Monday Meta Report - April 17th Runeterra Open Week

‘sup everyone, Leer here. The Runeterra Open certainly wasn’t what we were expecting but the show must go on. 

The LoR meta appears to be solved, with three meta giants at the top …unless Sea Monsters and Tentacles can challenge the data quo?

Legends of Runeterra Decks

Sorting MaRu’s LoR Meta Tier List and meta stats by playrate (PR), we see the following:

Nothing big changed here. Ashe LeBlanc, Karma Sett, and Samira Fizz are still the top dogs with similar playrates.

A fan favorite, Maokai Nautilus (Deep), is gaining wind… or rather current? Not sure what it looks like in those depths. =)

Samira Leona dominated the winrate chart last week, and players are quickly getting the note. Your’s Truly even released a Leona Samira Deck Guide! 

On the contrary, Quinn Gwen is the last Demacia brew succumbing to the Freljordian winds.

Pyke Rek’Sai (Lurk) is thankfully gaining less traction, despite its potential to hunt down Ashe LeBlanc.

Taliyah lost her beloved bomb aficionado and now lives with a rock. Taliyah Malphite is a meta deck, and Chip is a happy little pebble.

Teemo Caitlyn shouldn’t exist.

Turning to winrates (WR), we get this result:

Sprinkle some kale Kayle in or don’t, the data doesn’t change – Leona Samira is the most powerful archetype in the Legends of Runeterra meta.

Samira Fizz and Ashe LeBlanc are clearly a step behind Leona Samira, but still ahead of the rest of the field…

…Unless we’re talking about Illaoi Jarvan IV. Where several Demacia blends have failed, Illaoi wants to bring Demacia back to the top.

Heimerdinger Jayce (Shadow Tech) is silently one of the best control decks in the game, outperforming competitors like Karma Sett.

Quinn Gwen is still in an okay spot but starting to reach the end credits.

Taliyah Malphite’s short-lived success is starting to crumble, now being on the same power level as Deep.

Lurk is also losing winning chances by the day.

Factors Shaping the LoR Meta

As Demacia decks are getting less popular, Ashe LeBlanc is running out of prey. Karma Sett, Fizz Samira, and Deep are all decks that Ashe LeBlanc isn’t favored facing. 

Despite this fact, Ashe is beating almost everything else, explaining its high winrate despite its grim-looking matchups against the most popular brews.

Illaoi Jarvan IV is the latest addition to the best Legends of Runeterra decks. 

As a Demacia deck, Illaoi J4 has to pay the Ashe LeBlanc tax and can’t overwhelm the stunning Leona Samira combo.

Otherwise, their odds in the meta look very promising. As opposed to other kinds of their brethren like Aatrox Vayne or Galio Udyr, Illaoi J4 doesn’t struggle against Deep. 

This might just be the deciding factor of why Illaoi J4 is in and the other Demacia blends are out.

Malphite Taliyah saw The Sudden Surge a spontaneous rise in activity last week with promising results. This week, it lost some of its momentum but is remaining to be a solid meta deck.

As Malphite Taliyah’s matchup table reveals, they struggle heavily with decks that threaten to close out the game as early as round five. Taliyah and Malphite need time to blossom and can unleash their full potential once Malphite (level 2) hits the board. This is why it's favored against brews like Jack Seraphine and Karma Sett, who want to drag out the game as long as possible and lack the ability to race Malphite Taliyah.

The loss of momentum of Chip’s favorite archetype lies in Samira Leona. The Noxus blend is getting popular by the day and doesn’t hesitate to feast on Malphite Taliyah’s weaknesses.

Honorable Mentions

Leona Diana

Regions

Mount Targon
32 cards

Noxus
8 cards

Rarities

26 500

5

6

7

22

eternal

Mana cost

0

0

9

1

15

2

6

3

0

4

8

5

0

6

2

7+

Champions

5

2

Diana

2

5

Leona

3

Followers

26

1

Crimson Pigeon

3

1

Lunari Duskbringer

3

1

Solari Soldier

3

2

Solari Shieldbearer

3

2

Solari Sunhawk

3

2

Twilit Protector

3

3

Sun Guardian

3

5

Rahvun, Daylight's Spear

3

7

The Winding Light

2

Spells

9

2

Brothers' Bond

2

2

Pale Cascade

2

3

Might

1

3

Noxian Fervor

1

3

Pirouette

1

5

Moonlight Affliction

2

Born out of the desire to split Leona and Samira in this meta, the Celesbians are back in full glory!

Leona Diana trades Samira and Kayle for Diana as well as Moonlight Affliction and The Winding Light. These cards give Leona Noxus more potential to end the game, although in trade for early-game utility.

On ladder, the celebs sport a 54.8% WR over 1.5k games in the past three days. I brought the above list to the Runeterra Open, going 8-2. I am especially satisfied with going down to two The Winding Light and fitting in Pirouette as opposed to more popular versions, as The Winding Light can brick your hand early and Pirouette can remove two blockers in a single card!

Jinden brought the same version, going 9-1 and qualifying for the playoffs with Leona Diana!

Samira Varus

Regions

Runeterra
26 cards

Noxus
14 cards

Rarities

24 800

5

3

15

17

eternal

Mana cost

0

0

9

1

16

2

2

3

12

4

1

5

0

6

0

7+

Champions

5

2

Samira

3

4

Varus

2

Equipments

3

1

The Darkin Ballista

3

Followers

15

1

Forsaken Baccai

3

2

Ionian Hookmaster

3

2

Keeper of the Box

2

2

Lunari Cultist

2

3

Shadowblade Fanatic

1

4

Ambitious Cultist

2

4

Ranger-Knight Defector

2

Spells

17

1

All Out

2

1

Noxian Tellstones

1

2

Momentous Choice

3

2

The Violent Dischord

2

2

Transfusion

1

3

Pirouette

1

4

Furious Wielder

3

4

The Expanse's Protection

2

4

The Unending Wave

1

5

The Unforgiving Cold

1

People split Leona and Samira to fit them into different decks. If you play Leona Diana, why not pair it with Samira Varus? Both decks agree on banning Ashe LeBlanc and show promising results on ladder.

Samira Varus Riven was featured in last week’s report and for a good reason. It continues to slap on ladder, sporting a 53.9% WR over 1.6k games in the past three days.

Personally, I brought this deck to the Runeterra Open as I felt confident playing it and it beats almost everything but Ashe LeBlanc. As with Diana Leona, I am satisfied with the above build, cutting down on Riven, an inefficient three-mana investment to create one or two Blade Fragments to advance Varus’ level-up condition.

Once again, Jinden brought totally coincidental the same exact list, qualifying for the top cut. This time around, it was a much more known-about deck though that many players wielded!

Aatrox Bilgewater

Regions

Bilgewater
25 cards

Runeterra
15 cards

Rarities

28 600

2

16

6

16

eternal

Mana cost

0

0

15

1

9

2

3

3

6

4

2

5

2

6

3

7+

Champions

2

6

Aatrox

2

Landmarks

3

4

Reaver's Row

3

Equipments

10

2

The Darkin Fan

3

2

The Darkin Harp

3

1

The Darkin Bloodletters

3

1

The Darkin Ballista

1

Followers

20

1

Buhru Cultist

3

1

Jagged Butcher

3

1

Shellshocker

3

1

Watchful Idol

2

2

Jagged Taskmaster

3

4

Steem

3

7

Xolaani the Bloodweaver

3

Spells

5

3

Double Trouble

3

5

Eye of Nagakabouros

2

Aatrox Bilgewater is somewhat of a meme deck that turned up last season with commendable stats. It is the latest iteration of the Reaver's Row archetype, previously featuring Taliyah.

Aatrox allows us to play weapons to buff our units’ attacks. Why do we want that? you might ask. Because we get to play Xolaani the Bloodweaver of course!

Showcasing one of the most unique and silliest gameplans the game has to offer, Aatrox Reaver’s Row is a deck every respectable LoR veteran has to experience once in their lifetime.

And before you ask, no, this wasn’t my third deck in the Runeterra Open, and neither was it Jinden’s. It was Ashe LeBlanc. 

Nonetheless, Aatrox Reaver’s Row is not a deck to be underestimated and could even function in a tournament setting (... just like Lurk could, strictly theoretically speaking. Please don’t bring any of these decks and highroll my bum in a tournament, thank you!) The deck holds a 54.2% WR over 2.9k games in the past three days. At the rate it’s going, it might become meta soon! =)

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this week's meta-report and making it this far. If you’re still here and read this, leave a “Hi” in the Reddit thread comments, and I will “Hi” you back! =)

The data has been due to MaRu’s Meta Tier List while the matchup tables have been from Legna’s brilliant homepage. They are doing an insane job at collecting all this data and presenting it to us in an approachable manner. They deserve all the praise in the world!

The talented Hazy has been converting the metadata into these stunning graphs for the Monday Legends of Runeterra Meta Report, I can't express my gratitude enough to him!

Thanks also to Herko Kerghans, he has been doing lots of editing and proofreading that deserves appreciation!!

You can reach me on Twitter (@Leer97) or on Discord (Leer#2026).

Thanks for reading this Monday's LoR Meta Report and see ya next week!