The best 2-cost has become Syndra. We initially wrote down that all you need is Syndra + frontline and indeed did that has become almost too true. Players are now experimenting with more than Shapeshifter frontline. A more potent high cap version of Syndra emerged playing around Mages + Eldritch and focusing on Vex / Morde as your tanks. CN is experimenting with Wukong 3 as frontline and adding in Preservers for support. The point is that Syndra is immensely flexible due to her sheer power level. The tricky part about Syndra that people are wondering is if you can hard force her no matter the spot -- and the jury is still out of that one. This is because getting early stacks do ultimately matter so starting it in Stage 3 may be too slow for the ramp up.
Kassadin initially steamrolled the meta but as people built better frontlines, he is sometimes getting stopped by unkillable tanks like Nasus 2 with 3 items. That said, Kassadin snowballs leads the best out of any reroll comp. The neat thing about Kassadin is how you can't miss on items. We are discovering that he can use other "strange" AP items like Nashor's Tooth, Deathcap, and Crownguard perfectly fine. Akali 3 is surprisingly good as well because late game she catches players who AFK corner their carry and snipe their damage. Not to mention that the comp caps enormously high once you get Kalista and Camille 2.
The final of the big 3 reroll comps is Kogmaw who trades the raw power for versatility. Kogmaw can duo carry with Jinx or Tristana, giving you several ways to approach the comp if you're contested. The other crazy part about Kogmaw is that there are TWO hero augments you can play around the comp -- Nunu and Blitzcrank. The #1 weakness of the the comp is lacking frontline, so these Hero Augments shore that up considerably while giving you a third carry in itself. Keep an eye out for augments that combo particularly well with Kogmaw as well such as Two Tanky (gives you an extra set of Bees!) or Two Healthy.
Karma was already the dominant 4-cost coming out of PBE, but stats have helped us optimize her in a multitude of ways beyond just Chrono builds. We knew that Witchcraft Emblem Karma is strong, but now the main way to play Karma is around Preservers and flex the rest of the traits. The core units are: Karma + Nasus + Neeko + Zilean + Rakan and pick a duo carry (oftentimes Fiora because another Witchcraft). Karma can also be played in virtually any AP comp because of her team-buff traits. 2 Chrono is generically good late game splash for a teamwide heal. Incantor gives teamwide AP. So players are discovering you can play her over Cassio in Syndra reroll and play better team traits than 2 Witchcraft. But remember, Karma is completely enabled by the powerful 4-cost tanks. Nasus and Rakan are the most contested units in the game for a reason. Once they are upgraded and get items online, they simply don't die giving even Karma 1 enough time to kill everything else.
Fiora is the most versatile 4 cost duo carry. She can't really primary solo carry for long so she is best served as an item dump once you finish items for your primary. She compliments AP carries very well because Witchcraft lends itself to AP carries + Fiora can take whatever AD components that would be garbage otherwise. Just be careful not to position Fiora 1 with items in a bad spot where she can die very quickly.
The other 4 costs pale in comparison. The second most reliable 4 cost to play would be Kalista but her "core" is so insanely expensive that you cannot play it from anything outside of a super winstreak / high econ portal or if you get something powerful like a Fortune Favors The Bold cashout. Ryze, Gwen, and Varus struggle to kill the super tanks like Nunu 3 or Kassadin 3 quickly enough. Nami has her moments but she is largely tied to the impact of Norra and whether you can upgrade everything with good items. We would largely suggest against playing these lines unless you have the best possible augments and openers for them.
If you saw our recommended Best Openers from the previous newsletter, you may see that we highly praise the Summon traits of Portal and Eldritch...if you have upgrades that is. However, nearly every strong player right now loves to talk trash about the verticals of Portal and Eldritch (without School Mascot). They are unimpressive when they lose to a Syndra 2 or a Karma 1 board. But the stats don't lie -- they are solidly in the 4.2 to 4.3 range even at high elo. So if you have a good opener meaning you have upgraded units and are winstreaking, picking these augments on 3-2 to go 6/8 Portal or 7 Eldritch is completely viable to punish any low rollers or hard forcers who are lose streaking. They both have caps oriented around 5 costs that can potentially land even in the Top 2+. Norra 2 especially is quite the sleeper because even without Mage, she can do tons of damage and Yuumi does a lot of work. Keep an eye out for these spots.
That's all for today. Frodan and Dishsoap will aim to record a Study Hall podcast sometime soon where they will go more in-depth than the newsletter. Wish us good luck as they grind the rest of this patch leading up to the Esports World Cup!