A Diverse Meta! – Power Rankings by Sorry – June 2022

Hello friends, the meta has finally settled after a long battle of determining the optimal lists for each archetype.

It’s evident that Lissandra Taliyah (Thralls) is currently the most popular deck out there, which opens the gateway for counter decks to pop onto the competitive ladder.

Top 6 Decks To Counter Lissandra Taliyah Thralls

I’ve been playing ranked ladder religiously, trying to figure out which decks are best for a consistent ladder climb, and I come to you with my top 8 for this week’s Power Rankings, here we go!

1. Viego Noxus

Elise Viego Katarina is this week’s rank 1 on my Power Rankings. I’ll be honest, I’m not very fond of the archetype as I’m still more of the Shurima version enjoyer, but so far the Noxus version seems to prevail on the ranked ladder.

The reason Viego Noxus is performing well on the competitive ladder and is one of the most played decks is Legion Deserter. The card is just too strong for its cheap mana cost, the Overwhelm keyword along with the buffs it gains from Viego and Encroaching Mists will turn it into a beast ready to slam the Nexus.

The deck simply feels stronger than the Shurima version, capable of putting more pressure but falls behind in terms of protection. Cutting Shurima region for Noxus means you won’t have Rite of Negation or Ancient Hourglass as protection tools for your key units.

However, the Noxus region does offer a damage/removal package with cards such as Ravenous Flock, Disintegrate, and Scorched Earth capable of shutting down your opponent’s plays.

Aside from that, the gameplay is sort of the same as that of the Shurima version, buff up Viego (and Legion Deserter), Invasive Hydravine accelerates those buffs, and set up for either board domination or an Atrocity win condition.

The archetype is solid against almost all the meta decks but falls behind against Fizz Riven and Annie Ezreal. Fizz Riven for instance is difficult to shut down, especially when they set up a Fizz and Papercraft Dragon on the board, the game is most likely over at that point. As for the Annie Ezreal matchup, you’re against a deck with a lot of removal cards, capable of killing your Legion Deserters and Viegos, at one point you’ll find yourself without a carry card while they slowly set up their Tybaulk and Ezreal win conditions.

2. Fizz Riven

Runner up for this week’s Power Rankings is Fizz Riven! The deck rose in popularity overtaking the Fizz Aphelios version of the deck.

Fizz Riven is a combo/aggressive oriented deck, it wants to turn Fizz or Riven into a win condition with the assistance of Papercraft Dragon.

Gleaming Lantern accelerates your game plan with the discount the unit offers on your Fae cards, and with Rainbowfish on the list, you’ll have a secondary win condition to chip Elusive damage towards the Nexus.

The archetype is good because of Fizz, it makes many matchups much better that should on paper be difficult to beat. For example, Annie Ezreal has a lot of removal cards for your combo play, but when it comes to Fizz, the champion can solo carry the matchup with his ability to dodge spells targeting him.

Fizz Riven has a great matchup table! Beating the likes of Elise Viego Noxus, Thralls, and Annie Ezreal but mostly struggles into Demacia decks that run a lot of challenger units and Shaprsight.

Video Guide

3. Zoe Aphelios Vi

Zoe Aphelios Vi secures the third rank this week, another rising star that takes advantage of the discard package along with Winding Light to set up a wide board of units with the Overwhelm keyword and +2|+1 stats.

The deck wants to go wide with Zaunite Urchin and Sump Dredger discarding Flame Chompers! that can be used to pull away blockers which paves the way for the rest of your units to hit the Nexus.

The Winding Light remains your strongest play especially if you have a Vi on board that benefits from the Overwhelm keyword!

Both Zoe and Aphelios act as value champions, Zoe can be problematic for your opponent if not killed! Similarly, Aphelios’ moon weapons provide removal capabilities (Calibrium) and board development (Crescendum).

The deck overall seems solid against popular matchups, it does though lose to Thralls, mostly because of Avalanche and Blighted Ravine. So if you’re not seeing Thralls too much in your own ladder experience, Zoe Aphelios Vi can be a great deck for your climb!

Video Guide

4. Thralls

Thralls obviously makes it into the Power Rankings. The deck is simply dominating the ladder and tournament scene which forces players to adapt and try to counter it.

Lissandra Taliyah relies on an early Frozen Thrall to set up their game plan. Promising Future and Taliyah allow you to have more Frostguard Thralls on the board ready to slam the opponent’s Nexus.

Although a good chunk of the meta decks is trying to counter Thralls, it still remains a solid deck for your ladder climb. It gets heavily countered by Annie Jhin and Illaoi Demacia.

My final Master rank push was on Thralls and if the meta wasn’t trying to actively counter the archetype we would have seen the deck in a higher position on my Power Rankings.

Thralls (Lissandra Taliyah) Deck Guide

5. Illaoi Jarvan IV

Illaoi Jarvan IV preserves a spot in the Power Rankings as one of the best Demacia decks out there. The Overwhelm damage it’s capable of imposing can be a struggle for a lot of archetypes to deal with.

The deck relies on the Tentacle as a core game plan, the more stats they gain the more threatening both Illaoi and The Sea’s Voice can become.

On top of that, Jarvan IV can put a lot of pressure when he joins the battle at burst speed.

Illaoi Jarvan IV is a great choice to combat decks like Thralls, Annie Jhin, and Fizz Riven three decks that are very present in the current meta. It does however fall short against Viego Noxus, Ezreal Caitlyn, and Heimerdinger Jayce SI.

6. Heimerdinger Jayce

Heimerdinger Jayce Shadow Isles has surprisingly been performing well on the ranked ladder.

The deck relies on both champions for value generation. Heimerdinger for example generates the turrets whenever a spell is played and with a list heavy with spells, you’ll be able to swarm the board with turrets.

Jayce on the other hand copies any 6+ mana cost spells, so a card like Shock Blast can be brutal for your opponent. The Acceleration Gate he creates empowers your whole board, allowing you to set up a powerful attack if Jayce is on the board when the Acceleration Gate is played.

Tired of losing to Viego Noxus? Heimerdinger Jayce does great against it! It also performs well against Annie Jhin, Annie Ezreal, and Illaoi Jarvan IV.

Here’s the downside though, Heimerdinger Jayce loses hard to both Thralls and Fizz Riven so it’s best to switch off the deck if your ladder experience is mostly those two decks.

7. Ziggs Taliyah

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Ziggs Taliyah in the Power Rankings and it finally made it back! The landmark-oriented deck has been one of my favorite decks to play on ranked ladder and tournaments, it’s simply a beautiful deck with a unique playstyle.

Ziggs Taliyah wants to set up their champions on the board, level them up, and slap The Absolver on them to push Overwhelm damage. Both champions have their unique ability that allows them to deal additional damage.

The Arsenal is your late game card, if your champions fail to close out the game, The Arsenal is there to make sure the game is over. The random keywords the unit gains will end up being tough for your opponent to deal with.

The archetype struggles against aggressive decks and Viego Noxus but performs splendidly against Demacia decks, Thralls, and Annie Ezreal.

8. Mono Shurima

Mono Shurima makes a come back to the Power Rankings! The archetype remained solid even after the slight nerf it received but its play rate dropped down significantly.

The archetype relies on fulfilling the Sun Disc’s requirement and ascending both Azir and Xerath. Your champions will take over the game, Xerath dominating the board with his damage ability and Azir giving you access to the Emperor’s deck.

Mono Shurima remarkably does well against Thralls, Annie Ezreal, Galio Bard, and Heimerdinger Jayce. It is slightly unfavored against Viego Noxus and Illaoi Demacia but they are pretty winnable matchups! Aggro is where everything falls apart, Annie Jhin is your worst matchup so hopefully you don’t face it while on Mono Shurima!

Closing Words

The meta is diverse and we keep seeing “new” decks show up out of nowhere and start gaining insane popularity.

Although both Thralls and Viego Noxus are dominating the scene, players have found decks capable of holding their ground against at least one of them while also performing well into a variety of other archetypes.

That’s it from me for this week’s Power Rankings, I’ll see you next time! Make sure to follow me on Twitter to keep up with my content.