Riftbound Review: Fiora Grand Duelist Is, In Fact, Incredible!

Fiora Grand Duelist was the most controversial of all the new Spiritforged Legends. Half of the community hated her and half loved her.

As soon as she was revealed, she was quickly written off as one of the worst legends in the new Riftbound set. However, after putting her to the test, some players believed her to be a Tier-A card.

In this article, we'll go over 4 decks with Fiora Grand Duelist and see how she'll work in the new meta. We might even prove, once and for all, that she is, yes, a great card.

We'll see how these lists evolved in the last few weeks and what made her go from one of the worst legends in the new set to a competitive, Tier-A legend.

Before we begin, however, let me introduce myself. My name is Total, and I used to cast Legends of Runeterra tournaments professionally. I covered all the official tournaments, including Worlds, and I am known for creating deck guides for LoR as well. Now, I am a part of the Riftbound community!

This is the second most popular version of this archetype on the website "Piltover Archive". It was created roughly two weeks ago.

Notice it plays many cards from the first Riftbound set and was heavily influenced by the "Origins" meta. Because this Fiora is orange and yellow, this version also plays cards that work with Sett, like Sett - Brawler and Fiora - Victorious.

Furthermore, it plays 3 copies of Deadbloom Predator, one of the strongest cards in orange decks.

What really stands out in this build are the 3 copies of Fiora - Peerless, which is also a bit controversial. This unit seems quite strong against Master Yi, but it is useless against any spellslinger list, like Kai'Sa, and against token lists, like Viktor.

Straight away, the first Fiora Grand Duelist lists, like this one, already played 3 cards that would eventually become the main win conditions in this archetype: Lucian - Merciless, Akshan - Mischievous, and Yone - Blademaster.

These three units are the foundations of the new orange equipment archetypes. They are staples in all of those decks.

However, the version above is not functional at all. It is only an example of why so many players underestimated Fiora Grand Duelist.

The most popular Fiora Grand Duelist version was created by Bruma Leggera, who is still constantly upgrading this list after more rounds of testing with their friends.

By far, Bruma's list is the most reviewed version, at least based on written reviews published online.

Fiora - Peerless is the main champion in this version, which is also the case for the more competitive lists we'll see soon.

Straightaway, the most unusual detail about this list is that it plays one orange Seal and one yellow Seal, though these cards are both considered "bait" by the community. According to Leggera, though, this list's legend often doesn't ramp enough. So, they added Seals: these cards will give you the resources you need to play a few cards in your combos.

Leggera also uses a nearly standard amount of equipment cards for competitive lists. This includes 3 copies of Doran's Blade, 3 copies of B.F. Sword, and Hexdrinker.

They also went a bit further and added a Trinity Force.

According to Leggera, Strike Down is incredibly strong, but it will frequently stay dead in your hand because, every once in a while, you'll have no equipped units in play. As a result, Leggera decided to play only one copy of this card.

The last interesting addition in the main deck is 3 copies of Show of Strength, which many players also considered "bait" when they first reviewed the new set. Leggera believes this card solves most of the card draw issue this list has.

Leggera's sideboard is incredibly interesting. They play one copy of Fiora - Victorious for Kai'Sa matchups. However, the most interesting card is Divine Judgment, which Leggera has tested a lot against Rumble. They said they didn't perform that well against this opponent, but that Divine Judgment is still interesting, albeit a bit expensive.

This is the Fiora Grand Duelist version that performed the best competitively, at least so far.

It plays the same amount of equipment cards as Leggera's version, but also incorporates a few consolidated competitive ideas, like First Mate.

The original player decided to solve the card draw issue with Unsung Hero, an interesting idea that isn't very popular in Western lists.

They also added Veteran Poro as an early game unit, which makes a lot of sense. It does make this version a bit different from Leggera's, as it is more active early on. Nonetheless, this way it can compete for battlefields from the get-go instead of setting up explosive mid/late games.

This is the most popular way to build decks with Fiora Grand Duelist nowadays, with all the cheaper cards and all.

An interesting addition was Boneshiver, an equipment card that does almost the same as this version's main Legend and makes it more explosive.

The Chinese player decided to focus on conquering instead of holding, which seems to be more in line with what this deck wants to do.

Ruin Runner will be quite helpful in the late game. We do have to add it is still a bit controversial, as the community hasn't reached a final consensus about it. It's a bit weak, stat-wise, for its cost, but it has a relatively strong effect that can change the course of the game depending on the matchup. It is great against Kai'Sa and purple decks, but it is still too slow against any other archetype.

This is the "trendiest" version. It is also much more solid and also seems more in line with what the archetype wants to do as a whole.

Its sideboard actually plays Akshan - Mischievous, which makes a lot of sense because not all decks you'll face use gears.

Sabotage, an essential card in competitive settings, is also a part of this version. It is one of the best orange cards against Aurora and, overall, meta decks, because of how much information you get from it. After all, it lets you see the opponent's hand. There is no reason to not play at least 2 copies of this card in the main deck or sideboard nowadays.

At the beginning of the game, Daring Poro will be your attacker. It is great in combos with your Legend's effect and any other equipment card.

Pit Rookie is also great at this moment of the game. It makes all your units Mighty and, as such, activates your Legend's effect.

Qyiana - Victorious might have been underestimated by most players, but it reappeared in this list as a setup card. It is also one of the best turn-2 units in this archetype.

This version doesn't focus that much on equipment cards. Instead, it focuses on making units Mighty, but it still uses Weaponmaster units as the main win condition. This way, you won't spend precious slots with equipment. Your game plan will be more solid, and you'll keep your board active with more units. Eventually, your units will equip weapons by themselves and get a lot from their Weaponmaster.

Lucian - Merciless with an equipment card attached and attacking multiple times in a turn with the help of First Mate is the main combo in this deck.

Like all conquering lists, this one struggles to finish matches, and you'll nearly always have to conquer both battlefields to get your 8th point. Or you can hoard all the resources in your deck on a single unit in play to hold your 8th point, which can be a bit risky.

As a result, Lucian - Merciless is incredibly important in this list because he readies himself. The problem is that he needs to conquer to use his effect, and that's why this is at most a Tier-A list.

Unlike what most players thought when this Legend was revealed, Fiora Grand Duelist isn't a late game card like Volibear, another ramp Legend in the game.

She is actually great in midrange lists centered around conquering and putting pressure on the opponent with giant units that tend to win any direct duel with enemy units.

In this deck, you won't ramp to play gigantic units at the end of the match, but to keep a steady pace as you play. You'll be able to recycle runes whenever you need to keep your units alive and active in play. The cards in this list are very powerful, but nearly everything costs power, which would be impossible to afford in other orange and yellow lists, like Sett lists. They simply can't afford to do this every turn.

If you read this far, thank you! I hope you had fun, and enjoyed reading this article.

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See you next time!