Legends of Runeterra Best Decks – Meta Report (Glimpse Beyond + Alanzq)

The Best Meta Decks for Legends of Runeterra

Hey everyone! Welcome back to our weekly Meta Decks Report for Legends of Runeterra.

We’ve added brand new decks for Monuments of Power, the second expansion for Call of the Mountain.

As always, these deck recommendations will be provided by our Glimpse Beyond experts, Swim and Precipic, and TL Alanzq.

Swim will be creating and curating competitive decks for our site and content so be sure to bookmark his Mobalytics Deck Library and follow him on Twitch, Youtube, or Swim’s LoR website.

If you want to explore the meta on your own, check out our Meta Stats feature for the most in-depth statistics in LoR.

Best Runeterra Decks

Here are the best decks that our experts recommend for climbing in the current meta. Whether you enjoy playing aggro, control, or midrange, there’s a deck here for you!

• Feel the Rush/Warmother (Freljord + Shadow Isles)
• Pirate Aggro (Bilgewater + Noxus)
• Discard Aggro (Noxus + Piltover/Zaun)
• Scouts (Bilgewater + Demacia)
• Tahm Raka (Bilgewater + Targon)
• Midrange Frostbite (Freljord + Noxus)
• Fiora Shen (Demacia + Ionia)
• Veimer (Piltover/Zaun + Targon)
• Lee Targon (Ionia + Targon)
• Swain TF (Bilgewater + Noxus)
• Deep Monsters (Bilgewater + Shadow Isles)
• Nightfall Aggro (Targon + Shadow Isles)
• Hyper Aggro Endure (Freljord + Shadow Isles)
• Shyvana Midrange (Demacia + Targon)

Recently removed:

• Asol Ramp (Freljord + Targon)
• Leona Lux (Demacia + Targon)
• Poro Discard (Freljord + Piltover/Zaun)
• Ledros Stall (Freljord + Shadow Isles)

Note that our experts update the tier list often so there may be some lag time between this blog version and the one on our site. When in doubt, use the LoR Meta Tier List feature for the most up-to-date tier list. If you’re a new player, check out our best LoR budget decks article.

LoR Meta Decks

Whether you like to play aggro, midrange, control, or combo, we’ve got meta deck archetype for you. Enjoy!

S-tier LoR Decks

Feel the Rush / Warmothers (Freljord + Shadow Isles)

Deck code: CEBQGAIFAEOSQBQBAEAQYFBBE4ZAEAYBAYLAEAIBAUMQCAIBFIBACAYBAQBACBIPEE

[See Warmother deck details]

General Info

Feel the Rush is an easier to use and more immediate payoff version of Warmother’s Call. This is the premiere deck for ramp players.

How to Play

Warmother is one of the best ramp control decks in the entire game. Feel the Rush doesn’t provide as much value over time the Warmother’s Call but it provides a big enough impact to end the game on the turn or 2 after you play it.

The combination of Freljord Shadow Isles stall tools and the over the top potential of giant overwhelm units like Trundle and Tryndamere being pulled out for free off FTR.

Early game, your goal is either ramping your mana with Catalyst of Aeons or Wyrding Stones to get a fast Feel the Rush vs control or keeping your stall tools like Vile Feast, Withering Wail so that you can survive to your late game.

A-tier LoR Decks

Pirate Aggro (Bilgewater + Noxus)

Deck code: CECAKAQGCYQCMOR4AQAQGAQPEUUAEAQDAMCACAYGAYBACAQDAUAQCAZTAA

[See Pirate Aggro deck details]

General Info

A deck that pushes for fast wins giving you short game times. A great choice for players looking to punish greedy decks.

How to Play

Your biggest priority is making sure you have a good early curve with your 1 drops. Mulligan for an aggressive early game, your late game finishers, and over the tops like Decimate will come naturally in your later draws.

You don’t want to use Noxian Fervor proactively unless you’re forced to or you have multiple back up plays to push through lethal.

Noxian Fervor is great as a counter to drain spells like Grasp or general removal since you can use it in response.

Sometimes you can use the kegs to set up burn turns or have a better attack with Miss Fortune.

Discard Aggro (Noxus + Piltover/Zaun)

Deck code: CEBQCAYECIDACBAMBUOCOKBNAQAQGBYJE43QEAQBAMKCGAIBAQAQCAIBAQEA

[See Discard Aggro deck details]

General Info

Discard Aggro is an aggressive burn deck that uses Jinx and Draven to fuel its strategy. It uses strong early starts that dump their hand early then finishes their opponents off with burn damage.

This deck requires a lot of decision making on when to use your burn for removal or face as well as when and what cards to discard.

How to Play

The goal of this deck is to swarm out early with a lot of units so that you can get down a huge Crowd Favorite or Visions.

Jinx is very important to keep alive so that your deck has value going into the mid to late game, so keep an eye out for what deck you’re playing against.

Against removal heavy Piltover decks, keeping Jinx until she’s leveled will go a long way to keeping her alive with 4 health.

Scouts (Bilgewater + Demacia)

Deck code: CEBQOAIAAEEQWFI2DUTQGAQAAIDASAICAYLAEAQCAADQUAIDAAHACAIBAASQ

[See MF Scouts deck details]

General Info

It’s as good as it always was. Scouts is one of the best purely aggressive decks. By fast leveling Miss Fortune with the multiple attacks from Scouts you can get some serious damage in, especially when paired with Relentless Pursuit.

How to Play

Your early game is straightforward. If you’re going second, Fleet Feather into Brightsteel Protector lets you trade up in value.

If you’re defending on turn 2, Brightsteel Protector is a good card to keep. The Barrier can completely shut down aggro starts if they choose to develop.

After you get a solid start and reach turn 3/4, don’t tunnel hard on sticking a Miss Fortune against removal heavy decks.

Even though Grizzled Ranger is a 4 drop, it’s a great card to keep in your opening hand because of how pivotal it is to the deck.

If you play the early game right, you’ll have enough steam to close out the game through your top end on turns 6 and 7.

Tahm Raka (Bilgewater + Targon)

Deck code: CEBAIAYGAQDQQDYIAMERWHJDFUZTINZ4AEBAGCITKUAA

[See Tahm Raka deck details]

[See Kuvira’s in-depth Tahm Raka guide]

General Info

I’d recommend you play this deck if you enjoy playing with a completely unique playstyle based around healing your own units and winning off of landmarks. Beyond that the deck gets to generate a ton of card draw off of Soraka which is also super fun.

How to Play

Soraka Tahm Kench is a midrange deck with a combo finish. Your key card is Star Spring which heals all of your allies 1 at the end of every round. If you have healed 22+ in a game while Star Spring is in play you win the game. The deck plays a ton of self-damage cards such as Boxtapus which when healed up, does an amazing job of controlling the board.

The deck also plays Tahm Kench which can kill a unit every turn as long as you can keep it healthy. Pair all of this with Soraka which can become a card drawing healing machine and the deck can completely run people over.

Midrange Frostbite (Freljord + Noxus)

Deck code: CEBQQAIBAEBQOCYWEYUTAAYBAMCB6IIBAMAQEAQBAEASUAICAEBAA

[See Midrange Frostbite deck details]

General Info

Frostbite is a good deck to play when fighting against other decks that rely on large followers and trading on board because of the combination of your Frostbite countering most combat tricks.

Pick this up if you’re a midrange player that likes generating value on large followers.

How to Play

This is a deck that you’ll want to curve out on with the hardest decisions being when to leave mana open for spells and when to drop Trifarian Assessor for card draw.

Culling Strike can be an amazing card that punches above its mana cost while also having great interactions when combined with Frostbite reducing attack power to 0.

Against other midrange decks, you have a comfortable suite of options to play for but you’re mostly looking for value.

Once you established a winning board, leaving mana open for your combat tricks and Frostbites will give you a solid grasp on the game.

Fiora Shen (Demacia + Ionia)

Deck code: CECAKAIABENB2JJNAMAQEEZAFMBAGAAGBYAQEAABAIAQGAQKAEAQEMIBAMAQACZAGQ

[See Fiora Shen deck details]

General Info

Fiora Shen is a deck that uses barrier to protect high threat units to generate value. If that sounds appealing then this deck is for you.

How to Play

You can have explosive openers with turn 1 Tracker into turn 2 Brightsteel Protector. However, it’s not bad to go into mid game with some mana banked to make use of your defensive and reactive spells.

Rivershaper is a high value unit in this deck because he can often draw 2 or more cards when protected by Shen, barrier, or just using your challenger units to get in unblocked. Fiora is a great win condition but don’t get baited into over-committing into her or rushing out a fast level for the win.

This deck has a lot of defensive options so it’s wise to stack a few in your favor before investing in for a Fiora victory. Your late game is solid against heavy decks because of strong units like Genevieve and Brightsteel Formation that are backed up with Deny to protect your board from huge plays.

Veimer (Piltover/Zaun + Targon)

Deck code: CEBQKAIEDMTCONBYA4BQSIZTKBKFKXDAAEBAICAAAEAQCBA7

[See Veimer deck details]

General Info

Veimer is worth playing if you enjoy winning by creating a pile of turrets or smacking your opponent for a ton with Vi. This deck is also great if you enjoy continuously drawing cards and getting a ton of value off of invokes.

How to Play

Heimerdinger Vi is a deck built around casting a flurry of spells to get a really large Vi or a bunch of Heimerdinger Turrets.

You utilize cards like Thermogenic Beam and Mystic Shot to control the board early and then eventually land one of your 2 big threats and just use them to win the game. The deck also is able to find its two champions using Solari Priestess to get Written in Stars.

A big thing with this deck is ensuring that when you play Heimerdinger, you have some spell mana so that you always get at least one turret out, even if they have removal for him. Spring Guardian is an interesting choice for the deck.

It is mostly there because you can either discard the card with Sump Dredger to get a free draw or you can use it to heal Vi back up so she continues to get kills.

Lee Targon (Ionia + Targon)

Deck code: CEBQGAQCAMDASBQDBEJRWIZJGNOAEAICBEYQGAIDAIKACAQCBAAQGCLCAEAQGCKV

[See Lee Targon deck details]

General Info

Play this if you want to play one of the hardest combo decks to interact with. With 3 copies of Deny and Lee Sin giving himself barriers only things like Flash Freeze can actually stop you.

Even Hush doesn’t stop this combo deck since Lee Sin gets his spell off of an open attack before they can Hush you.

How to Play

Lee Targon is the premier combo deck in the current format. Your goal is to pair Lee Sin with Zenith Blade to double his Dragon’s Rage damage to set up a one turn kill.

One of the most powerful things about this deck is that Lee Sin both doubles as a finisher and a control card because of its ability to pick off units in the early game.

When playing this deck you should be aggressively looking for your Lee Sin.

If you actually can’t find Lee then try to slow down the game with Eye of the Dragon making a Dragonling every turn till you can find him.

Swain TF (Bilgewater + Noxus)

Deck code: CECACAYGB4CAEAYBA4EASBICAYCAQGQ5EYAQCAZOAMAQCAZSAEBQMCABAIDBYAIBAMBQ2

[See TF Swain deck details]

General Info

This deck is easily one of the best decks in the entire game at curbing aggression. Play this if you want to play a deck chock full of removal and ways to Plunder your opponent’s cards.

How to Play

TF Swain is still one of the better decks in the game. Once we start getting to the mid game, we can use Kegs to bump up our removal to deal with most threats.

Twisted Fate is a nice supplement to the deck, but remember that the main way we’re going to win is through Swain and Leviathan triggers.

Against slower decks you may be able to pressure them depending on your hand. If you can’t, you can play for value with draw and leveling up Swain.

B-tier LoR Decks

Deep Monsters (Bilgewater + Shadow Isles)

Deck code: CECAOAQGDUSSOLBPGU4AGAQFA4EAUAIBAUUACAYGAEAQEAIFDU3AA

[See Deep Monsters deck details]

General Info

Deep Monsters is a cool thematic deck that uses a majority of cards from a new region. It’s one of the first decks that finally gives the fantasy of playing a ton of huge creatures. Pick this deck up if you like big stats and huge boards.

How to Play

Deep Monsters wants to hit Deep as fast as possible while dealing with aggression. This means you don’t want to be using things like Jettison until you get to the turn where you want to hit deep, you want to be using your early mana to stay alive and stabilize.

Think of your units as removal options so you want to play slow with them and use them to get value blocks and challenges instead of pressuring face.

You’ll win by hitting deep then overwhelming your opponents with huge units, not by chip damage. Be careful with Devourer of the Depths.

Ideally, you’ll want to hit Deep before you use him but if you can’t then you need to keep in mind what damage options your opponent has as they will be looking to hit its health before the effect goes off. Look to play around mana thresholds and let your opponent tap out.

Nightfall Aggro (Shadow Isles + Targon)

Deck code: CEBQCAIFF4DQGCJDHBEVMWCZLYCAGBIDAQCQMAQBAMCQEAIBAUMQA

[See Nightfall Aggro deck details]

[See NicMakesPlays’s guide]

General Info

If you want to play a Targon deck with an aggressive slant I’d highly recommend trying this out. This is very difficult to play however, so only play this if you want to commit to learning how to effectively utilize the Nightfall mechanic and the Invoke mechanic.

How to Play

This is one of the best tempo decks in the game. You utilize cards like Diana to control the board early and then finish with giant pushes off of cards like Nocturne and your other Nightfall Cards. Cards like Pale Cascade and Stalking Shadows help ensure that you don’t run out of cards in the midgame. This deck is quite difficult to play because with Nightfall, you need to be planning your turns in advance. Oftentimes, you will skip a turn to ensure that you get a Nightfall trigger the next turn. I would look to keep Diana, Lunari Duskbringer, and Solari Soldier in your opening hand most of the time. If you are against a controlling deck you can consider keeping Stalking Shadows.

Hyper Aggro Endure (Freljord + Shadow Isles)

Deck code: CECAMAIFBMNB4KZQGEBAEBIEAYBQGBICAQDACAIBEIAQEAIFCAMQA

[See Hyper Aggro Endure deck details]

[See Precipic + Silverfuse’s guide]

General Info

This deck is great for players who like to have answers and flexibility. With card draw, removal, and a strong suite of followers, you can pivot on any angle that you need to.

How to Play

This deck features incredibly potent early game openers backed up by They Who Endure as a late game threat. Your early game mulligan’s primary goal is to get the best early game curve you can.

Between Stalking Shadows, Glimpse Beyond, and Unspeakable Horror, this deck has a ton of card advantage while playing very aggressively.

Mid to late game, you’re likely to draw into your They Who Endures to close out the game.

Shyvana Midrange (Demacia + Targon)

Deck code: CECAKAYAAUDAQCYOAQBQSDRDEZEAEAIADIWQCAQAAEBACAIAA4AQGCIVAA

[See Midrange Shyvana deck details]

General Info

Play this deck if you really enjoy the idea of playing the biggest creature on every single turn especially if those creatures are all giant Dragons.

How to Play

This is a Midrange Deck that looks to play big dragons as quickly as possible to run the opponent out of the game. Shyvana is the key card of the deck flipping very quickly with cards like Single Combat and Concerted Strike.

From there, generating a removal spell on every one of her attacks can completely dominate a board. In general, you want to look for your Herald of Dragons in most matchups so that you can play a turn 3 Shyvana. Beyond that, you just want to find good cards to play early like Dragonguard Lieutenant.

Conclusion

So there you have it! We’ll be posting the meta report every week so be sure to check back here. We also have our dedicated meta feature for LoR within our platform. See you next time.

Thanks for reading! To explore all the cards in LoR, check out our Card Gallery or jump straight into our Deck Builder if you already got some ideas from our article. Show us your best decks in the comments below. Be sure to follow our expert, EG Swim, at his LoR website, Twitch, Twitter, and Youtube.