Before I start I just a reminder, start following my content on HIVE as I will stop making content on STEEM in a couple of weeks once I'm done powering down and you should do it too.

Hey guys! For my first post about Legends of Runeterra, I think it will be best if we go over all 6 regions in terms of how they operate, what are their strengths & weaknesses, and which ones go well together. Every deck can use two regions and even though it is possible to make one with only one region that isn't the best idea because from the start you are lowering your deckbuilding options by 50%. I'm not saying you won't be able to make a decent deck but in most cases, you will find that mixing two regions will give you so much more synergies to take advantage of and also, give you access to more high-quality cards that fit the same strategy. Now, let's take a look at each region individually before we jump into region combos.

Demacia

Demacia region is heavily based on buffing and protecting your followers and champions. Their strength comes in numbers with their capability to overwhelm (not the keyword) your opponent with a lot of stats that they can provide in only a couple of turns. Their style is mostly aggressive early game with pretty sizable mid-game threats. That's why the best champions in Demacia are Fiora and Garen because they both do these things well while also Fiora gives you threatening win-condition that your opponent always needs to be aware of which creates extra pressure that is not only game-related but also a bit psychological. Demacia's weakness is the lack of removal so the way they control the board is a bit different and it's through the use of Challengers and spells Single Combat and Judgement.

Freljord

This region does a lot of things and can be used for all kinds of styles of play. Most notably it is a mix of control and buffs. Frostbite, arguably the main mechanic is actually quite strong because most of these spells are with Burst speed which means that they aren't so easily countered and give you the ability to avoid taking damage or even get some free trades. Because of these reasons, this type of control can be used defensively and offensively depending on what the main goal of your deck is. I'd say that Ashe proved to be the best champion in Freljord because of her ability to make Frostbite even stronger by preventing enemies with 0 attacks to be used to block and sometimes her Crystal Arrow can freeze their whole board for an easy win. Freljord's weakness is going up against Elusive decks because Frostbite may be a good solution for a turn or two but there is no real way to remove them other than Avalanche and that is a slow spell so it can be hard to play it right and also can get countered making you only waste your mana and falling behind even further.

Ionia

Ionia is the pesky type of a region. The playstyle can be all-in full Aggro with Elusive units and abrupt traps that can catch unaware opponents off-guard for some sneaky wins or, a methodical control style with continual stuns and recalls to keep the enemies in check also with some nasty traps that can lead to huge tempo swings that also leads to some huge burst of damage on nexus. Zed and Karma are the best choices here. Zed is one of the best early game units that are hard to remove without spells because of the Quick Attack keyword and on top of that he creates another 3/2 (or more when buffed) that needs to be blocked in order to prevent taking damage and let Zed level up eventually. Karma is on the opposite side of the spectrum as she can give a LOT of extra value if she isn't removed quickly and in the late-game when Enlightenment kicks in double spells are just so deadly. Ionia's weakness is actually the size of its units which is really below average so if you aren't playing carefully versus regions that have a lot of removal spells your units can get cleared off pretty easily. Other than that it is a pretty solid region.

Noxus

The most brute force region in the game right now. Its main focus is on the damage output, be it by direct damage spells, attack buffs or Overwhelm units that ram through the defense. Aggressiveness is all there is for this region and the plan is simple, "Keep hitting them until they fall because there is no plan B". Draven and Darius are the strongest here but weirdly enough don't fit well together. Draven is best suited for full-on Aggro looking for a win as fast as possible while Darius thrives better in Midrange strategies where he is used as a finisher while the opponent is low enough for him to level up. As I said, Noxus isn't really looking for a "Plan B" so that is their weakness if the aggression is stopped efficiently it is next to impossible to outrun your opponent again later in the game. Cards like Intimidating Roar and Reckoning can be used as surprises to catch the opponent on the wrong foot but these chances are often slim and for that reason, the use of those cards isn't that popular.

Piltover & Zuan

This region can really be a nuisance to play against. This is because of its capability to constantly do chip damage to your nexus while also it has access to a lot of card generation and draws to continue doing that so they often keep you on your toes. The playstyle can vary a lot depending on the deck and your champion choices. All of these champions are pretty viable, especially Ezreal and Jinx. Jinx is the true Aggro card that incentivizes you to empty your hand as quickly as possible to be able to create "Super Mega Death Rockets" to go for a nexus directly with some extra chip damage. Ezreal is better in decks that use a lot of removals which will naturally lead to control style of play and once leveled up, you begin to focus on the opponent's nexus. While this region is capable of doing chip damage, again and again, its weakness is dealing with bigger threats on the opponent's side of the board because there are no strong removals other than Thermogenic Beam in the whole region. So if you lose the upper hand it is next to impossible to stop your opponent in any other way than going all-in on their nexus.

Shadow Isles

Shadow Isles is good at many things but it's strongest with something particular. Removal, single target, board clears, small units, big units. It can remove everything, so control is something you would lean to if you choose to use this region. There is also another archetype present with Ephemeral units that are more tuned for aggression because they die on the same turn but their stats are way above the average to compensate. Elise and Hecarim are definitely the strongest champions here. Elise because of its easy level up that gives all spiders fearsome and challenger which is hard to deal with without removals and Hecarim for his insane potential for a tempo swing in Ephemeral focused decks. Shadow Isles's weakness is sometimes unreliable cards that need you to sacrifice a unit to activate and dependence on slow spells that can be played around more easily so executing plans revolving around those cards can be really hard.

Together We Are Stronger

As I said in the begging of this post, it is possible to make one region decks but you will always be left with a pretty big weakness that can't be covered in any way with that particular region so you will be always going all-in on a single strategy with no backup. Other than softening your weak spots, with two similar regions you can strengthen the already strong aspects by having access to more cards that suit the same strategy you are going for. With that said let's take a look at some of the combos.

Demacia goes well with Freljord and Ionia. In combination with Freljord's Frostbite and additional buffs, Demacian challenger units are much stronger and become more efficient to clear out opponent's units while also helping you protect your own threats. With Ionia there are more opportunities for aggression with addition of elusive units that can be buffed with Demacian buffs and your attacks become trickier to deal with possible Deny spells and Recalls/Stuns to prevent your opponent to block.

Freljord, other than Demacia, pairs well with Shadow Isles. Freljord's mana ramping and stalling capabilities with Frostbite are complemented well with Shadow Isles removal and sustain options so it is easier to come up with a late-game strategy that can be executed with decent reliability. Both of these regions also have some type of drawing mechanics to help them cycle through the cards so you don't run out of answers so easily.

Ionia is possibly the most independent region and its often mixed with just a couple of cards of other regions but it does have one great synergy with Shadow Isles. It greatly increases the effectiveness of Ephemeral decks. Most notably with the spell Death's Mark that can transfer Ephemeral from your unit to the opponent's one and not only is this a great way of removal but can create tempo swings because usually Ephemeral units are larger on average.

Noxus works best with Zaun & Piltover and Freljord. With Z&P it creates hyper-aggressive decks that with Noxus's brute force approach there is added extra direct damage from spells and a lot of card draw so running out of steam doesn't happen as often. Even when it does this is totally fine if you happen to have Jinx on your side of the board. Coupled with Freljord, Noxus has a particular synergy that involves Vladimir and other units that activate or buff when they survive damage and some of the Freljord units share this theme. Freljord has also access to some health buffs that help this strategy a ton. Without going into specifics of the deck you can imagine that these two things mix nicely.

Zaun & Piltover actually go well with everything but I'd like to highlight Noxus of course and Shadow Isles. With Shadow Isles's sizable amount of removals and Z&P's drawing potential. Decks that use Ezrael and Heimerdinger can really shine because they both benefit from longer games and a lot of spells being used so this becomes really easy to pull off.

Shadow Isles is pretty much explained along the way but I'll just note the possibility of mixing it with Demacia. This is mostly tide to the Lucian that has a similar level up requirement to both Kalista and Thresh and Shadow Isles theme of sacrificing own units goes along nicely. Other than that, they don't have much of a common ground to cover or complement each other in a different way which is why this combo isn't that popular anyway.

These things might be obvious to an experienced player. For those just starting to get the basics will help to have a deeper understanding of the regions and how to go about creating their own decks. The game isn't even officially out yet so probably most of you are just starting out so if you are interested in learning more, make sure to follow future content where we are going to take a deeper look at specific decks and how to properly pilot them. I hope that this region overview has been helpful to some of you and if you have any question please leave a comment below.

Thank you for reading!

,z3ll