brewing against the meta - patch 1.6

I thought I would try a new series where we talk about the top decks being played and their relative weaknesses.

The variance featured in any card game means that it's possible to que into certain decks over and over even if they aren't statistically played the highest.

So we're going to tackle all of the usual suspects ranging from Tier 1 - Tier 2 based on popular archetypes.

1. Bilegewater Bannerman

A very straightforward list that uses Lucian and mf, in combination with going wide with lots of little dudes and buffing with barriers, and stats

The best counter to this list in on curve removal, deal with threats as they are played which will deny their aggro and snowball potential

Keep in mind rangers resolve is always an option for them and will be played in response to aoe

As for brews, any region will work as long as it's slanted towards control, with pinging effects available to shadow, P and Z, Bilge being the best

2. Ezreal TF

This is the ultimate yoink, control, endgame burn monster, that only has three overt weakness.

The first is just to play so many big dudes that 7 pings off a riptide rex isn't a big deal, deep can do this or freijord

The second is play a bunch of shadow chump that only gains value when they die like in they who endure

The third is play fast and hard with aggro

So there is no perfect brew approach just experiment with these three solutions to see what works best

3. Ash Sej

Thought to be the best midrange list, and it probably is.

It runs a ton of 5 attack creatures, and than draws off trifarian assessor

It frostbites you during combat

And it even has 1 board clear

There is only 1 weakness here and that is haaaaaard control

I'm talking, ruination, vengence, thermo beam, anything that kills unconditionally

4. Deep

Deep plays big dudes, and mills you, and it's annoying but it's also balanced

Damage done that ignores board state is your friend here

Experiment with elusives, burn options, and Ezreal to find what works best

Beyond that will of ionia is still a card and concussive palm so that region is a valid option here

As for trying to out control them that is a very bad option, go with aggro instead.

5. They who endure

Plays a bunch of dudes that threaten just enough damage to possible kills you, and then plays a 20/20 overwhelm

Another list that is designed to beat control, and aggro by draining their resources.

Here I would suggest a solid value midrange brew, play stuff that isn't threatened by their little dudes, but also will win you the game before their trump card gets too big to deal with.

Ash Sej is a solid option, tempo Sej, bannerman variants, discard because they don't have removal for jinx.

6. Burn variants

Burn will always be a thing in legends in some shape or form, because non combat damage is very good against some lists

Therefore the best counter will always be healing, usually whatever you're playing is fine but incorporate 6 - 10 points of healing for a big uptick in wins.

7. Elusives

Always tricky to play against, because winning games quickly go to losing games

Fast speed removal is your best friend here, with single combat being the a real headache the same is true of challenger

You're taking an un-interactive board and forcing interactivity, so Demacia is a solid counter

consider lux, or bannerman

8. Tempo Sej

Plays a bunch of dudes along with yoink and riptide rex

Used to be the strongest deck in the game, and is still very good.

Deep is the best yoink counter

you give them useless cards, think of high synergy brews

9. Darrowing

Nox allegience aggro, with Darius and harrowing as their endgame plan

This list can present a brewing challenge, because you are on two clocks.

The first is you die to aggro because you didn't brew in enough removal

The second is you die to harrowing

Ezreal lists are a great option here because you will be able to deal with the aggro, and burn them down when they play harrowing.

10. Karma/ Yassao

Ionia is very good at disruption, and very bad at hard removal

If you run a list that is good at board development you will win

Darrowing is a great option here, you present an aggressive board state, and even if it gets controlled out

You have harrowing and they have no healing

You'll win eventually one way or another

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There you go guys, hope you found this guide helpful, and keep brewing towards those easy and not so easy wins.

I agree with most of this but not any deck with Yasuo combo-ed with certain other champs in a recall/burn/stun deck.  The cost reduction for stun and recall(other than Will)  have made it SUUUUPER had to board counter these decks. You pretty much have to have all burn/removes cuz rush decks (spiders/ethereal/etc) now run into 1 cost stuns too much... wtb Yasuo cost increase to 6 or 7... he never should have been stat boosted and not increased in cost.

Yeah I know what you're saying if you dont like the darrowing solution against Yassao. You can try burn, indirect damage, plus their lack of healing should make for a hard counter. In my other post I include an aggro swain/ezreal list that should just rock them.