The Winners and Losers of Patch 3.19

Patch 3.19 notes are finally out, and they address the community’s frustration with the meta. The patch targets popular archetypes that dominated the scene, like Seraphine and Vayne.

Additionally, Riot has buffed many underperforming cards that rarely see play in an attempt to push them into new meta decks.

In this article, we’ll look at the new changes and how they’ll affect the meta.

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Ezreal Seraphine created by Sorry • last updated 7 months ago

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Sputtering Songspinner

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Seraphine Viktor Karma created by Sorry • last updated 7 months ago

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Sputtering Songspinner

Seraphine and Fanclub President were hit with heavy nerfs that affect all versions of Seraphine decks.

The Seraphine nerf increases her level-up condition from 6 new spells up to 9 new spells! The nerf slows the champion down immensely and will make it difficult for them to face up against aggressive decks that look to close out the game as soon as possible.

If there’s one card that rivals Seraphine’s ability to frustrate the community, it’s Fanclub President. The card received an increase in mana cost, slowing down the ability of players to manifest powerful, cheap cards.

Popular archetypes like Seraphine Ezreal (NX), Seraphine Viktor Ionia, and Seraphine Viktor (SI) will definitely lose their dominance.

The Ionian version got hit with another nerf, Ionian Tellstone lost Health Potion and Homecoming from its pool and were replaced with Gruesome Theater and Ritual of Renewal.

Homecoming remains one of the strongest cards in the game due to its flexibility as a protection and board control tool. So seeing it out of the pool means Ionia as a region will suffer from the nerf.

Seraphine decks’ main power comes from their ability to generate value, which they still retain even after the nerfs. A meta that deviates from countering Seraphine means that we could potentially still see the archetypes existing in Tier 2.

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Akshan Lee Sin created by Sorry • last updated 7 months ago

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Akshan

Lee Sin

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The Darkin Bloodletters

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Even though Akshan Lee Sin has been performing poorly on the ranked ladder, the archetype was hit with nerfs to both its champions and the Ionian Tellestone.

The reason Akshan Lee Sin wasn’t crushing the ranked ladder was because of Vayne decks. Vayne was flooding the meta, making it difficult for Ak Lee to exist. With the nerfs to Rally cards and Tumble, Ak Lee would rise back to glory and potentially crush the ladder. The nerf makes sure Akshan Lee Sin remains under check even after its counters are out of the picture.

The nerf to both champions targets their level-up speed, forcing you to commit more resources to level them up and taking you longer to set up the Lee Sin one-kick finisher combo.

Notable Mentions: Swain, Tumble, Ionian Hookmaster, Relentless Pursuit, and Golden Aegis

Swain’s power was reverted, but the champion retained the Overwhelm keyword on level 2. Although the nerf makes it harder for Swain to activate his ability, the champion still remains strong and will most likely exist in the new meta.

Rally cards were hit with nerfs. Relentless Pursuit wasn’t seeing much play outside of Poppy Taric, so it won’t affect the meta much.

As for Golden Aegis, decks like Zed Vayne rely on the Rally effect to keep board pressure. The increase in mana cost will slow down their mid-game aggression. However, a lot of different Vayne decks use Cataclysm instead of Rally cards and will not be affected by the change.

Moreover, the nerf to Tumble will slow down Vayne’s pressure. Usually, playing Vayne into Tumble + Equipment on turn 3 makes it difficult for the opponent to find an early answer. This usually puts the Vayne player ahead on the board.

Finally, Ionian Hookmaster’s nerf was a bit harsh. The -1 power means that regardless of the weapon you pick, you won’t be able to set up a 3|X Ionian Hookmaster. The nerf makes it difficult to trade with units, and you lose the ability to block Fearsome units. The nerf makes sense; Ionian Hookmaster was the strongest 2-drop in the game, existing in almost every deck that can run the card.

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Old Discard Aggro created by Sorry • last updated 7 months ago

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Augmented Experimenter

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A Jinx buff! Jinx can now create a Super Mega Death Rocket! on level-up, allowing you to set up a powerful burn plan easily.

Two decks come to mind when thinking of Jinx: Draven Jinx Discard aggro and Lulu Jinx. Both archetypes make good use of Jinx’s aggression and can turn her into a win condition.

It’s too early to say whether either of these decks will see play in the upcoming meta, but players will definitely experiment with both on day 1 of patch 3.19.

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Taliyah created by Sorry • last updated 7 months ago

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Imagined Possibilities

Taliyah Reaver’s Row might actually become a meta deck! The controversial deck was always in the meme category, but with Reaver’s Row now costing 4 mana, you’ll be able to set up the landmark and follow it up with Taliyah.

The archetype can go wide quickly and create a buffed-up Fearsome board ready to start swinging and slamming the Nexus.

Notable Mentions: Spirits Unleashed, Paparo The Great, Rimefang Wolf, Hexbliterator, Yordles, and Void Seeker.

Spirits Unleashed received a powerful buff, allowing you to grant allies +1|+1 everywhere. I’m optimistic that the card will see play, and will make its way into slow Freljord midrange decks that benefit from the additional stats.

Rimefang Wolf always needed to attack frozen units to activate its ability, which means the -1 power doesn’t affect the unit much. However, the additional +1 health gives it an extra protection layer against damage spells trying to kill the unit. We already see Rimefang Wolf in Zombie Ashe, and will most likely see play in Ashe Leblanc Noxus, especially after the Ionian Hookmaster nerf.

Hexibliterator is a powerful card that can kill a unit and even destroy equipment! Sadly, the card saw no play. The recent patch increases the damage it deals to 6, giving it a boost to its ability to kill units.

A lot of Yordle buffs! For instance, Paparo the Great received a powerful buff, now allowing you to manifist a Yordle on play and grants +1|0 to all Yordles on the attack. The manifist mechanism allows for adaptability depending on the scenario of the game.

Swole Scout and Yordle Newbie received a redesign to match Paparo the Great’s gameplay. They’ll be two essential cards to run with Paparo the Great, which benefit from a wide board of Yordles.

Finally, Void Seeker received a strong buff that allows the card to target champions. Although the buff is powerful, this doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be enough to bring back Kai’Sa into the meta.