How To Run A Jax Vi Deck In Legends Of Runeterra
The Jax Vi deck Legends of Runeterra is a midrange deck that can look a lot like an aggro deck at times depending on how you draw and play. With a focus on gear and speed, along with a healthy dose of luck, this deck makes for a pretty fun time (which can sometimes make you or your opponent scream into a pillow).
There are a few variants of this deck, but these variants don’t swap champions or base cards. Instead, they’re just playing around with a few extra discards and early game cards, so they’re not considered entirely different decks in this article. So, with that out of the way, let’s walk through the Jax-Vi deck.
General strategy
Example Decklist:
| 3 simultaneous timelines | 2 Let yourself be inspired! |
| 1 Fireth, reaper of the sands | 3 Piltovan castaways |
| 3 Zaun sea urchins | 3 Wandering Shepherd |
| 2 boom baboon | 3 Unapproachable Travelers |
| 3 Ferro’s financier | 3 combat cook |
| 3 Ionian Hook Master | 2 parts complete |
| 3 Jax | 3 VI |
| 3 Mystic Shot |
The strategy for this deck is pretty simple, as is the case with most midrange decks: Put pressure on your opponent by effectively curling outwards. Ideally, using simultaneous timelines in turn one allows you to put a lot more pressure on your opponent, but if not, it’s still doable with Vi and Jax, especially Vi.
Provided your opponent doesn’t have a hard distance for Vi, you can potentially win the game with her in one round. For the combo, you should place the gear that gives her the Scout keyword first and increase its level with that hit. Then swap out their equipment for the ones that provide the Overpower keyword. Done right, you’ll deal massive amounts of damage with this hit (both pieces of gear are from Improvise).
While Jax can also be a win condition, he requires a healthy board of equipped minions to do so. Vi, on the other hand, requires no support other than the Scout and Overwhelm gear. She is much more capable of winning the game on her own than Jax.
mulligan
The most important rule of playing the Jax Vi deck is that you want to mulligan concurrent timelines. This card is essential to play in turn one as it will make your game significantly stronger. If you don’t get it, you’re at a disadvantage, but not one that can’t be overcome.
When it comes to the rest of your mulligan, aim for a nice curve. If you don’t have concurrent timelines in your first draw, you can look for a Zaun Urchin for turn one for a drop. Otherwise, Jax or Ionian Hookmaster is a great two drop (do not keep Ferro Financier) and Wandering Shepherd is a great threesome. Eventually you’ll want a spell, preferably Mystic Shot, but get excited! is a decent alternative.
winning conditions
The win conditions for this deck aren’t that numerous as it’s mostly just Jax and Vi. Your battle cook can also be a win condition, but that really depends on the luck of your concurrent timelines. Let’s take a closer look at these three cards.
- Vi: As mentioned in the General Strategy section, Vi can be a very strong win condition that doesn’t require much support. The trick here is to avoid hard removing your opponent, since she’s going to be the biggest target in your deck, and chances are your opponent knows that. As such, they’ll likely save up their hard removal (e.g. Revenge) or soft removal (Recall Spell) to deal with Vi, and the best way to get them to use them for something else is to use them sufficiently to put under pressure.
- Jax: Jax is more of a situational win condition as he won’t always be one consistently. If you mulligan him and play against him early on, there’s a chance he’ll be removed before he has a chance to level up. If you want Jax as a win condition, you better wait to play him until he evolves and you have a board full of minions equipped so he can buff himself when he attacks. Finally, even if he has Overpower and Fast Attack from his Light of Icathia, he’s only a four-attack, three-health unit if he levels up without his Attack buff, which isn’t a big win condition.
- Martial Cook: Making your Battle Cook a win condition is incredibly situational, but still possible. This can happen under the following circumstances:
- You have Concurrent Timelines active.
- You turn it into an extremely powerful four mana pendant.
- You improvise the perfect keyword gear to complement the extremely powerful four-mana pendant you turned it into.
When all of these conditions are met, plus the fact that he forges himself when played, it can result in a very imposing presence on the battlefield that could even invoke some tough removals from your opponent.
Play against aggro decks
Aggro decks can be tricky to handle, mainly because the Jax-Vi deck doesn’t have any form of sustain. Additionally, without Concurrent Timelines, early-game minions aren’t very cost-effective, especially when compared to those of an aggro deck.
As such, the only way to beat an aggro deck is to desperately sell your minions in hopes that you can survive their initial attack. It is also important that you try to be aggressive as well, This is how you can pressure your Nexus and hopefully force it to take bad trades. The best way to do that is Establish Jax early along with a bunch of other inexpensive minions with improvise, For him to be a threat, they must squander Noxian Passion.
Play against midrange decks
Midrange decks make for a comfortable opponent. They aren’t typically overly aggressive so you can use them to build pace, and considering the Jax Vi deck is also a mid-tier deck, In this duel, it all comes down to who can gain pace faster.
As usual, the way to ensure you gain more pace than your opponent is to: take value trades. Besides, it pays off Keep a Mystic Shot or get excited! in your hand This allows you to dispatch some of your opponent’s followers and champions. Just Make sure you use these spells reactively, as if countered by one of their spells, you lose significant speed, which puts you at a disadvantage.
Play against control decks
Finally, we come to the control decks. This is a bit like a coin toss: if your opponent mulligan and draw all the answers to the minions you’re playing, you’re in for a bad game. That is, unless they are super lucky, The best way to beat a control deck is to constantly pressurize it right out of the gate.
You will want a perfect curve mulligan as best you can although perhaps not Jax, as a control deck will definitely have an answer for him if you play it on turn two. In a perfect world, you curl up like this:
- Simultaneous timelines rotate one.
- Ionian hook master Round two (or a Boom Baboon if you couldn’t find the former).
- Piltovan castaway Round three (or Wandering Shepherd, both are great).
- combat cook spin four..
Aloof Travelers is one of the strongest, if not the strongest card you have against control decks, but be careful not to pull the trigger too early. Most likely, your opponent won’t try to mulligan their most expensive cards, so wait until mid-game to drop your Aloof Travelers if you have one in your hand. That way, you better increase the chances that they will discard one of their hard-hitting champions, followers, or spells.
tips
- Don’t bother with Aloof Travelers against an aggro deck unless you have nothing else to play with. It’s a big loss of pace.
- Evolved Jax doesn’t always need to have his The Light of Icathia equipped. Sometimes you can afford to equip him with a different piece of gear.
- If you have an established board, you can play Vi even if you think your opponent is holding hard distance. The reason for this is that when they use their hard removal on Vi they lose pace since you still have a big board threatening them.
- Once you’ve played a Concurrent Timeline, you can discard the others with Zaunite Urchin or Get Excited!