Legends of Runeterra Control decks dominate post-Patch 0.9.0 meta

Several minor Legends of Runeterra nerfs and buffs went into effect yesterday, resulting in an emergence of new and updated Control decks.

Midrange decks in LoR are taking a back seat to Control. Several new and updated builds from streamers appeared yesterday following the balance patch.

Elusive and Fearsome decks suffered the hardest nerf hits, effecting Inspiring Mentor, Kinkou Lifeblade, Deny, and Wraithcaller. But instead of new Midrange or Aggro type builds emerging from the meta, Control became the optimal choice yesterday. 

Control decks use either the Piltover & Zaun or Freljord region. Heimerdinger and Ezreal are the champions of choice in P&Z and Anivia is paired up with Tryndamere to cause havoc in Freljord. The Ezreal build has already been around for a week or so, but another Swimstrim deck called Heimerdemacia is giving it a run for its money.

Herimerdemacia is extremely unique in that it uses spells like Jury-Rig and Succession to create units. If one of those should die blocking, which they will, Vanguard Redeemer takes their place and draws a card. Between Lux’s Final Sparks in conjunction with Heimerdinger’s Turrets, the deck is a blast to play. 

A build by naidai89 also emerged late yesterday, combining the powers of Lux and Karma. Lux received a significant buff to her stats within the LoR balance patch that has already had an impact on the meta. 

On the opposite spectrum of Control, there are the Warmother builds. Anivia and Tryndamere have partnered with the Shadow Isles region, wreaking havoc on the LoR meta. 

But for the players who are fans of Elnuk Warmother, SaucyMailman created a version called “War-MOO-thers” last night on stream with the addition of Thresh. It’s an active Control deck that uses The Rekindler to bring back champions that have died in conjunction with Elnuks and frost spells.

For all the Teemo players who want to storm the castle with mushrooms, MegaMogwai updated his version of Bad Trip yesterday, too. 

Although it was crafted prior to the LoR balance patch, Mogwai also has a unique Heimerdinger and Lux build called The Fun Police that’s worth checking out. 

It’s still too soon to say whether Control will continue its dominance within the ladder, but these builds aren’t going away, either. The best way to win over a Control archetype is with an Aggro deck. Players are attempting to break Yasuo, Draven, and Fiora. But nothing solid has emerged yet.