Deck Tech: Kai'sa and her unbeatable strength!

Out of the three champions that came with the set Forces From Beyond, one clearly came out on top: Kai’Sa. This champion is not only the strongest champion from this expansion, but is also currently one of the strongest champions in the whole game! This is proven by the fact that its most popular deck currently has this champion alone, without the presence of any other champion. And it is this deck exactly which I will unravel in today’s article. Let’s go?!

Just like Gwen, Kai’sa brought a new keyword into the game: Evolve. This keyword works like so: after you’ve played units with 6+ keywords which are not Evolve (that means, it doesn’t count for its own progress), the units with Evolve gain a +2+2 buff and in Kai’Sa’s case, she levels up.

Considering Kai’sa’s immense power level at level 2, her level up condition is quite easy to reach, so her deck has units with more than one keyword so that she levels up as soon as possible!

Voidling is an essential unit for this deck, because its keyword changes each round (while it is on your hand), so you have control over which keyword you want it to have and this way, you will only summon it with the best keyword for your gameplan. Ideally, the best is to summon it when it has a keyword that the other units in your deck don’t have, so that this way, Evolve’s progress can be even easier to reach.

Another 1 cost unit that this deck has is Xer’Sai Hatchling, a unit commonly seen in Lurk lists. Though it seems weird to have this card here, you need to take into account that the Xer’Sai Hatchling has Lurk and Fearsome, so it’s already 2 keywords for Evolve’s progress, on round 1 already, so it is quite strong.

Out of Kai’Sa’s followers, this deck has 3 of them, and they are: Belvethi Elder, which has Spellshield, Void Blaster, which has Overwhelm, and Void Abomination, which, well.. Is Void’s Abomination! Probably, the strongest 8 cost unit in the whole game. Void Abomination gets all positive keywords that you’ve played throughout the match. That’s right, it gets it just through you playing those keywords, it doesn’t need to see you play them. And more: when it is on board, when you play a unit with a keyword you haven’t yet played before putting Void Abomination on board, it still gets the keywords, that is, it is a continuous effect and transforms this unit in an excellent finisher due to the absurd amount of keyword this unit can hoard.

Moving away from Kai’Sa’s set, there are other units which are quite important for the deck to work, most being units which have more than one keyword. Petricite Broadwing brings out Formidable, which is a keyword that no other units in this deck have and it gains Challenger when another unit is played, making Evolve’s countdown go down one more. Radiant Guardian, when she is summoned after one of your units dies in the round, is granted Tough and Lifesteal, keywords which are extremely important, and will make you come back into difficult matches. Kai’sa and Void Abomination with Lifesteal can wreck tremendous havoc! Greenfang Warden isn’t a good unit, but it has important keywords, which are: Barrier and Scout. Considering that Scout is one of the strongest keywords in the whole game, it is nice to have another way to give this keyword to Kai’sa, as Valor is quite a fragile unit.

Finally we have Merciless Hunter, which brings out Fearsome, a keyword that Xer’Sai Hatchling already has, but the important thing about this unit is its effect: granting Vulnerable to any enemy unit. With that, you can kill any enemy unit in the early game.

The spells are, in their majority, ways to protect Kai’Sa. We have Chain Vest, which grants Tough and Sharpsight, which besides buffing the unit +1+2, makes it able to block Elusive too. The Absolver, depending on the situation, can be used to protect, but ideally you will use this spell aggressively, to deal more damage.

Rite of Calling is a way to draw Kai’Sa, after all a deck with only one champion, without its champion, doesn’t work, right? So there are 3 copies of this spell to guarantee you will draw Kai’Sa. Even when you already have the champion in hand, drawing another Kai’Sa can be interesting, as it allows you to use Supercharge, which grants Spellshield and Overwhelm to a unit. If you use this spell on Valor and use Second Skin on it, Kai’Sa gets 4 keywords, which alongside the 2 she already has, adds up 6 damage on the ability Icathian Rain, the champion’s skill in her leveled form.

I’ve talked about Valor, but this is its source: the spell Blinding Assault is one of this deck’s key cards and it is ideal that it is used at the the moment you will summon Kai’Sa, to guarantee this champion will be able to get its keywords.

Finally, we have Concerted Strike to get rid of problematic units and Cataclysm, which allows for more attacks with Kai’Sa. If she already has Scout, using Cataclysm practically determines the match’s end!

As this deck uses two extremely strong regions, there are many cards that can be implemented. I will suggest other cards that I’ve seen be used in other versions of this deck and that I believe that are worth highlighting.

It is on you, who will be playing the deck, to figure out what to take out and what to put in, okay? Building a deck takes into account the player’s personal taste a lot, so, I will only list other cards that can be put in this deck and the decision to put them or not is going to be up to you.

Rite of Negation and Ancient Hourglass are very strong spells that can protect your Kai’Sa from enemy removals; Golden Aegis is another way to Rally, as Cataclysm can be canceled if your opponent slays the units you targeted. Quicksand is quite interesting when you’re facing another Kai’Sa, that is, in a mirror. Finally, there’s the unit Silverwing Diver, which even though is a little expensive, has the keyword Elusive, which makes Kai’Sa and Void Abomination even stronger!

With this deck you want to Evolve as soon as possible, so it is important to keep in hand units such as Xer’Sai Hatchling and Petricite Broadwing, which together count 4 different keywords. Kai’Sa is essential to keep in your hand, as it is your main win condition. Blinding Assault is also important to keep, as it is a very important spell for your gameplan.

Your playstyle is more centered around combo, in which you will put all your combo pieces as soon as possible so that between rounds 5-7, you are able to finish your matches with a leveled Kai’Sa. In case you can’t finish it with her, Void Abomination is your secondary way to win games.

Against aggro decks, ideally you will hold on until you can play Radiant Guardian, which almost always can wreck aggro decks.

Kai’Sa’s deck is an aggressive combo, so it can perform very well into slower decks such as Feel The Rush, Anivia and Bard/Shen. As for aggro decks, it struggles a lot more, being able to win only withRadiant Guardian’s help. Like so, Kai’Sa tends to lose against Azir/Irelia, Annie/Katarina/Ziggs, and Annie/Jhin.

What do you think about this deck? Are you with the crew of players who play it or the ones who refuse to do so because it is so “broken”? Do you believe Kai’Sa will get nerfed? Tell me all about it in the comment section!