Howdy! Vex Nocturne is one of the top-performing decks in Legends of Runeterra’s Standard game mode. This deck combines Fearsome aggression and control tools as part of its game plan.
Decklist
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The Vex Nocturne deck operates on an aggressive game plan, throwing Fearsome units on the board that can be challenging for most decks to block. The main play is to strike the opponent’s Nexus, putting them low enough for your burn cards to win the game.
Stygian Onlooker and Phantom Butler are great for the early game, letting you start sneaking damage. The 1-cost Stygian Onlooker can create an aggressive turn with his Nightfall effect, but there are situations where you’ll have to play him without the Nightfall effect. For example, if you’re attacking on turn 1 and you don’t have Burgeoning Sentinel, you can play Stygian Onlooker if you know your opponent can’t block him.
The Sentinel units, Burgeoning Sentinel and Buhru Sentinel can put a lot of early aggression if their abilities are activated. If you slay a unit with a spell while they’re on the board, Burgeoning Sentinel and Buhru Sentinel will gain a +2|1 stat buff, making it difficult for opponents to deal with them.
This is where cards like Quietus, Glare, Mystic Shot, and Soul Harvest come to play, allowing you to slay one of the opponent’s units and activate your Sentinels’ ability.
Champions
Vex is the best choice to play on turn 4, the 5|4 Fearsime Champion can be problematic, especially with her Gloom ability when she goes for the attack. Opponents need to kill her or sacrifice a unit to block her, the 5 Power hit can be devastating when connecting on the Nexus.
You usually won’t get to level Vex in this deck, but if you do, the Gloom activating twice empowers your attacks and makes Glare a premium play. The Gloom keyword synergizes with the deck’s game plan, potentially dropping one of the opponent’s Characters below 3 Power, making it useless against Fearsome attackers.
Nocturne is a bigger threat, especially when leveled. We want to activate Nocturne’s Nightfall effect, giving one of the opponent’s units the Vulnerable keyword and give all enemies -1|0 this round. So if the opponent has 3 Power units, they’ll become useless against Fearsome attackers.
Since the list runs many Fearsome units, we’ll get to turbo-level up Nocturne, turning all our units into Fearsome attackers. So if you have a Doombeast or an Onlooker on the field, they’ll gain the Fearsome keyword on the attack.
A leveled Nocturne on the board brings fear to the opponent, giving the board -1|0 every time you play a unit. We want to make use of that during our attack turn, playing as many units as possible to drop the opponents’ board low enough that they can’t block your Fearsome attackers anymore.
Game Changers
Moonlit Glenkeeper lets you go wide on the board with its Nightfall effect, summoning a Sappling that can pull one of the opponent’s blockers away, paving the way for more of your Fearsome attackers to strike the Nexus.
As for Grimm, the play effect to gran 4 Gloom to a unit can either remove them from the board or drop their Power low enough that they can’t block your Fearsome attackers anymore. This shifts the board in your favor and creates an opportunity for an aggressive attack.
Burn Cards
Doombeast and Mystic Shot are burn cards to further damage the opponent’s Nexus without the need for your attackers to strike it. Doombeast’s Drain is great since you’re doing three things: developing an attacker, damaging your opponent’s Nexus, and healing your Nexus. Since Doombeast is a Nightfall unit, he’ll advance Nocturne’s level-up condition.
Mystic Shot can be used to kill one of the opponent’s low-health units but also serves as a burn spell, usually used on the Nexus if you can win the game.
The Last Attempt
The Harrowing is a final attempt to win the game, reviving the 6 strongest units that died this game with the Ephemeral keyword. This creates a wide board of attackers that will be difficult for opponents to block most of them and could be enough to win you the game on the spot.
If you revive a leveled Nocturne with The Harrowing, you’ll activate his effect, giving the opponent’s board up -5|0, making them useless units that can’t block your Fearsome attackers.
Mulligan:
- Keep early attackers like Burgeoning Sentinel or Phantom Butler for aggressive early turns. Phantom Butler is great because of the Hallowed keyword, enabling stronger future attacks.
- Champions are a good keep as well, especially Nocturne.
- If you have Sentinel cards, we’ll want a removal tool to activate their effects.
Other Cards to Include
- Glimpse Beyond for the draw value, usually played when the opponent is about to kill one of your units.
- The Iron Conquest is a value landmark, letting you create Ephemeral copies of your units to play later in the game.
- Shadow is a value card, drawing you a Vex when played. He’s also a Fearsome unit, so synergizes with what this deck is trying to do.