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LoR Competitive Week in Review for 3/7 - 3/13

                                                                  LoR Competitive Week in Review for 3/7 - 3/13 by @CasterBoulevard

It’s another week of Fight Night Legends all around, and as such, we’ll continue to look at the top 4 of these events to get a little better idea of the broad spectrum of the meta. It’s important to remember that this isn’t a perfect representation given the size of these tournaments incentivizing players to counterpick more often and in a more heavy-handed manner compared to what may find success in an open event, but for now (and I believe next week as well) they’re all we have. In general, use discretion when copy/pasting these lineups into your own arsenal. 

Fight Night: Legends

BR

1st Rodsmtg - Darkness / Demacia Yordles in Arms / Gnar/Swain

2nd Trivo - Akshan/Sivir / Pantheon/Yuumi / Demacia Yordles in Arms

3rd Mafraju - Lurk / Tri-Beam Control / Trundle Timelines

4th Ez2Win - Tri-Beam Control/ Gnar/Swain / Darkness

EU

1st SmoothSwoleoist - Bandle Tree / Demacia Yorldes in Arms / PnZ Yordles in Arms

2nd Maskert - Lux/Gnar Shellfolk / Braum/Galio / Shen/J4

3rd SaltySimon - Frostbite Midrange Gnar / Ekko Zilean / PnZ Yordles in Arms

4th Spillberg - Tri-Beam Control / Pantheon/Yuumi / Sivir/Akshan

AM

1st FloppyMudkip - Pantheon/Yuumi / Draven/Sion/Vi / Gnar/Sejuani

2nd XxWhatAmIxX - Lee Sin / Thresh/Asol / Feel the Rush

3rd ZacTCG - Bandle Tree / Lee Sin / Darkness

4th HDR bnt - Demacia Yordles in Arms / Scouts / Pantheon/Yuumi

Last week we were overrun with Scouts, Sivir/Akshan, and Demacia Yordles in Arms. One thing that’s great about watching Fight Night every week is that the players adapt to the internal meta very quickly, keeping things fresh. Pantheon/Yuumi expectedly showed up this week not only as a solid deck choice but as something that players had to hedge their bets against anyone who was still rocking the triple Demacia, which was still a solid enough option for Trivo to claim 2nd place at BR Fight Night. With the debate between Shyvana and Taric taking up the entirety of the Magic Misadventure season, it’s nice to see that everyone has finally come to a consensus on at least which champion is best paired with Pantheon. Sure they’re still arguing about the correct number of that champion, but at least they’re on the same page as to who it is. Its place in next week’s meta is questionable, however, as the deck can struggle with control which was fairly popular in a few different flavors this week. 

While Demacia Yordles in Arms continues to dominate as one of the best decks in the game, players have decided to try their hand at jamming a 2nd Yordles in Arms deck to great success. Since the Demacia variant is Tristana/Gnar/Teemo and the PnZ variant is Fizz and either Gnar or Lulu, it’s really easy to fit both into a lineup together. Before the Tristana version of the deck rose to popularity, PnZ Yordles in Arms was doing just fine in tournaments, and with many players on the plan of banning Demacia YiA they’re likely unprepared to play against a similar strategy within their lineup. It is worth noting that the 2 decks do function rather differently, with Demacia going very wide quicker than any other deck can while maintaining generated cards along the way, while PnZ plays a more challenger and elusive focused game by controlling the board with Lulu + Flame Chompers and chipping away with Fizz and Daring Poros. The difference in pacing is something that can catch players off guard who are only practiced against one variant, and this double YiA lineup is one we can expect to see again in the future. 

Beyond that, as mentioned earlier, there are a lot of control decks doing very well. Tri-Beam control has had a large resurgence, especially with Caitlyn/Ezreal (RIP Draven). While it was difficult to nail down exactly what archetypal box the deck fit into with Draven in it, in his absence the discard focused cards like Lost Souls and Sump Dredger have been cut from the deck and streamlined it much harder into control. Tempoing out your opponent isn’t nearly as commonplace anymore, and a full suite of cards like Piltover Peacemaker lean into the traps more to deal with all the 1 health units Bandle City likes to flood things out with. While it’s still an absolute midrange slayer, it can struggle with other control decks as its damage-based removal is ineffective against most champions. Its units on the other hand are very susceptible to damage-based removal, leaving the deck to rely on Captain Farron finishers which can be scary when decks like Darkness and Trundle Timelines are still carrying around Aloof Travelers. It’s a deck to keep your eye on for sure, but it might be a while before we can see the deck really stretch its legs and show what the new variation brings to the table.

There’s not a lot left to read into after that, as these 12 players brought 21 unique decks between them with 12 being one-ofs. While there was a large shift from last week's meta to this week’s, going from a lot of Demacia to a lot of control, I’m not expecting as drastic a jump next week. I expect we’ll continue to lean a little further toward control, and Scouts may replace Pantheon/Yuumi again if that’s the case. Who knows, maybe we’re caught in a loop of Scouts coming back to beat control, then players bringing control the next week to beat the things that beat Scouts, and so on and so forth until the balance patch. Speaking of back and forths, FloppyMudkip made history this week by becoming the first-ever 5-time Fight Night: Legends champion with his win over XxWhatAmIxX after losing to him in the finals the previous week. While the Floppy vs Beastllama rivalry is on pause, it seems a new one has formed as these two head into their 3rd week together, with Floppy looking to extend his lead over the field before his insane streak comes to an end. Don’t forget you can sign up to play in Fight Night as well, and maybe even be the one to knock Floppy off his throne…

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