- Origins
Hello everyone! Patch 2.19 is finally out, adding the newest champion Jayce to the roster along with his supporting cards.
Day 1 was a fiesta! Players were experimenting with Jayce trying to pair him with different champions to find out the optimal build that lets our new Piltover champion shine.
Heimerdinger is one of the champions that is being paired with Jayce most commonly, the new supporting cards actually work well with Heimerdinger’s Turrets as well.
Both Heimer and Jayce are from Piltover and Zaun, so thier deck can freely choose a secondary region to go for. The most common regions that were tried on the ladder are Bandle City, Targon, and Freljord. Each region brings in its own unique package, Targon and Freljord, for example, run protection tools to keep your champions alive.
For this Deck of the Day, I chose the Bandle City package that gives access to value cards and draws, which makes sure you don’t run out of gas. The Bandle City region was probably the most popular region paired with Piltover Zaun and Jayce on Day 1.
- Gameplan
The Forge of Tomorrow is a solid landmark to play early on, the spell mana refund can be a massive early game tempo swing to help out your next plays.
You’re usually trying to bank mana for your 6-mana spell Assembly Line on turn 3. Playing it early achieves two objectives – it advances the level-up condition of Jayce and at the same time activates Hextech Handler‘s ability.
In some cases, you might opt to play Shock Blast early on, the removal card allows you to deal 3 damage to two units and at the same time advances the level-up condition of Jayce. Keep in mind that Jayce does not have to be on the board for you to level him up.
Depending on the matchup you might break your curve and play Adaptatron 3000,
Both your champions Jayce and Heimerdinger act as win conditions.
Heimerdinger creates Turrets that allow you to go wide on the board, giving value to the spells you play. Along with Hextech Handler, your Turrets will have extra stats making them more of a threat to your opponent and eventually running them out of resources.
Production Surge also acts as a way to create multiple Turrets on the board if you don’t have a Heimerdinger. You can also manipulate its cost and play for 6+ mana to level up your Jayce.
A leveled-up Jayce will create an Acceleration Gate in hand – the buff can empower your whole board. It is especially potent if Jayce himself is on the board as the Acceleration Gate will be triggered twice.
The additional keyword granted by the second Acceleration Gate can be useful when you set up for your attack. Keywords like Overwhelm, Scout, and Elusive can be absolutely devastating for your opponent.
The opponent will also be likely forced to commit resources to deal with Turrets which you can keep generating more of with Heimerdinger.
Shock Blast can act as a game finisher as well, the 3 damage onto the opponent’s Nexus can turn to 6 damage if you have your Jayce still on the board.
- Verdict
It seems players have been favoring Jayce with Heimerdinger so far. Both champions along with the supporting cards synergize well together, although it’s hard to tell just from the first day of the new patch release if the deck will be considered meta-competitive long-term.
It can be difficult to get the hang of the deck early on, the archetype does demand planning and forces you to make your decisions with consideration of your upcoming plays. Mana-banking for your 6+ mana spells is an important aspect of the deck.
I did find the deck extremely entertaining to play on the first day! Especially that it brought back Heimdeinger – a champion we haven’t seen much in competitive play for a long while.
