Test-Piloting #6 – (cayben7's?) Ekko Jinx
Astrofeesh, Leer and Yondy take for a spin this data-mined twist on Predict
Alright, test run #6! If you're interested in seeing how these tests shape up, you can check
For this sixth test-piloting, we have…
Ekko Jinx
This is a deck Yondy found combing the top of the ladder -- the original concept seems to be from an AM player called cayben7, who was #112 in their server when we took this list, and with some very solid stats:
Our testers:
Astrofeesh, of Caitlyn Mill fame, won a few more than he lost after playing half a dozen games,
Recurrent bold pilot Yondy got steamrolled playing more than a dozen games… =(
Last Double Champ Leer, testing half a dozen games in Diamond, came out even.
About the Deck
Yondy: Alright, so this is a Combo deck that looks to do two things:
Set up a wide board, buffed with Voice of the Risen, and
Turbo-level Ekko and use his rallies (from Chronobreaks) to kill the opponent.
This deck differs from the traditional Ekko Zilean deck in that it uses Jinx to keep yourself in the game when the inevitable moment comes where you run out of cards and actually turns that into an advantage.
Leer: Aw, come on, it's aggro. We have Jinx in our deck… Have you ever seen Jinx in another archetype than aggro?!
Astrofeesh: I would say this deck is solidly on the aggro side, with a bit of combo thrown in. But, yes, like in Ekko Zilean, the most effective gameplan I found was to swarm the board with your cheap Predict units, use Predict to ensure you draw your champs, and then finish games by Chronobreaking or Death Rocketing your foe for the last lethal push.
Ekko is very solidly our MVP – every single game I won was thanks to Chronobreak. And out of my two losses, one was because I didn’t ever find Ekko – Jinx was just barely too slow to get the win on her own – and the other I wasn’t able to keep enough of a board against a control deck to get a good Chronobreak swing turn.
All the cheap Predicts felt very strong as well, especially Prescience, Scrying Sands, and Careful Preparations.
I switched Zaunite Urchin, one Rite of Negation, and one Voice of the Risen to add Mystic Shot, which was also a game-saver so I think it was a worthwhile addition.
Leer: I went for three Mystic Shots too.
Rite of Negation could maybe work as a one-of, but I feel we are a proactive deck that needs to empty its hand to level Jinx, so I cut both copies. And I cut the Zaunite Urchin.
Yondy: Similar here. In my case, I swapped one Urchin and one Rite for two Mystic Shots.
Leer: I also found Careful Preparations as counterproductive to Jinx' level up. I didn't want our list to become "Zilean Ekko, but with Jinx", so I kept it, but I'd like to swap it with… I'm not sure exactly what, but something else with Predict.
Astrofeesh: The deck also felt very fragile. A control deck that can clear off your cheap units and kill your champs is a pretty unwinnable matchup, but that’s more a problem with Predict as an archetype than this deck specifically.
Yondy: Agreed. Since all the units in the deck are really bad without Voice of the Risen, we can't hold the board for long.
And our inability to maintain a board presence if we don't draw our pieces makes us weak to both bad luck and our own misplays. A single wrong round means we lose the game, but it often also feels like there was nothing we could do from the beginning. Not a deck for the faint of heart.
Astrofeesh: I guess the problem is that Jinx feels like our weakest link.
She has a tendency to brick your hand a bit since she competes with the four-drop slot with Ekko, and while she can give some very good value, she wasn’t enough to carry games without drawing into Ekko.
She might be worth cutting down to two copies, or even one copy and make room for Zilean, since three Jinxs felt very clunky.
Leer: Jinx does have more comeback potential due to her level up…
… but, yes: she can also be the reason why we need a comeback in the first place. Zilean has the upside of letting us more consistently level Ekko and activate Voice of the Risen/The Absolver, while also being a "comeback tool/value generator" through his level up.
Astrofeesh: Yeah. The issue is that this deck just feels like a slightly worse version of Ekko/Zilean. A copy or two of Jinx might still be useful, though.
In Closing
Astrofeesh: I do really like this deck, and I think it might be one of the most viable Jinx decks, but I did end up feeling like it doesn’t differentiate enough from Ekko Zilean Predict to not feel like a slightly worse version of that deck.
Yondy: On the plus side, the deck feels like it has a really high skill ceiling, and there's twice the decisions to be made throughout a game than there are in any other deck.
When everything works, you feel like a master strategist, and it feels like you were able to out-think your opponent.
And we get to play Jinx, of course! =)
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