Get ready to dominate the battlefield without breaking the bank! Check out my list of the top 5 Legends of Runeterra decks that won't cost you an arm and a leg but will cost your opponent their LP.
From budget versions of popular decks to hidden gems, these strategies will have you climbing the ranks in no time. So grab your cards and let's get started!
5. Mono Demacia
Deck Code:
CEBQCBAABABAMABJFMDQCAABAQGCEJBHGYCACAIADIAQEAAHAEBQADQBAQAAOAICAQAAICQ
Deck Overview: We have seen mono-SI decks. Mono-Shurima was a thing for a long while. But, I would never have thought that mono-Demacia would ever–ever!–become a strong deck. And yet here it is.
This is one of the simplest decks, but it’s simply strong. You slam units down, build a big, strong board, and attack, taking value trades until your opponent cannot keep up. If you ever find yourself thinking about what to do, stop it. Just attack.
Or if they are somehow able to keep up with your normal attacks, casting one Champion Strength will make them instantly concede and hand you the almost-free LP
Deck Analysis: With mono-Demacia, you want to step on the gas from the start and not stop pushing until your opponent is down and out. This means that you should be attacking from turn 1 if you do have the attack token.
You have enough 1-drops in your deck to allow you to semi-consistently have a strong turn-1 play. This will help you build momentum and keep the pressure up throughout the entire game.
Since your units are not the most cost-efficient, in most turns of the mid-game, you will not be summoning more than 1 unit. 1 unit per turn keeps the doctor away.
With the rest of your remaining mana, you can use some of your very effective combat tricks to win trades. Sometimes, you can get a blowout win just by using one good Single Combat.
During the late game, you should have a big board with some pretty scary stats. Garen, Jarvan IV, and King Jarvan III are your holy trinity and some of the best units you can have on your board at this point.
But at the same time, your opponent should be getting closer to his Win Conditions too. This means that you need to push these last few points of damage as soon as possible or else you may end up still losing the game.
That’s where Champion Strength comes into play. Both metaphorically and literally. With the crazy stat boost and the free Rally, it is almost impossible for your opponent to defend against your board.
Time for one last overwhelming attack that will finally give you that sweet win.
Mono Demacia Strong Points:
Board Presence
Demacia is known for 2 things. Strong units and Rally. That’s why this deck can build one of the strongest, toughest, meanest boards there are.
Great Combat Tricks
While Demacia’s combat tricks are not that popular anymore, they are still some of the best in the game, allowing you to turn a trade on its head and come out victorious out of nowhere.
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but the old tricks are still damn good.
Bonkers Finisher
Champion Strength may just be the best finisher in the game. Giving all your units +4/+4 AND Rallying, there is very little your opponent can do against a wide board that is blessed with Champion Strength’s effects.
4. Darius Overwhelm
Deck Code:
CEEQCAIBD4AQEAIGAEBAGBIBAMAQEAIFAEDACBIDB4AQMAIYAEDAGKIDAEBQWDBIAIAQCAIFAIAQGDJGAEAQCAY3
Deck Overview: This may just be my favorite kind of deck. It has a simple approach. Just attack. But, unlike Aggro decks, you don’t have burn or a way to go under your blockers, like those pesky Elusives.
Instead, you have big units with the Overwhelm keyword. So, you pretty much just ignore the enemy and attack anyway, pushing damage over them.
My favorite thing about this deck is that you need to be proactive in order to push damage. You have to keep attacking. But at the same time, you can’t go in blind or you’ll lose all your LP. Iron sounds nice until you realize it’s the worst rank in the game.
Since you don’t have Quick Attack or Elusive to save you, you need to read your opponent, know what cards they probably have in hand, and play around them.
Deck Analysis:
Just like every Noxus deck that is remotely aggressive, you want to start turn 1 strong with a Legion Rearguard, pushing 3 damage from the get-go.
In terms of opening hands, we always keep the ol’ reliable, which is the Ancient Yeti, plus some low-cost units. 1-2 combat tricks to smoothen things out are good too.
From there, you slowly start building your board and attacking to push more and more Overwhelm damage. Use your combat tricks, like Troll Chant and Whirling Death to avoid scenarios where your units would die. Live another day, push another couple of damage.
Bone Club is a really useful addition to the deck. You can slam it on one of your Overwhelm units so it can bonk the enemy and keep pushing massive damage for a couple more turns.
In the mid-to-late game, it’s time to bring out the big guns. Or, more like big claws, big axes, and big mads. Anyway, I mean Ancient Yetis, Darius, and Battlefury.
At this point of the game, you should have pushed a lot of damage and need a final push to close things out. These 3 cards help you do just that.
Ancient Yeti and especially Darius, have huge stats that will push absurd amounts of damage over small enemy units, while Battlefury gives you +8/+4 which makes any unit a huge threat out of nowhere.
You should eventually find an opening and exploit it to finish off your opponent.
Darius Overwhelm Strong Points:
Overwhelming
This deck does not care about blockers. It will kill the enemy units and push the damage it wants at the same time
Can Kill From Half-Health
With units like Darius and spells like Battle Fury, this deck has no problem killing you from 10+ HP. Especially if you combine the two.
Can Trick you Into Favorable Trades
This deck has some great combat tricks that can either turn the trade on its head and make you come out victorious or straight up make you push the extra damage you need to find lethal.
3. Pirates
Deck Code:
CIDACAQDAMAQKBQBAEDAMHQBAYBSSAYBAMBAYKAEAIDBMGRGHIBQCAIDG4AQEBR6AEDAGJYBAEBAGBA
Deck Overview:
Maybe the most famous Aggro deck of all time. This is the deck most people start playing and one many never stop.
It’s your classic Aggro deck where you want to push the majority of your damage through units in the first 4-5 turns and then finish off with Burn spells once your opponent builds a board.
Though, there are instances where you may go wide and smork your enemy to death.
Deck Analysis:
It’s a pure Aggro deck. You attack and usually forget to defend. A hand like double Legion Saboteur, Marai Warden, and Eye of Nagakabouros may be close to a dream hand.
You push board damage, and you also push Burn damage at the same time, thanks to Sabpteur’s ability. You go wide with the Warden and you refill your hand with the Eye, right before gassing out.
During the mid-game, you should be finding it hard to push extra damage unless you keep going wide with Wardens and Island Navigators. In this case, you want a Zap Sprayfin to push at least some Elusive damage, but you mostly turn to your burn WinCon.
Attack with all your units and sacrifice half of them to push a couple more damage through the board. Use Fervor of Battle on a unit that would die anyway to Burn the enemy nexus. Simple as 1,2,3 (add 4 if you are Jhin)
Finally, finish your opponent off with Decimates straight to the dome.
Pirates’ Strong Points:
Wins Fast
This is such an aggressive deck that you can often end the game by round 3-4-5.
Burn Baby Burn
There are just so many Burn spells that you could push more than half your opponent’s HP through burn alone
Smork
Not necessarily what it always does, but there are circumstances where the deck goes 6-wide over and over and your opponent can’t do anything about it.
2. Plunder
Deck Code:
CICQCAQBAIAQKBQBAEDAMHQCAUAQMDYHAIDBIIBBEYUC2OQCAEBAMEQBAYDB2AA
Deck Overview:
Plunder has a unique playstyle. There is a simple mini-game inside the actual game, which makes it a very fun deck to play. You want to hit the enemy nexus in five different rounds so that you level up your champions.
Plunder is an anti-mid-range mid-range deck. In simple terms, it means that this is a mid-range deck that can beat the other mid-range decks. Thanks to Sejuani’s powerful leveled ability, which Frostbites the entire enemy board the first time you hit the enemy nexus each round.
Once you manage and get them into that situation, there is absolutely nothing they can do other than surrender and go next.
Deck Analysis:
As we said earlier, you want to hit the enemy nexus every single round in the first few turns. This means you start your turn 1 with a Shellshocker if you have the attack token or rip a Warning Shot if you don’t.
From there, you are trying to attack and push damage (thus hitting the enemy nexus) during your attack turns and use spells to both hit the nexus and clear the enemy board on defensive turns.
Tusk Speaker is also a great addition to the deck because it allows you to effortlessly damage the enemy nexus on your opponent’s attacking turn. Plus it has Overwhelm to damage the enemy nexus again when attacking
You won’t always have your champions leveled on turn 5 and that’s okay. It’s not awesome, but it’s okay. Anywhere from 5 to 7 is still good enough.
Still, your champions are your win conditions. One of them is enough, you don’t need both of them, but if you don’t find any of them? Yeah, good luck with that.
You need Sejuani the most to help you nullify the enemy attacks. But Gangplank can also help you close out games with one explosive attack.
Plunder Strong Points:
Consistent Damage
Plunder has ways to deal damage every single turn. So, if they leave you alone long enough, you will eventually push enough damage no matter what
Great Defense
Plunder is great at defending. Both with its units that are relatively high-statted and with leveled Sejuani’s ability that keeps Frostbiting the enemy board
Strong Finish
Both Gangplank and Sejuani are big Overwhelm units that can push a hefty amount of damage over the enemy board.
At the same time, Gangplank’s ability, combined with his kegs, help lower the defense of the enemy units even further, helping you push more Overwhelm damage
1. Discard Aggro (Draven Edition)
Deck Code:
CECQCAYDB4AQGBASAEDAGKIDAEBQYFBHAQAQIDBHFAWQEAQBAMDTOAYBAQAQ2HAA
Deck Overview:
The favorite deck of a lot of players and for good reason. It’s unique, it’s very fun to play, and very rewarding if you play it right. I mean, it’s one of the few decks where discarding your cards is a GOOD thing! How cool is that?
To win with this deck, you smork your opponent, going nice and wide. Then, you buff all your units by playing Arena Battlecaster or Vision.
And, suddenly, instead of pushing 5-6 damage, you end up pushing 12+. Your opponent is now sweating at the thought of a Get Excited to the dome.
Deck Analysis:
Discard Aggro, being the unique deck that it is, starts a bit more complex than most other Aggro decks out there. But it’s still pretty simple.
Turn 1, you want to put down units that can push as much damage as possible. At the same time, you don’t want to discard cards that could be useful later. Which means that you usually won’t play Zaunite Urchin unless you have Discard Fodder in hand.
And if you do have Discard Fodder, you still don’t want to vomit your hand on the board too quickly and run out of steam. So, Poro Cannon into Poro by discarding a Flame Chompers is not as good as it may initially seem.
Thankfully, Draven is here to help make discarding easier. With his axes, it’s hard to run out of Discard Fodder as you can discard them or use them to play your discardable cards and buff your units at the same time
Draven is not really used for anything else. He is there for axes and emotional support.
By the time Jinx comes down, you should have built a relatively wide board and/or pushed a lot of damage to the enemy nexus. Her job is to now clean up and go home.
You now actually do want to vomit your hand on the board because that’s how Jinx levels up and that’s how you get a Super Mega Death Rocket to push an extra 4 damage on the enemy nexus and 1 damage to every enemy unit for just 1 mana.
Plus you get another rocket every turn if you empty your hand, which is why you play so many cheap cards.
You keep going as wide as you can so that damage can leak to the enemy nexus through the corners while keeping Jinx safe to make sure you keep generating those Super Mega Death Rockets. If you manage to get them every turn, the game will be over before long.
If you don’t manage to get them, or your Jinx is removed, you still have tons of Burn damage through Get Excited to push that last bit of Burn.
Anyway, you are laughing all the way to the LP bank one way or another.
Discard Aggro Strong Points:
Super Mega Death Game Finisher
If you find yourself in the awkward situation of missing a bit of extra damage, a leveled Jinx can help you push through.
Actually, she can do it even if you are missing A LOT of extra damage
Go Wide, Then Do It Again
This deck has so many units that you can play for an extremely low cost. Anything from 0 to 2 mana. This helps you go wide, push damage, and then replace the units that died with more cheap units, in a never-ending smork board
OTK Potential
If you grow a wide-enough board, you can end things out of nowhere with a Vision or an Arena Battlecaster in just one turn
