Deck Tech: Ezreal Annie - A deck for those who are good at math

With the release of the new expansion Worldwalker, some new cards were released and Annie, in particular, came with tools that brought out a new archetype!

Disintegrate and Tybaulk are the new stars in this card game, allowing us to use effective removals in the early game and finish with plenty of value.

It is a Control deck which can bring only cheap cards, because it counts with a lot of card draw and Ferros Financier to always maintain an arsenal of options in your hand.

The landmark Ravenbloom Conservatory is what allows you to fly beyond the limits. It will bring you a Tybaulk, which will make all of your skills, fast and slow spells have 1 more damage and your units gain 1 attack. At this moment, the value will skyrocket and you will leave your opponent eating dust.

Our focus is to preserve health points. We play for the late game and don't count on healing. All cards cost 4 or less, with the exception of Progress Day!. Don't spare your resources in the beginning, as you are easily able to refill your hand!

Regarding card draw, usually it is complicated to use it all and run out of mana in the round to answer the opponent's offensive. As our deck is cheap, usually it is possible to use Progress Day!, for instance, and still be able to get good answers, such as the main combo of Blade's Edge and Disintegrate

We finish the usual way, level 2 Ezreal and a lot of spells, finding that GG through burn. Another way is to swarm the board of Tybaulk's buffed units and get good attacks - a reminder that we also bring units that stun, making it that much easier.

Annie

Our LoR star, an excellent 1 cost unit. When attacking, she activates her own skill of dealing 2 damage to her blocker, and if there isn't a blocker, the damage goes to the enemy Nexus, and that means, her attack already progresses her own level up and the landmark Ravenbloom Conservatory.

Because she is a dangerous 1 cost unit with 2 health, it gets really complicated to interact with her without being at a mana disadvantage.

An interaction I find very strong is to always attack with her, and if a unit with more than 3 health blocks her, it can get disintegrated and die to Annie's skill. It is a constant threat to the opponent.

In case she levels up, she gives you Tibbers, a 6 cost unit, which stuns a unit and causes 2 damage to all enemies stunned or damaged. Be creative.

Ezreal

Honestly, my favorite champion. He allows you to play a more passive game and eventually finish with Ezreal's Burn. Let's dissect this champion, so that you are on the same page on why he is so incredible, especially on this list.

At level 1 and 2, everytime Ezreal strikes the opponent's Nexus, he creates a fleeting Mystic Shot on hand, which is very good, especially in later turns to help you close up the game.

After targeting enemy units 6 times he levels up. At this moment he becomes a big threat. Everytime he plays a spell, he will cause 1 damage to the Nexus and, in case it targets an enemy, he deals 2 to the nexus.

What makes Ezreal close up games really well in this list is the amount of spells and card draw. All of the sudden a burst 8 damage lethal is possible using very little mana, thanks to the new rule, in which just by PLAYING the spells Ezreal already deals damage to the Nexus.

Basically everyone will help you stall the game, so that you get to late game healthy.

Protective Spiders

In this list we bring, 3 types of different spiders.

House Spider is an excellent blocker, in which by 2 mana, you get two blockers and a total of 3 health and 3 attack on board. Looking at it this way, it is easy to realize how powerful this simple common card is. After Tybaulk drops on table, they become even more threatening, as they can deal up to 5 damage total.

Spell Slinger and Arachnoid Sentry have the same effect of targeting an opponent and stunning it. A lot of things happen here, Ezreal gains 1 point towards his level up; in a defensive turn the stun disturbs the opponent's attack; and in an attack turn the stun strengthens your offensive and, if that wasn't enough, it activates Ravenous Flock, which can only target stunned or damaged units.

Ferros Financier

I'm always impressed about how much time goes by and how little complaints I hear about this card. Basically it is a card that already comes STAPLED into any Piltover and Zaun deck.

Very cheap, it is a decent blocker and still generates you an incredible value for later moments in the game. Literally a 6 or more cost spell in the regions you're bringing.

Being the best options:

Shock Blast and Trueshot Barrage when you need removals.

Assembly Line and Strength in Numbers when you need to be aggressive, very good against slower lists, like Feel The Rush and Deep.

Progress Day! and Sputtering Songspinner when card draw is necessary. Don't underestimate Sputtering, this card has a huge potential with Ezreal and Tybaulk, as it can generate any 2 cost cards, maybe even Vile Feast, Make It Rain, etc.

Glorious Evolution has its value, but it is very risky to be able to cast such an expensive spell which doesn't generate you value instantly.

We have three categories of spells in this deck. The pings, the removals and the card draws.

Card Draw

Not much to comment here, Progress Day! is quite expensive, but it draws you 3 cards and reduces their cost in 1.

Refilling your hand is extremely important, as you will spend a LOT OF RESOURCES to keep yourself healthy.

Statikk Shock is your jack of all trades. Besides damaging two units, it draws you a card. We will discuss some small combos quite powerful with this card in a bit.

Removals

The removals in this deck are very punctual, that is, they can indeed kill the intended unit.

They all are extremely low cost, but ask for a previous preparation to work.

In the case of Scorched Earth and Ravenous Flock the targeted unit needs to be damaged, and because of that they are balanced cards, as you need to spend one card to damage and another one to slay.

Ravenous Flock deals 4 damage to a damaged unit for 1 mana. It isn't a punctual removal, but rare are the units which are able to be damaged and still hold off 4 more damage.

Disintegrate came with a different theme. Because the next time the unit takes damage it dies, you can put in stack a spell that deals damage alongside Disintegrate, being able to quickly slay the enemy unit this way without needing to pass priority so many times.

Let's talk about the Pings, because their interactions are quite interesting.

Pings

These cards which deal 1 damage, we call "Pings".

Pings are very important to activate your removals. It is very important for us to think about how much mana we are spending.

Let's take Vengeance as an example. 6 mana and 1 card to slay a unit.

We will always spend two cards, but we are left in mana advantage, Blade's Edge + Disintegrate, is 3 mana and 2 cards to slay a unit, this is the cheapest combo.

My favorite combo is Statikk Shock + Disintegrate, which is 6 mana, 2 cards to remove a unit and buy 1. This way we have the same cost as a Vengeance.

Blade's Edge and Mystic Shot serve as pings to help clear the board early, but after Tybaulk has already been summoned and level 2 Ezreal is on board, it is quite interesting to use them as burn.

The deck is built on cheap cards. Considering that, be picky with your initial hand, and hard mulligan for what you need.

Usually you want to go after Ravenbloom Conservatory and have your Tybaulk be summoned! So let's prioritize the small units like Annie, Spell Slinger, Ferros Financier and House Spider. Basically all your units are an early game engine.

Against more control focused matchups, you want to go after your strategy and hit as much as possible.

Against more aggressive matchups it is interesting to keep on your hand some removals. It is hard to keep a board development rhythm, so being able to answer with fast spells will help you a lot in keeping yourself healthy.

Midrange decks with almost no card draw, it is as easy as taking candy from a child.

Lurk

This deck is extremely run over by Ezreal and Annie. Our deck has 3 stuns and a lot of cheap removal, because lurkers are a lot of units with high attack, low health and low cost and need to attack constantly to have an effect.

Your focus will be to kill everything they put on board and if possible prevent an attack, be it with removals or stuns.

Something to look out for is to never allow a Rek'Sai attack. Be very careful with Rite of Negation; don't play too many spells at once, in case the opponent has 4 or more mana.

Viego and Legion Deserter

This deck has some key units, which if not quickly answered, there isn't much to do about them.

Both decks have good answers, so focus on small threats, and force your opponent to have to answer them.

Viego, Invasive Hydravine and Legion Deserter need to die immediately, keep Scorched Earth, Ravenous Flock and Disintegrate for those units.

Try to preserve your health points, as this list usually takes Atrocity and you can get cheesed on.

Aphelios Vi

A targon list which has a swarm theme. It will fill up the board with small units taking advantage of units which are summoned when discarded. After a full board, it will try to finish up with The Winding Light.

Focus on removing everything early, especially Aphelios, which will generate a lot of value with his weapons. Eventually, the opponent won't have resources anymore to compete with you and the victory will be yours.

Illaoi/J4 & Bard/Galio & Pantheon/Yuumi

I decided to put a lot of decks together because they are the Demacia midrange piles, are very alike, are unfavored into removals and don't have card draw.

Honestly, disintegrate and a ping on the correct target is enough for the opponent to concede. Focus on the value engines, don't let anything become a snowball.

Be careful with Tentacles, with Bard and Yuumi, these are all simple matches which resolve themselves the same way.

Lists that can win with some type of combo or the really fast ones are the nightmares.

Frozen Thralls

This matchup is a nightmare, the best thing you can do is to hard mulligan after Scorched Earth.

Removing the Frozen Thralls is quite complicated, as it is "NORMAL" to get 4 8/8s on round 6.

If you face a lot of these matches, I recommend replacing the Progress Day!s for Piltovan Tellstones, this way you have more ways to deal with landmarks.

Feel The Rush

Slow list, it is easy to deal with the threats, but the problem is that it deals with us even better.

She Who Wanders has the potential to completely obliterate our board and our hand and there isn't a play to answer it. If she is summoned, go esc and concede.

Play your game, play your units on board, never play around Avalanche and try to hit as much damage as possible. Be aware that it is a tough matchup and go for all or nothing.

Deep

I put it as an unfavorable matchup, because if your opponent plays for Maokai, quickly your deck will be obliterated and it's GG.

Try to quickly slay Maokai and Sea Scarab, which are cards which will keep tossing.

Play aggressively, play units and go for combat. Ferros Financier creates spells which summon units, prioritizing them early to fight for the board. In case you come to a late game, look for the burns, because you simply can't fight against sea monsters.

Annie Jhin

Burn list, very focused on units with a lot of health, if you draw your removals right, the game is easily yours. The problem is that they always come very strong and very quickly, and you can come with a very slow hand and less answers, leaving you in a very vulnerable situation.

There are some very beefy units which can't go into combat, as to not get a skill on the stack and help leveling up Annie and Jhin, as for instance, Boomcrew Rookie.

Fizz Riven

This one unfortunately there is not much you can do. The deck is about dropping Fizz on board, alongside Papercraft Dragon and has a very strong, double attack, elusive, impossible to interact with unit.

The solution I've found to deal with Fizz is to take Rocket Barrage. It isn't a terrible spell and deals damage to the whole board, and as Fizz isn't targeted, he ends up dying. But this card doesn't strengthen your strategy a lot, but is still an excellent card against swarm decks, which honestly only Aphelios & Vi are hard punished by this card.

As I've said above, Piltovan Tellstones is a good swap to Progress Day!, as it gives you options to other situations. Paying 9 mana for a Progress Day! is quite bad, but increases your chances against impossible matchups.

I like a more fluid deck with card draw, bringing Station Archivist and Whispered Words instead of Progress Day! makes the deck less explosive and a little more consistent, but it's more about taste here.

I'm very glad with the gameplay that this list proposes. I was already sick of playing Midrange in which everything was about summoning units on board and everything was resolved in combat.

This deck allows you to play strategically, always thinking about future turns and how to use your mana well. The card draw makes your deck pretty consistent, so it is rare to brick. Even when I lose, I can perceive different lines which could have won me the games, as it isn't a linear list.

I think it is very good for veteran players who master the Runeterra rules and have a good understanding of mana use.