9 of Our Favourite Decks From Day 1 of Runeterra's New Expansion, Guardians of the Ancient

Hail, Champions! We got a bunch of hot new decks from streamers that we saw during the first day of the Guardians of the Ancient expansion; let's jump right in! 

MajiinBae's Azir + Irelia Homecoming

We'll start with the archetype you're probably seeing a lot of if you've been on ladder at all. This combination of Azir and Irelia seems to be a deadly marriage of token-based SMOrc and Ionia trickery. Most variants seem to have cut Field Musicians for Inspiring Marshal -- Irelia and Dancing Droplet seem to provide all the value you need to succeed here.

XxWhatAmIxX's Zilean Nasus Go Hard

We've seen a rise in Nasus decks to counter the Irelia decks, which in turn are being countered by Go Hard-centric decks that look to outscale Nasus. Many are experimenting with Shurima/Zilean to complement SI; it remains to be seen if this is more successful than the conventional SI + BW partnership. This particular deck from XxWhatAmIxX also incorporates 3x of the new The Wings and The Wave.

Duckling's Solo Elise Chirean Burn

Chirean Sumpworker is an interesting card -- with the right build, it is not as difficult to flip as many had predicted. SI seems to be the most consistent option (mostly thanks to Stalking Shadows). Swim and Duckling were both playing this archetype extensively --  Swim used a championless variant whereas Duckling included 3x Elise for some extra early game chip damage while setting up for your combo.

Scarzig's Leona + Taliyah + Malphite Landmarks

Eye of the Ra-Horak is an extremely powerful card and is the centerpiece of this next deck from Scarzig. The concept is that you can use it to clear the way for midrange attacks from Leona and your other Solari, or you can stall out longer so you can level Taliyah and/or Malphite. 

BruisedByGod's Zilean + Swain Control

BBG actually loved this deck so much he busted out some Zilean cosplay to start his stream. It's a very control-oriented version of a Swain/The Leviathan deck -- instead of rushing to flip Swain, you bid your time and use a combination of Predict and Time Bombs to stall out the game.

SilverFuse's Solo Irelia Dawnspeakers

On the meme-ier side of the field, SilverFuse looked to combine the practically guaranteed blade deaths with Dawnspeakers to power-grow her board. She even managed to squeeze in a 1x Zinneia, Steel Crescendo!

FrozenWinterer's Zilean + Lissandra Thralls

We're all seen Trundle's Ice Pillar be combined with SI shenanigans to pull out a Watcher on Round 8 and OTK your opponent. All the Shurima countdown tools from the new expansion bring a new means, however: hatching your Frozen Thralls. This deck from FrozenWinterer looks to do exactly that thanks to cards like Time in a Bottle, Clockwork Curator, and The Clock Hand.

GameBoyRob's Taliyah + Malphite

There weren't many streamers who decided to tinker with Malphite on Day 1. This Taliyah + Malphite deck from GameBoyRob was actually fairly consistent; however, it lacked the splash and "brokenness" we seemed to find in other Day1 decks that we've highlighted.

4LW's Azir + Darius Burn

You'll notice this final deck doesn't have any new cards besides Merciless Hunter. We decided to highlight this deck anyways for a very special reason -- this is the deck that certified madman 4LW used to climb to masters in roughly 12 hours. Congratulations, 4LW.

What decks have you enjoyed playing? Are you sick of seeing Irelia yet? Share with us in the comments below!