
Top Decks of Day 1 of Patch 3.19
Patch 3.19 put a stop to the dominant Seraphine meta and dealt with Demacia’s rally power. Additionally, the nerfs addressed Akshan Lee Sin, a deck that could have taken over the field after the nerfs to Demacia.
The patch included several buffs for underutilized cards, boosting their performance in the hopes of introducing new archetypes into the meta.
Today’s article will feature four decks that have been completely out of the meta but saw a rise on the first day of patch 3.19.
1- Draven Jinx











Draven Jinx Discard Aggro is an old archetype that was pushed out of the meta after Draven and Rummage were nerfed.
Jinx received a powerful buff in Patch 3.19, giving Discard aggro a faster burn tool with Super Mega Death Rocket!
Discard Aggro tries to set up a wide board of cheap units to chip away at the opponent’s Nexus. Crowd Favorite benefits from that wide board, gaining additional stats that can come in handy thanks to the Overwhelm keyword he has.
Draven is a bothersome unit to deal with early on in the game due to his Quick Attack keyword. Additionally, the Spinning Axe Draven creates is essential to discard cards like Vision, Jury Rig, and Flame Chompers!. The Spinning Axe can help you level up Jinx and start your burn plan at earlier turns.
In the late game, Jinx will provide you with an additional card draw. Get Excited! and Jinx are your burn potential to close out the game.
2- Zombie Ashe











The old Ashe Thresh saw play on the first day of Patch 3.19, and I even took the archetype and found success with it on the ranked ladder.
Rimefang Wolf and Shatter received buffs that gave the deck a boost in performance. Zombie Ashe is a great choice to combat aggressive and midrange archetypes like Jinx and Vayne decks.
Zombie Ashe focuses on keeping the board in check with cards like Rimfang Wolf, Vile Feast, Shatter, and Vengeance.
Ashe and Rimestuck Shaman set up freezes for Rimefang Wolf, Shatter, or Quietus. You’re fine with Ashe getting killed, as your deck can revive her multiple times with The Rekindler and The Harrowing.
The Harrowing is your strongest play. It allows you to revive multiple copies of Ashe, potentially setting up a lethal attack with Ashe’s freeze ability.
3- Elise Norra











Elise Norra didn’t receive any buffs, but the archetype was a favorite pick on the first day of patch 3.19. The deck looks to combat aggressive decks with its ability to set up a wide board and cheap removal tools.
Elise Norra wants to plant Mysterious Portals in the deck, which helps build the board and advance Norra’s level-up condition. You can turbo-level Norra with the assistance of Elise and Vile Feast.
Yordle Captain buffs up your summoned units, resulting in a powerful board capable of posing a threat.
The deck runs solid removal tools like Vengeance and Minimorph to deal with problematic cards on the opponent’s side of the board.
In the late game, a leveled-up Norra can provide insane value with Mysterios Portal and you’ll slowly burn the opponent down with the Poison Puffcaps from Eclectic Collection.
4- Lulu Jinx











Similar to Draven Jinx, Lulu Jinx uses the discard mechanic to set up its play. The deck wants to go wide on the board and squeeze all the damage it can toward the Nexus.
Lulu empowers your attacks. She can buff up Flame Chompers! allowing you to pick off units. Lulu can adopt an aggressive plan, buffing up an elusive unit that is capable of connecting directly with the Nexus.
Spirit Portal is a powerful play to buff up your units, which can be overwhelming for your opponent to deal with.
Jinx and Get Excited! act as your late-game finishers to destroy the opponent’s Nexus.
Bonus Deck: Taliyah Reaver’s Row











Although Reaver’s Row‘s mana cost went down to 4, the archetype struggled to perform well and remains at 40% win rate on the first day.
Taliyah Reaver’s Row is a combo-aggressive deck that sets up a wide board of units and uses Reaver’s Row to buff up your 1-drops.
You can summon 1 mana units with the help of Taliyah and Rite of Passage, both of which add more Reaver’s Row to the board, buffing your units later. The buffed-up units are also given the Fearsome keyword, making it more difficult for your opponent to block them.
Moreover, Quick Sand and Sands of Time can be used in an aggressive play, lowering the power of your opponent’s units below 3 and prohibiting them from blocking your fearsome units.
Closing Words
The first day of Patch 3.19 focuses on experimenting with different decks; it’s too soon to have a grasp on the meta, but Jinx and Shadow Isles decks seem to be the popular choice so far.
With the Worlds tournaments right around the corner, top players have just started their testing phase and we’ll most likely still see new archetypes join the top-tier meta.