4 Best Ahri Decks So Far – Patch 2.21

We haven't forgotten about you fellow Ahri fans! Mezume has been tracking the best lists featuring her - and here's what we can share.

Hello, it’s Mezume here!

Among all the craziness of the new reveals, it feels like one champion has been fairly underrepresented, both in the high-elo meta as well as on RuneterraCCG. That champion is Ahri and I will try to present some interesting decks including her right here.

There is not much Master data, as she is not played a lot over there, so I will back my experiences with data based on games in all ranks. The decks are listed in descending order of power level – in my own estimation, and at the time of writing the piece (post-December hotfix meta).


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Ahri Kennen Go Hard created by Mezume • last updated 1 year ago
Standard
Midrange

Just like the Legends of Runeterra design team intended – Kennen and Ahri fit together in a great way. With Kennen Ezreal falling out of favour after the recent hotfix balance changes, Kinkou Wayfinder found its use as a tutor to Kennen AND Dancing Droplet. There are multiple ways to play these two together in an Allegiance-based deck, and I will present two such decks here in this article.

This list above is one that WhatAmI took to Rank 1 Masters just 2 days ago! There are some interesting tech choices and non-obvious inclusions coming together, but overall this looks a lot like what I would call a  “WhatAmI” deck. Versatile, multiple win conditions and ways to play the game.

Both Kennen and Ahri are powerful on their own and work very well with the same synergy – Recalls. This deck provides those aplenty, with Recall, Retreat, and Navori Conspirator, as well as their own champion spells.

With a pretty low curve, it is able to stand its ground in the early game, even if Eye of the Dragon is not a part of the strategy in this case. Kinkou Wayfinder is a powerful way to bring Kennen and Dancing Droplet to the playing field.

This deck throws a curveball at the opponents with a way to completely shift your gameplan: Go Hard. With lots of drawing through Dancing Droplet, deck-thinning with Wayfinder, as well as the newest addition of Sai’nen Thousand-Tailed, it is quite likely you are going to be able to play multiple Go Hards early on in the game. And even if drawing them naturally would sometimes take too long, don’t fret, as you have a way to tutor them without fail in Scattered Pod.

This list is very much the typical jack-of-all-trades we used to see a lot with Targon piles, and it does it so well, it is capable of reaching rank 1 in the hands of an extremely good player! Whether it works for everyone remains to be seen, but it is definitely a strong consideration for the best Ahri deck out there currently. With Sai’nen to win by Elusive swarm, Go Hard to out-grind your opponent and finally Ahri and Kennen to do their own thing, this strategy is unlikely to get boring to play!


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Ahri Kennen Absolver created by Rainmaker • last updated 1 year ago
Tempo
Elusive

Here’s another powerful way to play Ahri Allegiance – Elusives with The Absolver!

While a lot of the cards overlap between this deck and the previous one, the gameplan is much more streamlined, creating slightly more polarized matchup pattern.

With The Mourned and Greenglade Duo, this deck wants to go all-in on Elusives. Between the 15 Elusive units, Syncopation, and The Absolver, it is nearly unavoidable that you will be able to get damage through nearly every turn – but beware, as your defenses are much weaker than in the case of Go Hard version!

Nearly all of the spells are used as protection in this deck – including Nopeify! and Memory’s Cloak. Your one way of stopping the opposing gameplan is Homecoming. Due to this, you need to be well aware how much damage the opponent can do and choose your trades accordingly. Play too reckless and you’ll end up dead; play too defensive and you won’t have enough damage to finish them off!

Overall, both Allegiance decks are tons of fun, though personally, I found Go Hard to be more challenging, as I am a big fan of versatility. That said, you should definitely try out both of them – you won’t regret it!


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Ahri Fizz created by Mezume • last updated 1 year ago
Standard
Elusive

According to stats, this is one of the most played Ahri decks – once more, we are going to Elusive town! This time, Bandle City is the pairing and we finally grow independent of Kinkou Wayfinder – instead going for some of Bandle’s cheap spells.

This deck runs pretty much every single cheap Elusive unit and is very straightforward. Play your Elusives, such as Navori Bladescout, Greenglade Duo, and The Mourned, and attack your opponent’s Nexus until its health reaches zero. There really is not that much more to it.

Ahri adds some finesse, as her positioning can be extremely important – you need to choose wisely which Elusive you want to Recall at which moment in time. Bandle City provides Conchologist for this strategy, which can pull some game-winning tools – such as Nopeify!, Memory’s Cloak, cheap buffs, or even Stress Defense and removal. We also run powerful spells, such as Flamespitter and Twin Disciplines – both providing more damage, while the latter also serves as additional protection for your fragile units.

Overall, I am not the biggest fan of decks that are so extremely one-dimensional, but it can be relaxing to jam some games of Elusives every once in a while. Additionally, there is still some nuance on how to play it – you need to know when to save mana to protect Fizz, how to position Ahri while attacking and so on.

I can recommend this deck if you want to get in some games without having to completely focus – or if you simply love Elusives!


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Ahri Katarina created by Mezume • last updated 1 year ago
Standard
Elusive

I can’t go against my nature and not include a little bit more of a fun concept. Granted, this is still an Elusive deck, but it goes in a much different direction and happens to include one of the least played champions in the game – Katarina!

The goal of the deck is fairly simple: flood the board and overwhelm the opponent either with sheer numbers of your army, or the elusiveness of your units.

The difference between this deck and many other non-Demacia Elusives is that this one can Rally. It is rare that you will have a more narrow board than your opponent in the early game, as you play multiple cheap followers, as well as House Spider. Even when swarm doesn’t work for you, you have other ways to win, like repeated attacks through Katarina’s level-up.

In games where the beginning stages did not go in your favour, you will have to rely on the Elusive keyword of your units – that’s why we include two copies of Solitary Monk. Another strength of this deck is that between Dancing Droplet, Sai’nen Thousand-Tailed and Shadow Assassin, it takes quite a while to run out of steam.

Ahri plays a little bit of a different role in this strategy – instead of focusing on leveling her up, we can abuse her level 1 ability very well. With the abundance of Elusives, as well as Might and Twin Disciplines in your arsenal, it is possible to nearly OTK an unsuspecting opponent; or at least get multiple favorable trades. She is pivotal to the success of the deck, even if she is not necessarily its centerpiece.

While this is, in my opinion, the least viable deck on the list (though it might get refined and even better!), it is also really fun to play. I’ve enjoyed every game I got to play with it. This may have to do with its novelty, but truth be told, there is something oddly satisfying about having Katarina command your Elusives to attack over and over again.


Closing Words

Personally, I love playing Ahri. While she has not been the star of this release so far, with Pantheon and Kennen both taking the center stage when it comes to competitive meta, but I still believe she has a lot of potential.

It is likely that her problem comes from the lack of versatility – as you can see, the decks she can be viable in look pretty similar, as there are limited use-cases for her ability.

I am looking forward to seeing where the meta goes after our recent hotfix and whether Ahri can be a part of it – WhatAmI proved that you can get to Rank 1 with her, so hopefully, more players believe in her strengths!

Thank you for reading the article and I hope you’ll have some fun playing these decks. If you want to keep track of what I do on RCCG and outside of it, follow me on Twitter!

Mezume
Mezume

Mezume is a competitive Legends of Runeterra player with an unexplained love for midrange decks. He believes the important thing is not the end result of the game, but the choices made within it. Loves learning more about the game and sharing that knowledge with others!

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