Spiritforged Meta Report – Competitive Decks

#VeteranPoroTeam🔪

Deck Subcategories

Key cards
The key cards of the deck
Things to watch out for (errors)
Common mistakes while piloting the list
Aim of the deck/how it gains an advantage
Short explanation of how it plays
Matchups (favorable; unfavorable)
How the deck fares against common meta decks

(i.e.: their representation should be pretty high)

Key cards:
Things to watch out for (errors):
- You can’t react to playing Spinning Axe, but you can react to the Quickdraw trigger.
- Overzealous Fan always triggers and chooses when he defends, but the sacrifice is optional on resolution.
- Overzealous Fan’s trigger can be reacted to with a removal spell, preventing its effect from resolving (“you may kill me” is a cost within an instruction; if it can’t be paid, the rest of the instruction won’t be executed).
- You can react to Brynhir’s trigger and any items on the chain before her trigger still resolve.
- Players often shortcut showdown steps when cards like Fight or Flight (or Battlefields like Reaver’s Row) are involved in a combat: the Draven player may declare their legend’s ability prematurely, and this could lead to small controversies. Both players must pass focus (in Showdown Open state) in sequence before the showdown can end, whether it is a combat or a non-combat showdown.
- Switcheroo makes use of the “swap” game action; it follows a precise mathematical operation: 420 in CR.
Aim of the deck/how it gains an advantage:
Aims to win the game by using very efficient tempo cards and gain card advantage with the Draven Legend.
Matchups:
Fiora, Ezreal Mouse, Ezreal Control, Viktor, most non-competitive decks
(Draven is currently considered the dominant force of the meta, and so most competitive decks are geared to beat it)

Key cards:
Things to watch out for (errors):
- Battering Ram does not count itself for its discount.
- Rhasa does not count itself for its discount if played from the trash.
Aim of the deck/how it gains an advantage:
It aims to play a slew of cheap draw cards, draw through most of its deck, and have extremely explosive turns with multiple Rhasa/Battering Rams readied with Bushwhack. It then has ways to recycle key cards to ensure optimal draws for the rest of the game since its deck is mostly gone.
Matchups:
Midrange Draven, Ezreal Mouse, Ezreal Control, Viktor

Key cards:
Things to watch out for (errors):
- Arcane Shift – FAQ
- Mindsplitter’s play effect does not target cards in hand: CR 352.10.a
Aim of the deck/how it gains an advantage:
The deck is specifically teched to give Draven a hard time, minimizing the possibility of going into combat (thus avoiding giving him card advantage). It combos Pit Crew with Cull to conquer multiple times per turn and return it safely to the base.
Matchups:
Draven Midrange, Draven Miracle, Fiora, Viktor, Kai’sa, Control Ezreal

Key cards:
Things to watch out for (errors):
- Arcane Shift: FAQ
- Vex can discount Deflect and Repeat costs.
- Mindsplitter’s play effect does not target cards in hand: CR 352.10.a
Aim of the deck/how it gains an advantage:
The deck aims to use efficient interaction and grind out the opponent, making use of Ezreal Legend’s ability.
Matchups:
Draven Midrange, Draven Miracle, Irelia, Viktor

Key cards:
Things to watch out for (errors):
- Tideturner: It’s the only optional triggered ability (play effect) in the entire game (source: Riot via HJ Riccardo Tessitori). The controlling player can choose to put it on the Chain, declaring a legal target upon activation, or decline to declare a target and not put it on the Chain entirely. If put on the Chain, the resolution is not optional.
- Draven, Audacious: FAQ
- The Irelia player has to be careful of the state of Irelia Fervent, as Might gains can be numerous and sequential.
- Counters: A card that is Countered does nothing and is then placed in the Trash. A card that is countered is not considered to have been played (412.1.a & .b).
Aim of the deck/how it gains an advantage:
The strategy revolves around using Irelia as the main unit to protect, bring into combat with high Might (also thanks to her triggered ability) and move using spells and legend ability. It’s a fairly unique deck in terms of gameplan within the current meta, and the sustained amount of moving parts on the board can lead to confusion pretty easily.
Matchups:
Ezreal Control, Ezreal Mouse, Fiora, Kai’sa, Viktor

Key cards:
Things to watch out for (errors):
- Baited hook needs to kill the unit as part of its resolution for it to work.
- If Player A’s Akshan takes control of an equipment and it is attached to another of Player A’s units, it will stay attached even if Akshan dies.
- Sett Brawler triggers Fiora Legend when it’s at “4 Might + buff” and activates his ability.
Aim of the deck/how it gains an advantage:
It plays as an efficient midrange deck that pays power liberally without falling behind, thanks to Fiora Legend’s ability. It uses Baited Hook to remove units from battlefields to avoid giving Draven chances to win combats.
Matchups:
Draven Midrange, Ezreal Mouse

Key cards:
Things to watch out for (errors):
- Bellows Breath: when less than all of its targets are moved, a legal subset of them can be chosen for the damage instruction to be executed, even if it’s at a different location. If it’s repeated, the targets of the first damage instruction and those of the second damage instruction don’t have to be at the same location.
- Imperial Decree + Token vs Draven, Audacious: At the end of the Combat Cleanup, Draven will be on the BF, the token was killed, and you will have this order of elements in Chain, from bottom to top: Imperial Decree’s delayed trigger > Draven’s trigger (“The first time I win a combat…”). When Draven dies by Imperial Decree, his second triggered ability (“When I die in combat…”) will not trigger since he is no longer in combat at that point.
Aim of the deck/how it gains an advantage:
The deck aims to play a high density of extremely efficient removal to deplete the opponent of units and slowly take over the game with an unending stream of tokens generated by Vanguard Armory and Viktor Legend. It kills its own units on battlefields often, so that Draven doesn’t have a chance to win combats.
Matchups:
Draven Midrange, Draven Miracle, Ezreal Mouse, Irelia, Kai’sa, Most non competitive decks