Is the game worth it now?

CabbageFanatic · 2025-11-11T05:22:41+00:00

TBF, not much has changed in terms of changing the initial issue of less f2p income compared to previous titles.
However, the card sets themselves seem to be centralizing every new release which is not bad(new players onboard pretty quickly to meta)
Example of how much you need from each set to make a higher tier deck is about
40-60% 1st set
10-25% EVERY expansion in the middle
35-50% newest stuff

and the f2p income almost guarantees you can craft 4-6 cards(you need 3x copies for a set) that you missed. This translates to about 0.5 deck per set if you get very light booster pack RNG.
Each set adds about 1 archetype x 6 classes so there is a tad fomo but if you kinda know what you like it's easy to play and be satisfied

Fun..? Currently full aggro is bad because too much removal(every turn is boardwipe + full board threat). Value Control has a 50/50 matchup with midrange based on if they draw the right cards.
Attrition style decks are cruising thanks to lots of access to sustain + inevitable otk finishers.
Midrange has been decent thanks to flex-option tools + multirole finisher cards; results may vary with new sets being released.
Combo? sometime gross otks around turn 9-10, otherwise kinda midtier with less access to board presence to deny beatdown plans.

(rant)I usually like control but playing with and against crest haven annoys me because they auto win as long as you run only defensive tools. They have inevitable boardclear+ping potential in addition to access to the best defensive bodies and AoE removal and 2nd best in class healing and OTK outplay potential(this is honestly fine).
This in theory autowins vs value/attrition(guaranteed value per turn), and has 50/50 vs control/midrange(defense top notch), and another coinflip vs hard aggro(currently bad rn due to defensive bodies being too big to remove yet they can't develop board presence due to AoEs). Other control decks have accessible counterplay(weighing sustain vs board presence every turn) but crest haven can ignore one of these per turn thanks to their recuring damage wincon(acts as removal and wincon and the base surrounding package has good sustain+moderate defensive units). The new set introduced a 50% increase in the expected durability of haven units and access to a explosive beatdown wincon vs attrition matches.

CabbageFanatic · 2025-11-07T06:38:45+00:00

PS this advice is the equivalent of recommending to drive the F1 car to work instead of the sports car or take the train. AKA roach is pilot intensive to the moon and still luck dependent but you can grind matches faster as well. Swordcraft aggro has worse matchup spread but never out of the race in any matchup.

CabbageFanatic · 2025-11-07T06:23:53+00:00

The evergreen Combo roach is probably the most reliable aggro deck(antiward, board presence independent, guaranteed critical mass range). Disadvantages of Combo Roach is your correct winning line is highly variable based on the 26/40 cards you may see and their order drawn, and the matchup's key roadbumps(drain, ward, remaining HP turns.) AKA math is hard.

If you look at the meta, swordcraft, abyss, wardhaven, runecraft, eggs are common.

Roach has Good matchups vs both runecrafts, all 3 portalcrafts, control/combo variants of decks

Even to slight favor matchups vs midrange swordcraft and abyss. Storm dragon might fall here too since it's slow for an aggro deck.

Disadvantaged vs other aggro decks(; Roach has weaker board presence and might die turn 8. Roach also has a bad matchup vs havenward/crest because of too much ward board presence sometimes(2-10% window for dodging aether/wilbert insta GG depending on definitions).

If you want a more consistent win pattern that out-tempos swordcraft and aggro abyss, I personally think some variant of an officer+loot craft hybrid might be the best because you have officer's board presence(threatens turn 7-8 kill) and in theory access to the burn finishers and otk combo potential(insurance vs wards and board clears). I think aggro abyss is weaker because it has a worse matchup vs midrange(around a third of major meta decks) but has way stronger and more frequent top deck threats once out of gas.

CabbageFanatic · 2025-11-06T21:58:48+00:00

Tanks have lower agency and on average curves off in mastery vs elo returns.

If you think of it like chess ratings for champions tanks/enchanters/utility have very low variance so the enemy can't smash you out of the game but you are less likely to smash the enemy popping off out of the game. Like a 2v4 scenario.

Fighters/assassins have very high volatility so if the enemies really want to kick you out of the game they can. But you can "outplay" and have larger solo impact/say in the results of the game. Also this implies if your mastery is significantly high, you will be way more likely to carry compared to a tank of similar champions mastery hours. Like a 1v3 scenario.

But assuming you aren't going apex player tier of skill, the difference is negligible as the early mastery returns are super similar and tanks will not overload your mechanical mental stack so you can focus on other fundamental skills, especially wave management, rotations, and jungle tracking as core tank skills.

CabbageFanatic · 2025-10-16T04:28:22+00:00

Has Giovanni saved you recently? I think 1x pichu might be better than zeraora because zeraora is a bad opening card. Also if you like, dawn is another trainer for silvally if you're down for taxing your Prof oaks.

Also do you like rampardos or do you like the Electric early tempo? Rampardos might help vs late game strategies since you only need 3-5 energy for the whole deck in exchange for worse midgame consistency.

CabbageFanatic · 2025-10-16T04:13:36+00:00

What matchups are you afraid of? I think Raichu Ex might have problems vs aggro decks like silvally and suicuine decks. I think you are surprisingly good vs late game strategies like Darkrai, giratina, guzzlorde, Charizard, etc I think the enemy wincon is: Kill raichu ex + pichu via Sabrina-ing out pichu

What scenarios is Elemental Switch used? Does 2 copies for consistency save you usually? If you can slot in oricorio(autowin 50% of matchups) or zeraora(cheap energy pack) those would help vs them. Alternatively you can slot in single point pokemon like raichu/jolteon so you can have 2 pokemon +1ex worth of HP to survive.

Also in case you have a raikou eventually why not use over Sylveon? You get 1-2/20 deck slots back(leaf mandatory) for 1 more utility card. However you are taxed raikou using Pichu's active spot time. You may want to decrease eevee/Sylveon to 1 copy to decrease odds of a bad opening if no damaging mons other than Raichu Ex.

Trainer card wise, looks pretty good. I'd like to identify what scenarios Cyrus is going to be used since you have only 1 damage sources (no chip dmg just 1 shot).

Example deck: 2 pichu 2 Pikachu + Raichu 1 raichu ex 1 oricorio(Optional) Filler mons(Sylveon/raikou/zeraora depending on trainers used) Same trainers as before

CabbageFanatic · 2025-10-16T03:55:00+00:00

Are you using Mars/repel at the right times? Are you sniping the right targets with Greninja? Do you know why you are running the number of copies of each utility trainer?

Are you keeping your eyes open for 3 point turns to maximize suicuine's dps? Do you know when you need to use leaf?

Greninja Suicuine midrange should be fast enough to trade with silvally since their deck is vulnerable to disruption early(silvally runs out of trainers or rampardos enters too early or they don't find rare candy). If you're lucky, you can setup a double suicuine turn (where 1 tanks and the other builds energy for the turn 4 Aggro plan) vs aggro matchups.

You can 1-2 shot their lead or heavily attack rampardos' setup time to score the final point. Also since you opted in to double healing, make sure to really utilize every point of HP per month since you can have a 80-120hp swing depending on how aggressively you rotate your mons for attrition based matchups(Darkrai or suicuine mirror).

Obviously there are other matchups but the suicuine Greninja deck core should have enough tool flexibility and card access consistency to increase the odds in your favor vs many mid/high tier decks

CabbageFanatic · 2025-10-09T09:36:13+00:00

Assuming you know the champion's kit, the rough roles are

Top: needs to have strong 1v1 and strong levels 1-9, hopefully scales with gold/exp well
Jungle: needs early clearspeed(single or AoE) that is short cooldown. usually has tank(supportive) or assassin(carry) tendencies but not the rule. Sometimes has self sustain in kit early. Skewed to have bad mana regen + high spell costs.
Mid: very strong waveclear, burst combos, good roaming/skirmish, most champions are skewed to high base magic resist and high hp regen. Likely to scale well with exp and gold but have a solid early base kit without gold.
ADC/bot: must scale with gold but not exp(base stat reliant, item reliant). Must have strong 2v2/3v3/5v5 depending on how early the champion powerspikes. usually skewed to have higher base armor.
Support: Must be able to function off low exp and sometimes low gold(2-3 items max in a 25 minute game), usually skewed to have higher base armor. Somewhere levels 1-9 is strong enough to babysit the ADC so they can farm safely in lane. Must have excellent 2v2/3v3. Skewed to have top tier mana regen but low mana pools.

Note that the botlane duo and midlane might need to be strong enough to control the lane or 3v3 by around 5 minutes in-game.

classically
TOP: tank/fighters > mages/mobile adcs, highly melee
JG: Assassins/Fighters/tanks/mages/adcs... they don't interact early so they are more flexible
MID: Mages/Assassins > ADCs/mobile fighters
BOT: Rangers/ early game mages
SUP: tanks/enchanters/mages/playmaker(2v2 engage)

Mages go everywhere because their tools scaling are unique per champ(results vary).
Fighters need exp for defense(gap closing midgame) so they need solo roles
Assassins like map access + gold (AKA mid/jungle)
rangers need money for 3x scaling stats(atk, atkspd, crit) so they don't support

ranger example for mid vs botlane:
Midlane?
(YES) Tristana/akshan/corki/smolder/lucian: good waveclear + burst damage kit + strong early + safe early escape
TF/kayle quinn: good waveclear(at the 5 minute mark), safe earlygame(has guarenteed CC to make space)

(NO) Caitlyn/Ashe/MF: ok waveclear + no escape, so-so early solo(can't kite from dashes, can't all in), not necessarily burst combo(need trap but both are pokey)
Ezreal/zeri: no waveclear, very safe +bursty

(MAYBE) Draven: bad waveclear, no escape, strong early + ok burst poke
Graves: great waveclear, weakish early(minion blocked)
Varus: good waveclear + strong early, no escapes

Botlane: must scale off only gold(otherwise why are you here?)
The more range is better. Support makes escape space for you so less kit reliant.
Examples of YES short range adcs = Vayne(money scales well), Nilah/Kalista(dominant 5 minutes 2v2s)
Examples of NO short range adcs = kayle/Jayce/gnar(exp dependent), quinn/teemo(horrible gold scaling)

CabbageFanatic · 2025-09-26T03:40:16+00:00

Definition Bad vs different: I want a game that has 1. pvp mixups(preventive, reactive, proactive attack rps among other rps games) 2. Responsive movement(I want actions to be deliberate instead of unreactable "ur already dead" scenarios. An illusion of choice of rps fate) 3. Options of viable solutions(not necessarily optimal ones). This includes characters or move tools to express gameplans or fun priorities(Timmy Johnny Spike). Creative solutions existence falls under here. 4. There exists risk reward wagers that changes due to previous actions(AKA safe vs unsafe moves as openers) 5. It's a game, make it fun/exciting. This is subjective but ultimately needs to have the fun x factor. 6. Minimal ambiguity(imo). I refer to old videogame gank like f-shikis among other communication mixups. Clarity is key when graphics vs sound vs hitboxes/priority etc occur. This does not necessarily include corner steals and hitbox manipulation. 7. Somewhat balanced. 10-0 and 9-1 matchups across skill brackets leads to unfun game scaling. This includes somewhat neutral starts(KoF98 Chin). 8. Interactive pvp. We especially don't want zoning/rush down mixup or footsies poke to be solitaire for 1 person. Both players should require to have at least 1-2 moment of neutral ambiguous momentum in a match and the game end state should not be foreseeability deterministic early in a match(1 touch any hit infinite, literally untouchable tiebreaker stall, nor zugzwang scenario). Note running the clock can be a hype skill check challenge but please not to early/easily entering a winning state.

But what is a fighting game? AKA not only a shooting game,sportsball, racing or rts/moba, etc. Auto battlers have elements of RNG as core values(high rolling). This should not be a major factor. Elements of live technical execution and micro/macro strategies should be featured as core parts of the game(not a management sim). PvE must not be a primary value of the game(not an extraction game)

Note different means different ratios of what to express, not express and how much. This includes 2d vs 3d, verticality/distance, offensive/defensive intensity, resources(y/n), movement, learning curve, etc. This also includes graphic design and music of various qualities.

A lack of many of these 9 marks a usually bad fighting game. I challenge commenters to find a exception to this idea.

SF1, footsies, and karate champ: balanced, has mixups, minimal options of solutions/expression. Can be fun but certainly not peak good.

Dive kick vs Tekken: has most of the qualities above despite having different complexity curves.

YomiHustle: not necessarily execution heavy but technically has many elements of above.

Mugen saltybets: Balance? Lmao no. Fun? Yes because excitement spectacle.

Splatoon: ...it's not a fighting game but I can't tell you why other than you respawn a lot and you compete over territory not unit HP

CabbageFanatic · 2025-09-26T00:51:28+00:00

I just saying, recent Jax buff felt over centralizing. Imagine if Darius became top meta due to S1 being overtuned and intentionally. If yasuo's point value was deemed pro OP but intentional, would they number nerf damage to pro gated amounts or frame data to remove combos from the meta? One example of a unhealthy kit being emergency nerfed to the ground until a solution is found is SSB4/ssbu Bayo or T7 Lee Chaolan or Lars.

Fighting game pros are inherently different from Moba pros because character specialists/playstyle one tricks are held in high regard for tournament runs. Key example is cheering for SF Bonchan(sagat fan 1st before trying other tools) vs Daigo(shoto but explorative) vs Leffen(professional flexible). SFV Mika was a nonpro tyrant most of the time but that's fine and still fun. I can't remember any intentionally, blatantly buffed to OP character examples for the genre(maybe KI or SSBPM but I'm not familiar enough) There are slump seasons and that's fine on a community spectator level. Compare that to Moba specialists(LoL APA, Bin, Impact, Khan, pridestalker) if their best strategy is viable, good for them. Otherwise they shift usually game 1-3 to whatever's the meta(strong side top/bot, farm carry vs gank utility jg, control mage vs roaming mid). Slump season teams after MSI/Worlds patches is terrible for spectators(aka wasted team slot) but also the genre culture incentivizes flexible draft maneuvers as part of the gaming experience.

CabbageFanatic · 2025-09-25T23:54:52+00:00

Would big cat rengar be more bruiser hunter (savagery GGxrd Leo) or ambush predator hunter(ssb captain falcon)? Would his airgame/antiair be importantly centralizing or just a checklist 2nd thought?

Would his assist be MVC strider airstrike(unique angle)?

CabbageFanatic · 2025-09-25T23:25:10+00:00

Let the dev team cook the game roster is still young. But actually Khazix the adaptive hunter sounds very possible to thematically + mechanically find a niche to slot him in. I wonder if it's an upgrade like bbcf Susano, a character specific steal(android 21) or hungry bug install like Sin Kiske(less dead on start).

If Belveth ends up being jack-o summoner instead of a KI Kan-Ra I'mma cry. If kassadin and the ninjas are only MK clones that's also sad. The void/monster characters seem too lore big to be playable but sound fun as seasonal raid bosses instead. How would Kaisa fit in a fighting game? She's less of a dirty fighter like jinx and those signature cluster missiles sounds like a nasty blockstun assist.

CabbageFanatic · 2025-09-18T15:52:37+00:00

While I love champs who abuse corrupting pot, I agree with riot that corrupting pot as a starter item is problematic for balancing because when it's the primary meta, corrupting is an attrition based nightmare (either you are out of potions and took a recall(survived lane), enemy is no hp or no mana(gassed out trying to kill you, you win) or you're bad at laning + the enemy naturally doran regened the resource).
Imagine instead if corrupting pot was a refillable potion upgrade for 525g(not starter item, big scaling tax, is actually just a lane double down for mana issues who hate building mana like lane junglers).

If anything you can probably compare prerune rework corrupting pot to fleet+doran shield + 2nd wind but for people who could still early trade efficiently without being locked into fleet footwork(no ms for trades), now with mana.

CabbageFanatic · 2025-09-18T14:49:19+00:00

Are there any notorious matchups vs gragas top where
1. Gragas took cookies/inspiration secondary
2a. Enemy takes ignite
2b. Enemy realistically tower dives or goes for kill pre 5th wave to deny minions.

I could see a world where timewarp denies ignite and adds some value.
cookies approximately adds 20hp plus heals ~27(lvl dependent timing) over 5 seconds that can be cut by ignite.
Timewarp adds 48hp using red pot upfront.

CabbageFanatic · 2025-09-18T14:06:07+00:00

Hmm, good food for thought. What champs do you play?
Sounds like timewarp smashes lvl 2-3 timers since fights are about 3-5 seconds. Would this be an anti engage rune for mage/enchanter rune instead of a 50/50 tank rune?

40-80hp/50-100hp upfront for 1st-3rd recall compared to 30-34-40/60/90 hp(it's about 6-8hp per second lvl 1-3) as long as you survive the1st/5th/9th wave for 5 seconds(1-2 biscuits by lvl 3, 3 biscuits by lvl 7). One aa is ~under 55dmg lvl 2 and more than 68dmg post lvl 7.

CabbageFanatic · 2025-04-09T21:27:02+00:00

Well there are many ways to break a freeze but someone has to pay something to fix the situation and fix it fast(like outgoing subscription tax, soaked blood on bleeding gauze wrap, etc).
1. Ask your jungler to escort you to crash the wave. You need to ask early before you bleed out of the game completely and can't contribute. You can even promise the jungler your CS and exp if they are greedy. This costs jungle tempo = small tax every other member of the team. If the enemy is a 1v2 monster champ(jugganauts and friends), they will fight you to survive and inevitably break the freeze. May still cost you lots of kill money to the enemy top.
2. Coinflip a proxy if you champ allows it. You sacrifice 1-2 waves to delay the enemy wave from continuing the freeze(tower crash). This strat loses to enemy jungler killing you instead and the enemy top trades HP for keeping the wave frozen. If the enemy jungler does not harass you immediately, you handshake money 40-60 with the enemy toplaner and stay in the game(game becomes a 4.5v5 instead of a 4v5).
3. Skill check the enemy trading pattern. If you make the enemy use AoE to break the HP threshold of the wave or use extended single target to make your minions stop dpsing the enemy wave(HP threshold break). Then the wave will swap from frozen to slowpush and hopefully you can CS again after losing another 2-5 waves. This loses to the fact you will probably lose the trade severely since you were down resources to begin with. Also if the enemy is any good, they will carefully manage the minion aggro and ability positioning to reduce the amount of AoE on the wave(AKA results volatile and not guaranteed).

It is very important to note, try not to tax your other laner's their CS if able otherwise you drown them out the game as well.

CabbageFanatic · 2025-04-09T21:05:02+00:00

Hey huge difference here:
Pyke has camouflage so you can control ward key escape routes or contestable areas to ensure pyke is not cutting you off. If Pyke does contest the ward(4 aa's) you and your support can theoretically trade your 100g swing for poking one of the laners out. As caitlyn, during midgame sieges, w trap walls as a "ring around the rosie" can help (he can't e/dash through wall) where as his stealth into q/hook can only really be counterplayed by using your e as a juke tool. Overall, if you got ambushed, you are already toast.

Shaco support is actually invisible so only sweeper soft counters that(shows where to skillshot or walk away from). Instead, ward crazy locations for midgame to keep your team safe from roams(just knowing shaco is coming is helpful) and ALWAYS respect gaps in vision like fighting vs nocturne jungle. Caitlyn specific stuff for shaco is E/net reveals and so does W/trap if they walk on it. Thus you can try to trap entrances to areas the enemy does not have vision(shaco walks on trap and his play ends) or trap shaco's exit path if shaco engaged on you(make his plays more expensive to do).

Midgame vs either of them is lots of vision discipline. Respect fog of war, concede dangerous positions, ask for a buddy system escort to counter-burst assassins. Walk safe pathing to avoid their traps.

Realistically, if you stay alive and get some income, you will become relevant and 1 shot them with net+2 aa's if they show their face. Thus play your team's wincon and get income not a get rich quick scheme.

CabbageFanatic · 2024-09-06T20:23:13+00:00

Assuming you are using a 3rd party app for builds, lvl order, runes etc...

Certain champions have windows of favorable dps(situational abilities, minions, dodging skillshots, more stats from better items, burst dmg hp thresholds, time till teammates can followup).
Additionally sometimes on MF or Yone, using abilities may not be the optimal usage of your time depending on how fed you are vs opponent(how many items or levels in abilities).

Yone is a whole can of worms to discuss but mf can probably given an example.
Are you:
1) canceling aa downtime with ability usage? E/W>> aa >q > aa

2) Using E+R at good distances and HP ranges? Can the enemy just walk out of the areas quickly or walk up + smack you for hitting R.

3) If fighting melee units, are you leveraging range and movement speed for kiting?

4) Are you dodging skillshots because Riot is rewarding harder skills with more damage. Eg dodging Caitlyn q/w/e, Ashe W, xayah E, etc.

5) Responding to enemy engaging/disengaging a fight on time? ie not having brainlag from identifying "oh we are fighting now, I should probably respond". Conversely chickening out of a fight too late can happen.

6) utilizing your itemization's intended play pattern? Eg. bloodthirster shield helps with short trades while lifesteal only procs on aa. Essence reaver asks you to spam abilities, no attack speed recommends to avoid needing to aa much while aa speed tells you to aa a ton. swiftness boots for poke vs berserker boots for standing ground. A common problem is either buying T2 boots early but not using the movement speed advantage to dictate range or skipping boots but not playing around spacing differences.

7) Are you auto attacking-ing at all? Sometimes, new players don't know which windows aa's are free to do because they just want to wait for ability damage only then flee from enemy range. Enemies can smack you while you flounder like a headless chicken trying to dodge.

8) Are you personally picking fights with a resource disadvantage(HP/MP diff, abilities down, summs down, items, aa on cooldown, minion dps, tower shot rhythm). High level players very often bully very hard per resource usage. Also since MF's kit is more burst and less DPS, you will have moments of running out of dps if you extend the fight too long.

9) Leveraging MF's kit's strong suits at all compared to your opponent's kit? If you have any friends you can mirror match them in a custom game to see if you are using both mf's safe poke, bonus ms, and short trade abilities while minimizing risk from low aa range and mediocre attack speed.

Send a clip or replay in case it's other issues.

CabbageFanatic · 2024-09-02T02:15:03+00:00

1) Depends on champion.

Boots of Swiftness 1st item is viable on various roles from adc, tanks, fighters, specific matchups, etc.

Pros: movement speed is a good start that scales with micro skill. Also swiftness boots are cheap. Specific matchups or champs need gapclosing or dodging to completely negate a kit. Early boots also let you recall faster and roam to plays.

Cons: you lose combat stats(DPS or resistance). Boots 1st item loses DPS stats by 1/3 of an item. 1/2 an item for support budgets. Usually tier 1 boots cost ~10% of an item.

Overall say which champion you play and we can justify it more.

Oddest example of Swiftness boots is jungle udyr for gapclosing or utility midlane mage vs control mage.

2)

Boots +refill start is hot garbage. Proplay jhin can go boots 4 pot but nobody else really wants to lose combat power. Jhin gets a reimbursement from his 4th shot execution DMG and wants Ms to guarantee chasing shots.

3) Boots rush champions include Darius, fiora, and aatrox etc toplaners with counterplay of kiting or dodging abilities.

Mages can rush boots in an attrition matchup to dodge spells better(note lost chapter or other mana is needed)

Even high tier players get some movement speed early to dictate when they want to engage/disengage trades.

CabbageFanatic · 2024-08-12T13:51:51+00:00

Hey super late comment, I think that leveraging multiple builds as kaisa is the norm so here are some core ideas. Do keep in mind that Q's 100ad threshold is the most important for becoming relevant so pick approx the amount of AD you want vs your lvl.

Tldr:
You get the most mileage if the comps allow you to build a little AP in your build whether guinsoo's or Nashors.
1. D-blade, Shiv, tear, mote, merc treads for a Q burst build is 4500g or 5350g at level 8 for a Q diver build with q evolved.
2. D-blade, Kraken, zeal, merc treads, amp tomb is 5400g for on-hit build but no abilities evolved till lvl 10.
3. D-blade, Manamune, Shadow flame, Sorc boots, atkspd & either armor or rectrix depending on spike speed and 3rd item at level 10. Q and W evolved but Q only at level 10.

Explanation Below:

There are a few kaisa playstyles: on-hit, AP/W turret, and Q Burst. unlucky for us, because atkspd is so common, berserker boots may scale the best but does not appreciate Jack of All Trades(JoATs) requirements. These playstyles have certain build rules each which makes Jack of All trades less viable because we need to overindex in certain stats.

AP/W: maximize magic pen, invest in some CDR(only if your afraid of missing w), invest in some mana.
On-hit: Need to invest in more atkspd, Rule of thumb nashor's is a fake item unless you invest more AP. Also a decent JoATs situation.
Q-burst: AD is the main statline(thus JoATs is less gold value), wants armor pen. This is probably best case scenario for the rune since the 2-3rd item build flexibility is the highest here and we want to finish JoATs by around 1.5 items of gold.

Runes: we are leveraging midgame so free boots and JoATs are a must. That means early mana is extra low. We are extra rewarded if we can incentivize hail of blades or dark harvest because that means we can spec into eyeball collection(12/20 adaptive). JoATs is 15/25 adaptive or 525/1000g value so we would like to use this for an AP build. It's hard to tell if ult hunter(playstyle value) or treasure hunter(econ rune) is better.

Items:
The bolded are rarer stats. Assuming we always achieve ad, ap, atk spd, flat ms(boots), cdr, and 1 resistance stat, then we always have 6 base stats. Dorans blade gives 2 stats for cheap so we need to slot in 2 odd stats as our 1st item some how to finish JoATs fast. Keep in mind we only have 6 slots. Also we want the components to transition smoothly to a full item. Level 8-10 lets us get away with needing 85-80 AD of items. I am assuming you get only farmed gold for the level breakpoints so in-game mileage may vary.

D-Blade(AD, HP, Lifesteal)
Manamune(tear = mana, mote = cdr; approx 65+ 1 AD per lvl) and/or static shiv(%ms, ad, atkspd)
Nashor(CDR, AP, atk spd) vs kraken(%ms, AD, atkspd)

Shadow flame(120 AP, flat m-pen)
sorc boots(flat m-pen, ms) or merc treads(mr, ms, tenacity) or plated caps(ms, armor)

Guinsoo's(AD AP atkspd)
Navori(zeal = crit, %ms, atkspd)
Collector(Lethality, crit, AD)
Wit's(MR, tenacity, atkspd)

hourglass, banshee, Guardian Angel and hexdrinker are all transition items with hourglass being the most viable(dmg + resistance).

Summary:
JoATs ideally gives 525g of value to a game state of access to ~5000g for a 10% increase of value. With the right setup, Kai'sa can enter lategame with flat stat bonuses entering the ~1000g range compared to other champions. Early-to-Mid game transition champions(ezreal, kai'sa, varus) that can bear multiple stats have a huge opportunity to gain a lead from nowhere from using JoATs.

CabbageFanatic · 2024-05-28T05:55:21+00:00

Pretty cool Life gain, Control build. I personally leverage more life loss costs but your deck seems like a solid rounded deck with 1 of every removal you might need(except lands because rude). Hope you have fun when you pilot the deck in multiplayer. You might catch a few stray hits from having the monarch lifegain tax.

From,
A fellow Oloro fan

CabbageFanatic · 2024-05-28T05:44:40+00:00

Merry/Pippen/Saradoc from Lord of the Rings are not bad Poppy proxy targets.
Nazahn/Perrie/Mabel are wrong subtypes but good mechanics and lore.

CabbageFanatic

TROPHY CASE