Maokai Kindred: A Snapvine Apocalypse

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Kindred Maokai created by Sorry • last updated 1 year ago

Regions

10

30

Types

6

18

16

0

0

Rarities

6

4

7

23

Mana Cost

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7+

Champions (6)

4

Kindred

3

4

Maokai

3

followers (18)

1

Hapless Aristocrat

2

2

Avarosan Sentry

3

2

Fading Icon

3

2

Minion

3

3

The Undying

1

4

Babbling Bjerg

2

4

Spirit Leech

1

7

Overgrown Snapvine

3

Spells (16)

1

Three Sisters

3

2

Glimpse Beyond

3

2

Vile Feast

3

4

The Box

2

6

Vengeance

3

7

Pack Mentality

2

• Origins

Hey there, Sorry here! In today’s Deck of the Day, I’ll feature quite an odd brew. It’s a Maokai Kindred Snapvine Freljord deck, that was a bit of a mouthful!

With the release of Patch 3.0, both Maokai and Kindred received buffs. Kindred especially gained more popularity, where the champion was run in different archetypes, Ezreal Kindred, Kindred Viego, and many more.

Spanish Master ranked player Maskert decided to combine both Maokai and Kindred in one deck, while also including Overgrown Snapvine, a card we don’t really get to see being played much. The build also runs multiple additional pieces that synergize with each either other in different and unexpected ways. Let’s get started!

• Gameplan

A lot is going on with this deck, so let’s start with the win conditions. There’s two of them! The primary win condition is overtaking the board with Kindred and Overgrown Snapvine, while the secondary win condition is leveling up Maokai and obliterating your opponent’s deck.

In the mulligan phase, you’ll be looking for your champions along with early cards like Hapless Aristocrat, Avarosan Sentry, and Minion.

Although the deck runs a lot of early units, you really want to try and hold on to them instead of just throwing everything on the board. Those cheap units allow you to trigger Maokai‘s effect, at the same time can act as food for your Overgrown Snapvine.

Vile Feast, The Box, Glimpse Beyond, and Saplings all act as Kindred’s fodder that will allow them to mark a unit. Kindred is a threatening champion that forces your opponent to commit resources to remove them.

Since Overgrown Snapvine is such an essential card for your game plan, Babbling Bjerg is there to draw exactly it! While Snapvine is on the board any followers you summon from now on will be killed and an Overgrown Snapvine will be summoned in its place.

Our deck takes full advantage of that! Both Hapless Aristocrat and Fading Icon will summon two Snapvines. The Undying will continue to summon an Overgrown Snapvine every turn it revives, meaning you will have an additional ally at the start of the turn to attack/defend. The Spiderlings summoned by Vile Feast will get you an Overgrown Snapvine. Finally, Maokai summoning a Sapling will also trigger Overgrown Snapvine.

Basically, you’ll try to overpower your opponent on board presence and swing for a wide board of Snapvines. The deck does run Pack Mentality, which will give you the edge if your opponent can keep up with board development. The +2|+2 and Overwhelm keywords on all your units could threaten to close out the game with a single wide attack.

• Verdict

Alright, the serious question – is the deck Tier 1? Will the deck save us from the dominance of Kennen Ahri on the competitive ladder and tournament scene? Absolutely not!

I don’t think Maokai Kindred even falls under Tier 2, but it is lots of fun though! Your opponent will likely have no idea what you’re setting up, and while they’re trying to decipher your deck it will give you time to catch them by surprise once your Snapvines take over the board.

Hopefully, you enjoyed today’s Deck of the Day, I’ll see you again with another feature in the near future!