Fates Voyage: Onward - Top 5 Lineups for this Expansion's First Runeterra Open

The first Fates Voyage: Onward Runeterra Open is near, and, as usual, I come bring you the top 5 best lineups to bring to the tournament.

Note: this article is based on my 3-year experience playing and casting Runeterra tournaments. You are welcome to mix and match decks and also create your own lineup.

With the new champion releases, the meta appears to have consolidated, at least on the ranked queue. Now, in tournaments, it's a different story.

My first suggestion is: Don't take the ranked queue meta as absolute truth, but take into account what's popular over there. As the Open is an open tournament to all players with no rank restriction, not all players who play it have access to competitive content, or play tournaments frequently. Therefore, it is common to find decks at the Open tournament which are identical to ranked queue decks. But just because these lists are popular, doesn't mean they are the best choices for you.

Let's see the top 5 lineups I recommend you bring to the Open, categorized in different play styles.

Janna Nilah - Even though Janna's archetype was paired with Samira earlier in the season, now that time has passed, most players have adopted Nilah as the main support champion for Janna's package.

This list helped many players on their journey to Master rank this season, and that is why it is safe to say it is a deck which has conquered the hearts of most players.

Another factor which made this list explode in popularity is the fact it is always on the top rankings of most played decks on data websites, with an extremely high win rate too. Like so, it is very easy to find this deck, as you only need to open the stats websites to see it.

Jarvan IV Gnar - Warden of the Tribes' archetype is one of the most popular archetypes in the whole game, and is even considered by many to be a broken deck. It is likely that this list, or at least the Warden of the Tribes' archetype itself, is this Open's great theme, and these lists will be the most popular ones.

They are very easy to pilot, and that is why many players will go after this archetype, as they prefer this game style because you don't need to get tired thinking about your many plays.

The annoying part is that, as it is a deck that can be built in 100 different ways, mirror matches will usually be defined by which list is best prepared to deal with the opponent's Warden. Buried in Ice and Harsh Winds are premium tech cards for those who want to get ready to play Warden mirrors.

Pyke Rek’Sai - This is the most popular deck across Legends of Runeterra. This list was almost literally the only list on the Standard ranked queue when we were busy playing Eternal's competitive season last expansion.

Players who aren't part of the competitive bubble, but who play Opens, will very likely be playing with this deck - so get ready for this list.

Pyke Rek'Sai also has good matchups against many Midrange Volibear decks, besides other slower decks which can't take on that much game pressure. It is another reason for players to bring this list to this tournament.

Kennen Annie Samira - This deck is destroying the ranked queue with its super consistent Wildfire combo. This list can practically check-mate any deck if they draw the right cards, because they only need to play Wildfire 6 times to win the match.

As most popular lists don't interact with their opponent's boards well, and also can't heal, it is safe to say this strategy is quite strong to bring to the tournament.

The bad thing about this deck is that, as it is one of the best win rate decks, it is likely some players will be prepared to play against it. But, if I were to bet on it, I'd say it might be easier to ban this list, as it isn't guaranteed you'll win against this archetype even if you cook a deck prepared to deal with it.

For these reasons, I listed the Wildfire combo deck here in this top 5: it is a good ban target for this Open.

Nidalee - The Transform archetype is finally solved, and better than ever. After a long time since her release, Nidalee is finally getting some love, showing up on many stat websites at the top of their rankings.

This deck easily wins games if you have the perfect curve, and we're in a meta in which your opponent will most likely not have an easy way to interact with your board. It is almost guaranteed you'll be able to play your combos very easily.

Another very important factor is that Shurima is currently in a good spot competitively as a support region, considering it brings cards such as Rite of Negation and other defensive spells which are perfect to counter adversities along the way.

Jarvan IV Illaoi - If you're looking for an aggressive list, with control tools, this is the perfect deck for you. This archetype is based on always having the biggest unit in play, from the first few turns onward, and this unit will be your source of game pressure throughout each turn.

Jarvan IV is currently well-positioned competitively, as it is a champion which will interact with the opponent's board without forcing you to lose tempo by summoning this champion. Barrier, as a keyword, is also a premium tool in this meta.

This deck can control the enemy's game rhythm well, and has good matchups against most meta opponents which bring Warden of the Tribes. It has all this besides bringing Demacia, which is the best region in Standard in terms of adaptability against anything in the meta, due to cards such as Mageseeker Junior and the Silence mechanic.

Senna Nasus - It is possible this deck is the best list, currently, to climb the ranked queue. With so many players betting on Warden of the Tribes decks, it is very common to face these lists, and these matches are very good for Senna Nasus.

Actually, it is almost unfair how favorable this matchup is to Nasus. Another big factor that makes this deck extremely strong is the presence of Rite of Negation, which is perfect to deal with other Control decks.

Nasus, despite the many nerfs, is still at the top of the competitive ecosystem. As many players don't bet on nerfed champions, this list ends up not appearing as much on website numbers, despite being extremely strong.

Heimerdinger Jayce - This list seems to have been here forever, and once again can dominate the Open. This deck is full of strong early, mid and late game plays, with the addition of having in its arsenal control tools and also aggressive options.

I classify this deck as a Midrange list, but as the meta is quite focused on Midrange lists, this list will behave as a responsive deck in this tournament.

Considering that, alter this deck in any way you prefer to adapt to the competition's standards. Maybe an extra copy of Piercing Darkness, and one Production Surge less can make the difference against a few decks.

"Shadow Isles Targon" Cosmic Call - This champless list is simply a bunch of removals, healing cards, and a lot of value. We have in this deck literally everything you need to stop any meta deck from playing.

This list is among those decks which only lose to themselves, which means, many times, any small mistake you make costs you the entire match. So, be careful and train lots to not lose matches you should win.

Vayne Aatrox - As incredible as it sounds, this deck has been yielding good results against the current meta, and is very well-positioned to deal with the astronomical number of Janna lists which will show up in this tournament.

Another interesting fact is that, as it is a Demacia list, you can, if it works for you, bring any anti-fun tools, such as Mageseeker Junior - considering now Form Up! is the only spell in this list which costs less than 3.

This list can heal a lot too because of Aatrox, which can catch many players off-guard this weekend, and almost no one will be prepared to play against this deck.

Jax Ornn - This is a dynamic, fast deck with many control tools which are very strong, both against Janna lists and Warden of the Tribes lists.

As it is an old deck, many veteran players are already very familiar with this list, so bringing it might be a good bet made by players who have been playing for a long time already.

Frostbites are also quite popular due to the many lists, including Janna decks, which are finishing games declaring strong attacks with big units.

Pantheon Akshan - This list is also a list that only loses to itself.

This deck is very consistent in the current metagame, due to the most popular lists interacting very little with the opponent's board, and also being very fragile against removals.

Pantheon can escape many removals, because this deck's whole defensive package is equipped to deal with any adversity. The problem is its internal consistency, as you need to level up your champions to win games. If you don't do that, you'll hardly win matches, and that is why this list loses to itself more often than not.

Nautilus Maokai - Control decks seem to be popular for this Open, and a list that can win against Midrange decks, and Control decks, is Deep.

This deck has a problem, which is: its removals and interactions to deal with the enemy board are too limited, and you won't be able to control your opponent's board every time.

Despite the matches against other Control lists being almost guaranteed for you, some Burn lists can end all your hopes and dreams. If you want to be an adventurer, and think this tournament will be full of Control lists, Deep is the deck for you.

Zombie Ashe - This list is the combination of all interactions which are strong in the current metagame. We have hard removals, Frostbites, and finisher combos which are extremely strong for your final turn.

This archetype isn't very popular, but it is great against Warden decks. This list is also a bit hard to pilot for those who aren't used to this archetype.

My suggestion is: don't get attached to Ashe, as she is very disposable, despite being your finisher. You'll always have her available anyway through The Harrowing.

Ekko Janna - Ekko was gifted many good cards which match this list, after the release of Janna's card package.

Even Jinx, the champion who used to pair up with Ekko, was slowly leaving this archetype. Many players were even opting to play Ekko alone in this list, to give it more consistency.

This deck doesn't have many matches registered to give us an interesting measure for the Open. But it is safe to say that every time this list appears in the competitive scene, it really dominates it - even more considering Shurima can fit as a wildcard region for this tournament quite nicely, because of Rite of Negation.

If you read this far, now you're prepared for Fates Voyage: Onward first Runeterra Open.

Don't forget to comment and share this article on social media. See you next time!