5 Irelia Decks Worth Trying Out (Competitive + Memey)
My name is Jordan “WhatAmI” Abronson and I’m here to welcome you all to the day after the end of the world.
Or if we’re being slightly less melodramatic, the launch week of the new ladder complete with new card releases to play with.
The first lady on everyone’s mind seems to be the lady of blades.
So today we’re going to go over a few different theoretical deck concepts featuring this dangerous dancer.
At first, she might look a tad one-dimensional but there’s an awful lot of different things this champion is doing.
Let’s take a look and try to imagine some more cool and interesting ways to use her synergies.
1. Blade Scouts
Deck Code: CEBQIBACAECAKDYEAQDQGGRTHEBACAQGFQCAEBACBEFQCAQCBIAQCAQMAEBQEBIA
[See Blade Scouts deck details]
We’ll start off with the simplest of the five decks we’re going to be showcasing today.
And if you’ve been on ladder at all since the drop this deck is everywhere.
We’re really not sure exactly what the perfect build is yet as it needs some serious refinement, but what we are sure about is that Azir and his Dais but in an almost unreal amount of work with Irelia and the other blade dancers.
This deck, much like Lucian/Azir, comes at the opponent from multiple angles extremely quickly.
We swarm the board while demanding blocks from an oncoming swarm of blades.
We have huge Elusive attacks to end games, and Field Musicians can have us easily drawing two cards a turn for the entire game.
If that weren’t enough all of these threats are surprisingly hard to deal with.
While Irelia herself might fall to a stray Mystic Shot, Azir, Field Musicians, and Inspiring Marshall can laugh off an awful lot of damage.
Homecoming and a few other choice self-recall spells give us just the smidgen of interaction a deck like this wants to keep its laser focus on executing its own game plan and bat away anyone who tries to stop it.
2. Irelia’s Trampoline
Deck Code: CECAGBACAUFQ6BACAYHBEJROAIAQEBRMAEBQMEIFAEBQEBQBAEBDSAIEAIAQCBAGBIAQEBRKAA
[See Irelia’s Trampoline deck details]
This one definitely looks like it might be a little bit more meme than dream.
Those Monasteries of Hirana sitting there make it a little difficult to have a straight face.
But recent tournament destroyer TF/Fizz taught us the power of Mind Meld and wide Elusive board against unprepared opponents.
While we’re nowhere near that power level we do have a pretty ridiculous amount of card draw and spell creation all things considered.
There really aren’t all that many spells in our deck that don’t replace themselves, and most of those are Elusive beaters.
What’s left is a few key pieces of removal and the big finish of Mind Meld itself.
Burblefish might be a little weaker than it used to be, but if you’re just going to make your whole board gigantic anyway then a free elusive that generates a card is going to do just fine.
3. Blade Ninja
Deck Code: CEBQKAYJDMRTGVWXAEBAEAQDAYAQIAQFAQBQEAQFBAEQGAYJCNK52AIBAEBDCAIDAICQA
[See Blade Ninja deck details]
Ok, yes, I get it, Lee didn’t need any more help.
That said I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that among the other interesting things she does, Irelia generates spells every other turn.
That makes her a powerful proc tool for Eye of the Dragon, Deep Meditation, and Lee Sin.
This deck has never quite felt like it is settled on its second champion.
While we seem to keep sliding back to Zoe we’ve seen Zed, Karma, and even Aphelios take turns partnering up with the blind monk.
Having Irelia here also makes utilizing spells like Sonic Wave and Homecoming quite a bit easier, as well as providing convenient fodder for Spacey Sketcher to chow down on.
Irelia might not be as aggressively dangerous as Zoe, or as Game Destroyingly powerful as Karma, but she is a pretty effective and powerful synergy card in a spell-loving deck.
Can that be good enough?
Only time and testing can tell.
4. Blade Burn
Deck Code: CECAEBACAUHQMAIDAIGA6FAZFABACAQGFQBAEAYDAQAQEAIDBEPAA
[See Blade Burn deck details]
Look, we don’t need to mince words about it.
Sometimes you just get tired of all this monkeying about with silly things like “synergy,” and “planning,” and you just want to kill a fool.
When that’s the case Irelia’s got you covered too.
With twelve one drops she will level ridiculously fast in this deck, threatening extra hard to find time to block damage along the way.
And then she’ll start jumping around in combat making already untenable situations downright impossible for your opponents.
We’re backing that up with the standard suite of Noxian burn and some difficult to block beaters with just the tiniest hint of card draw thrown in for spice.
Sometimes we all need a little help from a Dancing Droplet to topdeck that last Decimate for lethal.
5. Pirate Dance
Deck Code: CEBQIAQGCY3TYPQFAQBAIBIJBMHQCAICAYCAEAQGAUIQCAYCCQAQEAQKAEAQEDAA
[See Pirate Dance deck details]
Last but far from least is where I think most people went first when they saw this champion get spoiled.
While this deck is probably less consistent and more all-in even than any of its predecessors, the draws it can put out are occasionally absolutely unreal.
A god-curve in this deck can have a leveled Miss Fortune attacking on turn four.
While we won’t hit that particularly often the look on our opponent’s face when it happens has got to be worth it.
Alongside all this ridiculous aggression we’ve even managed to make room for a few protection spells to keep our two dangerous ladies safe.
Nothing is sadder than having a three out of four Miss Fortune removed before she gets to do her thing and being in Ionia conveniently lets us snag a few control tools for our generally much more aggro-facing deck.
Just to make matters worse our curve tops off with Citrus Courier.
Orange man hanging around is going to make our opponents have to think twice or even three times before letting those Blades go unblocked, even on their turn.
Conclusion
Irelia is just bursting with flavor and synergy and I’m sure I’ve just scratched the surface here today of all the cool things that can be done with her.
I’ll drop this final disclaimer before I leave that all of these are untested, but I hope you have a great time with them nonetheless.
That said, may all your battles be ferocious, and I’ll catch you out there on the ladder.
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, feel free to ask WhatAmI during his streams (around 10AM PST basically every day).
WhatAmI streams at twitch.tv/xxwhatamixx around 10AM PST every day
