9 Hottest Decks from Open Rounds – Magic Misadventures Seasonals

With the Open Rounds of the Magical Misadventures Seasonal Tournament in the books, it’s time to take a look at all the best lineups.

In the Open Rounds, we often see a nice diversity of strategies – some players prefer to bring safe decks that do all-around decent into different lineups, others prefer bringing a lineup that targets a specific popular deck.

At this stage, there’s also a good amount of spicey unexpected decklists popping up, especially if the meta is balanced enough to allow for variety. Which was certainly the case in this Seasonal Tournament!

In this article, we will focus on those kinds of unexpected off-the-beaten-path decks that managed to perform well in the Open Rounds. All of the lists below were part of lineups that ended up with an 8+ wins record.

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Let’s kick it off with Nami Twisted Fate brought by Damian1917 on the America Shard. Twisted Fate Nami resembles the old Fizz Twisted Fate deck that wreaked havoc back in the days.

Ballistic Bot allows you to play cheap Ignition spells that over the course of the game will lower the mana cost of your Wiggly Burblefish. Nami’s role is to increase the stats of your Elusive units which makes them harder to deal with, they will turn into your main win condition that’ll deal enough damage until you’re able to close out the game with your burn cards.

The deck also runs a lot of card draw tools, Pick a Card, Rummage, and Stress Testing make sure that you never run out of cards. The draw also benefits Twisted Fate, and you’ll find yourself leveling him up pretty easily.

Damian1917 brought Darkness and Fizz Ezreal Bilgewater along with this Nami Twisted Fate, the lineup mainly focuses on targeting the ‘Meta King’ Kennen Ahri. The ability to ping down key units like Dancing Droplet and The Mourned slows down the opponent’s gameplan tremendously.

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Another interesting deck, brought by Jgar from America shard, is Elise Kindred Noxus. The list runs a lot of removal spells like Ravenous Flock, Scorched Earth, The Box, and Vengeance that allow you to control the board. The removal spells turn Kindred into your main condition, slowly taking over the board until you’re able to deal Nexus damage.

Although Kindred acts as the main win condition, the list still runs Commander Ledros as an alternate finisher – once you have your opponent’s Nexus in reach for Atrocity, it’s time to end the game.

All three decks Jgar brought to the Open Rounds were not decks I’d ever expect to match into, let alone seeing them perform well! The two other decks are Caitlyn Ezreal Noxus and Twisted Fate Swain.

This lineup targets Kennen Ahri with so many removal cards in all three decks, the lists also hold their ground against aggressive archetypes that look to hard-target Kennen Ahri and Pantheon Demacia.

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Originally created by the one and only Overwhelm fanatic RickoRex, Akshan Sivir Daruis saw a decent amount of play in the Open Rounds. Shukee from the EMEA shard brought the list along with Scouts and Iceborn Poros, going on an outstanding 9-0 streak in their run. Additionally, Salty Simon from the same server also featured this archetype in their lineup, finishing with an 8-1 record.

The deck relies on the Overwhelm keyword to push Nexus damage – cards like Elixir of Wrath, The Absolver, Shaped Stone, and Might can catch your opponent off guard, enabling your unit to slam the Nexus for a hefty amount of damage.

Ruined Reckoner allows you to go for a second swing with your Overwhelm unit, in most cases, it could turn into a game-ending play.

Shukee’s lineup seems to target SI decks, specifically Feel The Rush and perform well into Darkness. Although Scouts performs well into Kennen Ahri, the same can’t be said about the other two decks, making the lineup weak into the Kennen Ahri, making it a ban consideration.

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Lux made an appearance in the Open Rounds – and a very memorable one! America shard player, Zwolfe, brought Zoe Lux in their lineup and managed to end the run with 8 wins and 1 defeat.

Zoe Lux is a midrange deck that gets value out of the spells they play once Lux is on the board. The Final Sparks she creates can be absolutely devastating to the opponent’s board.

Zoe is more of a value engine, you don’t really expect to level her up, but more of a tool to create a cheap spell while also forcing your opponent to answer her immediately.

Starshaping acts as a second win condition, finding a big Celestial unit like The Great Beyond can threaten to close out the game in one attack.

Zwolfe’s lineup also ran Akshan Sivir DE and Darkness – it seems the lineup isn’t specifically targeting anything but is filled with all-around solid and safe decks. You perform well into Zoe Lee Sin and at the same time can beat aggressive decks – especially since both Zoe Lux and Akshan Sivir are running Radiant Guardian.

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Time for some Nightfall! Both やまと from APAC shard and Barbirose from the EMEA shard brought it in their lineups and managed to finish their Open Rounds run with 8 wins and 1 defeat. I’ll showcase and talk about やまと list and lineup.

Diana Nocturne Nightfall is an aggressive deck that relies on the Fearsome keyword granted by a leveled-up Nocturne to close things out.

The deck runs a lot of cheap units that can deal early damage as you set up for a solid swing with Nocturne later on.

Diana acts as a removal tool, the Quick Attack and Challenger Keywords make her extremely annoying to deal with early game.

Doombeast can be the little damage you need to squeeze in order to close out the game.

やまと brought Scouts and Kennen Ahri SI – the plan is obvious, target Kennen Ahri, the Shurima version specifically.

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Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you, Thresh Nasus performed well in the Open Rounds! Sidak brought this old school archetype that many have forgotten about after many nerfs it received.

Thresh Nasus is a midrange deck that Slays units in order to advance its gameplan. Both Thresh and Nasus benefit from units getting sacrificed.

You’re able to create early pressure with Cursed Keeper and Ravenous Butcher.

Managing to level up Thresh can be a game swinger that allows you to summon a Nasus on the board once you attack with Thresh.

As the game goes on, your Nasus will gain more stats the more units you Slay, setting it up for an Atrocity lethal.

Sidak brought triple SI lineup: Thresh Nasus, Kindred Viego, and Darkness. All three decks hold their ground against aggressive decks, Scouts, and Fizz Lulu. Kennen Ahri or Pantheon are most likely the ban targets.

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You might ask, how did Riven Viktor get here? Don’t worry, I’m asking the same question, let’s take a look at what’s going on here!

Żółw Lamparci from the EMEA shard brought Riven Viktor along with Anivia SI and Ahri Kennen SI, they went 8-1 in the Open Rounds.

Riven Viktor is somewhat of an aggressive deck, it relies on cheap units to put pressure early-game while also using both Ballistic Bot and Riven as midgame damage dealers.

Ambush can catch your opponent off guard if played on either Riven or Ballistic Bot. Once enough damage is dealt to the Nexus, it’s time to switch to the burn plan. Mystic Shot and Get Excited! can seal the deal.

Żółw Lamparci’s lineup seems to also be targeting Ahri Kennen and potentially hold its own against midrange decks like Pantheon and Akshan Sivir, although Anivia might struggle into midrange decks that run Rally cards.

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The prominent player in the competitive scene, xxWhatAmIxx brought Thresh Aurelon Sol to the Open Rounds, managing to win 8 games and lose only 1 with their lineup.

Thresh Aurelion Sol is a control deck that runs a lot of removal cards that help prolong the game until you set up your win.

The ability to Invoke cards with Solari Priestess and Starshaping allows for adaptable gameplay depending on the matchup.

The win condition is familiar for Targon – invoking a big Celestial unit like The Great Beyond and threatening lethal damage with the Elusive keyword it has. Atrocity acts as a finisher when played on those big units.

xxWhatAmIxx brought Kennen Ahri SI along with Zoe Lee Sin, the plan is to contain aggressive decks and at the same time beat midrange decks like Pantheon Demacia and Akshan Sivir. Ahri Kennen and Darkness are likely the ban targets.

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Last but not least, here we have Zoe Diana Bandle City deck brought by EMEA player Schrewd, they won 8 matches out of the 9 rounds.

Zoe Diana Bandle City is a pure value deck with a lot of Invoke capabilities, the plan is to swarm the board with units, buffing them up with Yordle Captain, and eventually run your opponent out of resources.

Starshaping is an alternative win condition that Invokes into a big Celestial unit that’s difficult to deal with.

Schrewd’s lineup runs Anivia and Darkness as well, both decks perform well into Kennen Ahri, making it the perfect deck to target while also both Darkness and Zoe Diana perform well into Zoe Lee Sin thanks to Minimorph being run in both decks.

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Closing Words

Seasonal Tournament lineups are always intriguing to look at. There are many players that think outside of the box, bringing decks that we just don’t expect to see – and it works out!

This season the meta has proven to be diverse, although Kennen Ahri is the dominant deck, it’s still targetable – or you can simply ban it and focus on beating the other two decks.

Hopefully, you enjoyed the article! I’m sure the next Seasonal Tournament will also hold unexpected decks that I’ll surely cover as well.