- Origins
Hey everyone, Agigas here! Elusive Aggro decks have been an important part of the game for a very long time. My very first Reddit guide was actually about Elusive Demacia, the deck that got me my first Master rank, in beta.
The archetype has lost some popularity since then after multiple nerfs, though it has never completely disappeared and kept finding moments of greatness. Today, we’re back at it once again with this new Zed Lulu list that is emerging on the ladder.
In recent patches, we’ve seen buffs for several Elusive units (Young Witch, Shadow Assassin) and their support cards (Inspiring Mentor, Twin Disciplines, Fae Guide, and Lulu). All these buffs seem to have given the extra firepower for the deck to once again perform.
This archetype was popularized by Swim this week. On stats, the deck is literally killing it, with a 60.3% win rate over 2700 games the last 7 days in Plat+. This seems to correlate with my personal experience – the deck feels very powerful.
- Gameplan
Zed Lulu is a very aggressive deck, using the powerful Elusive units from Ionia to push damage through the opponent’s defenses, and backing them up with rallies and tricks.
Lulu and Zed, despite not being Elusive themselves, are at the core of your game plan. Zed offers high pressure very early into the game, forcing the opponent to either chump block or take a lot of damage to their face. Lulu, with her support ability, allows your units to hit a lot harder. Both champions combine very well with rallies thanks to their on-attack abilities.
To make sure you’re able to push damage through the opponent’s blockers, the deck plays a lot of Elusive units: Navori Bladescout, Greenglade Duo, Young Witch, and Shadow Assassin. Ghost and Fae Guide also allow you to essentially create Elusive units when needed – their effect is especially powerful with a level 2 Zed.
To back up your aggressive plan, the deck packs a strong toolbox of support cards.
At first glance, Fleetfeather Tracker might seem a bit out of place in this Elusive deck, but it finds a lot of synergies. Challenging the opponent’s Elusives or other problematic units, and combining it with Lulu, Young Witch, or Brightsteel Protector will give you the needed control of the board.
Finally, rallies are the spells making this deck so powerful. With so much focus on attacks, Relentless Pursuit and Golden Aegis will greatly accelerate the game. They combine especially well with temporary buffs, such as Lulu’s ability, Navori Bladescout or Greenglade Duo‘s self-buff, or combat tricks. Once you get some aggression going it is not rare to kill the opponent seemingly out of nowhere with 1 or 2 rallies.
- Verdict
When I found out this deck had such a high win rate on stats, I had to playtest it. The results were very convincing, and therefore I already included the archetype in our Tier List, currently as a Tier 1 Dark Horse.
More than just a good deck, Zed Lulu is also a great meta answer. Sivir Ionia decks have been ruling the ladder recently, and Zed Lulu is emerging as their best counter so far by a significant margin. The deck also murders Azir Irelia and Lurk, which are the 2 most played archetypes after Sivir Ionia. The counters to Zed Lulu also exist – namely Jarvan Shen, Swain TF, Ezreal Draven, and Ezreal Karma, but they are a lot less popular than the good matchups.
Overall, I believe the deck is very strong and well-positioned, and will likely continue to gain popularity in the coming days. I’d recommend anyone to at least try out the deck, especially if you like aggressive archetypes.
If you have a question, want to share feedback, or discuss this deck, I’ll be happy to answer you in the comments below!
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Thanks for reading!
