Contents
This weekend introduced the first and second Riftlab Clash tournaments, in which players were split into pods of 16 and played 4 rounds of Swiss until one person remained undefeated. Hosted by Jakub and Piltover Archive, these tournaments are mini qualifiers for their larger Trials event, and help us understand how the metagame is doing within smaller pools of play, rather than the larger playerbase events we’ve covered so far.
This is the follow up article to the Riftlab Clash I Tournament Report, where we discussed the first day of the tournament, the top decks, and our predictions moving forward into the next few weeks of the metagame before Origins’ worldwide release. If you haven’t checked that out already, feel free to do so now!
In this article, we’ll go over the top performing legends on the second day of the tournament, our thoughts and opinions, and what this could mean for the future of the metagame. We’ll also dissect all 5 of the 4-0 decklists, covering each list so you can play them yourself.
Clash II
In the Riftlab Clash II, we saw 81 players across 5 pods compete for an undefeated win of 4-0. Out of our 5 undefeated legends, 4 of those are Kai’Sa, appearing after her absence in the Clash I, and returning competitor Darius, who managed to fish his way to another win.
Similarly to the first Clash event, both Master Yi and Sett are missing from this tournament’s top results. Both legends have a good winrate into her, with Sett being the main deck to take down Kai’Sa, so I can only assume they were mostly absent throughout the total metagame for this tournament, which is quite interesting considering their large popularity recently.
Overall, this top rank metashare proves that Kai’Sa is definitely large and in-charge, but the lack of our other two S tier legends is something to keep an eye on, as this could mean they are performing worse in smaller play environments, or that their popularity is faltering, but we’ll have to see what happens in future tournaments.
Kai’Sa by PewQ
To learn more about this deck, check out our Kai’Sa Tempo Guide!
Over this weekend, Kai’Sa has dominated the metagame, with a win and four Top 8 entries in the Guangzhou Regionals; this tournament is no exception, with this list being our first of four 4-0 Kai’Sa decklists.
As a Tempo decklist, Kai’Sa uses her wide range of spells such as Smoke Screen and Falling Star to target the opponent and lower their defences, allowing her to easily take over both battlefields. She retains that control with her valuable units like Thousand-Tailed Watcher and her Champion Kai’Sa Survivor, alongside an arsenal of destructive spells to almost lock her opponent out of the game.
Kai’Sa by Freakz
Our second 4-0 Kai’Sa of the tournament is another Tempo decklist, using spells to control the boardstate and advance onwards. Now that the metagame has developed quite a bit, it’s common for decklists of the same hero to be incredibly similar, as people have already found what works best, and proven it time and time again.
However, they’re never the exact same, as shown with this decklist; Iron Ballista is quite a good pick in the sideboard, as it helps control the game against board state dependent decklists such as Master Yi and Viktor by defeating their smaller units without having to use a spell or sacrifice a unit.
Darius by GanZtrax
Congratulations to player GanZtrax, who managed to pilot his Darius deck to 4-0 twice across both days!
In our third player pool we have Darius, with a second 4-0 win across the whole weekend in his pocket. Darius has performed extremely well in these last two weekends with his Hook Combo decklist, overrunning the battlefields with units in the most efficient way possible.
Between the two days, a really small amount was changed between player GanZtrax’s Darius decklist; Mainly, in the sideboard, card Salvage was swapped for two copies of Back to Back instead. I think this is a good change, as there doesn’t seem to be many pieces of gear an opponent could have that could dramatically change Darius’s game outcome, and Darius’s own gear is too important in the gameplan to sacrifice to draw 1. Whereas, having an extra buff for two of your units can be quite useful in matchups where you need to be aggressive.
Recently, Darius has proven his strength as a legend, and with this solidified decklist he will likely continue to be an underdog in the metagame for quite some time, but we'll have to see if anything changes by Origins's paper release.
Kai’Sa by Jey
In our third group of players, we see another 4-0 Kai’Sa player. This decklist is also a pretty standard tempo list, in line with the other decklists we’ve discussed so far.
One interesting thing to note about this decklist is the two copies of Unchecked Power in the sideboard, which is very interesting tech to use against decklists with larger, scarier units. This card is great as a closer, instantly taking out most high-might threats, and could even combat Master Yi’s game ender Whiteflame Protector.
Kai’Sa by Kedjius
Our last 4-0 Kai’Sa decklist is very similar to our other three, following the standard Tempo decklist layout. Despite that, this showcases the consistency of the Kai’Sa Tempo deck, and how even with no particular matchup tuning or deck tech, it can still perform extremely well and come out on top.
Closing Time
It’s no doubt that Kai’Sa is a strong deck in this metagame. She is certainly becoming one of the main decks to beat, and without a really specific gameplan, it’s definitely hard to find a way to push through this legend. We’ll have to see how Kai’Sa performs in the future; whether people find a way to take her down, or if she continues her dominant reign.
If you missed it, check out our report on the first day of the tournament, the Riftlab Clash I, for more details and developments on the metagame. Otherwise, keep an eye out for more content on Riftbound.gg, between metagame reports and other articles such as tier lists and decklists.
In any case, thank you for your time, and I’ll see you on the rift.
