Monday Meta Report - December 11th

‘sup everyone, your favorite meta reporter Leer here! =)

We are gearing up for Worlds, and the game is more popular than ever. We see every champ being tested extensively, with a certain dragon taking the meta into its grasp.

Legends of Runeterra Decks

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

Volibear Elder Dragon (Elder Ramp) is by far the most popular deck, and Snnuy is to blame! He played the deck on day one on stream and made a YouTube video that inspired many to try it as well.

Morgana Riven quickly arose to deal with this problem, farming the winged serpent and its oversized bear companion.

Zed Gwen was a menace of the last meta and also sees plays this season. In my eyes, it’s the new Lurk – find Shark Chariot early and high roll with Ephemeral units, or go home.

Garen Elder Dragon (Elder Elites) is the latest iteration of Elites. Since they used to be mono Demacia, Elites just play Elder Dragon for some extra buffs on their six drops!

We already see two of the new champions find success in the meta. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about Mordekaiser. This week, he comes with three novel decks – Mordekaiser Sion, Mordekaiser Viego, and Mordekaiser Senna.

All of these archetypes struggle heavily on ladder though and can’t put up high winrate numbers. Worlds player Sorry picked out the most promising one, so check out Sorry’s in-depth Mordekaiser Senna deck guide!

Annie Jhin (Jhinnie) is the Aggro deck of all time, never letting go of its goal to terrorize the ladder.

Heisho Bandle City is a championless combo deck that finds middling success on ladder. If you faced this brew and found it unfair, fret not – Heisho, Shell of the World is getting nerfed before Worlds! =)

Finally, Ashe LeBlanc got doggo support with Yadulski Snowdog and finds solid success on ladder!

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

Elder Elites is the king of the meta! With an easy-to-execute game plan of playing units on curve, this deck is a hit for anyone who wants to learn the game.

Gnar Darius is another board-based beatdown brew that this time around utilizes Overwhelm units to finish the game. Similar to Ashe LeBlanc, it just got stronger with the addition of Yadulski Snowdog.

Jinx Bandle City was a hidden gem last season and it continues to perform in this new environment – without playing any new cards.

Zed Gwen is another brew that’s very good at punishing slow decks, namely Elder Ramp. Thus, it performs very well on ladder!

Jhinnie is the go-to Aggro blend that punished homebrews in the early stages of a season.

Morgana Riven is not only quickly rising in popularity, but it’s also backing it up with a powerful performance. If you want to learn the ins and outs of this archetype, check out my beginner-friendly Morgana Riven deck guide! =)

Riven Gwen continues to perform well, having a break-out performance in the last split.

Unfortunately, Pyke Rek’Sai (Urgh) still exists and benefits from the popularity of Elder Ramp.

Ashe LeBlanc also put up a decent winrate.

Finally, Elder Ramp finds its way into the winrate chart. It only holds a 51% winrate though, so don’t count on this deck performing for you!

Factors Shaping the LoR Meta

Elder Ramp is the pulling force of this meta. Anything that beats it thrives in the meta, and anything weak against it perishes.

As we can see, every Mordekaiser brew can’t compete with the mythical beast. If this is due to the bad matchup or the weak nature of Mordekaiser is left to decide by the reader. 

But as a matter of fact, Mordekaiser needs too much time to set up its wincon, while Elder Dragon’s late game is much more powerful than theirs!

Regarding bad matchups, we see exactly what we indicated in the chart analysis – most of the meta-queens, kings, and serpents beat Elder Ramp convincingly. 

All three of Morgana Riven, Gwen Zed, and Elder Elites win against Elder Ramp around 70% of the time, making these doomed matchups. 

Elder Ramp can’t keep up with the early pressure of these decks, especially against units that survive Avalanche. You might think the Freezes of Elder Ramp would save it against Riven Morgana, but their ability to stun the few blockers of Elder Ramp renders their Overwhelm win con obsolete.

Honorable Mentions

Mordekaiser Morgana

Regions

Shadow Isles
34 cards

Demacia
6 cards

Rarities

27 500

6

3

14

17

eternal

Mana cost

0

0

3

1

14

2

6

3

4

4

3

5

5

6

5

7+

Champions

6

5

Morgana

3

7

Mordekaiser

3

Followers

20

1

The Wings and The Wave

3

2

Ceaseless Sentry

3

2

Fading Icon

3

3

Legion of the Severed

3

4

Mageseeker Inquisitor

3

6

Spectral Ironhound

3

7

The Rekindler

2

Spells

14

2

Glimpse Beyond

3

2

Hate Spike

3

2

Soul Harvest

2

3

Death's Grasp

3

4

Crumble

1

6

Vengeance

2

Morgana comes in flying to unshakle Mordekaiser from its meta game sins.

The deck plays similarly to Nasus Thresh with early aggression through friendly slays. This means Mordekaiser levels swiftly in this brew and doesn’t need to rely on cheesy combos to win.

With a 57% winrate over 3.8k games in the past three days, this is the first Mordekaiser brew with a convincing performance on ladder!

Elder Dragon Norra Teemo

Regions

Runeterra
7 cards

Bandlecity
33 cards

Rarities

36 200

6

12

8

14

eternal

Mana cost

0

0

9

1

13

2

8

3

3

4

0

5

0

6

7

7+

Champions

6

1

Teemo

3

2

Norra

2

12

Elder Dragon

1

Followers

29

1

Yordle Squire

3

2

Bandle Commando

3

2

Conchologist

3

2

Portal Pioneer

2

2

Yordle Explorer

3

3

Bandle City Mayor

3

3

Paparo the Great

3

4

Yordle Captain

3

7

Sai'nen Thousand-Tailed

3

7

Xolaani the Bloodweaver

3

Spells

5

1

Pie Toss

3

3

Wallop

2

As it turns out, Elder Dragon is best used for its Origin to buff six-cost units. Teemo Kayle was a sleeper deck last season, and Kayle was just a desperation pick to play six champions. 

The real reason they dipped into Targon was for Xolaani the Bloodweaver, and we don’t lose that access with Elder Dragon. Plus we get to play Sai'nen Thousand-Tailed for extra gas!

On ladder, Norra Teemo Elder Dragon sports a 57% winrate over 600 games in the past three days. 

There are two versions by the way, the other playing The Winding Light over Xolaani. Both perform similarly well!

Elder Dragon Janna Seraphine

Regions

Runeterra
14 cards

Piltover & Zaun
26 cards

Rarities

32 200

6

8

10

16

eternal

Mana cost

0

0

2

1

13

2

4

3

5

4

2

5

5

6

9

7+

Champions

6

2

Seraphine

3

4

Janna

2

12

Elder Dragon

1

Landmarks

2

5

Sunken Temple

2

Followers

12

2

Clump of Whumps

1

2

Maryam, Temple Caretaker

1

3

Octo Adventurer

1

6

Lord Broadmane

3

8

Wiggly Burblefish

3

10

Plaza Guardian

3

Spells

20

1

Jury-Rig

1

1

Piltovan Tellstones

1

2

Advanced Intel

1

2

Divine Draft

1

2

Encore

1

2

High Note

1

2

Mystic Shot

2

2

Rummage

1

2

Time Trick

1

3

Aftershock

1

3

Howling Gale

1

3

Sump Fumes

1

4

Caustic Riff

2

4

Gotcha!

1

6

Formula

2

7

Sputtering Songspinner

2

Elder Dragon finds its way into the silliest archetypes due to its flexible Origin. This time around, it booked a meet and greet with Seraphine.

Essentially, the deck is a Seraphine blend that power plays Plaza Guardian and Wiggly Burblefish with extra buffs.

On ladder, Janna Seraphine Elder Dragon performs at a 54% winrate over 2.6k games in the past three days. The Sera dream is not dead yet!

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 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 time!