Howdy, Champs!
It's been quite the week, with everything from new trends in the LoR meta to Riot giving us the green light to present to you the next Worlds Qualifier caster lineup, so let's jump into it, one thing at a time!
Mastering Runeterra Open, This Saturday
There will be a small change to our Open's prize pool: it will start at a guaranteed $1000 minimum so long as we get at least 8 players. Beyond that, $18 from each player's entry will go towards the prize pool, until we overcome the minimum prize. For instance, if we have 55 players, the prize pool is still $1000 (rather than 55 x 18) but at 56 players, the total increases to $1008 and so on.
If we have a total of at least 90 players for the start of round 1, then the prize pool minimum goes to $2000, similarly with players past 111 adding $18 more to the pot. This change is aimed to help us maintain a sustainable tournament series so we can continue to grow the grassroots scene and foster the Legends of Runeterra esports scene.
This tournament is open to all LoR players (no need to be a Mastering Runeterra subscriber) with an Americas account, and has an entry fee of $20.
Head over to the tournament's Matcherino page for the full details, and join the fray!
➡: https://matcherino.com/tournaments/97617/
Faces of the World Ones
Alright, we've got Riot's green light to share this with you all: Mastering Runeterra will be producing the coverage of the next Runeterra Worlds Qualifier Open on Sunday 6, and we'll be working behind the scenes to bring you the combined talents of Spidz, MoonBoy, Gems, SparklingIceTea, Scarzig, and Boulevard for coverage and analysis!
You can read about each of these amazing casters in the Meet the Casting Team article.
And if you want to take a look at what the current Worlds Point race looks like, the amazing folks from The Runeterra Report have you covered with their detailed Runeterra Point Leaderboard.
Weapons of Choice
The high-stakes events are coming, and our team has been giving their keyboards no rest to bring you the latest deck guides and meta reports!
For those that would like to give Neeko a try, Sorry wrote a detailed Gnar Neeko Deck Guide:
Gnar Neeko has become a popular choice in Patch 4.7, showing promising performance as players continue refining the deck to suit the evolving meta.
Targon Elusives are not the powerhouse they were a week ago, but they are still a force to be reckoned with on the LoR ladder, and in his Teemo Targon Deck Guide Yangzera recommends at least trying the deck out for a few games:
My recommendation for now is to at least try the deck out for a few games and get a feel for the hand and board states you get. Even if you’re not planning on playing this deck extensively or bringing it to a tournament, it’s important to have the feeling for when you’re matched against it so you know what your opponent might be thinking or considering. Learning play patterns and intent of a deck helps you navigate matchups better, especially when it’s a polarizing strategy like Elusives beatdown.
One of this week's surprises has been the resurgence of Fizz Samira – as Sorry says in his updated Fizz Samira Deck Guide:
I like to think of Fizz Samira as the Pheonix deck in Runeterra. Despite receiving multiple nerfs, this archetype refuses to fade away. This new Elusive-focused version offers a unique playstyle, creating a powerful board presence with Shelly.
For those that would like to read a full overview of the LoR meta, Leer's Monday Meta Report and Herko's Best LoR Decks article have an in-depth review of all the best archetypes for the ladder.
Riot's Region Pie, Chapter Three: Piltover & Zaun, Ionia, and Targon
Riot's Senior Game Designer Tyler Morgan published Chapter Three of their ongoing Region Pie series, this time sharing an overview of what LoR devs consider the strengths and weaknesses of Piltover & Zaun…
The city of innovation, home of hextech and chemtech. In this land filled with mad scientists, spells, and card draw, unusual gameplans should always find a home here. Through archetypes like Augment, Piltover and Zaun leans very heavily into card creation, and mana regeneration. Through careful planning and a wide array of tools they seek to control the board.
… Ionia…
The land of spiritual enlightenment, and the embodiment of the natural magicks that course through Runeterra. At the core of Ionia is the concept of “Tempo.” Ionia spends a lot of time with temporary solutions to problems, without permanent solutions. The road to victory lies in keeping the enemy off kilter before they can stabilize into a real threat to your board.
… and Targon:
In LoR, Targon is a mystical region buffing and protecting your cards until you can ascend to godhood. By Invoking units to help you along your journey, you can reach a point to Overwhelm your enemies or deliver the killing blow with some powerful or buffed Elusives.
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!