How to play : Fiora Grand Duelist

A unit is Mighty at 5 might or more, and this deck gets there with spells. Punch First gives +5 for 1 energy and 2 Body power, so any unit qualifies. Call to Glory and Grim Resolve give +3, which takes any of our 2-might units to exactly 5. Rampage gives +2 when you pay its extra Body power, enough for a 3-might unit, and Riposte gives might equal to the energy cost of the spell it counters. The might lasts the turn but the rune stays, and a unit that drops back under 5 can become Mighty again on a later turn.

The runes pay for the top of the list. Rengar, Trophy Hunter has 6 might and Vi, Peacekeeper 5, and each costs 5 energy and 1 power, Body for Rengar, Order for Vi. Poppy, Paragon costs 5 energy and has 5 might with Deflect. Harnessed Dragon costs 8 energy and 2 Order power, and it kills an enemy unit as you play it. Every one of them is Mighty from the moment it lands, which is what Sacrifice and Sunken Temple ask for. An exhausted rune can still be recycled for power, so the Dragon needs eight runes on the board, two of them Order Runes.

You draw four and may replace up to two. Keep the 2-energy units, six of them (three Pit Rookie, three Sea Monkey), next to one spell that adds might: Grim Resolve, Call to Glory or Punch First. Units arrive exhausted, so a unit played on turn one walks to a battlefield on turn two, and a +3 there makes it Mighty for the legend’s first rune. Two cheap units and one of those spells is the hand to hope for.

Send back the top of the curve. Harnessed Dragon costs 8 energy and 2 Order power, and Poppy, Paragon only readies herself and gives you 3 XP if an opponent is within 3 points of the Victory Score as you play her, a late-game condition. Sacrifice needs a Mighty unit to kill, so it does nothing in the first turns either. One 5-energy unit next to two cheap ones can stay. Never mulligan to find Fiora, Victorious: she waits in the Champion Zone from the first turn.

Sea Monkey is the best first play: Pit Rookie buffs another friendly unit as it arrives, so it wants a unit already on the board. Going second, you channel three runes on your first turn, enough for the Monkey’s extra 1 energy: it arrives buffed, at 3 might. On turn two, move it to a battlefield and make it Mighty there. Grim Resolve is an Action, so it can be played in a showdown, and Call to Glory costs nothing if you spend the Monkey’s buff, which still takes the Monkey to exactly 5. The legend’s rune comes in exhausted and is ready on turn three. The other turn-two play is Fiora, Victorious: 4 energy from the Champion Zone for a 4-might champion one buff away from Mighty.

In a best of three you pick your battlefield. Sunken Temple lets you pay 1 energy to draw a card when you conquer it with a Mighty unit, which is exactly what this deck is built to do. Grove of the God-Willow draws you a card each time you hold it. Valley of Idols lets any player who plays a unit there pay 1 energy to buff it: Rengar and Vi get there through Ambush, and that buff is one more free Call to Glory. The opponent’s Ambush units get the same offer, so think twice before picking it against a deck full of them.

The legend pays once from one of your turns to the next. Exhausting it is its cost, it only readies in your Awaken Phase, and nothing in this list readies it sooner, so only one unit in that stretch can bring a rune. That rune arrives exhausted either way, so a trigger on their turn is as good for your next turn as one on yours: if your own turn made nobody Mighty, keep Call to Glory or Riposte, both Reactions, for theirs. On a turn with no fight worth taking, Kayle, Justified buys the trigger: 3 energy to play her, 3 more for an Empower that takes her from 3 might to 5. Each further Empower adds 2, and at three Empowers she has 9 might, Deflect 3 and Ganking.

Within a turn, order matters. Play Fiora, Victorious before Pit Rookie: the Rookie’s buff takes Fiora to 5, Mighty for as long as she keeps it, and the legend pays out its rune. Spend a Sea Monkey’s buff on Call to Glory, never Fiora’s. A Mighty Fiora has Ganking, so once she has conquered, First Mate can ready her and she moves straight on to the other battlefield. Shepherd’s Heirloom pays for itself: playing it gives you 1 XP and its Equip costs 1 XP, so 2 energy puts +2 might on a unit for good. Kinkou Initiate draws only if your other units total 5 might or more as it arrives, so play it once your might is in place, not before.

Riposte and Sacrifice are Reactions, so cast them when the opponent reaches for removal. Riposte, for 2 energy and 2 power, counters a spell and gives a friendly unit might equal to that spell’s energy cost: counter a 3-energy spell and a 2-might unit reaches 5, which earns the legend’s rune on their turn if the legend is still ready. Sacrifice costs 1 energy, and you kill one of your own Mighty units as an extra cost: when their removal targets Rengar or Vi, answer with it, draw two, channel a rune, and their spell has nothing left to hit. Punch First and Riposte each cost 2 power, so a Defy, which only counters spells of up to 4 energy and 1 power, cannot touch them.

Hidden Blade and Kennen, Keeper of Balance can be hidden: pay 1 power to set one face down at a battlefield you control, and from the next turn on, the opponent’s included, play it from there as a Reaction for 0 energy. Each battlefield holds one face-down card and losing the battlefield removes it, so hide at the one you are surest to keep. When you play Kennen, you may pay 2 energy to stun a unit, which then deals no combat damage this turn, and he has 4 might while a stunned enemy unit stands with him. Hidden Blade kills a unit at a battlefield, but its controller draws two, so save it for a unit worth two cards. Rengar and Vi have Ambush: as a Reaction, they join a fight at a battlefield where you have units, and Rengar can even be played where only enemy units stand.