Test-Piloting: Astrofeesh Cait Mill

Hazy, Yondy and Itch take Astrofeesh's Mill Deck for a spin!

Yondy

Hazy

, and

Itch

Jul 03, 2022

Test-Piloting: Astrofeesh Cait Mill

Alright, test run #5! If you're interested in seeing how these tests shape up, you can check

For this fifth test-piloting, we have…

Astrofeesh Involuntary Artistry – Caitlyn Mill

For this particular case, we took a well-tested and refined homebrew; Astrofeesh wrote extensively about it in this previous RIWAN article:

Runeterra, in Words and Numbers

LoR Homebrews: Involuntary Artistry

Hey, I’m Astrofeesh! I don’t really use Twitter, but you can find me on Discord as Astrofeesh#7532, and in Runeterra.ar at: https://runeterra.ar/j8X1XkrrUch9wbPfuNwFo13S9hP2 … where I occasionally post fun decks I make. I’ve been playing LoR regularly since Beta, but I’ve never climbed past Diamond since I don’t really have the patience to grind to Masters…

3 years ago · Astrofeesh

Link to Decklist [HERE] — this is the list our pilots tested; notice there’s a refined list (based on the tests) by the end of the article! =)

Our testers:

Hazy tried the deck for around eight games, and got steamrolled with it… =(
Yondy had a bit better luck, and got to around 40% WR playing more than a dozen games.
Itch came out ahead after playing half a dozen games.

About the Deck

Yondy: This is a very unusual control deck that looks to manage the enemy board with Flashbombs and removal, while stalling the game until the opponent runs out of steam or cards.

Hazy: A very cool concept – the Mill archetype is something I have played and enjoyed in other CCGs, but in LoR it's quite hard to get the combo rolling. It's really cool when you do, though! 😄

Itch: Yep, quite a unique control deck.

Yondy: Indeed! The unorthodox win condition makes it a really fun deck to play – if you don't get steamrolled right away, every game will be close and fun.

Hazy: That is this deck's draw: a novel way of seeing Caitlyn while also leveling her up and disrupting the opponent's deck.

It's a control deck through and through: you play for some early setup, then try to get rid of your foe's key pieces while milling their deck out.

Yondy: Did you do any changes?

Itch: Nope.

Hazy: Me neither; I tested it as-is. You?

Yondy: I swapped one Sump Fumes and added one Vengeance.

Itch: I didn't dislike Sump Fumes myself, but I'd add an extra Vengeance, yes.

Yondy: Overall, I felt our deck lacks staying power in the late game, which can make you really sad when you lose a 15+ turn game because you ran out of quality cards to play. Since the deck lacks proper late-game tools, and most of the time has no problem surviving the early game, I'd cut the Hapless Aristocrats and the Sump Fumes to make room for some combination of copies of Corina Mastermind and Ledros.

Itch: In my case, Hapless Aristocrat felt good, and so did our suit of three-mana removal, including Sump Fumes; Vile Feast and Vengeance worked well, too – as said, I'd love another copy of Vengeance, and I would also add Thermobeam.

Our landmark, Hexcore Foundry, is our MVP, by the way.

Hazy: For sure.

Itch: On the minus side, I didn't quite like Mystic Shot in this list, and Sting Officer was so-so (although a good anti-Elusives tech).

And three copies of Insider Knowledge felt too much – perhaps swap some of them for Most Wanted?

Yondy: Ah, yes! I'd also like to try Most Wanted because it seems a lot of fun.

And I couldn't agree more about Insider Knowledge – it feels really weird as a three-of. It's a card that makes a lot of sense to include, but you almost never want to play. You rarely have enough Flashbombs to justify giving your opponent two cards in return, and the only times I've used it to win, it felt like I would have won regardless.

Also, against aggro decks it'll make you lose no matter the amount of Flashbomb traps that you activated – that one of the feelsbad aspects of the mill concept: feeding cards to decks that thrive when they get them.

Itch: Overall, our deck is super fun if you like alternate wincons, or long grindy Shadow Isles control. It's probably not great for hitting Masters efficiently, but I think it can have a positive WR in the right hands.

In general, I think we're weak against Viego Deserter due to us lacking Fearsome blockers, but other matchups felt good or playable. And against Annie aggro it felt really strong – my guess is that our deck should be good into most board-centric Noxus aggro.

Playing against it, though, is another matter – I tested it against some friends as well, and it's about as fun as going against Mechathun Warrior from the Boomsday expansion in Hearthstone – veeery slow and painful.

Yondy: Personally, I love to see these kinds of concepts because they leave me hopeful about finding new and fun win conditions.

Legends of Runeterra is a game that allows for a great variety of strategies, but for players like us, who know the meta, it's always refreshing to see that there are other ways to have fun that haven't already been played to death on the competitive side of the game.

I really wish strategies like these were viable… although my opponents during these tests would probably beg to differ! =)