Patch 4.1 Masters Climbing Guide: Jayce Lux Ferros Control and Master Yi Illaoi

Introduction

Hello everyone, it’s Raphterra here again! The Patch 4.1 meta is continuously evolving, and it appears that many competitive decks are yet to be uncovered. Today, I’m presenting my third installment of the double deck guide series, which showcases Jayce Lux Ferros Control and Master Yi Illaoi. I utilized these decks to rank up from Platinum to Masters on my Americas account.

In this guide, I will discuss the strategy for each deck during the mulligan, early game, mid game, and late game. Additionally, if you’d like to see the decks in action, I’ve included a video guide for each one.

In case you missed out, here are the links to my previous double deck guide articles:

• Double Deck Guide: Kayle Zed and Jax Ornn
• Double Deck Guide: Kalista Nocturne Sion and Tristana Teemo

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Master Yi Illaoi

Statistics and Deck Overview

I’m starting with Master Yi Illaoi, the deck that I used to climb from Platinum to Diamond at 75% winrate (21 wins, 7 losses). Shoutouts to Greenslimey for the decklist.

This midrange combo deck utilizes Master Yi as a utility champion to support the Spawn strategy of Illaoi and Nagakabouros.

Mulligan

During the mulligan phase, prioritize early Tentacle generators like Watchful Idol, The Sea’s Voice, and Illaoi. Master Yi is a key card to keep in your opening hand, unless you already have The Sea’s Voice for Turn 3 plus Illaoi for Turn 4.

If you already have early Tentacle generators, consider keeping Eye of God and Tentacle Smash to reinforce your Spawn gameplan. Against aggressive decks, always keep Ionian Hookmaster as an early blocker.

You may also opt to keep utility cards if your hand is strong:

• Deny is useful against decks with powerful spells like Vengeance or Feel The Rush.
• Syncopation and Momentous Choice are great for protection.
• Unworthy Soul can be utilized against big units like Ornn or Viego.

Early Game

In the early game, focus on setting up your early Tentacle generators. Ideally, you’d want to play Watchful Idol on Turn 1 and Master Yi or The Sea’s Voice on Turn 3.

Depending on your opponent’s deck, you may also consider equipping Eye of God to launch a Spawn attack in the early turns. However, be mindful of removal spells as losing the unit with Eye of God will result in a significant loss of tempo.

Against certain matchups, be prepared to hold 3 spell mana to cast Tentacle Smash for key mid-game threats like Gwen, Tristana, or Kindred.

Mid Game

From Turn 4 onwards, the mid game begins, and you can start making sizable attacks. Playing and attacking with Illaoi on Turn 4 is the perfect mid-game opener, especially if you’ve been able to set up a Tentacle in the early game.

If you haven’t leveled your Illaoi after your first attack on Turn 4 or Turn 5, you can level her up by playing Tentacle Smash.

In some games, the early-mid game setup of Watchful Idol into The Sea’s Voice into Illaoi will be enough to win within two attacks. With this setup, the Overwhelm damage from Illaoi or the Tentacle will be too much for your opponent to handle. This will be your primary game plan to outpace aggressive decks like Pirate Aggro and multi-region swarm.

What if Illaoi dies?

However, this may not always be the case as you will face decks that can remove or stop Illaoi completely. In these games, focus on protecting and growing your Tentacle in preparation for your alternate late game win condition, Nagakabouros. If you have Nagakabouros in hand, aim to have a 12-power Tentacle by Turn 8 to enable and cast Nagakabouros’ Tantrum at focus speed. Casting Nagakabouros’ Tantrum should always be a game-winning move as long as you protect your Tentacle.

Keep in mind that whether you aim to win through Overwhelm damage from Illaoi, Overwhelm damage from The Sea’s Voice plus Tentacle, or Nagakabouros’ Tantrum, it is always best to prepare spell mana for Syncopation, Deny, Spirit’s Refuge, or Momentous Choice in case your opponent attempts to disrupt your gameplan.

Other things to keep in mind in the mid-late game are the following:

• If your Spawn gameplan doesn’t play out, you can always shift to leveling up Master Yi and giving him a powerful Improvised equipment.
• If you’re in need of healing against burn decks, Spirit’s Refuge can be your saving grace.
• If you’re up against decks that have big combo attacks, you can use Unworthy Soul to survive on your defense turns.

Video Guide: In-depth Gameplay Commentary

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Jayce Lux Ferros Control

Statistics and Deck Overview

Next up is Jayce Lux Albus Ferros control, the deck that I used to climb from Diamond to Masters at 85% winrate (11 wins, 2 losses). The sample size is smaller for this one because I climbed to high Diamond 3 with experimental decks before eventually switching to Jayce Lux.

This is a midrange/control deck that relies on 6-cost spells to empower its three main win conditions: Jayce, Lux, and Albus Ferros.

Mulligan

In the mulligan, I recommended to keep Forge Chief, The Forge of Tomorrow, Assembly Line, and Shock Blast. Against most decks, Lux is also a good choice, but not against aggressive matchups where early units are necessary for survival.

For aggressive decks, you need cards that can help fend off early pressure, such as Ferros Financier, Mageseeker Persuader, Vanguard Sergeant, Mystic Shot, and Thermogenic Beam.

Against decks with key champions, Hexbliterator should be kept as hard removal.

Early Game

In the first two turns, passing is usually the best option. This ensures that you have six mana prepared for Turn 3. Always skip the first two turns unless you have Forge Chief and can regain mana, or if you’re facing aggro where blockers are necessary.

With six mana available on turn 3, you have several options. Shock Blast can alleviate pressure, and Assembly Line can exert pressure. You can also simply play The Forge of Tomorrow or Vanguard Sergeant to save your spell mana for the mid game.

Mid Game

The mid game for Jayce Lux is centered around champions. How you play your champions will depend on the deck you’re facing.

Against aggressive decks that don’t have hard removals, playing your champions on curve is often viable. For example, Jayce on turn 4 can pick off small units with Challenger, while Lux on turn 5 can stop entire attacks with Barrier. Dropping Lux is usually safe against aggressive archetypes. Once Lux is played, you can start picking apart their board with your 6-cost spells and Lux‘s Final Spark.

How to play against decks with hard removals

The matchup against decks with hard removals like Vengeance or key champions like Veigar is more complicated. Directly dropping Lux into a Vengeance is not advisable.

Against these decks, your strategy is to build a threatening board by the end of Turn 4. You can do this through Assembly Line, The Forge of Tomorrow, and Vanguard Sergeant. If you have a strong enough board, you can start exerting pressure while keeping your mana up for your champions or hard removal.

As you exert pressure, your opponent will be forced to take Nexus damage or spend mana. If they start playing units or spells to stop your pressure, you can safely drop Lux. Even if Lux gets removed next turn, you can often get a Final Spark out of her by immediately casting one of your 6-cost spells.

Even if you don’t have Lux in hand, it’s still important to keep up mana while exerting pressure. This way, if your opponent is forced to play their key champions, you will have mana ready for your hard removal spells.

Late Game

If you can safely drop Lux on Turn 5 or 6, the late game will be easier as you can use multiple Final Sparks to clear your opponent’s board.

In case your Lux gets removed, your next strategy is to rely on Level 2 Jayce‘s Shock Blast or Acceleration Gate to win. Albus Ferros is a powerful burn unit in the late game and can usually deal more than 6 direct Nexus damage if allowed to attack. Additionally, he has the added benefit of drawing Jayce. Even if he dies, Jayce can continue applying pressure on the following turn.

Video Guide: In-depth Gameplay Commentary

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Closing Words

That’s it for now! Moving forward, I will be sharing guides featuring decks that I will use to climb to high Masters. With the ever-changing meta, I’m excited to experiment with new decks and find the most effective strategies for climbing the ranks.

I hope you found this article helpful and informative. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on YouTube, Discord, or Twitter!