Astral Heron Reshapes the Vendetta Meta as Irelia Wins Wuhan

Astral Heron has become the card the Vendetta metagame now revolves around. Irelia won the Wuhan Regional Open running three copies in the main deck, beating Kennen in the final. It is the second Regional in a row where a Calm legend has denied Kennen the title, after Ornn in Barcelona.

The card changes how points get scored. Instead of conquering repeatedly, the plan is to hold for the final points: drop the seven-cost onto a battlefield with support cards waiting in hand, then play them for free. Irelia used it to zero out the cost of Switcheroo and Rebuke. Akali reached the Wuhan top 8 with the same package.

Tier list changes

The tier list published by riftbound.gg on 3 September now lists four legends in Tier 1:

Irelia and Azir move up to Tier 1
Kennen and Master Yi hold Tier 1
Rengar drops to Tier 2 after a top 32 in Wuhan
Akali moves up to Tier 2

Kennen is still the most played legend at every stage of the tournament, and still has no Regional title. The Chinese field rewarded slower, value-oriented decks, the opposite of what won Barcelona. The Singapore Regional Qualifier this weekend is the next test.