10 Early Master Decklists for The Darkin Saga: Domination

Introduction

Hey there, Raphterra here! It has only been a few days since The Darkin Saga: Domination went live, but several players from different regions have already reached Masters. I know that most of you are also looking to do your own early climbing, and I’m here to get you covered. In today’s article, I feature 10 Early Master Decklists for The Darkin Saga: Domination.

If you’re looking for lists that are strong enough to reach Masters, you are at the right place. These decks are all builds that showed impressive winrates in high ranks. I mostly picked out lists that run the new champions from the expansion, but I also have an inclusion for players who might not have enough wildcards to craft Varus, Vayne, or Seraphine.

Let’s get right into it!

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Varus Akshan (FnP Chenia)

For the first deck, we have Varus Akshan, a deck that FnP Chenia has been playing with a 73.1% winrate in 41 games. Akshan is one of the more obvious pairings for Varus due to both champions requiring target procs for their level up requirement.

Looking at the stats, it seems that Varus Akshan is slightly favored against the most popular Vayne decks: Vayne Gwen, Pantheon Vayne, Rumble Vayne, and even Jax Vayne. This might be due to Varus Akshan having access to two spells that are great against combat-centric decks: Quicksand and The Unforgiving Cold.

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Zed Vayne (Jaws)

Jaws is one of the early master players from APAC, with his Zed Vayne deck having a 76.7% winrate in 60 games. Vayne works well with Zed due to him having the Quick Attack keyword and an attack effect. Also, Ionia is arguably the strongest region in the game right now.

Zed Vayne is a solid option early in this season due to its highly favored matchup against other Vayne archetypes. It also crushes Seraphine Viktor Ionia, but loses to the Seraphine‘s Noxus and Shadow Isles variants.

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Ezreal Seraphine Noxus (Aipotu就是Ace呀)

Speaking of Seraphine, Aipotu就是Ace呀 has been piloting Ezreal Seraphine Noxus with a 66% winrate in 56 games. This is in my opinion the strongest Seraphine archetype, and will probably be a Tier 1 deck for Patch 3.17.

Similar to Varus Akshan and Zed Vayne, Ezreal Seraphine Noxus also has great matchups against several Vayne decks: Rumble Vayne, Zed Vayne, and Gwen Vayne. However, Pantheon Vayne, Jax Vayne, and Viktor Seraphine Shadow Isles are matchups that are unfavored for Ezreal Seraphine Noxus.

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Seraphine Viktor Ionia (Bluegod)

Seraphine Viktor Ionia is the most popular Seraphine deck, for good reason! Bluegod has been piloting this list with a 71.9% winrate in 57 games. Viktor Karma with Back Alley Bar was already making some waves in the previous patch, so it wasn’t a surprise that replacing Karma with Seraphine was going to be decent as well.

Just in terms of stats, Seraphine Viktor has been mostly mediocre. It’s unfavored against most of the other popular decks, but I believe this is another case of players not knowing how to pilot the deck correctly. The deck’s power level will vary a lot depending on the skill of the player using it.

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Jax Vayne (Symphii)

Next, we have another Vayne deck: Jax Vayne. Symphii has been playing Jax Vayne with a 77.7% winrate in 36 games. Jax has been underwhelming after his release, but Vayne really amped up the viability of several Quick Attack champions. The Grandmaster-at-Arms has Quick Attack, an attack effect, and equipment synergy; a pairing with Vayne was bound to happen at some point.

Jax Vayne has its fair share of both good and bad matchups. It’s favored against Vayne Gwen, Rumble Vayne, and Viktor Seraphine Ionia, but unfavored against Pantheon Vayne, Annie Jhin, and Zed Vayne. This is a solid option for ladder if you find that you are facing specific decks more often!

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Pirates (Tempo13X)

This one is for the “old school” aggro players! Tempo13X has been playing Pirate Aggro with a winrate of 71.7% in 46 games. This build is very close to the old school Pirates list; it’s still running a full set of Decimate despite the huge nerf in the recent balance patch.

Pirate Aggro seems to be rocking and ready to go with its overall winrate of 55.7% in 4800+ games. Pirates crush Rumble Vayne, Annie Jhin, Akshan Varus, and is favored against Vayne Gwen, Pantheon Vayne, and Zed Vayne. Just beware that Pirates are unfavored against Seraphine decks.

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Vayne Fiora P&Z (Shimayuki03)

Now, we will start diving into the spice territory! We’re starting off with P&Z Vayne Fiora, a deck piloted by Shimayuki03 at 78.1% winrate in 32 games. This deck uses a full set of The Darkin Harp, a Quick Attack equipment that works well with Vayne, Fiora, and Bloodcursed Harpy.

We don’t have plenty of sample data for this archetype yet, so I decided to take a look at Shimayuki03‘s match history. From there, it seems that this list is having a lot of success against Seraphine decks and the Vayne mirrors.

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Seraphine Zoe Purrsuit of Perfection (Fluéa)

If Purrsuit of Perfection isn’t spicy enough for you, I don’t know what to say. Fluéa has been playing Seraphine Zoe with a 75.5% winrate in 45 games. Compared to other Seraphine Zoe lists, this one only runs a few units with an interesting inclusion of two copies of Iula. The build emphasizes on having more options for spells.

Zoe Seraphine is doing horribly as an overall archetype with an overall winrate of only 40% in 2700+ games. This list stands out from the others as it has a winrate higher than 50%. We may see a better overall winrate for the archetype once players start using the correct builds.

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Seraphine Akshan (ABG MistAssassin)

Next, I’m featuring a combo list running Curse of the Tomb. ABG MistAssassin used Seraphine Akshan with a 69.8% winrate in 63 games. This list runs plenty of 1-ofs to abuse Level 2 Seraphine‘s duplicate effect. The combo of Curse of the Tomb and The Absolver is game-ending if pulled off successfully.

Similar to Zoe Seraphine, Seraphine Akshan is another archetype that is performing poorly with an overall winrate of 46.5% in 10000+ games. The build I featured is the standout list with 57.9% winrate in 114 games. I’m expecting this list to get more attention in the next days!

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Vayne Leblanc (LFR Sokoï)

For the final decklist, we have another spicy Vayne deck! LFR Sokoï currently has a 72.8% winrate in 59 games with Vayne Leblanc. Vayne paired with another Quick Attack champion shouldn’t be a surprise at this point. Leblanc and Reputation thrived in spots where they can attack multiple times; getting a free attack every turn with Vayne is a massive upgrade to the archetype.

LFR Sokoï seems to be doing well against most Vayne decks. Trifarian Gloryseeker could be a key card against Vayne mirrors since she can pick-off most champions that are being run together with Vayne. The overall winrate for this Vayne Leblanc is very respectable at 52.3% in 1200+ games.

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Closing Words

That’s it for the list! Hopefully this article helps you find the decks that you need for your early ladder climb. I will be attempting to climb to Masters in the next days too. Stay tuned for my next deck guide!

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on YouTube, Discord, or Twitter!