Riftbound: Deck Tech - Watcher Ezreal - Mind & Chaos

Today, we'll show you how to play Ezreal Prodigal Explorer (Mind and Chaos). This particular list got 1st place in group B at the Ascension League Season 2.

This is also considered one of the most promising archetypes in Set 2 because we got many powerful purple cards in Spiritforged, and purple was already considered a very strong color when Origins came out.

Furthermore, some of the best finishers in the game are still blue, like Thousand-Tailed Watcher, the card that names this list.

Before we begin, however, let me introduce myself. My name is Total, and I used to cast Legends of Runeterra tournaments professionally. I covered all the official tournaments, including Worlds, and I am known for creating deck guides for LoR as well. Now, I am a part of the Riftbound community!

This list stands out because it doesn't play Dr. Mundo - Expert or the mid-game package with Nocturne - Horrifying and Rhasa the Sundered. Instead of playing these cards as win conditions, this deck focuses only on Thousand-Tailed Watcher as a finisher.

The main idea is to keep Watcher on the board and/or in your hand so that you can play it multiple times, activate its effect, and destroy all enemy defenses.

This entire deck centers around drawing Watcher, protecting it, replaying it, and, most importantly, hoarding resources to play it several times in the same match for its additional cost, Accelerate.

Ezreal Prodigal Explorer is in one of the best color combinations in the game nowadays, and his effect naturally fits most strong purple cards, which are in this list as well.

So, you won't use this Legend for his effect, but rather because he's blue and purple. As such, you'll be able to play the best cards from set 1 and, most likely, from set 2 as well.

Throughout the game, you won't use Ezreal Prodigal Explorer's effect as much, but you'll use it enough times to draw a few cards and stay ahead in the game.

Another detail that makes this Legend quite strong is that your champion is also incredible. Being able to access him directly from the champion zone gives you a huge advantage, particularly against other purple Legends, as they need to draw him from their decks.

Your champion, Ezreal - Prodigy, is considered one of the best cards in set 2.

This unit is perhaps the new purple staple, as both his effects are great in most purple decks.

Being able to pay optional additional costs for less resources is great with the other three cards in this deck: Called Shot, Bellows Breath, and Thousand-Tailed Watcher. We'll go through them soon.

Reaver’s Row is great in conquering lists because it lets you save or protect the units you play. As this deck doesn't play many units, and they're also pretty fragile, keeping them in your base after defending yourself with them is always a good strategy.

Ravenbloom Conservatory is this deck's main battlefield and, most likely, one of the most influential cards in set 2. Purple essentially breaks the rules of the game and lets you defend this battlefield at all times through its effect. As such, you'll keep a consistent pace, drawing cards every turn.

Treasure Hoard fits this strategy really well and centers around Gold Gear tokens. This battlefield is perfect with your main win condition, Thousand-Tailed Watcher, but doesn't force you to lose many resources.

Early Game

Your goal early on is to draw Thousand-Tailed Watcher, or, if you already have this card, get good cards for it, like Arcane Shift, Ride the Wind, and Retreat.

Use Ezreal - Prodigy to do that. This list plays two copies of it: one in the champion zone and another in the main deck.

Ezreal - Prodigy discounts Called Shot's additional cost (just once) and lets you look at the top two cards in your deck and draw one completely for free. This is extremely powerful.

It also discounts Bellows Breath's additional cost and lets you activate its effect for free. This will be great for showdowns.

Finally, use Stacked Deck and Stupefy to draw your win conditions and combo pieces.

Mid Game

Thousand-Tailed Watcher usually comes into play on curve, so turn 4, or even turn 3, if you're second to play. However, you'll need ways to protect it or keep it in play.

Cards like Arcane Shift, Ride the Wind, Retreat, and even Switcheroo are essential, particularly before you even put Watcher in play.

With Arcane Shift, you'll banish Watcher, put it in play again ignoring its mana cost, and activate its effect to nerf enemies. Next, you'll deal 3 damage to a unit in the battlefield. If the enemy has 6 or less Might, it will be destroyed by Arcane Shift.

This is one of the main combos in the deck, and you'll play it often.

Finally, use Fizz - Trickster to replay any spells you need. You may play Arcane Shift on Fizz to play Wages of Pain from the trash pile, and then deal 6 damage for very little (3 runes and 1 power).

End Game

This deck struggles to finish the game because it only has one way to do that directly. So, try to disrupt the opponent as much as possible later on.

To do that, you must remove their main cards with Singularity and Rebuke.

This deck is great against Kai'Sa because it plays great cards to deal with her game plan.

However, the Annie matchup is a bit more complex because both of these decks play many of the same purple cards. This matchup is quite balanced, so you'll have to rely on your own skills to win.

Against Viktor, you'll start ahead, but will struggle to finish, so it will be quite challenging. You must be as aggressive as possible to win.

You'll struggle against all green decks because of their counters. So Irelia, Yasuo, and Ahri tend to be terrible matchups.

And you'll destroy any Aurora list because this deck plays many cheap removals that deal with this archetype, more or less.

However, you'll struggle a bit against Draven because of attrition. Because Draven is also purple, it plays a few of the same cards as Ezreal that also prevent the opponent from winning showdowns early on. But because you can't remove Draven's units completely, they'll eventually have a better board than you, and you won't have enough resources to deal with all their attacks.

This sideboard is quite flexible and mitigates some natural weaknesses this deck has.

The third copy of Thousand-Tailed Watcher is great against Annie, Viktor*, and other slow decks.

Factory Recall destroys Aurora strategies. It counters it directly.

Retreat is also great against decks that can deal with Watcher because it protects it. The same goes for Morbid Return and Switcheroo.

Hard Bargain is efficient against green decks because it counters their counters and works really well with Ezreal - Prodigy.

If you read this far, thank you! I hope you had fun reading this article.

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See you next time!