Eternal Deck Guide: Elder Dragon Akshan & Arbiter of the Peak

After a long time without writing deck guides, I have returned with one of the most interesting lists that have come up recently, Elder Dragon Akshan - a deck that focuses on abusing Dragon Boons.

One of my duties as a professional LoR player is to keep up with the competitive scene (as small as it is nowadays), and one of the lists that has become popular is this Elder Dragon deck.

We all know this champion is one of the best champions to build lists because of its origin, and now, that we're focusing on the Eternal ranked queue, we have all the cards available to create the most expensive lists possible with this champion.

We'll delve deep into this interesting deck, besides giving you a few tips to play it as best as you can.

During our preparations for the third week of the "Aegis FVB League" team tournament, me and my team, Lotus Be Humble, stumbled upon a list with Elder Dragon and Akshan that had an excellent win rate in the Eternal ranked queue.

This deck focuses on abusing Dragon Boons, which target your allies. So, this list has several cards that interact when you target allied units:

Grappling Hook, which we can only use on allies that were targeted that turn;

Arbiter of the Peak, which reduces its cost by 1 any time we target an ally;

Akshan's Warlord's Palace, which counts down any time we target an ally as well.

This list is a new version of Akshan archetypes, which we've always build using a "deckbuilding" style we call "good cards", in which we literally just add good cards that interact with our champion to a single list. This version with Elder Dragon is a "good cards" deck as well, considering we're literally using the best cards that interact with Dragon Boons as optimally as possible.

An important standout card in this list is Ancient Yeti, which, if you draw it in your initial hand, will cost 4 mana on turn 4, activate a Dragon Boon, and therefore activate the rest of the interactions we listed when we mentioned Arbiter of the Peak and Warlord's Palace.

Another standout card is Captain Arrika, which is one of the best cards in Eternal. She wins matches on her own because there are very few decks that can deal with her Capture mechanic. And very few decks that use Deny are seeing play nowadays.

Your main strategy will be to look for Akshan with the Predict mechanic, so you can then play Warlord's Palace on the board as soon as possible, which will help you "recycle" your deck. If you can do that, by targeting allied units again and again, eventually you'll reduce the cost of your Arbiter of the Peak (which is the main finisher in this list), and you'll play it for very little mana.

The whole deck focuses on reducing the cost of the cards that activate Dragon Boons, considering even Incisive Tactician can cost less mana - 6 - if you activate Reputation.

It will also be one of the main finishers in your deck because it helps you keep the pressure on the board with its Rally effect.

Another critical card is Forsaken Baccai, which is this list's greatest tuner and will help you draw Akshan and the other cards you need during your match.

And last, but not least, we have Swinging Glaive, this deck's greatest engine, considering it helps you accelerate both Warlord's Palace and Arbiter of the Peak.

Our mulligan strategy is extremely easy: just look for Akshan in your initial hand, always. If you already have him, also make any equipment card, or Shaped Stone your priority.

Below, see an example of the "perfect hand":

Vekauran Vagabond will create a Warlord's Palace for you if you don't draw an Akshan in your initial hand. And Treasure Seeker will help you block your opponent's early game units if you don't have a Forsaken Baccai.

Even though we have a Sivir in our deck, it isn't one of our main stars. She is only a strong card to play in a few matchups against Control decks because of her Spellshield. If you're facing Piltover & Zaun, or Ionia, considering keeping a copy of her in your starting hand to play her on curve. Otherwise, make the other cards we listed above your priority.

Unfortunately, as this deck is extremely new, and popular only among competitive players, we have almost no data on it. However, in my own experience, you'll have the upper hand against any type of Midrange deck, besides control lists in general.

Against Aggro decks, such as Annie Jhin, and Jinx decks, you'll probably not be able to do anything, considering your list won't be able to build an extensive board of blockers early on, and also doesn't have any healing (besides Ocean Drake's Dragon Boon).

- The Darkin Bloodletters are one of the most important cards late game when you have less resources. Xolaani activates Dragon Boons, and also needs to target an ally and kill it to go into play. This means, she, alone, discounts Warlord's Palace's and Arbiter of the Peak's costs twice.

- The Dragon Boon that heals your allies and your Nexus by 2 doesn't target your allies or your Nexus, and like so doesn't discount your cards.

- One of the secrets in this list is knowing which treasure in Akshan's landmarks to use and when. Even though the treasure that draws you cards is always the most useful one, consider the other ones very wisely and see if they aren't better for you in each case.

- Usually, in these types of decks, Elder Dragon isn't a finisher, but it levels up surprisingly fast because of our followers' stats. So, once or twice, consider using it as an alternative win condition.

- If you're facing a lot of Aggro decks, consider bringing one copy of Sands of Time to stop enemy attacks. This card is incredibly strong against Azir Irelia lists, one of the most popular decks in Eternal.

- Use your Nexus as a resource. This means sometimes you'll take a bit of damage, without playing anything in your turn, to save mana enough and then play Grappling Hook on your units next turn.

- The best play is always to speed up your landmark's countdown. If you can speed up your countdowns, do it - your deck can't draw cards if by any other means.

- Sivir must be the target of your Lucky Finds as much as possible. She gives her keywords to the entire board when she levels up.

- Against Nilah Twisted Fate decks, keep Armed Acquisitioner in your initial hand so you can create the spell that destroys landmarks.

- Try to choose the Boons that grant Fearsome or Impact to your Overwhelm units. If you need to, choose the Challenger Boon for your Ancient Yeti if you play it on turn 4, to lock down your opponent. And, any time you can, choose the Tough Boon for your Captain Arrika, so she can become even more resilient.

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

Don't forget to share this article. See you next time!