Legends of Runeterra Draven Aggro
Image via Riot Games

Legends of Runeterra Aggro decks challenge Control for dominance in ranked

Aggro responds to Control but the meta is still wide open.

Aggro decks have re-emerged in Legends of Runeterra with players tweaking existing builds and crafting new ones. 

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Following the LoR 0.9.0 balance patch earlier this week, Control decks swarmed the meta, taking over every top spot in the Master tier and dominating the ladder climb. But it wasn’t long before players were playtesting old and new Aggro decks in response. Shadow Isles versions have returned to the forefront along with the Elusive package. There are also Teemo burn decks along with Poros. 

Warmother Control decks were the build to beat yesterday and MegaMogwai had an answer to them with his Katrina and Zed deck called the Kattering Ram. The build did well against Control and mirror Aggro burn and felt “amazing,” according to MegaMogwai.

Returning to his Shadow Isles roots with a twist, Prismaticism hit No. 1 on Masters with an S/I Allegiance build. Using Radiant Guardian, who may become the new life gain card of choice and Rally in Relentless Pursuit, the Prismaticism deck flooded every ranked tier in LoR yesterday. 

Jon Westberg also played a version of the original Shadow Isles build but with a touch of originality. Adding three copies of Lucian into the build with three Hecarims, the deck also capitalizes on the power of Dawnspeakers. 

A Burn build by Gummi_God and Bagels that uses Teemo outside of Control was still making the rounds. In conjunction with Draven, this deck hits an opponent’s Nexus hard and fast, with the goal of ending the match quickly. 

Elusive decks are also back on the rise despite the nerfs to the Ionia region in the latest LoR balance patch. Xixo hit No. 1 in the Master tier in EU yesterday with three copies of Zed and a whole lot of Elusive units. 

But the surprise of the day came from Zealot and his use of Poros with Braum and Tryndamere. It sounds like a Control deck, but it’s not. Although it isn’t exactly Aggro in nature (more Midrange), Zealot was successfully navigating up the ladder in Master with it yesterday. 

Aggro decks are on the rise, but don’t count out Control and Midrange, either. Even a version of Vladamir and his Crimson gang, in conjunction with Elusive units, was climbing the ladder yesterday. The metagame in LoR is wide open and shifting on a daily basis. It will likely continue to alter as players experiment with new and existing LoR archetypes.  


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Danny Forster
Lead Magic: The Gathering/Teamfight Tactics scribe and staff writer for Dot Esports. Danny is a gamer beach bum residing in Spacecoast Florida and has been a journalist for seven years, of which five have been at Dot Esports. Prior media outllets Danny wrote for were Screen Rant and TheGamer. You can typically catch Danny playing TCGs and a variety of strategic games. He also hangs out on Twitter @Dannyspacecoast.