Experimenting with the Decks from Runeterra's Discover Targon Lab

Greetings again from Mount Targon, champions! If you're like us, you've been binge-playing this great new lab to check out the new region and all the new champions that just arrived. If you haven't, though, don't worry -- we've got you covered with a quick overview of all 6 decks, mulligan guides, and some basic strategies. Please note that while we're providing the deck lists, these probably aren't the most competitive forms for constructed play.  

Before we get started though, here's the basic deck lists that we're basing this whole article around.

Friends Forever

What is it? An aggro deck in  Targon + Ionia with Lulu, Shen, and a lot of support synergies.

Tagline: "Bring your Support units to the fore as you overcome your foes with the power of friendship!"

Win Condition: Swarm wide and use the support mechanic to cheat out extra stats / keywords onto your units before your opponent can stabilize.

Strategy: You'll want to be a fairly aggressive with this deck, trying to force your opponent to make trades while you're attacking so to utilize the power of support. Lulu is extremely easy to level, but remember that Help, Pix! can't be cast once combat has been declared, so it's useless against open attack. You can however always play it prior to playing a unit or declaring your own attack.

Mulligan Guide: Flower Child is amazing--her +2/+0 buff is permanent, so she can quickly become a beast if left unchecked. Young Witch, Greenglade Duo, and Lulu are other units you'll want to watch for. I've also been extremely impressed with Sunblessed Vigor: it can save a unit from a trade or trick, and this deck really wants to keep its units alive. 

If you like it, check out these community decks:

Crystalline Strength

What is it? A midrange deck in Targon + Noxus with Taric, Darius, a lot of buffs, and a lot of units with overwhelm.

Tagline: "Combine Noxian forces with Targonian buffs to Overwhelm your enemies and secure victory."

Win Condition: Use buffs and overwhelm to apply pressure until you can capitalize on either a L2 Taric or L2 Darius.

Strategy: Your first few rounds are really about setup; once you have a few supports on board, you can start popping off. Until then preserve your board state the best, and try to prioritize keeping either Startled Stomper and Iron Ballista alive. Taric becomes a beast if leveled, and playing Blessing of Targon on him to get a free copy honestly feels like committing a crime every time you pull it off. His L2 effect can be a bit confusing, though: if he levels mid-combat (e.g., as a result of his own support and/or buff giving), it seems he will get the Unyielding Spirit effect but his supported ally will not, so be careful.

Mulligan Guide: I can't think of any reason to ever toss Taric; he can define the mid-game with his abilities. Legion Drummer, Mountain Goat, and Startled Stomper are your early game units, and Sunblessed Vigor feels even better here than it did in Lulu'BADCARDNAMEs deck.

If you like it, check out these community decks:

Blaze Of Glory

What is it? A midrange deck in Targon + Demacia deck with Leona, Garen, and a lot of daybreak cards.

Tagline: "Dazzle your opponent with an unrelenting assault from your Daybreak units."

Win Condition: Build up board and then finish off with a flashy (in both the figurative and literal meaning) L2 Leona + Morning Light combo. As a continency, there's also the tried and true Cithria the Bold.

Strategy: You'll want to progress Leona quickly, which should be easy to do. Zenith Blade is incredible -- its buff is permanent, and if you have Day it will tutor a replacement. You're extremely limited on combat tricks, so try to use your Single Combat, Sunblessed Vigor, and 1x Concerted Strike judiciously.

If you like it, check out these community decks:

Align The Stars: 

What is it? A super-greedy control deck in mono-Targon featuring Aurelion Sol and celestial cards.

Tagline: "Unleash the power of Targon's Dragons and Celestial units as you find your destiny in the stars."

Win Condition: The match effective ends when Aurelion Sol levels: the higher cost celestials are extremely powerful, so it's extremely hard for your opponent to survive once you start casting them for free. 

Strategy: This is the ultimate greedy control deck. If you can stall long enough to get A-Sol on board, he will generate incredible value even at L1. He's also extremely sticky due to his SpellShield and Fury tags. The key to mastering this deck is figuring out which celestials to pick on your invokes -- your early game will be trying to decide what best minimizes your opponents' threats the best so you can stall. Don't be afraid to keep Solari Soldier and/or Solari Shieldbearer in hand: you have no incentive to attack in the early game, and both their Daybreak buffs are temporary sometimes it's best to play them in response after your opponent develops an attacker. 

Mulligan Guide: As implied earlier, early survival can be difficult so you'll want anything that either invokes cheaply or gives you an early blocker--preferably both. Mountain Scryer should be an auto-keep.

If you like it, check out these community decks:

Lurking Darkness

What is it? A aggro-esque / combo-esque deck in Targon + SI with Diana, Nocturne, and lots of nightfall cards.

Tagline: "Evade and outmaneuver your opponents with the power of Nightfall.

Win Condition: Use Diana to assassinate your opponents' threats and/or L2 Nocturne to make all your attackers impossible / difficult to block.

Strategy: Nightfall is interesting, and I'm not exactly sure how to characterize it.  It's like aggro, except it needs an enabler to get the extra value. As a result, there will be a lot of turns where you intentionally hold back so you can "pop-off" the next turn.  Gift Giver and Lunari Duskbringer obviously excel at this. Late game, you might need to rely on L2 Nocture to close out the game before you run out of gas -- since he's giving everyone fearsome and lowering your opponents' attack, he functions a bit like L2 Ashe. Remember that his progression is based around nightfall units attacking and is regardless of whether or not they successfully proc'ed nightfall, so sometimes its worth committing what would otherwise be a bad attack just to progress him. Finally, try to save your Duskrider until endgame if you can -- they can get crazy big attack, and the only unit in the deck with more than 3 HP.

Mulligan Guide: Make sure you have a balance of low-cost enablers and nightfall units -- Lunari Duskbringer and Diana would be ideal, but don't brick your mulligan trying to force it. Stalking Shadows and Pale Cascade are 2 more favorites of mine.

If you like it, check out these community decks:

Star Ramp

What is it? A half-midrange / half-control ramp deck in Targon + Frejlord with Trundle, Tryndamere, and a bunch of behold cards.

Win Condition: Ramp up to play an early L2 Trundle or UzgarBADCARDNAME, then whittle your opponent's defenses down while regen'ing your units back to full health.

Tagline: "Harness the Freljord's natural magic as you accelerate towards Targon's game-ending threats!"

Strategy: Like any ramp deck, you'll be looking for early ways to gain mana crystals. The difference is that this deck really wants to shift into tempo and close out the game sooner rather than later -- it doesn't have continuous value engines the way that Warmother's Call and Aurelion Sol do. Try to hold on to your Flash Freeze for a critical save, because if you lose a Trundle or UzgarBADCARDNAME it can be extremely difficult to recover. This deck does splash a few invoke cards so be thinking about celestials. ...I'll be honest: I found this deck to be the weakest of the 6, largely because it seems like the A-Sol deck does everything this deck wants to do but better.

Mulligan Guide: The big question is whether you want to keep an 8-cost card to enable behold or not. I tried both ways and generally didn't feel good about it unless I also had a Faces of the Old Ones. Otherwise, you'll probably want to dig aggressively for Faces of the Old Ones and Wyrding Stones. 

If you like it, check out these community decks:

Which decks have you enjoyed playing the most so far? Have you crafted anything to play constructed? Let us know below!