Legends of Runeterra Poppy-Ziggs guide: The Bandlecity Burn

Legends of Runeterra's last major expansion came in August 2021 as Riot Games released "Beyond the Bandlewood". It is the fifth set of cards introduced to the game, and the Bandle Burn deck is a new one that has dominated the ladders since the expansion came.

"Beyond the Bandlewood" added Bandle City to Legends of Runeterra. The expansion released ‌126 cards, 65 of which are from the new region. Legends of Runeterra also got three new mechanics — Impact, Manifest, and Multi-region.

---

Legends of Runeterra's Bandle Burn deck

This deck features two new champions — Ziggs and Poppy — and is excellent for players who love to play Aggro decks, which suit players who like to finish things quickly and not depend on a long game.

The composition of the Bandle Burn deck (Image via Author)

Deck link here

The Bandle Burn deck features 25 cards from the Bandle City region and 15 from Noxus. It has six champions, 25 followers, and nine spell cards. Since it is an Aggro deck, there is a heavy reliance on 1 and 2 cost units.

---

Win condition/main objective

The deck's primary motive is to fill the board with cheap units, which can be used to either power up or burn down the opponent. Many cards do additional damage to the nexus with each attack. It is important to secure a win in Legends of Runeterra.

---

Mulligan

Legends of Runeterra's Bandle burn deck has several low-cost and efficient units. Most starting hands will have good picks.

Legion Rearguards and Stone Stackers are two excellent options to keep in the opening hand. Legion Saboteur and Inventive Chemist are less valuable in matchups that have access to early one damage pings.

Must Keep: Legion Rearguards, Stone Stackers

Avoid: Legion Saboteur, Inventive Chemist

Players can keep Bandle City Mayor if there is already a strong synergy for the first 2-3 rounds.

The Bandle City mayor (Image via Riot Games)

---

Synergy

Bandle Burn is an Aggro deck but with a lot of short and long-run synergies. Legion Rearguard and Stone Stackers form an excellent offensive-defense combo in Legends of Runeterra.

When Stone Stackers is in play, players can play Imperial Demolitionist to do 2 Nexus damage with no sacrifice.

Stone Stackers add to both offense and defense (Image via Riot Games)

Bandle City Mayor forms an excellent synergy with the two champions by reducing their costs. However, the synergies last until the Bandle City Mayor is in play, so the card needs protection.

It forms a great pairing with Tenor of Terror as the former guarantees the trigger condition of the latter. It also offers a discount in cost, which can be used on any cost unit.

Noxian Fervor is a highly flexible card played once the opponent can’t play any more spells. The damage option is flexible, and gamers can target an opponent champion, follower, or the nexus.

Noxian Fervour is a highly versatile card (Image via Riot Games)

Among the champions, Poppy is an impressive addition to this deck. Combined with the other low-powered units, her ability can turn the tables in a couple of attacking turns. The power becomes stronger once she levels up.

Base Poppy stats (Image via Riot Games)

Leveled up Poppy stats (Image via Riot Games)

Legends of Runeterra's Bandle Burn deck offers excellent chemistry between many of its cards. The short-run synergies work well and are highly flexible. In difficult matchups, there can be different ways in which a player can utilize the deck well.

---

Gameplay

As with any Aggro deck in Legends of Runeterra, the primary aim is to damage units and nexus. Users should keep the units on the opening hand that offers interplay. The preference should be towards offensive units, but the recommendation is to keep a defensive unit like Stone Stackers.

Bandle Burn deck typically allows gamers to finish a game in 6-7 turns and rarely requires a late game. In the first 3-4 turns, they should have at least 1-2 extra units on the board and reduce the nexus health by 6-7 points.

Once the opponent's nexus health is down by ten or more, the spells come into play. Players can play Decimate at any point, while Noxian Fervor requires a bit more focus on timing. Pokey Stick can be played in earlier rounds as it adds options to the player's hand.

Decimate acts as a great clean up act (Image via Riot Games)

Ziggs, the other champion, is to be played aggressively as this deck is not typically facilitative towards its level up. Poppy’s ability is powerful on its own and becomes stronger once she levels up. To make maximum gains, users play Poppy when they have 3-4 units.

As per statistics, the Bandle Burn deck rarely goes into the late game with so many damage options at a low cost. Many of these options hit the nexus directly.

Where matches go into round 5 or 6, the spells can burn down the opponent. Alternatively, Poppy can boost the units and go head-to-head in battles. Both are equally effective strategies to adopt in Legends of Runeterra.

---

Matchups

In Legends of Runeterra, the Bandle Burn deck has already burnt many opponents. It is excellent against slower and taller decks.

A tall deck takes time to set up. The player will have too many units. The opponent would have taken a beating as well. It is a great counter against strong decks like Gangplank Sejuani.

Bandle Burn can struggle a bit against similar Aggro decks as the two decks counter each other. It can also struggle against decks focussed around Lifesteal, but Lifesteal decks are not very popular in the meta. Cards with cheap interactions can be another threat, but that will rarely work sustainably and has counters.

---

Expert's take

Legends of Runeterra's Beyond the Bandlewood expansion asked for much-wanted freshness. It brought exciting new cards, mechanics, and champions, which resulted in newer styles.

The Bandle Burn deck is a product of that and is doing very well at the moment. It has a play rate of 4.4% and a staggering win rate of 60%, which is impressive by Legends of Runeterra standards.

Bandle Burn is not a very complex deck in Legends of Runeterra. Its mechanics are relatively simple. With many small interplays, beginners and experts enjoy playing with this deck alike.

It requires 26700 essence gems to be built from scratch. However, Legends of Runeterra is exceptionally generous towards all its players, so building a Bandle Burn deck will take about a couple of weeks.