When word came out that we already had a player hit Master rank in Legends of Runeterra mere days after the game’s release, there was no question as to what kind of deck the player was running. Featuring hard hitters as early as turns one and two, the “Noxus Spiders” deck (as it has come to be affectionately known) has a clear win condition. That win condition is to overwhelm your opponent with a menagerie of threatening creatures and damage that they can’t shrug off.
Without further ado, let’s break down some of the key cards in Mikuláš “Pokrovac” Dio’s world-first Master deck. The beatdown aggro playstyle is very similar to mono-red in Magic: The Gathering. As such, a lot of the pieces don’t require many synergies – instead, you play them as soon as you draw them, and they immediately have a devastating effect. Elise decks blend so well with the Noxus faction because many of the coveted spider creatures are shared between Elise’s Shadow Isles and the Noxus archetypes.
Turn 1-3
As the tutorial will have shown you, any Elise deck is happy to open with Precious Pet. Continuing from this, however, the plethora of viable one-drops includes Hapless Aristocrat (it can generate value through spawning an additional spider) and a sole Legion Rearguard (no blocking is no Bueno but a strong creature early is hard to face down).
The Spider Queen herself will hopefully hit the board as early as turn two, with Elise upgrading once you have three or more spiders lurking around. Because of this, we recommend not attacking on turn 2 and instead holding back to generate resources on the board and get Elise upgraded as early as possible.
Turn 4-7
After poking down the enemy’s health bars early with your army of arachnids, look to bring out the big guns and heavy hitters with Darius and company hitting the board as soon as possible. In an ideal world, your opponent’s Nexus health has already dropped to 10 or less – and as such, Darius can skyrocket his attack to a whopping 10 points thanks to his evolution and Overwhelm.
Turn 8+
The aggro player’s least favorite part of any game, pesky stall-outs from Freljord players are bound to be inevitable once the meta starts to solidify. Having options like Rhasa the Sunderer to access relatively cheap removal is a solid choice, as well as a single copy of Commander Ledros ready to drop your opponent’s health to execute range.
The Strategy
Fairly straightforward, this deck is all about taking your opponents by storm before they have a chance to react. Look for easy, early victories over players that you shut out as early as turn three or four – but don’t underestimate this deck’s late game capabilities, either. Should you tire of being a meta slave, feel free to check out some of our more unconventional, but a little more fun, decks.
