Hi guys! I mentioned it a few times over the past few days, here is the write-up about my latest fancy: Caitlyn Prize Fight!
A little bit of context
I have been playing Legends of Runeterra for a little over 2 years. I have played card games on and off for the past 20 years and have had an intense period between 2011 and 2020. I'm not the strongest player but I love the feeling of freedom that comes with building off-meta decks :). It comes with its lot of hardships but is massively rewarding to me.
I am a big fan of Caitlyn, ever since she's been released. I find the character really cool and the delayed impact from the flashbombs you plant in the opponent's deck really gives me a super nice feeling of planning.
I have tried many, many builds with her. I quickly stirred away from the classic "mushroom deck" to try and find ways to get Caitlyn to strike and plant bombs as often as can be. I tried Demacia with its strikes and rally, I tried Noxus when Whirling Death and Draven were still a thing, I tried Akshan and the slow Shuriman strikes, I even tried Bandle City and the 6 cost strike :D.
And then, Riot released Prize Fight
Prize Fight got my attention instantly and got me to build the deck below with which, since the last patch, I went from Plat IV 0 LP all the way up to Masters 128 LP. This with one of the best sustained winrate I've had in the game.
The decklist
Prize Fight is: - A strike
- that doesn't immediately endanger Caitlyn
- that costs 1!
Within minutes the first build was ready and after a little bit of tinkering I arrived here:
Deck code: CICACAIEBABAOBQIBYBAOBAJCECQKBACAYEQ2GIEAEAQINABAICAUAIFAQHACBQGDYBACBIEBIAQOBQE
It is basically:
- The Caitlyn Flashbomb module
- All the cards that:
- are Prize Fight
- or create Prize Fight
Add to that some good relevant cards (Augmented Clockling, Mystic shot, etc.) and boom, you get a deck.
How to play
Caitlyn Prize Fight is definitely a tempo deck. You'll get damage in through a few elusive units, then reduce your opponent's board to push through the remaining damage through your regular units.
And of course, sometimes, a wild Caitlyn appears:
Teemo is absolutely not the core of the deck. He is there because he costs 1 (good for the curve), is elusive (good, just good) and plants traps (good for synergy there, of course). He will often act as a lightning rod to get your opponent to spend resources on a card you've paid 1 for and didn't build your deck around.
I often find myself comparing the cards "under my opponent's command" (cards in play + cards in hand) to mine, to get a sense of how things are going. That total is often even until turn 5-6 when the flashbombs will start to wipe a few units.
I try to default my brain to using Corina to plant bombs, and only go for the explosion if it's relevant: actually wipe a board at the end of an opponent's turn to prep for my attack or set Caitlyn up for a big shot.
I find the King's Court to be a great finisher. Either to plant a lot of bombs at once with Caitlyn, get her lvl2 to strike a few times and deal extra damage, or simply to give brash to your board whilst pushing the opponent's units out of their way.
A few neat interactions around Prize Fight
Forge Chief
If you only need to deal 2 damage to an opponent, striking with Forge Chief basically means Prize Fight is free (even better when this Prize Fight has been created by Five-Punch Pablo or The King's Court.
Ephemeral units
Prize Fight is of course a great way to deal with ephemeral units for just 1 mana. They do their strike and poof, they gone.
Lifesteal
Good to know: if you use Prize Fight against a lifesteal unit and the unit you put on your side of the event only has 1hp to begin with: the lifesteal unit will be considered as not dealing any damage and there not stealing any life (hello Darkwater Scourge).
Some options
Caustic Riff
What about Caustic Riff? As you will realise, the deck seriously struggles against Caustic Riff. That's also why when I created it a few weeks ago, before the nerf, although the deck felt good I didn't push too hard as Karma Sett was proper everywhere. Now, Caustic Riff should also be an option for this deck. It happens that your opponent's board is on 1hp and you either need them to go now or you don't really flashbombs in the opponent's deck. In that case Caustic Riff would be excellent. I just haven't found the space just yet.
More King's Court
King's Court really feels like a good alternative win condition. I have only played 1 so far, I did wonder if a second good go in. Maybe instead of a Corina...
In the meta
Karma Sett
The toughest match-up is without a doubt Karma Sett. This deck is more control and their end game packs a serious punch (please make the coins focus at least...). When I have won, aside of one-sided draws, it was when I had chipped away at their nexus through the game (ideally with a strong start) and finished by dropping a Caitlyn on the last turn to Prize Fight with her where feasible. The fact that Sett stays at 1hp after his first "deadly" challenge is playing in our flashbombs' favor but Kharma is quite the thing. I never felt like I was in control when playing against this deck
Deep
I have found Deep decks to be a challenge as well. Nautilus is reaaaally big, the +3/+3 they get through deep as well as the Megatusk healing the nexus and everyone 3 is a challenge. If you can take them at the throat you stand a strong chance, and I do feel like there is a consistent way to win against them hidden just there, but I haven't fully grasped it just yet.
Tristana
We are getting in the realm of the favoured match-ups. The owl cats are a pain and you need to be mindful of their proliferation, but ultimately, they only have 1 health so they die to flashbombs. Try to hold your damages for Tristana when she hits the board and it should be fine.
Nasus
Nasus decks can be rough to beat. Make sure you keep count of how many slay they have for Nasus and ideally keep your direct damage to kill the units they'll want to slay for Hate Spike or Glimpse Beyond.
Final words
I hope you will enjoy giving a run to this deck. I found it really super fun to pilot and I do think it has a pretty decent place in the meta :). If you have any questions, feel free to hit me up on discord!
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