By The Numbers – Seven Strongest New Decks, 24 hours into the Patch.

Twenty-four hours into the Worldwaker expansion, these are the new decks that are performing well.

Caveats, though:

• We'll loosely define "New" as "decks that were nowhere to be seen on our Meta Report last Monday, or our Warrior Weapons article last Friday" – as we'll see, two of those "new" decks are two quite old archetypes, recently rejuvenated by new cards,
• The meta is, of course, up in the air – it's too early to tell where things will land,
• Sample sizes are indeed small;
• Take everything with lots of grains of salt!

A Glimpse of Worldwalker

It is probably safe to say few saw this coming…

… according to Balco's data, Lux Illaoi is the new deck making the most waves!

Jhin Anni is by far the most popular (playrate over 15%), but thus far its WR is around 48%. We won't suggest a list for it today, but we'll take a look at it tomorrow in Weekend Warrior Weapons to see if, like two patches ago with Sun Disc, there are bad lists polluting the archetype.

Strongest Young & Rejuvenated Decks

One radically new deck (Lux Illaoi) and two rejuvenated archetypes (Deep and Thralls) are the new faces above the 54% WR line.

Lux Illaoi

It's always hard to predict how new champions will fare, but as far as I can tell from theorycrafting tweets and articles, few saw this one coming.

The huge majority of players are on this exact same list, courtesy of Kuvi. It murders Annie Jhin, appears to be even into Deep, but may have problems with Thralls.

Regions

Demacia
21 cards

Bilgewater
19 cards

Rarities

24 600

6

0

16

18

eternal

Mana cost

0

0

5

1

11

2

13

3

3

4

8

5

0

6

0

7+

Champions

6

4

Illaoi

3

5

Lux

3

Followers

18

1

Watchful Idol

3

2

Brightsteel Protector

3

2

Hired Gun

2

2

Petricite Broadwing

3

3

Durand Protege

2

3

The Sea's Voice

3

3

Vanguard Sergeant

2

Spells

16

1

Demacian Tellstones

2

2

Answered Prayer

2

2

Single Combat

1

3

Cataclysm

1

3

Shield of Durand

2

3

Tentacle Smash

3

5

Concerted Strike

2

5

Eye of Nagakabouros

3

Maokai Nautilus, aka Deep

A lot of lifegain tools – above all Undergrowth and Withering Wail – have dragged Deep from the bottom all the way to the top. It crushes Annie Jhin, stomps on most other news archetypes, and has a very good time against Ezreal Caitlyn.

Weak spot? Ironically, the other bunch of sea dwellers: Lurkers.

Below you'll find the most popular list – the jury is still out with Megatusk: several successful lists, like the one below, do include two or three copies, but data would suggest one or no copies may be better.

Regions

Shadow Isles
19 cards

Bilgewater
21 cards

Rarities

27 100

6

3

12

19

eternal

Mana cost

0

0

4

1

6

2

11

3

8

4

3

5

5

6

3

7+

Champions

6

4

Maokai

3

7

Nautilus

3

Followers

20

1

Dreg Dredgers

3

2

Sea Scarab

3

3

Deadbloom Wanderer

3

3

Jaull Hunters

2

4

Megatusk

3

5

Abyssal Eye

3

6

Devourer of the Depths

3

Spells

14

1

Jettison

1

2

Vile Feast

3

3

Lure of the Depths

3

3

Undergrowth

3

4

Withering Wail

2

6

Vengeance

2

Lissandra Taliyah

As expected by Thralls fans, and as Shadawx suggested yesterday, Harbinger of Thralls is putting in the work and TaLiss is back in full force.

Thralls is in an interesting spot since it's quite bad into Jhin Annie – if the latter's playrate decreases (as its disappointing WR suggests), Thralls should perform even better.

Regions

Freljord
23 cards

Shurima
17 cards

Rarities

28 900

6

5

10

19

eternal

Mana cost

0

0

6

1

9

2

9

3

8

4

3

5

5

6

0

7+

Champions

6

3

Lissandra

3

5

Taliyah

3

Landmarks

6

1

Frozen Thrall

3

4

Blighted Ravine

3

Followers

9

2

Clockwork Curator

3

2

Harbinger of Thralls

3

3

Kindly Tavernkeeper

3

Spells

19

1

Imagined Possibilities

1

1

Three Sisters

2

2

Time in a Bottle

3

3

Ice Shard

3

4

Avalanche

2

4

Rite of Negation

2

4

Succumb to the Cold

1

6

Promising Future

3

6

Sands of Time

2

Other Promising New Decks

Garen Bard

Has Bard pulled off the miracle?

A competitive Elites archetype?

Nope; not by a long shot: the Elites-heavy version, including Battlesmith and Vanguard Redeemer, seems to be quite bad!

On the other hand, a fairly similar Bannerman list, but relying on Fleetfeather Tracker and Esmus, Breath of the World, is doing great – looks like that's the list you want to play.

Regions

Demacia
34 cards

Runeterra
6 cards

Rarities

27 100

6

3

12

19

eternal

Mana cost

0

0

7

1

13

2

6

3

6

4

5

5

3

6

0

7+

Champions

6

4

Bard

3

5

Garen

3

Followers

26

1

Cithria of Cloudfield

3

1

Fleetfeather Tracker

3

2

Brightsteel Protector

2

2

Esmus, Breath of the World

3

2

Petricite Broadwing

3

3

Laurent Protege

3

3

Vanguard Sergeant

3

4

Vanguard Bannerman

3

6

Cithria the Bold

3

Spells

8

1

Demacian Tellstones

1

2

Sharpsight

3

2

Single Combat

2

5

Golden Aegis

2

Miss Fortune Annie

Pirates, but with Annie – simple as that!

There seems to be two caveats, though: Eye of Nagakabouros and Brothers' Bond. Making room for them, by cutting Precious Pet, seems to be the trick of this list.

Regions

Bilgewater
16 cards

Noxus
24 cards

Rarities

26 300

6

3

8

23

eternal

Mana cost

0

0

12

1

10

2

8

3

5

4

2

5

3

6

0

7+

Champions

6

1

Annie

3

3

Miss Fortune

3

Followers

25

1

Crackshot Corsair

3

1

Legion Rearguard

3

1

Legion Saboteur

3

2

Imperial Demolitionist

3

2

Legion Grenadier

3

2

Marai Warden

3

3

Arachnoid Sentry

2

4

Island Navigator

2

4

Zap Sprayfin

3

Spells

9

2

Brothers' Bond

1

3

Noxian Fervor

3

5

Eye of Nagakabouros

2

6

Decimate

3

Zed Bard

During spoiler season, this was one of the most obvious champ combinations (until Annie was revealed and everybody jumped on the Annie Jhin train), and it's currently the second most popular archetype.

And don't let average performance fool you: this is another case of the most popular version (with God-Willow Seedling and Dawn and Dusk) being horrible, while the second most popular (seen below) is actually kicking butts. 

Regions

Ionia
31 cards

Runeterra
9 cards

Rarities

26 300

6

3

8

23

eternal

Mana cost

0

0

6

1

9

2

12

3

10

4

0

5

0

6

3

7+

Champions

6

3

Zed

3

4

Bard

3

Followers

25

1

Byrd, The Bellringer

3

1

Inspiring Mentor

3

2

Esmus, Breath of the World

3

2

Navori Highwayman

3

3

Greenglade Elder

3

3

Shadow Assassin

3

3

The Maker

3

4

Fae Guide

1

7

Sai'nen Thousand-Tailed

3

Spells

9

2

Twin Disciplines

3

4

Concussive Palm

2

4

Deny

2

4

Will of Ionia

2

Fizz Bard

This archetype seems to need a lot of refinement – the most popular lists perform quite badly, yet some less-played versions seem to be doing grand. Unlike Zed Bard though, there doesn't seem to be (yet) a clear direction

Regions

Runeterra
12 cards

Bandlecity
28 cards

Rarities

26 400

6

2

14

18

eternal

Mana cost

0

0

11

1

17

2

4

3

5

4

0

5

3

6

0

7+

Champions

6

1

Fizz

3

4

Bard

3

Landmarks

2

2

Mystic Vortex

2

Followers

22

1

Byrd, The Bellringer

3

2

Assistant Librarian

3

2

Bandle Commando

2

2

Esmus, Breath of the World

3

2

Grandfather Fae

3

3

Gleaming Lantern

3

4

Rainbowfish

2

6

Maduli, The Gatekeeper

1

6

Papercraft Dragon

2

Spells

10

1

Fae Sprout

3

1

Trinket Trade

2

2

Flamespitter

1

2

Pokey Stick

3

3

Wallop

1

In Closing

With the usual "too early to tell" caveat…

… Worldwalker's Meta shake-up looks great: one new champion pair and one rejuvenated archetype at the top; nearly half a dozen new or rejuvenated archetype getting a foothold in the meta, and several others still below the 50% WR mark but with lots of experimentation…

… we'll see tomorrow what the Meta will bring!

Stay tuned for Weekend Warrior Weapons: we'll have nearly forty hours worth of data, and large enough data samples for the majority of the most popular archetypes.

Good luck out there! =)