Legends of Runeterra - 5 Rising Decks in Patch 5.8 (Some are even Champless!)

Ever since Neeko returned to Standard, the ranked queue meta has been a bit crazy. Ionia seems to be better and better, and, as more Neeko decks come along, as well as more midrange Glacial Saurian lists, more control counters Ionia whips out of its arsenal.

Today, I brought you 5 different lists that could, potentially, change the tides. These are rising decks, so we haven't explored them all that much, but they all have interesting numbers on data websites.

For the first time in a long time, we have 2 champless lists. This is another sign that this season's power level is a bit low, as some decks don't even need the most important cards in the game to work.

The most popular list in this article is this version of Freljord ramp with Ionia. It focuses on playing Beguiling Cobra and Warden of the Tribes as soon as possible.

It also includes the popular early game Freljord kit: Omen Hawk and Yadulski Snowdog, which, in turn, really match the Warden of the Tribes archetype because they both have subtypes.

Some other early game cards outside this kit are also surprisingly great both with ramp and Warden, as they also have subtypes, and accelerate your mana. These cards are Greenglade Lookout, which is a Yordle and discounts the cost of the most expensive unit in your hand by one when it Strikes, and The Rootbound Path. Despite not interacting with Warden directly, The Rootbound Path's chapter 3 is great with the deck itself because it discounts the cost of all cards in your hand.

These two cards are the newest additions to the ramp archetype, considering so far they rarely saw any play in these types of decks. Greenglade Lookout was used in ramp decks, but was never really popular.

To complete the ramp section, we have all the staples for this game style: Winter's Touch and Wild Mysticism.

I also need to highlight Ancient Yeti, which was buffed recently. Actually, the dev team decided to revert the nerf he got, which made him 9 mana. It is now back to 7 mana.

"Good Cards" archetypes usually refer to lists that are just a bunch of good cards that don't necessarily have any great synergy. This is basically what this list is.

It includes cards like Conchologist and The Wingsgiving, which don't really interact with your champions, or with the disruption spells in this list. They just perform really well together because they're great cards.

This list doesn't have any secrets or clever combos, it really is just the best cards from these two regions. As a result, we can highlight multiple cards in it.

My first honorable mention goes to The Wingsgiving, of which we only bring one copy. However, one copy is enough to give you amazing plays in the ranked queue. This landmark can "steal" many wins for you which before weren't possible - for instance, with Elusive units, or Spellshield units. Not to mention, this deck constantly buffs allied units, and, according to the rules regarding Transformation, any bonus stats are passed down to the Transformed unit. So, you can set up a massive board with gigantic units if you use The Wingsgiving well.

We also play one copy of Puzzling Signposts, which is an absolute nightmare for any Shadow Isles list. You'll still have to face Vex players in the ranked queue, even more so in higher ranks, but, this way, you'll always be prepared for their Vengeance.

Lastly, we have Spirits Unleashed, which, considering this season's low power level, has once again turned into one of the best "snow ball" options in the game (now that we have explored it a bit more). These "snow ball" cards are usually spells that don't do much as soon as you play them, but create so much value that you eventually win as a result.

A good example of a "snow ball card" like Spirits Unleashed is Siren Song.

The APAC server is the only one playing this list, and it has one of the best win rates there.

This deck, once again, is strong because of this season's low power level - now, we have way more time to set up plays than before, in the Elder Dragon metas.

This version is not that different from the one we're all used to. In fact, the only card that could be considered "new" by some players is The Rootbound Path. Even though we started using it in this archetype as soon as it was revealed, not that many players saw it in this list because it wasn't that popular last season.

Jun, the Prodigy is also a relatively new addition. We have used it before, but only as a 1-off in the last versions of this list, not 2, as we're seeing now.

Lastly, we have two copies of Attentive Accountant, which has been included off-and-on again in this archetype multiple times. She has now returned to help you hoard some Coins early on.

The Vayne Elusives archetype isn't new, but it is certainly quite unknown.

This list usually pops up when we don't have many cards in the meta that interact with the board, which is weird, as Ionia is so powerful right now precisely because it interacts with the board a lot.

As it happens, this archetype is popular again because it preys on Neeko lists, which have 0 interactions. You'll easily put units with Quick Attack in play, which, in turn, will safely attack Neeko units. Not to mention, even though Neeko lists have Omen Hawk, they're still terrible against Elusives.

You must be asking yourself, wait, where are the Elusives in this list? We don't have any units with this keyword, actually. You just grant one of your Scout units Elusive with Sumpworks Map, or grant your Vi Elusive, to win the match. That's basically the only win condition in this deck.

As simple as it is, it is quite powerful against Neeko and all the new midrange decks that are popping up.

But keep in mind: this archetype is terrible against Ionia and Shadow Isles.

This champless list is a relatively new "printer" archetype. "Printer" lists focus on copying or creating the same card multiple times during a match, as well as playing them multiple times as well. In this case, the card we'll copy is Empyrean Dance, which returns an enemy unit, counters a spell, and summons The Empyrean at the same time.

This deck stops your opponent from having any fun, so if your fun is destroying everyone else's fun, this is your deck.

We use every Ionia tool that is strong nowadays: Tag Out!, Blooming Bud, Steel Gale, Unworthy Soul, Deny, and Smooth Mixologist.

Notice that we only bring two copies of some of these cards. This is because we need space to play more powerful Ionia tools. There are so many strong cards in Ionia that it is difficult to put all of them in a single deck. That's why we also don't use any champions in this list.

The main idea is to copy Empyrean Dance with Evil Imperfectionist, then use Serene Sky-Singer to discount the cost of all spells in your deck. To help us draw cards, we also play Sunken Temple and Ritual of Renewal, which heals your Nexus too.

Actually, this list heals a lot. If you use all the healing spells in this deck and Strike at least once with all your Lifesteal units, you'll heal up to 45 points, which is more than double your Nexus!

It is truly hard to beat this deck if you're playing a midrange or aggro list. It only seems to lose to other Ionia lists, or Lee Sin combos.

If you read this far, thank you! I hope you had fun and enjoyed reading this article.

What about you? Which list will you test out first? Tell us all your thoughts in our comment section below!

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Thank you for reading, and see you next time!