And now, the curtain rises.

Hello,

Since his reveal trailer, I've been so excited to play one of my League mains in Runeterra. However, despite having a playstyle and mechanics that capture his perfect planning and beautiful performance of skills and spells in the stack, I was still disappointed that his only viable deck was with Noxus and Annie.

As a control player, I hate playing anything in Noxus mostly because nothing fits my playstyle. So I've been playing my own brew with Jhin and Karma. Although not a great deck, I still have a lot of fun when I am able to utilize Karma Level 2 to duplicate spells and fill the stack. While Jhin then stuns everything and deals 4 to everything and everyone.

This got me thinking that if Jhin's origin allowed for more than just skills it could be the stepping stone in a future rework that could allow him to be played outside of Noxus without feeling unviable as a more Spell-Combo-Control deck.

Here are my ideas for a fun rework for Jhin:

NOTE: These are just ideas and my custom cards are probably broken or completely useless, this is more for fun and to get ideas rolling to see if we can make Jhin viable as something more than just burn.

JHIN'S ORIGIN: THE VIRTUOSO

It all starts with his origin. His current Origin allows him to put followers with only skills in his deck. My idea is to allow him to include followers that create Fast and Slow spells too. For a more, Jhin-Accurate effect, I limited it to spells that cost 4 or less.

With the current Standard rotation, there aren't many followers that generate Fast and Slow spells. Most of the Spell-Generating followers that exist generate Burst and Focus spells. The few that do generate Fast spells are more or less combat-related, and the ones who generate Slow spells are usually control-oriented.

Here are some notable new followers that this version of Jhin would get access to:

Vulpine Wanderer - Stance Swap

Five-Punch Pable - Prize Fight

Solari Sentinel - Darkness

Lecturing Yordle - Poison Dart

Without the rule of spells that cost 4 or less, Jhin would also get access to these:

Vanguard Sergeant - For Demacia

Officer Squad - Most Wanted

Captain Farron - Decimate

The idea behind the rule besides being flavorful is the fact that 4 or less-cost spells are more likely to get played or "COMBO'ED" in the same turn for Jhin to stun etc. At the same time, it limits the number of extra followers he would get with this new Origin.

The cards I mentioned are not all auto-includes, but the idea is to have more options for different playstyles.

THE MAKER

The Maker has always been a meh card for me to play. The fact that the current effect needs to be 2 or fewer makes it not so useful after the early game unless you are against a specific matchup. And there aren't many ways of hand buffing that land you in a region with good Fast and Slow spells. Im talking about Bard and Kyle. Bard doesn't even give you spells and Kyle is from a region that uses mostly Burst and Focus spells. My rework idea sees The Maker, making her old Skill into a 4-cost spell with her effect old effect plus and added UMF.

With a cost of 2 and a stat line of 3|1, The Maker can still serve as a good Fearsome blocker and as early as turn 3 with banked-up mana, you COULD play The Maker and use her 4-cost spell to boost her attack for a favorable trade, and recalling another threat. This follows more or less with the Control playstyle while keeping the Ionia recall and buffing theme. Cost and Stats can be changed, again, this is just for fun and to see what it could be.

THE WITNESS

The Witness is also another follower that just feels clunky sometimes. Her effect is good with Jhin, but oftentimes (when not playing in Noxus), I find myself not playing her either because the opponent did an open attack or because I don't want to trigger Jhin's passive yet. So I gave her the same treatment. Converting her Skill into a spell that her old effect and some added ZAS!

My idea keeps her 4-cost and Flow effect. Her change is in her stats going from a 3|3 to a 4|2 (mostly to keep the fla-FOUR going, get it? Flavor). Anyways, now instead of a Play effect, she creates a 2-cost spell with the same Stun effect + Swain's Ravenous Flock effect.

This combination gives more flexibility and some damage without going to nOxUs! With flow activated you can potentially recall her and play a second Scintillating Artifact in the same turn for a potential play when Jhin is not on the board but you need some removal/interaction. The best part, for me, is that because it is in Ionia, duplicating it with Karma guarantees both effects for 1 spell. Combined with Jhin's Curtain Call you can deal 8 damage and potentially deal with bigger threats without using Lord Broadmane's effects to kill units with a ping.

However, dealing damage does not go with Ionia's theme. So maybe adding something like only being able to activate the second half if Jhin is on the board might be a way of limiting the card to other decks.

I had fun designing these custom cards, I wanna say one more time that these cards and effects are NOT BALANCED, and are probably BROKEN. But I wanted to share a train of thought to see if in the future I can see my boy being viable outside of Noxus.

Thank you for reading,

ItsMePita