Riftbound: Deck Guide - Kai'Sa Daughter of the Void

Today, we'll show you how to play Kai'Sa Daughter of the Void (Fury & Mind). This is considered one of the best archetypes in the entire game and is, without a question, the most popular list among competitive players.

This version in particular was built by Mateusz Jasiński, more popularly known as Alanzq. He once won a Legends of Runeterra World Championship and is, by far, one of the best deckbuilders in the scene. He brought us a new, but highly studied approach to Kai'Sa and managed to get 5th place at the Houston Regional.

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!

Because this archetype is so popular, we'll only focus on Alanzq's build in this article and try to understand why he brought the cards he did.

But, to briefly sum up how Kai'Sa works: this archetype centers around conquering and controlling the board with spells that deal damage directly. The main win conditions are getting ahead in points early on and trying to finish the game as soon as possible. By taking advantage of Time Warp's effect, you'll either conquer both battlefields or hold twice at once.

Alanzq's version is a lot more focused on constantly setting up small combos with cheap spells. This way, you'll always get the most out of Ravenblood Student and Noxus Hopeful in the early and mid game.

To do that, it only plays one copy of Kai'Sa - Survivor, which is considered one of the most critical cards in this archetype. Without her in the main deck, you can play 11 1-cost spells, 3 Pouty Poro, and, overall, cheaper cards.

To make up for all these low-cost cards, this version also plays 3 copies of Watchful Sentry as card draw. It plays 3 copies of Void Seeker and Stupefy for that same reason.

All of this makes this list almost purely "spellslinger". It does play a few finishers that really match this strategy and leans on a clear and even simple game plan as well.

The way this list is built, you'll always be able to control the opponent, and, if you don't, you'll still be able to draw cards to try to find more answers.

Kai’Sa Daughter of the Void is considered one of the best legends in the first Riftbound set. The reason is simple: she doesn't force you to lose "tempo" recycling runes.

Void Seeker is an important spell. With your Legend's ability, it costs zero power. This way, you can play Falling Star without running out of runes.

This Legend essentially gives you a lot for free, and free stuff is always incredibly powerful.

Not to mention, this color combination is also quite strong as well. It gives you access to the best red early game removal spells and the best blue finishers in the game right now.

Your main champion in the champion zone is Kai'Sa - Survivor, one of the most powerful cards in the first Riftbound set as well.

However, Alanzq only plays one copy of her, and that's because she is a bit too expensive to play more than one copy per match.

You need to pay 5 energy and 1 power to play her ready on the board. Under no circumstances should you play her "unready" because she will automatically become a target for all types of removal.

You won't be able to use your Legend's effect to pay for this card's power. This means you'll lose resources that you could use later on to play spells if you play more than one Kai'Sa per match. That's why it doesn't make much sense to play more than one copy of her in this list. Furthermore, you can play her straight into your champion zone whenever you want, and she is more of a "setup" unit than a finisher.

Reaver’s Row is great in this list because it allows you to return your units to base when they defend this battlefield, which saves a lot of "tempo". As this is a conquering list, being able to return units to the base for free is just incredible.

The Candlelit Sanctum is simply one of the best battlefields for this strategy. With it, you can manipulate the top of your deck, recycling any cards you don't need or setting them up however you see fit. This effect is so strong that you'll nearly always get the resources you need to end the game this way.

The Arena's Greatest is amazing against slow lists and Aurora decks because you'll speed up the game practically by a full turn.

Early Game

Pouty Poro: this card is great against Annie lists and mirror matches because it forces the opponent to recycle a rune to target it.

Ravenbloom Student: this card will be your foundation early on. If you protect it, it usually becomes unstoppable because of how many stats it will get for free in a single turn. It really fits Reaver's Row as well.

Noxus Hopeful: this unit will complement your combos. It comes in for 2 resources less after you play any other card in your turn.

Watchful Sentry: this card draws cards for you and keeps your hand full at all times.

Mid Game

Darius - Trifarian is a win condition as well as a finisher. He gains +2 Might whenever you play your second card each turn and also readies himself. As a result, you'll be able to set up combos and conquer multiple times during a single turn. You'll eventually be able to conquer both battlefields to get your 8th point at the end of the match.

To combo with Darius, you should have three main 1-cost spells: Cleave, Stupefy, and Hextech Ray. However, any spell in your deck will be great with Darius, particularly Smoke Screen, which often makes sures he wins your showdowns.

End Game

To win the match, you'll play Thousand-Tailed Watcher, set it as ready, and try to conquer two battlefields on a single turn.

You can also play Time Warp and try to hold twice.

This is currently the deck to be beaten. It is certainly defining the meta right now.

Alanzq's build is great in mirror matches and against Annie lists because it plays more removals for early game units than most of the other decks.

Against Master Yi and Aurora, you'll struggle a bit, but you can still win because of a few cards Alanzq added to this sideboard. We'll discuss them soon.

Against the rest of the meta, this list is pretty consistent, and it has practically no bad matchups.

This sideboard will focus almost entirely on improving the Aurora matchup. You'll play 3 copies of Thermo Beam and one Icathian Rain, as well as another copy of Time Warp.

Lecturing Yordle is great against Aurora because it is an extra unit. Since you probably won't play spells like Hextech Ray and Stupefy, it will be your main way to draw cards and build part of your board on turn 2.

The spells you can keep against Aurora are Falling Star, Smoke Screen, Cleave, and Void Seeker.

You can remove Watchful Sentry from the main deck against Aurora because it won't die that often and draw a card early on.

Use Retreat to save your Thousand-Tailed Watcher and keep it in your hand at all times.

The secret to knowing which cards to swap against Aurora is: always play more units instead of cheap spells that won't be useful against big units.

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

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See you next time!