Master Yi, Wuju Bladesman – Best Decks & Cards

Table of Contents

1 Play Style
2 Key Cards
3 Competitive Status
4 Performances in Unleashed
5 Master Yi, Wuju Bladesman Decks

Master Yi has tempered his body and sharpened his mind, so that thought and action have become almost as one. Though he chooses to enter into violence only as a last resort, the grace and speed of his blade ensures resolution is always swift. As one of the last living practitioners of the Ionian art of Wuju, Yi has devoted his life to continuing the legacy of his people—scrutinizing potential new disciples with the Seven Lenses of Insight to identify the most worthy among them.

Play Style

In this new set, Master Yi stayed true to its hold oriented play-style, aimed at building a dominant position early on the opponent will struggle to contest. In that strategy, the new additions from Unleashed are doing a fantastic job. Indeed, this set brought multiple units to beef up Master Yi's mid game alongside more card draw.

Particularly, the addition of UNL-120 now gives the Wuju Bladesman a mighty unit able to conquer back a battlefield as soon as it is lost.

Those who played Master Yi in Origins or Spiritforged will feel right at home in Unleashed, enjoying an improved build of their favourite legend. Previously, this legend was already a strong performer due to its ability to hold early on and score points without being a conquer oriented legend.

Now, Master Yi is much more durable, both due to more card draw, but also thanks to new units improving both its reliability, or ability to take back a battlefield as soon as it is lost.

Key Cards

UNL-113 is the new chosen champion for the deck, although we won't get to level 6 except when the 4-cost manages to stick to the board and gain XP himself. The card doesn't represent the backbone of the deck, but this switch from OGS-009 makes sure Master Yi has a turn 2 play available in every match.

Plus, the card does not carry a power cost, meaning we know we can safely reach 6 runes on turn three, and develop SFD-105 before starting to recycle our runes.

Improved reliability is the theme of OGS-019 in Unleashed. Indeed, UNL-053 and SFD-036 both draw a card, making these two the perfect early units to develop without committing much resources. We'll need the extra cards once we enter the mid-game, and the back and forth on battlefields starts.

There are three possible scenarios in any Riftbound game when it comes to battlefields :

You manage to hold and build an early lead on the scoreboard.
You trade battlefields with your opponent, so the scoreboard progresses symmetrically.
You opponent manages to hold, and you fall behind early on.

The third scenario is one very few decks accept. However, Master Yi is very good whether it has to play in scenario #1 or #2.

Indeed, its ability is designed to support a hold oriented line of play, buffing SFD-036 to represent 4-might or UNL-053 to tie with all the 2-might early units in Riftbound. Plus, we have plenty of cheap spells, such as OGN-046 to help us hold when the opponent comes to a showdown with their runes tapped out.

If holding was too demanding of a path, we'll simply come back with stronger units to take back that battlefield. SFD-105 against an opponent relying on spells, or UNL-120 as a generically strong and very flexible card.

Whenever we manage to conquer, our unit now standing as the defender gets a passive bonus 2-might from our legend's ability. Typically, this means the opponent cannot ever contest with a unit of the same cost without spending extra resources.

In both scenarios, Master Yi will leverage its flurry of cheap spells as support, with most being very effective whether we aim to hold or conquer.

OGN-043 for example, can be used as a removal, dragging a unit from its base to our battlefield to force a showdown. It can also serve to send a unit from a battlefield to its base to open for a conquer.

The same logic applies to SFD-097 or OGN-045. If you can turn those cheap cards into favourable tempo and a difficult position for your opponent : go for it.

Competitive Status

Master Yi is the only legend with three regional tournaments win in Unleashed, two in China and one in North America.

Diana is considered a more reliable competitor, while some legends have a higher ceiling. Yet, Master Yi is unrivaled when it comes to performing with a basic strategy.

For those who can't invest a ton of time in Riftbound to learn intricate strategies, or simply enjoy mastering the fundamentals of the game, Master Yi is a fantastic pick.