ARAM Spiders: The Howling Abyss Meets Iceborn Legacy

Who could have predicted that it will be Iceborn Legacy buff that will finally make The Howling Abyss competitive?
  • Origins

Hello everyone, Dragonguy here today to talk with you all about a deck that has been on the rise with the new patch, Elise Trundle ARAM Spiders. This is an interesting new archetype that threatens the opponent in multiple ways, both as a pressure and a control deck.

The buff to Iceborn Legacy in Patch 3.0 is what made this deck possible. Iceborn Legacy on Spiderlings is not an entirely new concept, but before this update, it was too unreliable. Slow speed left you open to a lot of removal options, making it too risky to be considered competitive.

With the change of Iceborn Legacy to Burst speed, the risk has been eliminated. One of the first people to try out a Spiderling Iceborn Legacy concept was Cephalopod, and since then the deck has taken off in popularity and is showing its power. So, let’s take a look at the list.

  • Gameplan

The deck has a few different gameplans that it can execute, depending on the game state.

One strategy is to utilize Iceborn Legacy on your Spiderlings. This turns them into dangerous threats, especially since this deck has a lot of ways to spam them.

Elise and Vile Feast can summon a Spiderling for a low cost, and Hapless Aristocrat can chump block and summon a Spiderling on his Last Breath. We can also summon multiple several Spiderlings in one card with Crawling Sensation and Brood Awakening.

With this package, you are able to apply a lot of pressure to the opponent that they won’t always be able to answer. Of course, this is not the most reliable plan, as it requires you to draw Iceborn Legacy, and find the right time to play it. Not to fear, however, as the deck has other ways to win the game as well.

Trundle, our deck’s other champion, is a win condition in himself. With his recent buff to 6 HP, he is difficult to remove, and will often require an investment of multiple cards to do so. If he is not removed, you can play Ice Pillar to level him.

Once leveled, it will only take a few smacks with his trusty club to take out the opponent. Even if he can’t kill the opponent, he can often get them low enough for you to threaten lethal through Atrocity.

If these win conditions fail, then we can deploy our value-engine landmark, The Howling Abyss. Level 2 champions it generates are all quite powerful and often can win the game on their own.

As the glue to the archetype, we run some standard SI Freljord control tools. Vengeance is making a resurgence with its recent buff, and has felt great in the deck.

Blighted Ravine is an amazing answer to go-wide decks, while also providing some crucial healing. Three Sisters gives incredible flexibility, letting us choose the right card for the situation we’re in. Finally, we have some 1-of’s with The Box and The Ruination.

  • Verdict

While the deck was making a lot of waves on the first few days of the patch, its hype has since died down.

It has unfavorable matchups into both Kennen Ahri and Iceborn Poros, 2 decks that are quite prevalent currently on the ladder. People are also starting to experiment with different builds, such as cutting Trundle for Kindred and opting for Commander Ledros over The Howling Abyss.

Still, this version of the deck is strong and is seeing plenty of success, despite some of its bad matchups. The flexibility it offers feels great, allowing you to be aggressive one game and play at a slower control pace the next – if you enjoy this level of versatility in your decks, this would be the perfect one for you.

Dragonguy
Dragonguy

Dragonguy is a just a guy who enjoys playing some fun LOR decks. After taking targon's peak and Deep to top 32 of Guardians of the Ancient, he's been constantly looking to improve his game. Also, he's been playing a lot of Path of Champions lately, and is really enjoying Jinx.

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