6 Decks to Crush With Early in the New Season

The new Legends of Runeterra season has officially started with a massive patch release that introduced numerous impactful buffs and nerfs. They shook up the meta, bringing back some of the older forgotten archetypes while also toning down the power level of the several top-tier decks.

With the reset of the Ranked ladder, players will be looking to quickly climb back up to their desired rank. At the start of a season, the meta is usually all over the place before it finally settles down.

In this article, I’ll be sharing 6 decks that currently are performing well on the ladder in this chaotic environment. The lists below are a solid choice for your early ladder push!

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The Dragons are back! With the recent buffs to Herald of Dragons, Ruined Dragonguard, Dragon’s Clutch, and Aurelion Sol, the deck has quickly risen in popularity on the competitive ladder.

The most notable buff that will make the deck more threatening is the change to Dragon’s Clutch – now it can give the Overwhelm keyword to all of your Dragons on the board.

Shyvana Aurelion Sol was always focused on building a formidable board, removing your opponent’s units off the board through value trades, and chipping away slowly at the opposing Nexus.

A deck capable of chump blocking those big scary Dragons was able to buy enough time to set up its own win condition. Well, not anymore! The Overwhelm keyword off of Dragon’s Clutch will put the high attack stat of your Dragons to use.

The Fury Keyword will increase the stats of your Dragons over the course of the game which will work great with an Overwhelm keyword once you’ve set up a wide board of units. Ruined Dragonguard‘s ability will feed your Dragons which in turn push even more damage to the opponent’s Nexus with Overwhelm.

I’ve played this version of Shyvana Aurelion Sol a lot on the first day of the season and managed to maintain a high win rate with the deck. The Overwhelm from Dragon’s Clutch helped cover the weakness that the deck had in the past.

You can cut one Aurelion Sol for a Zoe if you’re looking to add a value 1-drop that generates a Supercool Starchart, but keep in mind that it may make your mirror match a little difficult since the matchup most of the time depends on the player able to level their Aurelion Sol.

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Click here to read Poppy Ziggs In-Depth Deck Guide!

Poppy Ziggs burn has received nerfs to two of its core units: Stone Stackers and Tenor of Terror.

Those changes were not enough to keep this unstoppable burn deck down. Stone Stackers is still a solid 2-drop in the deck – the Impact keyword and 1 additional health mean the card is still very playable in the deck.

As for Tenor of Terror, players have opted to cut the card out entirely and replace it with Lecturing Yordle. It is a 5-health unit that is difficult for the opponent to remove that will generate a Poison Dart every time it attacks.

This Aggro Burn deck relies on swarming the board with cheap units and pushing in damage onto the opponent’s Nexus. Poppy is a must-answer threat that buffs up your other allies. However, keeping her alive at all costs is not your objective, the goal is to simply push as much damage early on as you can.

Spells like Noxian Fervor and Decimate are your finisher tools – once your units have dealt the early damage, burn cards will close out the game.

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Click here to read Sivir Demacia In-Depth Deck Guide!

Akshan Sivir remains as one of the top-tier decks in the meta. The deck has a solid win rate into most matchups (aside from Sion Draven), so you might want to switch it up if you’re matching into it a lot.

The deck is favored into both Zoe Lee Sin and Veigar Senna – two decks that remain strong in the current meta. It also is a great choice against The Bandle Tree decks as it’s difficult for them to deal with your Sivir + The Absolver Overwhelm attack.

Akshan Sivir relies on creating a board presence, leveling up Sivir, and giving all your attacking units the Quick Attack keyword that allows you to remove your opponent’s blockers for free.

Akshan acts as a solid 2-drop champion, Warlord’s Palace and Warlord’s Hoard are crucial value landmarks that the deck relies on.

Once you’ve set up your board, a leveled-up Sivir with The Absolver played on her will grant the Overwhelm keyword to all attacking allies, in most cases, you’ll be threatening to end the game.

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Click here to read GP Sejuani In-Depth Deck Guide!

Gangplank Sejuani Plunder deck is a solid pick for your ladder climb. The fact that it already was strong in the meta and that it didn’t receive any nerfs in the latest patch makes it a good choice for Ranked.

Gangplank Sejuani focuses on leveling up your champions as early as possible by damaging the opponent’s Nexus at least once on 5 different rounds.

Cards like Crackshot Corsair, Make it Rain, Warning Shot, Monkey Idol, and Parrrley are all effective tools to advance your champions’ level-ups.

Once leveled, both Gangplank and Sejuani have their unique ability that’ll dominate the board. Gangplank sends a ton of damage towards the opponent’s Nexus thanks to his Overwhelm keyword along with an AOE that can affect opposing units. Sejuani will freeze the enemy board the first time you deal damage to the opponent’s Nexus, making the combat phase a nightmare for the opponent.

The Dreadway is a solid late game unit that doubles the damage you’re pushing, it works perfectly with the Overwhelm keyword your champions share and cards like Warning Shot can push a lot of damage if a Powder Keg is on the board.

Shyvana Aurelion Sol is now one of the most represented decks on the ladder, and Gangplank Sejuani can deal with it fairly well thanks to Sejuani’s ability to freeze their Dragons. It also has a fair chance at beating most other meta decks, which makes it a solid choice for a ladder climb.

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Click here to read Bandle Tree In-Depth Deck Guide!

Fizz Poppy Bandle Tree didn’t receive any significant nerfs that would slow or shut down the deck. The main win condition of The Bandle Tree remains the same, and you’re still able to go wide with units thanks to Bandle City Mayor.

Aloof Travelers is the only card that was actually hit with a big nerf – the stats change makes it difficult to block Fearsome units, but the effect of Aloof Travelers and its main purpose in the deck remains intact.

Loping Telescope was also nerfed slightly as it won’t be able to create itself anymore, but overall the deck will retain its swarm potential. Bandle City Mayor plays a key role in this gameplan thanks to the card’s ability to make multi-region units cheaper.

Poppy acts as an essential champion that also, being from Demacia, assists in fulfilling The Bandle Tree landmark quest, which is your second win condition, while still acting as a threatening unit for the opponent due to her ability to buff all the units on your board.

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Click here to read Darkness In-Depth Deck Guide!

Veigar Senna Darkness is one of the hardest decks to pilot, but when mastered, it rewards a pilot greatly.

The only nerf Darkness received was the hit to Aloof Travelers. However, it was very much compensated with the buff to Dess & Ada, which is now a perfect card to add to the deck. Darkness from Dess & Ada now scales – it allows the deck to possibly wipe the opponent’s board on turn 8.

Veigar Senna is a control deck that focuses on surviving in the early game while also working on buffing up your Darkness spell and getting your Veigar leveled. Senna‘s ability to generate Darkness helps you remove key units from the opponent’s board while also building towards your Veigar dream.

Once Veigar is leveled up, you’ll be able to target the opponent’s Nexus with your Darkness spells. By the late game you should have scaled up your Darkness to the point where the spell deals devastating amounts of damage directly to the Nexus.

Stilted Robemaker makes your Darkness spells cheaper – this is crucial against fast-paced decks as it allows you to deal with threats easier.

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Closing Words

The decks featured in this article are obviously not the only decks out there that you can climb the ladder with.

We’re still in an experimental phase where new archetypes are starting to make a mark on the competitive ladder, and old decks are rising back from the ashes.

It’ll be exciting to see how the meta will settle and which decks will end up being the top competitive tier.

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