of the Old Ones. The damage doesn’t matter, they’ll play Catalyst of AeonsCatalyst of Aeons or Blighted RavineBlighted Ravine anyway.

This is a matchup where they can simply ignore our Endless DevoutEndless Devout and never give us the SarcophagusSarcophagus value. Leveling TaliyahTaliyah ASAP is the key to winning this game. 

TaliyahTaliyah can copy PreservariumPreservarium to find more protection spells. This is a matchup where we can use Ancient HourglassAncient Hourglass proactively if they tap under VengeanceVengeance mana.


Akshan Udyr - favored

Mulligan: Hexplosive MinefieldHexplosive Minefield, TaliyahTaliyah, Desert NaturalistDesert Naturalist if Hexplosive MinefieldHexplosive Minefield in hand

This is one of those matchups where Hexplosive MinefieldHexplosive Minefield carries the game. They usually can’t produce more than two blockers and rely on UdyrUdyr to decide the game.

If we already have Hexplosive Minefield in hand, we can also keep Desert Naturalist for a proactive second stun.

In the past, I have made the mistake of underestimating their lethal potential. At first glance, it might look like QuicksandQuicksand counters their whole make UdyrUdyr big with stances and give him Overwhelm gameplan. But don't be fooled! I’ve lost more than one game to them protecting UdyrUdyr with Shield of the SentinelsShield of the Sentinels and thus bypassing QuicksandQuicksand.

Our best bet is to rush them down and set up one big attack where we stun UdyrUdyr or pull him away with the Vulnerable keyword.


Mono Shurima – favored

Mulligan: Endless DevoutEndless Devout, TaliyahTaliyah

Watch this video (link) by Sirturmund to change your mind about how to play against Mono Shurima.

The nature of our deck is to set up one big attack to one-turn kill our foe. Mono Shurima struggles against this game plan. They want to trade away their early units and cycle their landmarks to level AzirAzir and XerathXerath. By simply not allowing their units to die by not blocking their attack, we put them in a difficult spot. 

This is also why we don't need to hard-mulligan for Desert NaturalistDesert Naturalist. If they draw SoothsayerSoothsayer it negates the card and weakens our tempo turn if we don't have a target for her.


Taliyah Ziggs - Mirror Match

Mulligan: Endless DevoutEndless Devout, TaliyahTaliyah

This matchup comes down to who can draw Endless DevoutEndless Devout and TaliyahTaliyah for the biggest tempo swing. While you might say that having one- or two-drops to deal/avoid some early damage is important, it doesn’t compare to the game-changing power swings of the above two cards.

Hexplosive MinefieldHexplosive Minefield comes in clutch to stun TaliyahTaliyah on turn five/six, while QuicksandQuicksand can negate Overwhelm effects like The AbsolverThe Absolver.


Pantheon Yuumi - slightly unfavored

Mulligan: Hexplosive MinefieldHexplosive Minefield, Endless DevoutEndless Devout, TaliyahTaliyah

Just like with Akshan Udyr, Pantheon Yuumi only plays two to three units on board that get really big. Hence Hexplosive MinefieldHexplosive Minefield becomes our main advantage in this matchup. We can close out the game by setting up a powerful swing on turn five or six, stunning their few blockers.

The problem is that, unlike Akshan Udyr, they have removal spells like Single CombatSingle Combat and Concerted StrikeConcerted Strike that can shut down TaliyahTaliyah even while their units are stunned. 

We can delay their big Overwhelm units with QuicksandQuicksand, but we can’t kill their units, so they will win in the long run. Since they need to attack with their 3+attack units to deal damage, Endless DevoutEndless Devout will always find value.


Pirates - unfavoured

Mulligan: any unit that costs three or less

This matchup is pretty straightforward. We want to have as many early blockers as possible to avoid Nexus damage. Sometimes, we can surprise them with a lethal TaliyahTaliyah on turn five or six.

Overall though, we struggle against swarm decks due to our focus on creating swing turns around TaliyahTaliyah.

In the later stages of the game, we can stop their burn spells like DecimateDecimate and the one-of Double UpDouble Up with Rite of NegationRite of Negation.

Rite of the ArcaneRite of the Arcane can efficiently kill Miss FortuneMiss Fortune if we have a SarcophagusSarcophagus or Hexplosive MinefieldHexplosive Minefield on board, while Rock HopperRock Hopper can be played on turn two after their development to make a turn three MF less attractive.


Conclusion

Taliyah Ziggs is one of the strongest archetypes in the current meta with many decisive matchups. Thus, she will especially shine in a tournament lineup where we can ban Pirates or Pantheon Yuumi.

I personally like to pair the deck with Pantheon Yuumi and MF Quinn since they share the same strength against control and Mono Shurima. We will only be unfavored into full aggro lineups.

You could also slot in Mono Shurima over Pantheon Yuumi to avoid getting targeted or replace MF Quinn for even more cohesiveness.


I hope you were able to learn something from this guide and improve your Taliyah Ziggs knowledge.

In case you want to watch some gameplay by absolutely cracked players, here are videos of MajinBae (link) and freshlobster (link) piloting the deck – do notice that these are from past metas, though!

If you have any questions or wanna chat more about the deck, please reach out to me on Twitter (@Leer97) or Discord (Leer#2026).

Thanks go to the talented Hazy for the amazing thumbnail and Herko Khergans for his continuous editing efforts -- also ChironTheMage for catching a mistake with Ancient Preparations.

Thanks for reading and see you in the next guide! =)