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LoR Competitive Week in Review for 6/7 - 6/13

It’s a bit of a light week here as we round down the excitement from the release of Worldwalker and shift toward excitement for a large balance patch coming down the pipeline in 2 weeks' time. We’re starting to find more consistency in the top end of the meta, and we’ve got a few iterations of Fight Night: Legends to go through to get you up to speed on what that looks like.

Fight Night: BR

1st HDR Dudu De Nunu - Rubin Pile / Fizz/Riven / Deserter Viego

2nd HDR Ez2Win - Rubin Pile / Ekko/Zilean / Thralls

3rd NNT Elder Senior - Sun Disc / Fizz/Riven / Ziggs/Taliyah

4th LMG Sandoiche - Rubin Pile / Deep / Thralls

Fight Night: EU

1st Leer - Pantheon/Yuumi / Sivir/Akshan / Scouts

2nd Piorro - Rubin Pile / Draven/Sion / Twisted Fate/Annie Conservatory

3rd Jinden - Annie/Jhin / Pirates / Champless Burn

4th WW Hash - Trundle Timelines / Fizz/Riven / Thralls

The Rubin Pile (P&Z/Targon Aphelios/Viktor/Vi/Aphelios) has risen to prominence as of late as an answer to a control-heavy meta. With a lot of the top decks like Pantheon and Viego pillaring on singular large units, the value-oriented, Winding Light nature of the Rubin pile has made it stand out from the typical playstyle and thus immune to some of the more traditional counterplay. On top of that, the self-replacing nature of many of the cards in the deck makes it difficult to outgrind. Again, the Rubin Pile steers clear of anything looking to outgrind some of the popular Noxus control decks in the meta while handedly succeeding at that task as well. While the Rubin Pile comes in a few different flavors in terms of the champions put in the deck, the overall gameplan is consistent across all variants. While no other Winding Light deck has been able to rise to mainstream success just yet, the nature of the champions in the deck being flexible is proof that the strategy is universal. It’s possible we’ll see off-region copycats rise to competitive success in the near future, but for now, it’s contained within Piltover & Zaun.

Despite Afaelios being one of the most popular decks at the Curious Journey Seasonal and receiving no nerfs with the release of Worldwalker, Fizz/Riven has taken over as the de facto Fizz Papercraft Dragon combo deck. While the Noxian Tellstone added a little to the deck, I think it has a little more to do with how the meta played out. While Afaelios was a little more consistent in the long game, it was possible to take the deck late and still beat it. Fizz/Riven is a touch more explosive, having access to a wider array of buffs to ensure that only 1 hit is needed to end the game. And all these buff spells play double duty, as it’s easier to protect Fizz in a list with a more bountiful selection of burst spells. HDR’s Dudu De Nunu winning lineup ran both Fizz/Riven and the Rubin Pile, going for an Apehelios/Viktor flavor making it impossible for him to also run Afaelios. While that’s not one of the major reasons Riven has taken over as Fizz’s partner, it does play a factor in tournament play and is worth bearing in mind. 

From there, the meta splits between EU and BR, and reading into either individual meta too much is ill-advised. For example, don’t think too hard about there not being any Pantheon in the top 4 of BR. EU was a bit more burn heavy as they seem to have leaned the last few weeks, but even in the large AM grassroots events we sorely missed this week we haven’t been seeing much burn in the top 8 (and when we do it tends to be an EU player). I’m not really drawing a meaningful conclusion here, just thought it was worth mentioning. Thralls are still alive and kicking and performing well across the board, and are expected to dominate the Seasonal if it doesn’t receive any nerfs in the upcoming patch despite its relatively low playrate given its perceived power level. While we got a clear picture of what was popular this week when we have a large event to look at again next week with the Online League Series, I’d expect to see a little more Pantheon and Deserter Viego showing up than at this week’s Fight Nights. 

That’s going to do it for this week’s wrap-up - the tournament scene kept it brief so I will as well. So far there doesn’t seem to be anything too unexpected popping out of the woodwork, no unexplainable phenomenon to keep me up at night. We’ve still got 2 weeks until the balance patch and I wouldn’t expect more than a deck or two to pop up, but with the patch already locked in on Riot's side, anything that does rise up between now and then will be worth learning as it will remain untouched as we head into the Seasonal. But that’s a problem for future Boulevard and future you, dear reader, to deal with if the time comes. 

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