5 Lissandra Deck Recommendations (Empires of the Ascended)
Our newest Freljordian addition to the metagame has caused an absolute flurry of action.
Welcome, everybody, I’m Jordan “WhatAmI” Abronson and today I’m going to be breaking down the many different homes for our new Icy Overlord.
The five decks I’ll be discussing will range from competitive to memey so whether you’re a competitive player or just want to have fun, you should find something worth trying out.
1. Matron Watcher
Deck Code: CECAGAIFFAWC6AQEAECQ4AIBAEKACAYBAYBAKAIBA4GB2KRSAQAQKAITDUYQCAIBAUHQ
[See Matron Watcher deck details]
First up is the top of the heap.
Love it or hate it, it is looking like Matron-Watcher is here to stay.
They’ve got a simple, powerful, hard-to-stop game plan that is easy to execute while hiding behind an absolute shield wall of control tools for the turns it takes to get the job done.
- Play a Trundle.
- Have Lissandra in play going in to turn eight.
- Play Ice Pillar, regain your mana, Fading Memories, Ice Pillar, Regain your mana, Lissandra level’s up. Now play Spectral Matron targeting the Watcher Lissandra just gave you.
Not only do you have a Watcher in play ready to obliterate your opponent’s deck, but the Matron and the Watcher clone just put your count of 8+ cost units played up to four.
So, in case they can answer the first one you’ve got a second 0 cost Watcher on standby ready to get in some deck-obliterating action of its own.
That might sound like an awful lot of combo pieces to have to put together, and it is.
But between all the stalls your deck has access to, tutors like Entreat and Bjerg, and the fact that you have to wait until at least turn eight anyway, it’s surprisingly consistent and mind and deck obliteratingly powerful.
2. Trundle Ledros Lissandra Control (TLLC)
Deck Code: CECAEAIBCQZAEBABAUHACAYBAYAQCBJBAQBAIAIJBICQCBIBB4MR2KADAEAQODBKAEBQCBAA
[See TLLC deck details]
This one might look quite similar but the game plan plays out completely differently.
This version, while still in Shadow Isles, is significantly less focused on generating a Watcher to win with.
Sure, you might occasionally get one off a Pillar and a Ledros, and even Revitalizing Roar it into play, but that’s not where most of your victories will come from.
Here we have much more of a classic checkmate-control style deck.
We move much more slowly, often not killing until turns ten-twelve, but we’re a lot safer getting there.
Imagine trying to burn out your opponent through the ridiculous amount of early healing in this deck only to have them play Revitalizing Roar and heal for another nine.
Against more aggressive lists you don’t even need to wait until Enlightened is functional.
Sometimes you just stall out the board and pay seven mana to gain nine life, closing out the game.
While we will usually need Ledros to close a game, we do run five of him if you count the Bjergs, and sometimes something as simple as a few Trundle smacks backed up by an Atrocity will get the job done just fine.
3. Frozen Timelines
Deck Code: CEDACBAEBIBACBABGAAQGBANAMAQCDAUGIBAIAIFBYAQGAIGAMBQCBA3D42ACBABBIAQCAIHAA
[See Frozen Timelines deck details]
Straying further from the norm, anyone who has dropped by my stream the last week or so may have seen me testing out and refining this lovely abomination.
Here again, Lissandra is not our main focus, but she puts up an impressive showing of the supporting cast.
The base combo of this deck is Pillar plus Timelines plus Iterative Improvement, which allows us to drop two nasty eight drops into play at once and even get the summon effect off of the second one.
If we don’t have Timelines active then we can also simply Iterative our Pillar repeatedly to turbo-level our Lissandra and get in some good old-fashioned Watcher beat downs.
We top out at Corina who will deliver on Average 2.5 points of damage across our opponent’s whole board and face, or a game wrecking 4|6 if we can flip her into a Dreadway with Timelines.
While I don’t think this one quite hits the competitive level of the other two, yet, it is an absolute blast to play.
I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys doing explosive flashy tricks that have quite reasonable chances of winning them the game.
4. Burning Snow
Deck Code: CECAIBABAECQMDQDAIBQCBYJAIAQGBBXAEAQCFAFAEBAGCABAQAQSAIDAMGQCAIBA4AQIAYCAA
[See Burning Snow deck details]
For the last couple of iterations on this theme, I thought we would have the dance partners switch it up a bit.
We get that Lissandra and Trundle are the best of buds, but let’s look at what happens when we pair her with someone just a little bit less troll-y.
The answer is it goes surprisingly well. This variation ends up feeling a lot better in some of the midrange variants like Shurima-Overwhelm or Sivir-Demacia that the other lists struggle with.
Flock and Scorched Earth are godsends when it comes to dealing with the beefier units out there.
On top of that without all the combo tools, we have room for inclusions like Draklorn Inquisitor and Frozen Thrall, moving us more into a solidly powerful midrange deck that wants to close out the game around turn eight or nine.
Between our solid suite of control spells, the traditional Leviathan endgame, and the looming threat of 8|8 Overwhelm trolls sometimes showing up as early as turn six, we’ve got some serious threats to apply.
Not to mention that Swain himself will often come down leveled up on turn five with no more help needed than a single Blighted Ravine.
5. Sand and Snow
Deck Code: CEBQIBABAECQMDQEAQDQCDI7JEBACAIUGIBQEBAHHN4QEBABBEFACAIBFIAA
[See Sand and Snow deck details]
Last and arguably memeiest, but inarguably awesome, is the Lissandra Taliyah deck.
This deck is packed to the gills with absolute nonsense.
While we’ve still got some of the same solid control tools that follow Lissandra around like a pack of pet hounds, we are definitely doing some weird stuff alongside them.
Yep, you saw that right, that’s three Promising Futures.
And those Rites of Calling?
Those aren’t there to fetch our champions, oh no, that would be too simple.
Those are there to kill our champions off to make board space for the absolute onslaught of 8|8 overwhelm trolls this deck wants to produce in a single turn.
Lissandra can do some cool things if your opponent manages to survive, sure.
But usually, if we make between two and four 8|8 Overwhelms that get to open attack the turn they enter play we have already won the game.
However, in those spots where that’s somehow not quite enough, we can simply drop a Lissandra down the turn after and already be ready and raring to go with a fully tricked-out Watcher.
Inconsistent and arguably a bit silly? Oh yeah.
But an absolute blast to combo off with? Bet your bottom dollar.
Conclusion
There are a whole bunch of different ways to play this cool new champion that Shurima has dropped into Freljord’s lap.
From top tier to meme tier and everything in between we’ve got all the sweet Lissandra action you’re looking for.
And hey, if you’re getting a little tired of watching the Ice Queen dominating the meta game, stay tuned folks.
Later this week I will be coming out with a counter-deck-guide specifically tuned for how to crush the icy menace.
Until then, best of luck, and keep your winter clothes close at hand.
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
