Illaoi, Ganking Monstress [Combo, S4] (ENG Guide)

Riftbound's point system (mostly) rests on controlling a battlefield once per turn, via holds and conquers. So, each player is limited to scoring two points a turn; generally, achieved by:

1. holding two battlefields (keep unit control through opponent's turn)
2. conquering both battlefields on your own turn,
3. holding one battlefield and conquering another.
   
   

With these fundamentals in mind, Illaoi's card text encourages her to score twice in a single turn to maximize Tentacle token generation (and Might increases).

This deck uses a low-cost package of vision, predict and draw to cycle to our scoring combo - Stacked Deck, Mystic Poro, and Scryer’s Bloom.

Reminder: if Miss Fortune, Buccaneer (MFB) is played to an open battlefield uncontested, then she scores a point. The same goes for Baron Nashor. These are great closing strategies. Alternatively, playing MFB in Base can be a safe way to enable playing Illaoi on an Open Battlefield - which, if unanswered, means she spawns 1 Tentacle on play, and 1 Tentacle on scoring.

Battlefields (BFs):

Trifarian War Camp - Good against Mel & Ahri de-buff decks. The BF soft-counters their strategy, but the big threat will be Watcher. This also good against Yi-/Irelia-style decks that buff a single unit; War Camp's preference for number advantages you allow you to get the edge on might if you are saving your tentacles for Baron.

Back-Alley Bar - Might additions for gank-heavy playstyles. Gives Fae Porter and its companion an extra 2 Might in the battlefield they gank to. Allows you to start swinging like crazy on-curve.

Other Match-Up Dependent BFs:

Vilemaw's Lair - This is a battlefield where you rarely ever want to play Tentacles anywhere other than base. But ensures pesky non-ganking mobility decks stay in ganking territory.

Mystic Vortex - Good against spell slinging decks that need answers to your body-forward swings.

Targon's Peak - Sidedeck in your Rengar or an extra Nidalee for holding support. If you keep ganking back and forth, then you get the extra Ready runes every other turn.

Illaoi Opening Hands:

SAFE SCENARIO: Mobilize/Treasure Hunter, Fae Porter, Illaoi

Turn 1: Mobilize for extra rune; Pass. OR Develop Treasure Hunter; Pass.

Turn 2: Develop Fae Porter; Pass. OR Conquer a safe BF w/ Treasure Hunter [Play Gold]; Fortify Battlefield with Fae Porter; Pass.

Turn 3: Play Illaoi; Swing for Battlefield with both Fae Porter and Illaoi for 9 Might; Pass. [If playing from Back-Alley Bar, then this is an 11 Might Swing on Turn 3]

NOTE: If started first, you have 1 Ready rune; second, 2 Ready runes. If you conquered on Targon's peak, that's 3 or 4 Ready Runes for holding, respectively.

Turn 4: Gank with Illaoi or Fae Porter.

GAMBLE SCENARIO: Mystic Poro, Here to Help, Illaoi, Stacked Deck

Turn 1: Develop 2 Drop [Mystic Poro, vision looking for Here to Help]; Pass.

Turn 2: Conquer an Open Battlefield with 2 Drop; Pay 1 power to hide “Here to Help”; Pass. (Use Floated Energy to Stack Deck, if possible, or vice versa)

On Opponent Turn: Play Illaoi to Battlefield held by 2 Drop for 3 Energy; play one tentacle to base.

Turn 3: Illaoi holds for second tentacle for 6-Might; Trigger Miss Fortune Legend and Gank w/ +2 Tentacle Illaoi

SLOW SCENARIO: Treasure Hunter, Illaoi, Up from the Depths

Pay for power sparingly if you don’t have the combo ready, to ensure resources available for baron.

Heavy mulligan for treasure hunter in this case, so you can play Miss Fortune into Illaoi as close to on curve without sacrificing power.

With a Miss Fortune, Buccaneer at base, Illaoi can play to open battlefields for two tentacles on spawn for 6 Might.

Turn 1: Develop 2 Drop [Treasure Hunter]; Pass.

Turn 2: Move to contest a Battlefield with 2 Drop; Play exhausted gold to base; Play Up from the Depths tentacles to base; Pass.

Turn 3: Play Chosen Champion - Miss Fortune, Buccaneer - to base using gold.

Turn 4: Play Illaoi to an Open Battlefield, if successful, Illaoi conquers and has 8 Might (& 4 Tentacles).

From here, an Illaoi that holds scores one to spawn a tentacle (+1 Might to Illaoi) and use Miss Fortune, Bounty Hunter's "Give a unit GANKING this turn" to conquer a second battlefield for two points in a turn. This can also be accomplished with similar effect via Amateur Recital.

Use a reawakened runes to keep Illaoi on board and ganking. Orange for Combat Tricks and Purple for Movement/Recalls - leveraging Tentacles to Starcrosses trade 1 or 2 Might against a troublesome enemy unit.

Generally, I let tentacles spawn in base to keep Illaoi's Might increases safe, but also keep them out of most spell's reach. This also comes in handy to bank tentacles for when you need Baron to close out games, making the swarm of tokens 3 Might. In Yi, Mel or Ahri match-ups, I prefer to use Trifarian Battlegrounds to counter Might/Unit differences.