Burblefish Twisted Fate Ezreal Deck Guide

Hi, Random7HS here. Recently, there’s been a lot of hype on the ladder regarding Twisted Fate Fizz. I wanted to bring attention to a similar deck that I saw lmag playing at the top of the NA ladder, Twisted Fate Ezreal.

Twisted Fate Ezreal as a pairing was initially popularized last summer. It relied on Ezreal and powerful Plunder effects to finish off games, and subsequently fell out of popularity once Ezreal and Nab mechanic got nerfed. Now, the deck runs Pick a Card instead of Nab package and Wiggly Burblefish as a finisher instead of Riptide Rex.

The list I break down below is almost exactly the same as what lmag was playing last week, except with 1 Gotcha instead of Ye’ Be Warned. I personally think that this is one of the best decks to play on the ladder right now, having climbed over 300 LP in Masters at the time of writing this.

This deck also has potential in tournaments. I recently entered this deck alongside Anivia and Atrocity Zoe Diana in last weekend’s Duels of Runeterra. Twisted Fate Ezreal was the star of the lineup, winning 10 out of 11 games, only losing to Agigas. Note that for my tournament list, I took out 1 Jury Rig and 1 Parrrley for a second Gotcha! and a Suit Up.

This deck wants to stall out the early game with removal spells and Twisted Fate, slowly chipping away at the opponent’s Nexus with Ballistic Bot’s Ignition and Zap Sprayfin attacks.

In the mid-to-late game, Wiggly Burblefish and other Elusives should be able to deal enough damage for you to finish off your opponent with a leveled Ezreal and/or burn spells.

Against decks that cannot remove Twisted Fate, try to save your draw effects to level up Twisted Fate. Once leveled, Twisted Fate will usually win the game by himself because of the amount of value he gives you every turn.

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3x Wiggly Burblefish – This is the deck’s primary win condition. After playing 4-6 spells, this card becomes extremely cheap and immediately replaces itself when played.

3x Iterative Improvement – Iterative Improvement basically serves as three extra copies of Wiggly Burblefish. In a pinch, Iterative Improvement can also copy cards of your opponent – like Mistwraith, Puffcap Peddler, Captain Farron, or even opposing Zap Sprayfins and Ballistic Bots. Iterative Improvement will also ping the opponent’s Nexus for 2 damage when used with a leveled Ezreal.

3x Ezreal – This is the deck’s secondary win condition. In other Ezreal decks, in which he is the primary win condition, it is often very risky to attack with Ezreal. In this deck, it is a bit less risky because every removal spell or silence that is used on Ezreal is one less removal for Wiggly Burblefish later on.

3x Twisted Fate – This is the deck’s third win condition. Twisted Fate when leveled is one of the strongest champions in the game. With Rummage, Pick a Card, Pool Shark, and Zap Sprayfin, Twisted Fate can often level after only one or two turns. Even without leveling up, Twisted Fate offers immediate value with any of its three Destiny Cards.

3x Zap Sprayfin – Elusive that draws you a card. Similar to the old Shadow Assassin, Zap Sprayfin can slowly chip at your opponent’s HP and if they remove it, you’re still up a card.

3x Ballistic Bot – Best two-drop for this deck. Every turn, it generates a spell that deals 1 damage while lowering the cost of Wiggly Burblefish. Ignition is also prime fodder for Get Excited, Rummage, and Pick a Card.

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3x Mystic Shot + 2x Get Excited! – Both of these cards can either be used to remove pesky early game units or finish off an opponent in the late game.

3x Thermogenic Beam – Flexible removal. Always keep in your mulligan.

1x Gotcha! – This is a Get Excited that does not require you to discard a card. However, this cannot be used face and costs extra mana if drawn late. Aftershock is a possible replacement for this.

1x Statikk Shock – Can clear out 1-HP units while drawing a card. Statikk Shock is also the only card in the deck that can contribute two stacks towards an Ezreal’s level-up. It might be worth running more copies of Statikk Shock, but it can clog your hand.

2x Parrrley – Removal for Teemo, Zoe, Daring Poro, opposing Wiggly Burblefishes, and other 1-HP units. Parrrley is almost never dead because even if your opponent does not run any 1 HP unit, you can usually use Parrrley to finish off a trade, level up Ezreal, or hit their Nexus. However, more copies do tend to get a bit clunky.

3x Pool Shark – Pool Shark replaces itself while blocking 1 attack and contributing to Twisted Fate’s level up. Try not to play Pool Shark early – it is often better to pass than play Pool Shark as discarding a fleeting Twisted Fate or Wiggly Burblefish is suboptimal.

3x Pick a Card – Pick a Card, by itself, is one of the best mid-to-late game cards to refill your hand because it takes two cards from your hand and gives you three next turn. Pick a Card gets even better with Ballistic Bot and Wiggly Burblefish because both give you a free card to shuffle back.

3x Rummage – Cycles discard-generated cards from Wiggly Burblefish and Ballistic Bot or fleeting cards from Pool Shark and Pick a Card.

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Always keep Ballistic Bot during the mulligan. Never keep Pool Shark – except against extremely aggressive decks. In most matchups, you want to keep Thermogenic Beam and Mystic Shot. Twisted Fate and Zap Sprayfin can also be kept depending on the matchup.

In general, try to cast removal spells before your opponent attacks in order to play around buff spells.

During the mid-to-late game, keep track of your own lethal potential. Remember, you don’t want to spend too many resources playing around your opponent – you need to close the game out yourself. At this point, think carefully about using removal on a unit instead of it going face, or taking a trade with your key threats.

In the early game, when deciding whether or not to use a removal spell on their threat, go for it if you do not have a better way of removing it in the next two turns and if you are not okay with the unit potentially staying on board for the rest of the game. The same principle applies when you’re deciding whether you should trade your unit for their unit in the early game.

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Mulligan for: Thermogenic Beam, Mystic Shot, Ballistic Bot, Parrrley, and Statikk Shock. Zap Sprayfin and Twisted Fate are good to keep if you have other early game cards. Get Excited! can be kept with Ballistic Bot.

Ezreal Draven has no heals in their deck and Ezreal is their only Elusive blocker. In this matchup, chip damage is extremely important.

Most of their units have 3 HP, which is out of Mystic Shot range. Lucky, we have Gotcha, Get Excited and Thermogenic Beam to clean these units up. Gold Card with Parrrley is also very useful in cleaning up 3-HP units.

Once you reach the late game, the Ezreal Draven player will generally have to spend at least 2 mana to kill one Wiggly Burblefish. This allows you to develop a board of Elusives faster than they can clear and bring your opponent’s Nexus low enough to finish off with either Ezreal and/or burn spells.

Additionally, outside of Statikk Shock and Tri-beam Improbulator, all of their removal spells will trade evenly, while you can refill your hand faster than they can. In many games, if they do not get a lucky Tri-beam, you can usually grind them out of removal spells while keeping their board relatively clear.

Note that this matchup is still winnable for Ezreal Draven. Ezreal Draven’s game plan is to sneak in chip damage, summon Captain Farron and win turn 9. 

Don’t be scared to trade Zap Sprayfins and Twisted Fates into their board if you need to. Both of these cards replace themselves anyway.

Going into turn 8, it is often a good idea to save Twisted Fate to stun Farron or to use Iterative Improvement to copy Farron. If your opponent passes with 8 mana and the attack token, you generally don’t want to develop unless you have a Twisted Fate to stun Farron or can win the subsequent turn before Decimate is played.

Mulligan for: Thermogenic Beam, Mystic Shot, Ballistic Bot, Parrrley, and Twisted Fate. Zap Sprayfin can be kept if you have other early game cards.

Targon generally has a somewhat weak early game in exchange for invoking larger threats later on. Our removal spells can generally remove all of their early game units, make sure to play around Pale Cascade. Outside of Invokes and Diana, Targon has no way to clear Twisted Fate.

Many lists that run Diana also run The Skies Descend, so try to clear Celestials when you can. If they are running Zoe as their only champion, be careful of The Ruination.

Casting Gold Card on Solari Sunforger or Mystic Shot on your own unit that blocks it can win games by keeping your opponent within your lethal range.

Keep track of possible cards your opponents may have invoked and play around them if you can.

When attacking with Elusives, try to save mana for removal spells in case of Hush. Note some lists are running double Moonlight Affliction in addition to double Hush. You are a bit less favored against these decks.

Mulligan for: Thermogenic Beam, Mystic Shot, Ballistic Bot, Parrrley, and Twisted Fate. Zap Sprayfin can be kept if you have other early game cards.

This matchup is very similar to Invokes (see above), except Targon Plaza has a bit more removal.

If they’re playing Mountain Scryer, they’re likely playing only Single Combat and Grand Plaza. However, until they play a Mountain Scryer, it is usually best to assume that they may be running Radiant Guardian and try to play around it if possible.

If they only have one Challenger, Twisted Fate can be played with a Gold Card. If they have multiple challengers, try not to summon Twisted Fate until after they’ve attacked so that they have to spend a spell to clear it. Remember that every spell they use to clear Twisted Fate is one less spell going to an Elusive attacker.

Mulligan for: Thermogenic Beam, Mystic Shot, Ballistic Bot, Parrrley, and Twisted Fate. Zap Sprayfin can be kept if you have other early game cards.

This matchup usually comes down to a race between an overwhelming Lee Sin and an army of Elusives. Twisted Fate is a bit harder to level in this matchup because of Lee Sin and Sonic Wave. However, after attacking, Zoe Lee has no way to kill a Twisted Fate outside of Invoking an answer. If they summon Lee Sin first, you can also Gold Card the Lee Sin.

Note that in the mid-game, Lee Sin is happy to keep passing until they draw their combo pieces, while we have to actively play cards to work towards our win condition. You generally want to try and play units instead of taking passes.

Sparklefly and Eye of the Dragon are their main tools to stall out the game. Remove these – and Eye of the Dragon that spawns Dragonlings – when you can.

Removal spells can also be kept to stop Lee Sin’s Dragon Rage from damaging you. A randomly generated Shakedown is especially good in this matchup because it can stop the damage by killing off Lee Sin’s target at Burst speed.

Mulligan for: Thermogenic Beam, Mystic Shot, Ballistic Bot, Parrrley, Zap Sprayfin and Twisted Fate.

Towards the mid-to-late game, your cards start having more value than theirs. Try to clear their board when you can to play around Mind Meld. Play your removal spells before they attack if possible to play around Suit Up.

This matchup generally comes down to who can get more value out of their cards. This is one of the few matchups in which playing Pick a Card early can make sense if you don’t have other draw cards.

Note that because of Ezreal, it is always better to cast Iterative Improvement on the Burblefish of your opponent instead of your own.

Mulligan for: Thermogenic Beam, Mystic Shot, Ballistic Bot, Parrrley, Get Excited! and Statikk Shock. Zap Sprayfin and Twisted Fate are good to keep if you have other early game cards.

This matchup mainly comes down to how quickly you can clear their units versus how fast they can refill their board. Jinx and Crowd Favorite are the highest priorities to remove. Try to save Twisted Fate for a good Red Card or a Gold Card on either Jinx or Crowd Favorite.

If you don’t have any other plays, it’s okay to Iterative Improvement your opponent’s units for early blockers. It’s also fine to Pool Shark on 1 if they summon a Zaunite Urchin or Draven’s Biggest Fan turn 1. Discarding key cards doesn’t usually matter too much in this matchup because the game doesn’t go late enough for it to matter.

Mulligan for: Thermogenic Beam, Mystic Shot, Ballistic Bot, Parrrley, and Statikk Shock. Zap Sprayfin and Twisted Fate are good to keep if you have other early game cards. Get Excited! can be kept with Ballistic Bot.

This matchup generally comes down to whether or not the Fiora Shen player can level Fiora before you win the game. Rivershaper can also occasionally generate them enough value to win the game by itself. As a result, Fiora and Rivershaper are your highest priority to remove.

Fiora Shen is a deck that tries to hold their mana, trying to bait their opponent into using too much of their mana to respond. It is often a good idea to take passes after playing a card or two if it looks like they’re setting up to play a Single Combat or Concerted Strike once you run out of mana.

Gold Card on Challengers is one of the best uses for Twisted Fate in this matchup because it forces them to spend their mana to remove your units with spells.

If possible, when taking attacks, try and save mana up for removal spells to pop Barriers. Attacking early with Zap Sprayfin into potential Sharpsight is usually fine if they don’t have Rivershaper or Fiora. Every Sharpsight or removal spell they use is one less that goes to Wiggly Burblefish.

Once you get to your late game, Fiora Shen has a really hard time removing your Burblefishes backed by spells outside of Sharpsight. Single Combat can often be negated by removal spells if their units aren’t beefy enough and Concerted Strikes often trades 5 mana for 0 that you’ve paid for Burblefish.

*Unfavored if they run Withering Wail.

Mulligan for Thermogenic Beam, Mystic Shot, Ballistic Bot, Parrrley, Zap Sprayfin and Twisted Fate.

In the early game, your removal spells can deal with most of their threats; Fortune Croaker even helps you clear 2-HP units. Ballistic Bot is really good in this matchup because their spells can’t easily remove it.

In the mid-game, outside of Powder Keg and Twisted Fate, Go Hard can’t kill Twisted Fate without using at least two spells. Try to keep up spell mana to clear Powder Kegs when they are summoning Twisted Fate. Also, remember that Gold Card targets from left to right in case of a tie on who is your Strongest unit, so try to play Zap before Twisted Fate if you don’t have a Ballistic Bot to eat the Gold Card.

Once you approach the mid-to-late game, it can often be tempting to summon out your entire hand of Burblefishes. However, remember that Withering Wail exists and keep track of how many Go Hards your opponent has played. You want to try and represent a strong burn potential to trick your opponent into using their board wipes earlier than they otherwise might.

Mulligan for: Thermogenic Beam, Ballistic Bot, Zap Sprayfin and Twisted Fate.

Late-game Shadow Isles decks are renowned for board wipes and heals to stall out the game.

Your main win condition in this matchup is to try and bait out your opponent’s Avalanches and Withering Wails as much as possible before summoning all of your Burblefishes.

One of the best ways to do so is to play a Twisted Fate and Pick a Card the turn after. In order to stop the Twisted Fate level, the FTR will often have to use up their Avalanche, allowing you to freely develop your board if they don’t have a second copy.

If the game goes long enough, Gold Card on Trundles and Tryndameres can sometimes stall enough to win the next turn.

Because of how expensive their heal cards are, a leveled up Ezreal with burn spells can often win you otherwise lost games.

Mulligan for: Thermogenic Beam, Mystic Shot, Get Excited, Ballistic Bot. Parrrley is good to keep as well if you think they run Fleetfeather Tracker or Blinding Assault and will play into Parrrley. Twisted Fate can be kept with a good enough hand.

This matchup might actually be worse than the Feel the Rush matchup.

In general, try to block as much damage as possible and finish off your opponent’s units with spells. In some games, it’s possible to level Twisted Fate by summoning him after an attack or by using a Gold Card on their challenger and leveling the Twisted Fate over two turns. If they don’t draw their high-value threats, i.e., Quinn and Miss Fortune, you can sometimes grind them out of cards, but this is pretty rare.

In most games, it’s not worth it to play around Relentless Pursuit too much because if they have it, they will usually win anyway.

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Conclusion

Twisted Fate Ezreal does well or even into most meta decks right now and, outside of Scouts, you can often outplay your bad matchups. I personally would recommend this deck to anyone that wants to climb the ladder or just want to revisit Twisted Fate Ezreal from last summer.

In relation to tournament play, I could easily see this deck as part of an anti-Targon or anti-Draven Ezreal lineup. However, this deck uses both Twisted Fate and Ezreal, which locks you out of both Draven Ezreal and Go Hard.

The more popular variant of a Burblefish deck, Twisted Fate Fizz, is much better versus Ezreal Draven. Additionally, Mind Meld can end games by itself against Targon, while this deck does not run enough units to comfortably play Mind Meld. However, Twisted Fate Ezreal is already favored against both of these decks, and Ezreal gives significantly more value than Fizz against Lee Sin decks.

As always, thanks for reading. All comments, feedback and questions are welcome and appreciated! I will be responding below and on Reddit.