What You Need to Know about the New Runeterra Lab, Journey to the Peak

Hail, Champion! Have you checked out this fun new lab, "Journey to the Peak"? If not, don't sweat: we'll tell you all you need to know about this first-ever single-player lab.

The game's basic framework is a drafting event comparable to Hearthstone's "Dungeon Runs":

1. At the start of the game, you'll be asked to choose either Leona and Diana and 1 of 3 passive abilities unique to that champion.
2. You'll be given a basic 17-card mono-Targon deck that includes 2x copies of your champion.
3. You'll fight 3 AI-controlled opponents, each with passive abilities of their own. Any loss ends the run.
4. After your 1st and 2nd wins, you'll be offered card packs that will add 2 new champions and 4 other cards into your deck.
5. Your 3rd win will conclude the lab and award you a special player icon corresponding to your Leona/Diana choice.

There are a few unique points regarding the matches to take note of:

• Both players start with 2 mana crystals on the 2nd match and 3 mana crystals on the 3rd match.
• For the 3rd match, both players start with 30 HP instead of the usual 20 HP.
• These matches count as PvP matches, so you'll get 200 XP + daily bonus win XP per match if these are your first of the day.
• The decks are self-replenishing so you won't lose from drawing too many cards.

Overall, it's a very fun event and a refreshing breather from facing so many Lee Sin decks on ladder. If you haven't already, we highly recommend you jump in and check it out!

Let's discuss the initial 2 champion offerings.

If you choose Leona, you'll choose between these 3 abilities:

• Invigorating Light: Each round, the first time you activate Daybreak, Rally.
• Radiant Shelter: Round Start: Give your Weakest ally Barrier and +2/+0 this round.
• Sunrise, Sunset: Whenever you gain the attack token, grant allies +1/+0 (permanent). When you start a round without the attack token, give allies Tough this round.

Unsurprisingly, Leona's deck is extremely Daybreak-focused. For your mulligan, try to curve out your Daybreak units (remembering that you'll start the 2nd and 3rd with additional crystals). Always keep Leona, but be a little strategic about when you play her -- all 3 opponents have high-attack units, so her stuns can put in a lot of work. You won't have access to Rahvun, Daylight's Spear until your later matches, so a lot of your early games will be using the overwhelm damage from Zenith Blade or just traditional value trades to finish your opponent. 

After beating Lulu, you'll choose between these 3 packs:

• Stunning Advantage (2x Yasuo plus 4 Ionia & Targon cards)
• Daylight Everlasting (2x Shen plus 4 Ionia & Targon cards)
• Press the Attack (2x Quinn plus 4 Demacia & Targon cards)

Then after beating Trundle, you'll choose between these 3 packs:

• Weapons Blazing (2x Miss Fortune plus 4 Targon cards)
• Warrior's Spirit (2x Garen plus 4 Targon cards)
• Dazzling Light (2x Taric plus 4 Targon cards)

If you choose Diana, you'll choose between these 3 abilties:

• Pale Moon: Each round, the first unit you play this round refills its mana cost.
• Harness the Heavens: Each round, the first time you activate Nightfall, create a random Celestial in hand with cost equal to your maximum mana.
• Mystic Moon: When you activate Nightfall, restore your spell mana, and if it's the first activation this round, draw a card.

Diana starts with a very nightfall-heavy deck. It is short on activators -- really just 2x Lunari Duskbringers, 1x Messenger's Sigil, and 2x Behold the Infinite. Be prepared to pass without playing any cards or to play a cheap Nightfall card naked just to activate another if you have a bad hand. The good news is that all her special abilities pertain to mana refunds, so even if you do fall behind early she has a lot of comeback potential.

After beating Lulu, you'll choose between these 3 packs:

• Moonlit Waters (2x Fizz plus 4 other Targon & Bilgewater cards)
• Night Surrounds Us (2x Nocturne plus 4 other Targon & Shadow Isles cards)
• Arcane Teachings (2x Karma plus 4 other Targon & Ionia cards)

And after Trundle, your choices are:

• Silent Footsteps (2x Ezreal + 4 other Targon cards)
• Calculated Strike (2x Vi + 4 other Targon & P&Z cards)
• Equinox (2x Leona + 4 other Targon cards)

Next, let's talk about your 3 opponents.

Your first opponent is Lulu, who sports a support-based deck and the special ability Hugeify!: Round Start: Give a random ally the highest power among my allies this round. The biggest challenge here is denying her from stacking up attack power on any single unit, since a big Flower Child or Swole Squirrel will give her double value at the start of the round. Fortunately, the AI does a suboptimal job of maximizing her support attacks so you should have plenty of openings. She will occasionally surprise you with a Whimsy!, so be cautious if she has 4 mana free. The other trick card to watch out for is Fae Guide, who can give a high-attack unit elusive so try not to let your HP get too low.

Next up is Trundle, who does a good job of being more difficult than Lulu but less difficult than Asol. His ability is Subjugate: Each round, the first time allies attack, steal 2 Power from a random enemy to give it to a random attacking ally this round (e.g., Troll Chant except random targets and it buffs attack instead of health). Most of his early game will be dropping Faces of the Old Ones so he can ramp into either Trundle / Augur of the Old Ones / Uzgar the Ancient. Stopping his ramp isn't as important as you might think: if he plays Trundle a round early that's significant, but his deck doesn't have the late-game bombs you would expect on the ladder.

Remember that you start this match with 2 mana crystals.

Here's where things start to get hard. Aurelion Sol has the ability Father of Dragons: When I summon a Dragon, create a random Dragon in my hand. The good news is that he doesn't have Single Combat, Concerted Strike, Bastion, or any of the tricks you'd expect from a traditional Dragon deck. In fact, he doesn't run any tricks unless you count Dragon's Clutch and Starshaping. The bad news is that his hand has infinite dragons and he starts the game at 3 mana, so he'll make the board extremely uncomfortable very quickly. Prioritize killing Herald of Dragons whenever you can -- it might not look like a threat, but if he manages to get 2 of these guys out at the same time you may never recover.

Remember that you start this match with 3 mana crystals and 30 HP.

As mentioned earlier: beating Aurelion Sol will award you a unique player icon corresponding to your original champion selection. To use it, return to the "Home" screen, click the button to redeem it, and finally click your existing icon at the top-left corner and select it from the resultant popup menu.

What are your thoughts on this lab? Let us know below!