Top Masters Decks – Season of Fortune – Week 6

With two weeks to go before the end of Season of Fortune and the release of a brand new set of cards, the Runeterra meta is alive and well. Players are continuing to innovate, riding the wave of Patch 1.6’s buffs and nerfs to shake things up. This week, players have brought some completely new archetypes to the frontlines and also revived a few that haven’t seen competitive play since last season.

As has been the norm since release, Legends of Runeterra boasts a massive list of top tier decks that are viable for climbing ladder. In fact, most tier 2 and even tier 3 decks are strong enough to climb with. And players continue to prove that a little innovation can work wonders in Legends of Runeterra. So, what’s hot this week? Let’s dive in.

Turbo Deep by BBG – Top 10 Masters

Since the release of the Rising Tides expansion, Deep has been a divisive archetype amongst the community. Regardless of whether or not you enjoy the archetype, hate it with everything you have, or just don’t care about it, Deep has been floating around the S-tier/A-tier range since its inception. That said, little innovation has come to the archetype (due largely to the limited card pool for the deck at the moment), until now. 

Mobalytics Link

This week, a new version of the Deep deck arrived and is making waves. Credit goes to BBG for the idea/creation of the new version of the deck, which pairs Nautilus with fellow Bilgewater native, Twisted Fate. This version has a larger focus on churning through your deck with the likes of Salvage, Rummage, Jettison and Lure of the Depths. As the name implies the deck is built to reach Deep as quickly as possible and flood the board with big Sea Monsters like Devourer of the Depths, Abyssal Eye, and Shipwreck Hoarder. Deep has traditionally been a BW/SI deck and this version is missing out on the healing provided by Shadow Isles. This drawback makes it weaker to aggro/burn decks than its more traditional counterpart. Regardless, it is great to see a player like BBG attempting to break the mold with the archetype before we see what new cards might bolster the archetype with the next set release. 

Overall, the Deep archetype is sitting pretty with a 52.7% winrate and an 8.7% playrate in Master. This particular version, however, accounted for 1.9% of the BW/PZ decks floating around and boasted a remarkable 80% winrate this week (no doubt thanks to BBG). It is a fun combo/control list that has few weak matchups. Currently, it is well-positioned against aggro and other combo/control decks.

Hyper Fizz by fainHD – Top 70 Masters

Switching gears, a new aggro archetype has been the talk of the community this week. Our fishy friend from Bilgewater is making a splash in a couple of aggressive shells. The most notable of these lists comes from faintHD, who made Top 70 Masters with it this week. Faint has it listed as a combo deck, as the archetype ultimately aims to rattle off spells to buff Fizz and chip in for damage. Fizz finds further support here from Draven and a motley crew of followers from the Noxus and Bilgewater regions.

Mobalytics Link

Honestly, I’m surprised to see a Top 70 deck running both Bubble Bear and Golden Narwhal, but such are the times we live in. Fizz is pesky and difficult for your opponent to deal with if you can cast spells. This deck capitalizes on inexpensive Burst spells such as Elixir of Wrath, Brothers’ Bond, and Transfusion, all of which act doubly as buff spells and protection spells for Fizz. Of course, the list also runs a couple of copies of Pick a Card to generate card advantage and ensure you don’t run out of spells. If Fizz is nowhere to be found, the deck utilizes its suite of Elusive units to get the damage through to the enemy Nexus.

This list is a refreshing change of pace in the “aggro” scene and is a blast to play. If you fancy faster, aggressive decks this is one to pick up and take for a spin. The archetype ended the week with a 57.1% winrate and a 3.7% playrate in Master.

Lux/Thresh Control by JonesAF – Top 50 Masters

An archetype that has been around since MegaMogwai introduced it during an early open beta Duels of Runeterra tournament, many players have taken a liking for the control list and have innovated on it when possible. One of these players is BBG, who seems to have an affinity for Lux-based control decks (as he also popularized Karma/Lux last season). The list I feature here comes from JonesAF, who brought the archetype to Top 50 Masters this week. 

Mobalytics Link

While the archetype hasn’t been changed too heavily, this is the first time we have seen it cause a stir in quite some time, so it warranted the inclusion in this week’s list. Of note, Jones is running a single copy of Blinding Assualt and keeps a single copy of Unyielding Spirit in the list (a card which hasn’t seen as much play since its nerf in 1.4). Overall, the archetype looks to stabilize the early game with followers such as Hapless Aristocrat and Vanguard Sergeant along with removal spells like Single Combat, Vile Feast, and Concerted Strike to build up a powerful late game. Once Lux is in play, the fun begins and you can chain together spells to create Final Sparks aplenty.

While incredibly fun for those who enjoy control decks, Lux/Thresh is not an easy deck to play and requires a bit of practice to see results. That said, the versions running Blinding Assault ended the week with a 58.0% winrate and the archetype as a whole saw a playrate of 4.9% in Master.

Discard Aggro by JonesAF – Top 50 Masters

Thanks to the 1.6 buffs to Discard followers (namely Sump Dredger and Zaunite Urchin), Discard Aggro has returned to the limelight! There have been several varying decklists that have appeared at the top of tier lists and at the top of Masters rank as well. Various players including JonesAF, kuroebi, and Iryumika have presented their takes on the archetype this week. With the changes to potential cards for the archetype since the last time it was popular, it has received a few new potential toys in the form of Sump Dredger, Arena Bookie, and even Captain Farron. 

Mobalytics Link

For those that don’t know, the archetype is an aggressive deck that relies on the discard subtheme within Noxus and Piltover & Zaun. The deck’s champions, Draven and Jinx, both enable and take advantage of Discard effects while cards like Vision, Jury-Rig, and Rummage benefit from having cards to discard. With the new changes from 1.6, the archetype now has increased card-draw capabilities and is less prone to running out of gas.

As perhaps one of the more enjoyable of the newly surfaced archetypes for fans of aggressive strategies (and capable of closing games quickly), Discard Aggro is currently experiencing an uptick in play rate. To end the week, the archetype managed a 50.9% winrate with a 12.4% play rate in Master rank. 

Spooky Ezreal by Teal_Red – Top 100 Masters

By now, most players who have followed Legends of Runeterra for some time are familiar with the deckbuilding maverick known as Teal_Red. Teal_Red has been one of the pioneers of interesting and new archetypes since Open Beta and this week they bring us a new take on an Ezreal deck in the form of Spooky Ezreal!

Mobalytics Link

At its core, this deck seems similar to the Corina Control decks of yore, but with the added benefit of Ezreal comboing off to win games. The deck relies on its multitude of removal spells to keep the opponent at bay while simultaneously working to level Ezreal. In the meantime, you can stack your opponent’s deck with mushroom via Teemo, Chump Whump, Fading Memories, and finally with The Harrowing. With a handful of Mushroom Clouds and a leveled up Ezreal, you should be able to make short work of your opponents. It has enough removal via direct damage spells to successfully guide you into the late game and has card draw via Rummage and Glimpse Beyond to find your necessary spells and champions. The one thing the deck is lacking is healing; Vile Feast being the only source. 

This archetype seems incredibly fun and will likely take your opponents by surprise, but I suspect there is a bit of a learning curve to find much success with it against the go-big midrange lists such as Frostbite Midrange. The deck ended the week with a 49.1% winrate and less than a 2% playrate.

That wraps up this week’s look at some of the hottest decks in Master rank! I’m excited to see the innovation that players are continuing to bring to the game without the addition of new cards. It only increases my desire to see what is in store in a couple of weeks. Let us know which of these decks you’ll be trying out and check back next week for another roundup of the hottest and spiciest brews on the ladder!