As an early meta begins to develop in Legends of Runeterra, a heavy dose of spiders and elusives have dominated the early game.

Champion cards can be quite strong in Legends of Runeterra, but much of their power relies on them being able to level up to that next stage. They become targets for spells and usually have reliable ways to be countered. Elusives do not have this problem, they are good from the moment they are summoned.

In this Elusive deck, you will be running a combo of Ionia/Demacia with a bit over half of the deck skewing towards lower mana costs for the sake of early game power. Due to not having any champion cards and only 3 epic cards this also makes it one of the cheapest decks to craft.

With a total of 14 Elusive units, you are sure to have a way to get through large enemy defenses all throughout the game. The main focus will be to buff the Elusive’s damage through the use of spells and other units as well. You will want to spread your buffs in order to make sure at least one or two units are getting through as you will not always be able to save them all.

Through the use of the ability “Recall”, you can also reuse the same unit to give multiple buffs, which is one of the most popular plays in this deck. Both “Navori Conspirator” and “Solitary Monk” will be used for this purpose as they are both low-cost units that will be available to return units such as “Inspiring Mentor” to your hand early enough to not be taken off your board.

Here is the full Deck List:

3x Inspiring Mentor

3x Fleetfeather Tracker

1x Navori Highwayman

2x Navori Conspirator

3x Greenglade Duo

3x Dawnspeakers

3x Laurent Protege

1x Solitary Monk

3x Shadow Assassin

2x Silverwing Scout

3x Laurent Bladekeeper

3x Kinkou Lifeblade

2x Stand Alone

3x Deny

2x Riposte

3x Back to Back

As you can see, there are a total of 11 total cards that provide permanent buffs as well as 5 that provide buffs for the round, usually saved to end the game or to get you out of a pinch. Getting the best possible use of these buffs onto your Elusives will be what elevates this deck to the top.

The “Dawnspeakers” will normally not be used to defend or attack because even in seemingly safe situations the opponent may have a way to catch you by surprise with a buff or removal spell. The longer Dawnspeakers live on the board the more strong Elusives you will usually have so don’t be afraid to devote resources to making sure the card lives.

The “Fleetfeather Tracker” and “Laurent Protege” are also good sources for removal. If your opponent has a card that you want to get rid of but you aren’t confident in your Elusives chances of survival then having these cards with “Challenger” will be a big lifesaver.

“Kinkou Lifeblade” is, in my eyes, the best card to be receiving the buffs due to his “Lifesteal” ability. You will be able to deal damage to the enemy Nexus or clear enemy units from the board and at the same time regain HP for your Nexus.

The “Greenglade Duo” is a close second due to the unit’s ability to gain an attack when an ally is summoned. This unit pretty much buffs itself up and since you can normally summon it sooner than the Kinkou Lifeblade. It might just better to get the other buffs going right away to maximize your damage potential, particularly if your enemy shows they are not running Elusives.

This deck is currently very annoying to deal with and does not have many counters in Legends of Runeterra. This means it will likely dominate the meta for quite some time. As the game is still in beta there will likely be many changes coming down the line but I do not expect them to get rid of this ability altogether so investing in it now while it will likely receive more cards and make it better is still a smart choice.

There is nothing more heartbreaking for an enemy than thinking the game is over only for your unblockable units to slip past with a sudden +3|+3 buff to both to secure the victory. With a total cost of only 10,700 essence this deck will definitely see a lot of play in the Legends of Runeterra meta.