Expedition Archetypes
New. Crimson Guard
Crimson Guard is a new bonus archetype that pairs the self-damaging effects and bonuses for surviving damage from Noxus alongside Barriers plus Tough and Regeneration units from Demacia. Did you know that protecting Crimson Curator with a Barrier in combat counts as surviving damage? You do now!
- Demacia: Garen, Chain Vest, Brightsteel Protector, Vanguard Defender, Laurent Duelist, Prismatic Barrier, Silverwing Scout, Vanguard Cavalry, En Garde, Laurent Bladekeeper, Riposte, Remembrance, Redoubled Valor, Tianna Crownguard, Brightsteel Formation
- Noxus: Vladimir, Crimson Aristocrat, Transfusion, Crimson Curator, Might, Crimson Disciple, Death Lotus, Culling Strike, Crimson Awakener, Savage Reckoner, Legion Veteran, Battering Ram
- Cohesiveness Rating: Medium
- Wild Pick Bonus Chance: Medium
Other Archetypes
Demacian Steel continues to be a little stronger than we’d like, and we’re taking away one of its tools so that decks based heavily around this archetype will have to go toe to toe with opposing units rather than simply locking them away.
- Removed: Detain
Discipline just had too many common cards, so we’re taking away a card that isn’t necessary for the “hand buff” strategy in order for it to be a bit more focused.
- Removed: Will of Ionia
Noxian Might has continued to be too effective at quickly inflicting overwhelming amounts of damage to the opponent, so we’re adding a card that goes along with that strategy but at a more reasonable pace.
- Added: Shunpo
Shroom and Boom is an interesting case study—we’d previously tried enabling it to use cheap spells to build up a huge Assembly Bot, but have found that isn’t as effective as we’d like it to be in practice. With that in mind, we’re restoring the aggressive early game units and removing Mushroom Cloud since the whumps are more than happy to provide those along with a body.
- Added: Academy Prodigy, Amateur Aeronaut, Flash of Brilliance, Get Excited!
- Removed: Mushroom Cloud, Scrapdash Assembly, Eager Apprentice, Assembly Bot
Spellbound has found new life through the updated Mageseeker units, so we’re removing a couple of its spells that cost less than 6 mana, while also replacing an epic card that’s seen a bit too frequently with one that was previously only in a single archetype.
- Added: Dawnspeakers
- Removed: Prismatic Barrier, Cithria the Bold, Statikk Shock
Retribution is a little on the strong side presently, so we’re removing a spell that shows up in a variety of archetypes and was least needed here.
- Removed: Vengeance
Battle Scars doesn’t need much adjustment (and will likely benefit from the addition of the new Crimson Guard archetype) but Starlit Seer should be at home here again given its extra point of health.
- Added: Starlit Seer
- Removed: Battle Fury
Enlightenment is giving up its Yeti subtheme, so we’re compensating it with an additional late game threat that’s worthy of ramping into with the newly buffed Wyrding Stones.
- Added: Battle Fury
- Removed: Avarosan Trapper, Tall Tales, Ancient Yeti
Cloning Program has always had a theoretical subtheme based around copying Funsmiths and then using them to enhance your damage effects, but in practice it was far too slow and inconsistent. We’re removing it in favor of a Yeti subtheme since one-cost 5|5s are perfect for copying into your deck.
- Added: Yeti Yearling, Avarosan Trapper, Tall Tales, Ancient Yeti, Progress Day!
- Removed: Avarosan Sentry, Iceborn Legacy, Pack Mentality, Mystic Shot, Funsmith, Trueshot Barrage
Ancient Evil is gaining a new subtheme based around pairing spiders with Iceborn Legacy, so we’re replacing Thresh with Elise for the time being to see how that plays out.
- Added: Elise, Iceborn Legacy, Pack Mentality, Crawling Sensation, The Undying
- Removed: Thresh, Oblivious Islander, Mistwraith, Haunted Relic, The Harrowing
Shadows and Dust has continued to struggle, so we’re removing a few of the weaker Ionian support cards in favor of some solid, consistent cards that should help deliver wins more often. We’ve also increased the Cohesiveness Rating as it’s rather unlikely you want cards from this archetype if you haven’t already been drafting it.
- Added: Navori Bladescout, Twin Disciplines, Oblivious Islander, Vengeance, The Harrowing
- Removed: Shadow Fiend, Shadowshift
- Cohesiveness Rating increased from Medium to High.
Fluft and Tuft is an archetype that’s great fun when it works but has been struggling with a few too many cards that didn’t contribute to the core Poro strategy. We’ve removed many of those cards, added more options to enlarge your Poros, and lastly increased the chance that you’ll see Fluft and Tuft packs in your Wild Picks so you can further focus your deck.
- Added: Omen Hawk, Babbling Bjerg, Pack Mentality, Battle Fury, Will of Ionia
- Removed: Avarosan Sentry, Iceborn Legacy, Avalanche, Take Heart, Avarosan Outriders, Navori Conspirator
- Wild Pick Bonus Chance increased from High to Very High.
Cataclysm is intentionally an unfocused archetype, and while we like the variety it provides when showing up early in a draft, it shouldn’t keep showing up all the way through if you haven’t shown any interest in it.
- Cohesiveness Rating increased to Medium.
The official release of Legends of Runeterra is approaching alongside a new expansion — and Riot games just revealed a brand new Demacian champion: Quinn.
