Legends of Runeterra - 5 Off-Meta Standard Lists to Test out in the Ranked Queue

Now that, apparently, a fraction of the competitive scene will get some support again, it seems some players started to test out new lists in the ranked queue.

Who would have guessed some good news about our beloved PvP mode would once again inspire deckbuilders and ignite their creative passion?

After reviewing the stats websites, I collected and brought to you some off-meta lists that seem to be performing well in the ranked queue. They're all new, creative ideas that may help you climb ranks this season.

This relatively new archetype is a combination of Pirates with the aggressive game style in Bandle City decks, which play numerous cheap units, as well as a few Elusives.

It is extremely aggressive early on, as it plays many cheap cards that also summon extra units on the board with their effects. This strategy - summoning units with other units - is quite common in Swarm archetypes, which, in turn, have not been popular in LoR for some time now.

Marai Warden and Petty Officer, for instance, are great examples of this strategy. They both fill your board with random 1-cost units.

This deck also brings back one of the oldest deckbuilding concepts in LoR: 9 1-cost cards. It includes three copies of Shellshocker, Byrd, The Bellringer, and Gloomsprites, which means this is practically a brick-proof list (you probably won't have a bad hand early on).

The champions in it are also quite secondary. They may be strong, but, as it is a Swarm deck, your biggest win condition won't be necessarily any specific card. Instead, it will often be the entire package of cards you'll play in the first few turns.

To end the match, you'll have Slippery Waverider, which is a great finisher for this meta, considering we currently can't deal all that well with Elusive units. And, if everything goes wrong, you can still Rally and attack twice in the same turn with Citrus Courier.

This is, particularly, my favorite deck on this list. It isn't exactly new, but because Freljord got so many great cards throughout the years, it finally works (after 3 years!).

Ashe Tahm Kench has existed since Tahm Kench was released to the game, but before we didn't have half of the great cards this deck plays now, so it obviously wasn't that great. Nonetheless, someone decided to test out this archetype on the ranked queue recently and managed to perform so well it finally stood out on stats websites.

Now this list includes the popular Freljord kit we are all too familiar with: Omen Hawk, Yadulski Snowdog, and Sky Splitter. However, instead of leaning on a Midrange style focused on combat, like other Freljord decks, this list is more like a slow Midrange focused on control.

You'll control the board with your Frostbites, Rimefang Wolf, and Tahm Kench. Rimefang Wolf, in particular, removes any unit with 0 power, and Tahm Kench doesn't take damage from Frostbitten units when he Captures them.

This deck's finishers are the Rimefang Packs you'll create from Rimefang Denmother and Frozen in Fear, and Ashe herself, who also works like a finisher.

There are so many Frostbites in this deck that it will be incredibly challenging for your opponent to deal damage to your Nexus with their units in the mid-game if they're playing any Midrange deck as well.

I'll highlight two cards in this list: Glacial Fell, which is one of the most underrated cards in LoR, and Rimetusk Shaman. Glacial Fell is great to "heal" your Rimefang Packs or set up some play with Udyr's stances. Rimetusk Shaman, on the other hand, can, by herself, completely lock down the enemy board if they can't remove her or interact with your board.

In April 2023, this Demacia Gwen archetype was one of the most powerful decks in LoR, but, after Opulent Foyer was nerfed and the Elder Dragon came along, we never saw it in action again.

Now, it has returned to the ranked queue at full force, and is one of the few meta lists that uses an aggressive "pressure" or "tempo" based game style.

The main idea behind this deck is equipping your allies with The Darkin Halberd or the equipment you get from Combat Cook and Fireth, Reaper of the Sands with Tumble and Catch!. This way, you'll ignore Halberd's text, which forces you to slay a unit to equip it to another unit.

This is how you'll give your units +2/+2 for free: with a free attack or at burst speed, and that's what will catch your opponent off guard.

Your late game options are Gwen and Bloodcursed Harpy, which is a classic unit for this deck and maybe one of the most oppressive finishers in this meta. It simply ignores death when it is removed, so it's practically immune to Shadow Isles lists with Vengeance.

Finally, I'll highlight Eternal Dancers, which revive your strongest dead ally. If you revive Gwen several times, you'll most likely turn the game around, as you'll either deal a lot of damage or simply heal your Nexus as you attack.

As incredible as it sounds, this Morgana Vladimir list is currently the best deck on stats websites. Maybe, as it plays Arbiter of the Peak, many players simply don't expect this card, and don't prepare themselves well enough to play against it.

In any case, it is still extremely powerful and aggressive. This deck combines control elements with Shackles to prevent your opponent from blocking, and also plays aggressive units to deal lots of damage. The main idea is to target allies as often as you can, and abuse Sacrificial Scholar to recycle spells and discount the cost of your Arbiter of the Peak. This will also level up your Morgana quite fast.

As you can build this list in several ways, I decided to bring you another version I built myself that might be a bit more well-prepared to deal with the decks on the ranked queue.

But test out the version with Arbiter of the Peak too, ok? It is way more fun.

The classic Transform archetype is back. The reason behind this is that the meta has now moved on to decks that are strong against Ionia, like Lux: Illuminated Vex Spirits, Aggro Discard Jinx, and other aggressive lists. Transform is great against these fast archetypes because these lists usually can't answer Transform combos. This means you won't lose your key-units as you play, like Nidalee and Chief Nakotak.

Your early game is also as strong as these aggressive decks' early game, and this means you'll be able to trade units on the board early on without using your Nexus as a resource. Quicksand is still one of the strongest cards in this meta, and will really help you hold off enemy pressure while you're transitioning to mid-game.

Eventually, you'll have to play something slow, like The Wingsgiving or Chief Nakotak. However, as your opponent probably doesn't have any answers for these units (they're playing aggro), you can return to the match after a few turns by transforming your units.

This deck sets up incredible comebacks with The Wingsgiving's Transformations - you can Transform your units into an Elusive or Spellshield unit, or even an Overwhelm unit, and use them as finishers. Maybe, who knows, you even get a Lifesteal unit and heal your Nexus.

It is quite complex, however, and full of difficult plays, so, if you'd like to see a proper in-depth guide for it, tell us in our comment section below. I'll make it happen!

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

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See you next time!