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Post Patch Discard Aggro - Deck Guide

February 24th, 2020 | jscaliseok
It's a brand new world. LoR just received its first balance patch, and oh boy, was it a doozy. Many changes have come to the meta, mainly nerfing elusive and control decks, which leaves it wide open for new builds. However, we're not here to discuss the changes themselves. We're here to figure out the best way to win games.

This week's list is a master's deck that uses the classic discard package to push early aggression. You have a slew of powerful early game units (courtesy of Noxus) and then you back that up with some powerful support tools from P&Z. It is not necessarily the newest plan in the world, but this playstyle perfectly exploits a wide-open meta. Remember, in times when people are figuring out new lists, aggro is always king.



>> Post Patch Discard Aggro Deck List <<



Deck Code: CEBAIAIDBQRSKKAHAECACDI4E4UDINQCAEAQIDACAEBRIJYBAEAQGGI


The Champions


As with any discard list, this deck runs a combination of Jinx and Draven. Both of these cards are aggressive, do a lot of damage quite quickly, and back up a discard gameplan. Jinx needs you to run out of cards to level up (and create Super Mega Death Rockets) while Draven's Spinning Axes help you immediately get cards out of your hand and pour on extra damage.


Of your two champions, Draven is the weakest. However, that does not mean he's bad. Not only does he offer an easy level-up condition and helps you discard your hand, the burst-speed damage goes a long way. Draven's quick attack plus an axe makes him extremely hard to block, but the cards also enable you to push through damage on your other unblocked units. It's always good when you put your opponent into a difficult situation.


However, as solid as Draven is, Jinx is the crux of this deck. The 4/3 is one of the strongest champions in the game, offering a ton of value in one tight package. Not only does she give you value in the form of two cards a turn, but her Super Mega Death Rockets end things in a hurry. If you get an early push, there's simply no better card.

In fact, Jinx is so good that you need to protect her at all costs. Most games, I try to keep her out of combat until she's fully leveled up. Even then, always be careful about potential combat tricks and never block with her if you can avoid it. She'll win the game on her own just sitting on your bench and creating rockets. There's no reason to get greedy.

One more thing to note is that you can get away with only two copies of Draven here because of the three Draven's Biggest Fans. You can of course run three Draven if you so wish, but missing the third rarely comes up. It also makes you less likely to brick on a fan, which is a big deal in a deck that needs to consistently draw gas to keep up with their opponents.


The Aggro


If Noxus is good at one thing, it's killing their opponent's quickly. This deck is no exception. As mentioned above, you want to get out of the gates early, press your advantage, and then use your powerful champions to finish off your opponent before they can put together a coherent gameplan. To make that happen, you have a slew of strong early game cards.


This list packs in three copies of Legion Rearguard, Legion Saboteur, Legion Grenadier, and Boomcrew Rookie. Of those, Rookie is by far the most aggressive. The four health is insanely hard with other early game factions to deal with and it dodges a lot of control cards like Black Spear and Avalanche. It gets in damage through Frostbite cards as well.

The other three units in the early game package simply hit extremely hard. Grenadier and Saboteur are guaranteed damage, while Rearguard is the best turn one play for a deck that only cares about going face. Losing the ability to block can hurt against fearsome lists, but most of the time you'll put on enough pressure that they'll be forced to adapt to you rather than the other way around.

Remember, all of your early cards exist to do damage. You aren't trying to save a board or keep them around. Don't be afraid to lose your units to get in extra nexus hits. At the end of the day, you're using these to set up your finishers.


The Discard


Of course, a discard deck is nothing without the discard itself. Draven helps you shed your hand, but he is not nearly enough on his own. To back that up, you also have three copies of Rummage and Augmented Experimenter.


Though it might be hard to see at first glance, Rummage is one of the strongest cards in this deck. Your plan here is to dump your cards early, hit hard, and then back them up with powerful finishers. However, what happens when that plan doesn't come together? What if you draw a turn six Legion Saboteur or get a Draven's Biggest Fan when you already have a Draven? The answer is Rummage.

Being able to pitch cards you wouldn't normally use is something most aggro decks cannot do. That then leaves them to the mercy of the draw. Rummage prevents that and enables you to sculpt your hand in a way where you can keep getting good cards.
It is also worth noting that the one mana spell can be played at burst speed as a way to instantly empty your hand for Jinx (buffing her up out of removal range) or getting a blocker like a Flame Chompers! or Jury-Rig.

Beyond Rummage, Augmented Experimenter is one of the strongest cards in this list. He acts as removal, discard, and card draw all in one package. Six mana be a lot for this style of deck, but few cards do more than the experimenter. Easily a three of at the top of the curve.


The Discard (Fodder)


What makes this deck so powerful is that, even though you're shredding your hand and discarding cards left and right, you're doing it in a way that never truly loses out on tempo. That is because you have access to a slew of cards that give you value as you dump them from your hand.


Jury-Rig and Flame Chompers! are both excellent payoffs for playing the discard package. Not only do they give you more things to block with, they also let you get units onto the board as instant speed. A surprise bocker is a good way to take lethal away from your opponent, and it helps set up your own push in a race.

Also note that, unlike rig, Flame Chompers! come with challenger. That may seem odd on a zero-attack unit, but it is incredibly useful to clear out big blockers so you can get in damage with your smaller units. Being able to take out an Avarosan Hearthguard so your Jinx can attack into a small board is invaluable.

Beyond the units, Vision is another nice bonus to have. It's not the strongest card in the world, but it is particularly nice when paired with one of the above cards to get a surprise blocker that trades up into a larger threat. It's also quite good when attacking with your quick attack champions to get around big blockers or combat tricks.


Removal and Damage


Rounding out this list is three copies of both Get Excited! and Mystic Shot. These two cards deserve their own section because, when playing aggro, it is important to know when you need to clear the board and when to go face.


Shot and excited can both pace the game by clearing out early units, or they can go straight at your opponent's nexus for direct damage. The way you make that decision is by figuring out how much damage you have on the board and in hand, and then measuring it against your opponent's pressure alongside any outs (such as healing) they might have. That is not an easy thing to do, but it's one of the ways you win games.

Early on, when damage doesn't matter as much, these two spells should always be used to pace the board. In fact, that is their primary function. Only when things start to develop and your opponent's nexus starts to drop down do you want to point the spells at their face. The only exception there is when you want to use Get Excited! to empty your hand and you don't have any targets on the board.



A new meta is always fun to explore. While the nerfs didn't do much to fearsome, the other big players all took large hits. I expect slower control decks to rise up in the new space, which perfectly paves the way for quick-hit aggro builds like this one. This may not be the most unique playstyle, but balancing your hand is quite fun. If you want quick games and strong champions, this is the way to go.


(Last Updated: March 17th, 2020)

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