u/Jun_TCG

Hello everyone, my name is Jun and I’m a Riftbound player from the Netherlands. I’m a small-time content creator on the side under the handle JunTCG. I have a YouTube channel and a Discord, with links on my profile. I have had the absolute pleasure of playing in most RQ’s and made day 2 a handful of times. My best result before this weekend was getting 71st place in Atlanta, with a 10-3 record, barely missing out on top 64. Hungry as it made me, I made the decision that weekend to travel to Sydney to prove to myself I could do better and I was certain there was a bug ready to help me. At RQ Sydney I got 48th place and had a three-way split for the best of Kha’Zix. Additionally I also got a 4-1 score at the Friday Pre-Regional, which gave me a good confidence boost going into the main event. This post will be a total recap of the event from my perspective. My decklist and matchups are down below, so if you’re not really interested in the event recap, scroll down for that. I will also be making a video that’s going to be more in-depth and will also dive deeply into questions asked in this post, so if you do have questions, ask away!

So let’s get one thing out of the way: officially, I’m not the best-of Kha’Zix at RQ Sydney. I ended day 1 7-1 with 3 other great Bug-Enthusiasts, and lead most of day 2 at first place, up until the last round. After round 10 I met the other two players still in contention, and I wanna firstly shoutout both of them, Ppoong and Jerri. At that point we setup the Council of Kha’Zix and we agreed at that point to a three-way split, with me getting the largest share being ahead in points. I won’t get into detail what the eventual shares or values were, but I can assure every single one of us was ecstatic with the guaranteed share and it really took off a weight from our shoulders.

Jerri and I were safe for top 64 by intentionally drawing the last round, but Ppoong was not. Naturally, Jerri and I went for the guaranteed top 64 having already settled on our share, while Ppoong still had to battle for his spot into top 64. Of course, we were all three really happy Ppoong ended up winning his round and all three of us cementing our name in the glorious top 64 of RQ Sydney. While Ppoong was on Aurora, he mentioned afterwards Jerri and I did the heavy lifting by actually playing Kha’Zix the way he was meant to be, but Ppoong wasn’t able to make aggro work. I expect Ppoong, without a doubt a great player, to follow the Council’s wishes and play Kha’Zix free of Dragons and gears.

As my last round was against Azir, which is a decent enough matchup for the bug, I feel like I had a good chance of ending up on top in the Best-Of race, but in the process, I would feel like a fool risking it all for just that title. My opponent and I had already agreed a split beforehand for our respective Best-Ofs, so the only thing we were still trying to ensure was that top 64 invite. Winning for us meant top 32, which equates to a $250 bonus compared to top 64, while losing meant ending up without an invite, without 40 tickets for a metal card, and without a top 64 promo. I have absolutely no regrets in my choice of intentionally drawing, and in my heart, I have earned the Best-Of Kha’Zix title.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get into the logistics of it all. What does this deck aim to do? It’s simple, really; I use orange aggression to score points early on, until I get out-statted on the board. I hope to be close to 6 points when that happens, as at this point, I try to win by using purple tricks to score the final 2 points in one turn. My aggression comes in the form of dashing in and out, similar to Lucian. I use both Lucian, as well as the legend ability to achieve this. That way I can develop my board and score points, all without losing any value on the board. As with all decks, different matchups come with different gameplans, but this is the gist of it. It’s nothing fancy beyond that, but most decks cannot keep up with this aggression if I don’t lose any units in the process. Additionally, Kha’Zix Mutating Horror is a really strong card, both aggressively and defensively. Kha’Zix and Rengar can both be considered undercosted, giving more might than energy spent for them, allowing me to get easy and efficient trades early on. Then when most decks stabilize, cards like Star-Crossed, Void Assault, and Punch First are the final nail in the coffin.

As with all decks, some cards are mandatory (if you want to play the deck the same way I succeeded with), and some cards are flexible. I will dive very deeply into the card by card analysis in my video guide, as I want to do that as clearly as possible, which will take a good chunk of time. Some of the standout cards were: Irresistible Faefolk, Fizz Trickster, Kha’Zix Mutating Horror, Rengar Trophy Hunter, Sabotage, and Void Assault.

I ended the tournament with a 9-2-2 record. My matchups were as follows:

R1: Ivern 2-0
R2: Kai’Sa 2-1
R3: Irelia 2-0
R4: Vex 0-2
R5: Annie 2-1
R6: Fiora 2-0
R7: Rumble 2-1
R8: Master Yi 2-1
R9: Irelia 1-1
R10: Irelia 2-1
R11: Sivir 1-2
R12: Fiora 2-1
R13: Azir ID

Some of the standout notes from this deck’s matchup spread are:

1. Leblanc is a good matchup. It’s not unlosable, but against most Leblanc players I would feel confident facing them. So much so that I decided to put the Gust in my side deck at the last moment, which felt like the right decision.
2. Irelia feels very favored. Partly, this is due to the maindecked anti-Aurora cards, which just so happen to work amazing against Irelia. But the amount of cards they truly have to Defy is so much, there will always be a point where they miss the Defy and end up losing their main unit.
3. Aurora decks are still not amazing to face, even with the amount of cards in the main deck specifically for this matchup.
4. Hold decks can be hard, but not unwinnable. The only hold deck that I hate facing is Vex, because their Vex combined with their hide cards are usually too much for me to remove the Vex.
5. I feel amazingly favored against every single fair deck that tries to conquer, hold, and play a fair game of Riftbound. I would call Kha’Zix the most unfair fair deck.

That’s gonna be it for me right now. I love talking about Riftbound and I try to keep my community included in every aspect of my development in Riftbound. I’m always happy to discuss anything Riftbound related so join my discord if you want any tips, discussions, or good vibes! I expect to have a Kha’Zix guide out on YouTube in about 1.5-2 weeks, so subscribe if you are looking forward to that guide and perhaps check out my earlier content. Firstly though, I will enjoy a small holiday after the Sydney RQ, but I’ll remain online to stay in touch with you all. Also, I have decided to keep the Best-Of-Kha’Zix metal card and came to an agreement with the Council we were all happy with, so you can bet I’m going to rock that sweet Bug everywhere I’ll go. I’ll be at RQ Utrecht and RQ Hartford, so if you’d like to say hi, please don’t be shy!

Thanks so much for reading and for the support to both me and Kha’Zix!

JunTCG