Tuesday's Road to Seasonals tournament was far from uneventful. We had SparklingIceT on the caster's desk and one of the craziest lineups I've seen in a long time taking first. Not only are Elites a deck based on these results, but Sivir Udyr as well??? Read all about it below!
1st Place - KevinLoR of Hydra Esports
Garen Jarvan Elites
38 cards
2 cards
26 100
Square Beef is the name of the game, Elites decks like this look to gradually build out a board, utilizing Battlesmith to make their threats even harder to attack into, all culminating in chunking in repeatedly with next to no good blockers for the opponent. This version looks to build a huge board by round 7 or so, then skew the advantage in their favor with one big Rally turn, with or without For Demacia. This list uses Inner Beast as a mild splash since the overwhelm and regeneration stances are VERY potent on Demacia's beefcakes!
Jayce Lux
22 cards
18 cards
25 100
Far from the first time we've seen this deck, Lux Jayce is proving to be a staple, with the added unpredictability of one natural Hextech Anomaly as well.
Multiple big spells and lasers with a man-boat to top it all off. This deck looks to control the board with highly efficient larger spells that 2-for-1 easily, while doubling up thanks to Jayce, and making Final Sparks from Lux. This version incorporates mageseekers for more board control, Back to Back to keep things alive, and Albus Ferros as a finisher + Jayce finder.
Sivir Udyr
19 cards
21 cards
24 400
This deck seems to be intent on a bit of a bigger Sivir gameplan than the typical Sivir Akshan deck we're used to seeing. It utilizes early drops to staunch any aggression the opponent has while pressuring them and building towards Sivir's level. The deck has a few good vulnerable-givers to control combat and a slew of combat tricks in combination with "Shuriman Vengeance" (Desert Duel) to answer whatever you need to. The deck ends up with a massive Udyr since you run 11 Stance generators, and giving himself or a leveled Sivir Overwhelm is a quick way to close out a game.
2nd Place - Cameron Hanzo of Wobbly Wombats
Kindred Viego
19 cards
21 cards
26 300
This list has become a staple control deck. It uses Kindred to control the board and slowly grow off her own value, Invasive Hydravine to slowly grow mists on it's own, and Viego to immediately level and start chopping heads when he drops. It's focused around keeping the opponent down, and protecting it's own threats through Ionian trickery like Syncopation, Deny, Spirit's Refuge and now Scales of the Dragon.
Azir Xerath
40 cards
27 300
There are only so many times you can write about sun disc before it starts feeling rough. The deck is focused around turbo-leveling Azir and Xerath to flip the sun disc and slowly burn them down with Level 3 Xerath and the Emperor's Deck.
Taliyah Ziggs
30 cards
10 cards
27 500
This landmark based tempo deck looks to use the value that landmark cards typically bring to the table such as Rock Hopper, Endless Devout, Preservarium and the like to build up their landmark numbers before slamming a Ziggs and burning the opponent out with landmarks, or a Taliyah to attack in a very hard to block manner. This version uses The Absolver to render blockers a moot point when need be and has one The Arsenal to close out games in explosive fashion.
3/4th Place - ChronoMirage
Ezreal Heimerdinger Shurima
28 cards
12 cards
23 800
A tempo list using the Ezreal and Heimerdinger package alongside other efficient tempo tools such as Treasure Seeker, Boom Baboon with Zaunite Urchin, and Merciless Hunter to control combat. This list utilizes three Fallen Feline in conjunction with Scrying Sands and Chronomancers to hunt down the Hexite Crystal. It seems bent on matching the opponent and leaning on Heimerdinger's value with Ezreal's burn to close out games.
Viktor Lee Sin Vi
23 cards
17 cards
28 900
An iteration on what has been colloquially called a "Dresbo pile" due to it's pioneer Dresbo piloting it to rank 1. This is a smorgasbord deck that runs 3 eye of the dragon, 3 viktor, and 2 less sin. The rest is a mix of whatever the pilot feels like on that day of the week. It aims to get a fair bit of strength through presenting enough possible outs and tools that the opponent can't plan for everything. This gives the pilot a massive amount of flexibility and skill expression with the deck as well.
Yuumi Pantheon
14 cards
26 cards
23 200
A mostly typical pantheon list aimed at building up one to two fated threats then overwhelming for more than the opponent can handle. This list interestingly uses Gift giver as an early chump blocker + fated trigger, alongside one Crystal Ibex to give the deck a 4th Overwhelm giver.
3/4th Place - TheBlackBoss of Hydra Esports
Miss Fortune Quinn Scouts
34 cards
6 cards
28 800
MF Quinn Scouts is a popular midrange strategy that aims to make the most out of it's champions with many challengers to exploit Miss Fortune's ability, and a number of scouts to chunk in relentlessly. A big aim of the deck is building up to one key turn where it includes a board pump (For Demacia off of Vanguard Sergeant, Cithria's attack trigger, or Genevieve's Summon effect) to get maximum value out of scouts, and a rally to close out the game.
Azir Xerath
40 cards
27 500
There are only so many times you can write about sun disc before it starts feeling rough. The deck is focused around turbo-leveling Azir and Xerath to flip the sun disc and slowly burn them down with Level 3 Xerath and the Emperor's Deck. This version has one Desert Naturalist to help against other landmark decks and help with clogged boards.
Ziggs Taliyah
29 cards
11 cards
27 900
This landmark based tempo deck looks to use the value that landmark cards typically bring to the table such as Rock Hopper, Endless Devout, Preservarium and the like to build up their landmark numbers before slamming a Ziggs and burning the opponent out with landmarks, or a Taliyah to attack in a very hard to block manner. This version uses The Absolver to render blockers a moot point when need be and has one The Arsenal to close out games in explosive fashion.