Howdy, Champs!
It's that time of the month: a Runeterra Open is upon us. And it's that time of the season: this is Heart of the Huntress' one and only Worlds Qualifier Open, so let's get rolling.
Runeterra Worlds Qualifier Open
First and foremost: Riot's Runeterra Opens are as open as they get. Anybody with a LoR account and three Tournament-legal decks can participate – no entry fee, no minimum rank, no nothing. Just head to the Play >> Tournament tab and get your games in during the allotted window.
Mastering Runeterra will be producing the Day Two coverage, so if you don't make it to the Playoffs, here's where you can catch all the action:
Runeterra Open Decks and Lineups:
If you still haven't made up your mind about what decks you'll bring, be sure to check Sorry's Lineups for the Runeterra Opens World Qualifier, where he breaks down five different lineups, with their strategies, targets, and bans:
- The Successful Lineup
- My Preferred Lineup
- Beat the Meta Lineup
- The Roji Special Lineup
- Dodge Aggro Lineup
Our Pros have pumped several deck guides this week, to help you gain every possible edge:
Leer wrote a detailed Shen Jarvan IV Deck Guide, one of the decks that Sorry recommends in his Dodge Aggro Lineup for the Runeterra Open this weekend:
Shen Jarvan IV is a board-based deck that manipulates trades in their favor through Barriers and Challenger units. It has one of the most unique playstyles for a Demacian deck and presents a rare symbiosis between Ionia and Demacia.
Yang revamped and updated Aatrox Vayne's Deck Guide, one of the decks with which Da Tank Buster secured first place in the Mastering Runeterra Open last weekend:
Over the course of the past few months, Aatrox Vayne fell off in popularity and effectiveness because of the rise in popularity of extremely board centric decks like Jax Ornn, but as the Heart of the Huntress metagame developed, super aggressive decks like Jinx bandle city and Samira Fizz became very popular, pushing these slow decks out of the game and with that Aatrox's healing came back with full power.
If you want something off the beaten path, Yang also wrote a Jax Teemo Deck Guide – not a deck you're likely to bump into on the LoR ladder, but that Yang thinks very highly of for Best-of-Three:
Personally, I think Jax Teemo is a tournament only deck. I wouldn’t really highly recommend you play this deck in ladder, because there’s simply a better “Wrench Parts” deck in Jinx Kennen. If your goal is exclusively to gain a lot of LP, go play that. If you want to try out a different deck, though, or are looking for something to round up your lineup with a similar matchup table to Jinx Kennen, mostly in the sense that you want to play against Samira Fizz or Nasus for example, this is a deck you should be considering.
Lastly, Sorry wrote Seraphine Caitlyn Targon Deck Guide, a centerpiece of the Beat the Meta Lineup:
While it may be challenging to master, Seraphine Caitlyn's ability to consistently overcome popular decks makes it an excellent choice for climbing the ladder or including it in a tournament lineup.
Mid-Year Update 2023 | Dev Snapshot - Legends of Runeterra
LoR Game Director and Executive Producer Dave Guskin shared the mid-year update:
Then, he and several other LoR devs were busy answering a host of questions on Reddit.
CaptSarah, Queen of Reddit Mods and the real LoR Champion, compiled links to all the Devs' answers:
Path Of Champions
- tPoC Relic grind
- tPoC Campaigns
- tPoC endgame teaser
- tPoC best place to suggest changes " r/PathofChampions "
- Ashe coming to tPoC
- Balancing tPoC
- Seraphine and Norra for tPoC?
- Duplicate Relics(tPoC)
Competitive
- Worlds points
- Cross Shard and Grassroots Tournaments
- Eternal Ranked window
- Broadcasts Official / Community
Card releases / Updates / Balance
- Variety Patches
- Champion Variants / Reworks
- Choosing the next champions
- Champion Reworks
- Mechanic balance / Rework
- Speed of card release
- Voice lines
- Community card kitchen
Cosmetics
- Emote slots
- Card Frames
- Global Cosmetics
- Skins
- Randomized Cosmetics
- Titles out of Competitive
- Community Kitchen for cosmetics?
- Personal Shop timeline
Other
- Getting a job at Riot
- Mac OS Client (Lack of)
- Dev Blogs
- Next Dev Snapshot
- UX Design and glow reduction
MaRu Podcast Ep#114, ft. Boulevard:
World-class caster Boulevard joins Jae & Bae to go over the shifts of the LoR meta, interesting decks that may tempt connoisseurs, hard truths about card gamers, and lessons Boulevard has learned on his way to the top of the casting games game!
0:00 Opening Thanks
0:47 Special Guest; BoulevardTCG & his secret technique
3:05 Triangular Meta Analysis
7:10 The rotation of ladder & it's resounding impact
14:43 Aikado's tempting last-second Ionia Pile
20:13 The Majiinbae Day 2 & the influence of MasteringRuneterra.com tournaments
24:35 Boulevard's quandry making Tournament Tacticians & the public's data points
32:51 The most SOUL CRUSHING feeling in a tournament; the one who doesn't get there
35:50 The Lazy nature of card gamers & the will to win
48:40 Being THE VIP Caster; Lessons Boulevard has learned becoming a Professional
1:01:00 Gauntlet's evolution & Jason's beef with it
1:04:33 Final Words of Open wisdom
Path of Champions: Neeko Strategy Guide
Heart of the Huntress brought the lovable Neeko to Path of Champions -- and while not the strongest, she’s certainly one of the more unique characters in the Path of Champions roster.
YouuXun wrote an extensive Neeko Path Guide about her, sharing tips, strategies, and detailing the best powers and relics.
Wrapping Up
That would be it for this week, Champs!
Anything in particular you'd like us to tackle next week? Let us know in our Discord server, or get in touch on Twitter!