Legends of Runeterra: Best Eternal Decks By the Numbers

The first week of this Eternal competitive season is over! Now, we can all get a good grasp on what's good or not in the ranked queue.

Let's see the best 5 lists in this format, by the numbers.

This is one of the most classic archetypes in the entire game, and was very popular and powerful in April 2023, during the first Runeterra Open competitive season. Both players in this tournament's final round had this list in their lineup.

The main idea is to win against slower lists, and also perform well against aggressive decks. As the Eternal meta isn't currently welcoming many Midrange decks (Vayne Aatrox's main weakness), this deck stands out, and also preys on the rest of the lists on the ranked queue.

Another reason is that, right now, players are still making their way to Masters, and the most common strategies to do that are aggro lists, which don't perform that well against Aatrox's archetype.

This is almost a singleton list, and also one of the most classic archetypes in the entire game.

This list is well-prepared to remove any unit through its spells, which deal damage directly. Just like Vayne Aatrox, it struggles a lot against Midrange lists, so, as they aren't that popular in the meta right, it ends up preying on aggressive opponents - abundant on the ranked queue, as we discussed.

It is difficult to pilot, and, and usually popular among veteran players, who have learned how to play it a long time ago. This archetype's win rate will most likely take a hit as it gets more popular and new players start testing it out, but don't be mistaken: it is a great option for the ranked queue regardless.

At the end of the day, this deck wins against practically anything in the meta. You just have to play perfectly and get a little bit lucky when you create cards at random.

Ziggs' Burn list is, historically, one of the most popular Eternal lists, so it's no surprise that it is, once again, at the top of the rankings. It always is.

This deck is a bit problematic for the meta because only a few specific strategies stop it from completely dominating the ranked queue, and they aren't necessarily strong against the rest of the meta. Therefore, it is a great option for the ranked queue, considering the decks that beat it are incredibly unpopular - they just can't handle the rest of the meta, so they're not a great meta pick.

This problem exists since the Eternal format was created, and will probably still exist for a very long time. Until then, most players will pick this list to play in the ranked queue because it is incredibly easy to pilot and heavily punishes other rising meta decks.

I mentioned this list in one of my recent articles as one of the best Eternal options to play in the first few weeks - and I was right! It's actually one of the best decks in this format right now.

The entire Dragons archetype has just been nerfed, but, as we all know, the Elder Dragon itself is nerf-proof because its Origin covers a gigantic array of cards. All players have to do is make up a new way to play this champion any time any of its cards are nerfed, and that's what happened this time, too.

In Eternal, you can play one of the oldest combos in the game: Cithria, Lady of Clouds + Spectral Matron. It is extremely strong now that we can use the Elder Dragon to play non-Shadow Isles cards with Demacia, and make this list even more consistent.

A good example of that is Heisho, Shell of the World, an Ionia card that is quite powerful in this list.

The rest of the list works like a regular ramp deck. You'll play cards and spells to discount your Spectral Matron or Cithria, Lady of Clouds, and then play them as fast as possible to double the stats of all the units on your board.

This deck is strong right now because it is extremely easy to pilot and because it's incredibly difficult to stop the combo if you have all your cards. Your opponent won't be able to answer your discounts directly, or stop you from playing Cithria, Lady of Clouds directly.

Targon and Piltover and Zaun is one of the most versatile region combinations in the game. Viktor Aphelios is perhaps even more versatile.

These two champions have been in so many decks together that it is challenging to remember them all. In any case, the most "modern" version of this archetype leans on a "tempo" game style and has the best win rate of the entire meta.

This list is really similar to the "Rubin's Pile", but it doesn't play any late game Celestials. To the untrained eye, from afar, it doesn't seem strong. That is because it doesn't have a clear win condition. But, actually, this list gets the most out of the value its cards and champions create, and combines it all with incredibly mana-efficient direct removals. This all makes this deck one of the best lists to get "ahead" of your opponent, and win solely by doing that.

Eventually, you'll win because you'll either have more units on the board, or more burn, or more cards in hand. And your opponent will still be developing only one unit per turn, or will be forced to answer one of your attacks.

Besides all of this, this deck also plays well defensively, as it heals and controls the enemy board by removing their units. And, ultimately, you can always prepare a gigantic unit with Overwhelm, or win by dealing damage to the Nexus directly too.

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

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See you next time!