Tuesday Meta Report - August 29th

‘sup everyone, Leer here. The meta took drastic turns this week, driving in a direction dominated by Akshan Samira. There is one knightess in shining armor that may save us from this fate though!

Legends of Runeterra Eternal Decks

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

Samira Akshan skyrockets to the top, with an incredible play- and winrate!

After Jax Vi’s success last week, it’s now the second most popular deck in LoR.

Some decks have to make room for our superstars, and Samira Zoe is one of them.

Fiora Galio is a new brew with a ridiculous winrate, and it’s already starting to catch the eye of most players, similar to Akshan Samira.

Braum Vladimir is not a real deck and will vanish soon.

Zoe Aphelios Viktor was an already-known archetype last season, but it has changed. Rather than playing Zaunite Urchin and Get Excited!, it goes for the Cosmic Call + Mountain Scryer gameplan.

Akshan Lee Sin was the center of attention last week but quickly plummeted in winrate once players figured out better decks. As a result, Akshan Lee struggles heavily to get by and will likely bite the dust soon.

Zoe Diana Shadow Isles is yet another flavor of Cosmic Call + Mountain Scryer but with Vengeance.

Miss Fortune Twisted Fate (Pirates) is our good old friend who will probably never leave the meta.

Annie Jhin (Jhinnie) sees similar popularity but with a very good winrate, although quite a bit lower than the winrate of Pirates!

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

Here, Pirates is the #1 deck. It has all the upsides of other Aggro brews but also beats its kind.

Fiora Galio is the latest newcomer with ridiculous success. It beats most of the popular LoR meta decks convincingly, earning it such a high winrate.

Jax Vi’s winrate tanked quite a bit but is still the third highest overall. This goes to show how powerful the archetype is!

Draven Jinx (Discard Aggro) is another shade of Aggro finding its way to the top. Previously, Jinx was replaced by Samira, but the burn of our favorite rocket girl seems to perform better!

Jayce Lux is a staple midrange brew similar to Fiora Galio. It seems that 4|4 Challenger champions are in high demand! =)

Samira Akshan makes an impressive entrance into the meta-game with a high winrate while being the most popular deck. 

Usually, once a deck becomes popular, the meta morphs around it and starts targeting that deck. The fact that Akshan Samira still has such a high winrate means it is an incredibly versatile deck with few weaknesses.

Three of the next four decks are Cosmic Call Allegiance brews – Zoe Aphelios Viktor, Zoe Viktor, and Samira Zoe.

Jhinnie is the third Aggro blend, showcasing how powerful Aggro strategies are!

Factors Shaping the LoR Eternal Meta

Fiora Galio made an uproar this week with ridiculous stats. Let’s look at its matchup table to reveal the reason why:

Fiora Galio is one of the only archetypes with an (extremely) positive winrate against Akshan Samira. As we saw before, Akshan Samira isn’t getting countered by the meta despite its high popularity, and Galio Fiora might be one of the only answers the game has to offer.

Furthermore, Galio Fiora beats all kinds of Cosmic Call Allegiance blends. Since there are so many of them that are popular, Galio Fiora has a wide range of prey.

On the other side, the deck struggles considerably against Aggro brews. Pirates is the toughest enemy but Jhinnie is also a threat. 

Another deck that Fiora Galio struggles against is Jax Vi, which is the second-most popular deck of Eternal. 

While Fiora Galio looks like a specialized deck with many up- and downsides, there is one unforgivable aspect – it loses to Mono Shurima. There are barely any decks in existence that achieve this feat, undermining the validity of this archetype. 

/s

Considering that Aggro is on the rise, Galio Fiora’s success might recede in the coming days. Be aware!

Honorable Mentions

Kalista Nocturne 

Regions

Shadow Isles
38 cards

Noxus
2 cards

Rarities

27 100

6

3

12

19

eternal

Mana cost

0

0

10

1

9

2

9

3

9

4

0

5

0

6

3

7+

Champions

6

3

Kalista

3

4

Nocturne

3

Followers

23

1

Boisterous Host

3

1

Precious Pet

2

1

Stygian Onlooker

3

2

Arachnoid Horror

3

2

Mistwraith

3

2

Phantom Butler

3

3

Frenzied Skitterer

3

4

Wraithcaller

3

Spells

11

1

Mark of the Isles

2

3

Soul Cleave

3

4

Risen Mists

3

10

The Harrowing

3

Kalista Nocturne is an explored archetype that utilizes all-ins on Fearsome units to rush its foes down. Previously, the deck used to run Legionary Charge but cut it now that it got nerfed.

On ladder, Fearsome Aggro is achieving a 59% winrate over 920 games in the past three days. If you want to be edgy with your Aggro game plan, this deck is for you! =)

Poppy Taric

Regions

Demacia
32 cards

Mount Targon
8 cards

Rarities

26 900

5

6

9

20

eternal

Mana cost

0

0

6

1

12

2

6

3

10

4

6

5

0

6

0

7+

Champions

5

4

Poppy

3

4

Taric

2

Followers

24

1

Fleetfeather Tracker

3

1

Petricite Hound

3

2

Petricite Broadwing

3

2

Tyari the Traveler

3

2

War Chefs

3

3

Mageseeker Junior

3

4

Balen the Benevolent

3

5

Mountain Sojourners

3

Spells

11

2

Sharpsight

3

3

Shield of Durand

3

4

Relentless Pursuit

2

5

Golden Aegis

3

Poppy Taric was a dominant archetype before rotation that became dormant when Golden Aegis and Relentless Pursuit got adjusted.

It took a long time, but it appears back in action now. Decklists are all over the place with wild additions such as Balen the Benevolent, so when building this deck, take lists from ladder with a grain of salt.

Taric Poppy has performed at a 58% winrate over 480 games in the past three days. There is a beginner-friendly Taric Poppy guide by yours truly available!

Darius Gwen LeBlanc

Regions

Noxus
22 cards

Shadow Isles
18 cards

Rarities

25 800

6

2

11

21

eternal

Mana cost

0

0

8

1

7

2

14

3

7

4

2

5

1

6

1

7+

Champions

6

3

LeBlanc

2

4

Gwen

3

6

Darius

1

Equipments

1

2

Great Hammers

1

Followers

17

1

Boisterous Host

3

2

Phantom Butler

3

2

Redeemed Prodigy

3

3

Iron Ballista

3

4

Ruined Reckoner

3

5

Captain Kalrix

2

Spells

16

1

Elixir of Wrath

3

1

Mark of the Isles

2

3

Might

3

3

Strike Up The Band

3

3

Whirling Death

3

4

Whispered Words

1

7

Atrocity

1

Darius Gwen LeBlanc is a curious brew combining Hallowed with Overwhelm. This concept existed before in the form of Katarina Gwen but was scrapped when Fallen Reckoner and Katarina were nerfed.

This version abstains from the adjusted Opulent Foyer  in favor of Strike Up The Band. It also runs LeBlanc as a great tempo play that demands a chump blocker every two rounds.

On ladder, Gwen LeBlanc sports a 57% winrate over 600 games in the past three days. Aggro is in a commanding spot right now, and Gwen LeBlanc takes it to the next step with creative Overwhelm swings!

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 Eternal 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 stunning graphs for the Monday Legends of Runeterra Meta Report, I can't express my gratitude enough to him!

Thanks to Herko Kerghans for his ever-lasting influence on this series and my writing as a whole.

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

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