Piltover & Zaun Spotlight - Our Favorite Cards & Decks from the Legends of Runeterra Region

When I first saw this card I thought they really missed an opportunity by not changing "Perfection" to Purrfection", without noticing that "Pursuit" was already changed to "Purrsuit" - doh! I've always enjoyed Highlander style decks (decks that contain only one of each kind of card), but this card still allows you to include duplicates without invalidating the rest of the deck. Not only is the card a clever concept and name, but what it generates is even better. I think you'll be hard pressed to find a more fitting name than Catastrophe for a 30/30 cat in a robot suit. This monstrosity also has the best flavor text with "The end is MEOW." You gotta check out this deck for it below. It's definitely the cat's meow!

Random generation effects can be one of the most skill-testing aspects to any digital card game (though admittedly less so when they're poured into your lap, Dr. Boom). I was very pleased to see this card when I found it during the Alpha because it's a card which rewards you for committing to random generation. Cards like, say [Hearthstone Card (Mageseeker Conservator) Not Found], require little commitment on your part - they're simple trash 1/1s that most decks need, and the generation effect is a bonus. Back Alley Barkeep, on the other hand, is a massive tempo loss - and even the first copy isn't really worth much, with only a single card generated. The more you play, though, the more benefit you get - making this card an invaluable addition to any deck liable to run out of steam, or with shuffle effects ([Hearthstone Card (Parade Electrorig) Not Found]!) already in place.

That said, the card doesn't really shine in Constructed. Where it really shows its power, though, is Expeditions. I play a lot of Expeditions, and I find it's pretty common to run dry in hand - particularly with Piltover/Zaun who have a tendency to run a lot of low-cost removal spells. This makes generation effects particularly useful - and this card especially so because Expeditions have no limit on card numbers. You can quite happily have half a dozen of these guys sat in your deck, leaving you with an extremely potent (if unreliable) late game.

Finally, it has to be recognized - this card is fantastic at supporting [Hearthstone Card (Accelerated Purrsuit) Not Found]. Most Purrsuit decks rely on Heimerdinger and/or Karma for their generation, but unlike those cards, Back Alley Barkeep doesn't need to stick around to get the job done - so your entire game-plan doesn't fall apart in the face of hard removal. To that end, I've put together a basic decklist below which uses a Freljord/P&Z blend to control enemy aggression, Heimerdinger to generate value and Barkeeps to refill - leading up to a furry surprise.

There are a lot of great cards from Piltover & Zaun region (they better add Caitlyn soon tho!), but one that stood out to me recently was Shady Character. It's just a really cool guy, can provide nice versatility since it can transform into an ally or an enemy, often giving you a good tempo boost or acting as another (usually) cheaper copy of one of your heavy hitters. Great in Expeditions in particular where it can make for some very powerful turns.

I know the first thing that comes to mind must be Catastrophe, but Gam3rPr0 thought about a similar combo with Heart of the Fluft, and who could resist such fluffiness?<3

Teemo mostly functions as a stand-in for the entire Poison Puffcap archetype. I love Poison Puffcaps. I think it's a fun deck to play, and I just love these effects in general. The first deck I built in the game during Closed Beta was a Poison Puffcap deck that tried to incorporate a Frostbite engine into it. It wasn't good, and the archetype itself is fairly memey, but gosh dang it, I love the archetype. There are quite a few ways you can go about it. A fairly common strategy that I've seen with the deck is the combine it with Karma to include the Puffcap count. I'd love to see this deck get better because it's just such a silly deck to play.

Our most recent Teemo deck comes from MegaMogwai. Give it a try if you want some Teemo action. This is just one way to play the deck. Experiment with the archetype, and you'll find all sorts of fun ways to play it.