Since her reveal earlier in the Origins preview season, Ahri has been the favourite for more control-oriented strategies. Her legend, Nine-Tailed Fox, lends itself well to slowing down aggressive decks with no real investment, and being in Calm and Mind, she has a ton of different tricks up her sleeve.
Ahri Control is a defensive deck, and uses a ton of spells to be able to control the boardstate and make it as difficult as possible for opponents to threaten her endgame threats, all of which end the game switfly when not dealt with. With this, Ahri is quite possibly second to none when it comes to slower gameplans, and could possibly be the deck that defines the format for time to come.
In this guide, we'll take a look at how Ahri plays and how she's a deck that you should definitely keep an eye on. Right now, this is still initial thoughts as we move towards the end of the Origins reveal cycle, but something tells me that even as time goes on, Ahri builds are only going to become better and more optimised.
Ahri Control Guide
Deck
In this article, we're going to use SamaBR's list from the MaxTapera TTS Tournament on 6th of July 2025, as it's the best initial information we have.
Her main units are Sona Harmonious and Ahri Inquisitive, the former of which can help you hold up runes to play out buffs and attacks, and the latter of which helps keep your enemies' units down low in power. Kai'Sa Evolutionary lets you replay out your Fox-Fire for more wipe-potential, and Viktor Innovator is just good for value throughout the game.
Finally, an important thing to consider is negation effects like Wind Wall and Defy. Both of these stop the other real threat to your deck, in hard removal to deal with your units. Leveraging these to be able to protect your Champion Units is going to be vital, and so making sure that you're aware of their importance is vital.
Battlefields
All of these battlefields are generally good defensive battlefields, and are equally good for what your deck wants to do. Reaver's Row is the worst of the three, but can save a unit from death in the right circumstance. Otherwise, the other two benefit your deck immensely compared to other decks in the format.
I think that generally, your first game should start out with the weakest of the three, and then you should use the other two however you see fit. Targon's Peak is insane if you can leverage it, and helps you more than any other deck in the format currently, but Fortified Position is a generically popular Battlefield that a lot of decks will be running anyway.
Metagame Analysis
Finishing 2nd in the first TTS tournament, it might seem as though Ahri is second fiddle to the Viktor deck that finished first. And this may be the case when it comes to direct matchups, as Viktor is pretty well positioned into the Ahri matchup. But, the massive difference is that aggro tends to be better at the start of any TCG metagame, and control takes time to perfect. Ahri is already in a pretty good spot in the metagame, while also having a massive amount of potential, meaning that there's a chance she could end up becoming BDIF.
With this, Ahri is looking like a massively definitive deck for the format. While she isn't as wholly aggressive, her ability to be able to have a great control strategy and a really potent game-ender means that there's a good chance that she ends up being the gatekeeper for the top-tier; time will tell, though, and different decks becoming optimised could change this.
So, if you're looking to play Ahri, this is a great sign that she's not only going to be decently strong, but is also going to be able to adapt to the metagame as it shapes. Unlike a deck like Viktor, which lives and dies on consistency and silver bullets, it's going to be hard to be able to stop Ahri from being able to control the game in any means other than good gameplay and luck. So, get ready for Ahri to be at the top of the metagame, as it looks like she's not going anywhere soon.
Once again, though, this could change as we get further into the game. We're still in the preseason, and right now new builds and variations are coming out every day. Be aware of this, especially going into the Chinese release in August, as a lot of decks are going to enter trial by fire during this period and the metagame is going to turn completely upside down in that time.
Closing Time
Ahri is looking to be an incredibly strong deck going into the intial Riftbound meta, and as Origins preview season comes to an end, if you're looking for a deck to get your teeth into and you like the idea of control, look nowhere else. As time goes on and decks get more optimised, Ahri is only going to get better and more consistent.
Origins is on the horizon, and staying in the know is going to be so vital in these coming months. So, check out Riftbound.gg to keep up to date with the latest metagame news, decks, and tier lists! We've got you covered, and will make sure to inform you on everything you need to know as we head towards the full release this Fall.
In any case, thank you so much for your time, and see you on the rift.
