Early battlefield bodies
11 cards3×Lonely Poro Unit22Resource trapDefends at four under the Legend. Draws only if it dies alone, so a second unit at its battlefield costs the card as well as the bonus.
3×Scuttle Crab Unit20InformationZero Might still conquers and Holds. Its Deathknell reveals the opposing hand and adds one XP, which the opponent may decline to give you.
2×Pit Rookie Unit2–Remote developmentPlayed to base, it improves the defender without joining it. First flex cut when the sideboard offers a better body.
3×First Mate Unit33Second actionEnters at base and readies the defender, which is a second action without a second body at that battlefield.
Threats
8 cards1×Master Yi, Tempered Champion44Champion ZoneAlways available, so every hand has a four-Energy unit. Six Might defending alone before a card is spent. At six XP it gains Deflect and Ganking.
3×Irelia, Fervent Unit54Secondary engineGains +1 whenever she is chosen or readied, and the trigger survives the spell being countered.
3×Rengar, Trophy Hunter Unit56Cross-laneCan Ambush to a battlefield holding only enemy units, which is what punishes an opponent who overcommits to breaking the Hold.
1×Whiteflame Protector Unit8–FinisherA finisher, never an opening plan. First cut in most matchups.
Lone-defender support
11 cards3×Discipline Spell2–Cheapest swingChoosing Irelia adds her +1 on top, so it reads as +3 and a card.
2×En Garde Spell1–Isolated attackerRewards exactly the fights this deck wants: one defender, alone.
2×Defy Spell1–UncertaintyOften worth more unspent. The opponent has to price it every turn it could be there.
1×Not So Fast Spell2–ProtectionCounters an effect that chooses your unit or Gear, not a self-buff on their side.
3×Zhonya’s Hourglass Gear2–Saves the cardSaves the unit and recalls it to base. The battlefield can still be lost, and the Deathknell does not happen.
Proactive interaction
10 cards3×Punch First Spell1–Largest cheap swingThe biggest Might per Energy in the deck, and another Fervent trigger.
2×Charm Spell1–Positional removalMoves the unit rather than answering it. Against a Deathknell body, moving beats killing.
2×Rampage Spell3–Interactable removalExposes your own unit to the reply. Best after the opponent has already spent interaction.
1×Onslaught Spell4–Two casts over timeThe Flow cast is usually worth more on a later turn than as the second half of one enormous one.
2×Sabotage Spell1–Before the commitmentCast it before the all-in turn. The value is the safe sequence it buys, not the one-for-one.
Legend & battlefields
4 cards1×Master Yi, Wuju Bladesman Legend––The engineAlone means no other friendly unit there. A second unit turns the bonus off, and a unit leaving turns it back on.
1×Emperor’s Dais Battlefield––Play secondReturns a unit to hand and leaves a two-Might token, which defends at four while alone.
1×Seat of Power Battlefield––Play firstDraws for each other battlefield you already control, so it rewards a Hold established somewhere else first.
1×Star Spring Battlefield––Defender rotationSymmetrical. Rotating a fresh unit in and the old one out keeps the new one alone.
E = Energy, M = Might, shown only where the guide states them.
Sideboard · 10
2×Ruin RunnerTargeted controlCannot be chosen by enemy spells or abilities. Still loses to combat and to untargeted effects.
2×VilemawWide low-Might boardsEnemy units with less Might deal no combat damage at its battlefield. Deliberately turns the Legend off, and is often right anyway.
2×Tomb-Raider BarbaraGear enginesIts Gear ability needs seven runes, but it is a four-Might body before then.
1×Akshan, MischievousGear theftImmediate Gear answer where Barbara is the slower, repeatable one.
1×Alpha StrikeWide boardsTargets are locked before Fervent’s own trigger resolves. Buff first when the count matters.
1×Decree of StrengthMind interactionRemoves a Mind card before the turn that would otherwise be answered.
1×DefyCheap spell decksThe third copy, for matchups where one counter is never enough.
Chosen champion · Master Yi, Tempered, in every matchup. Always available from the Champion Zone, six Might defending alone, and Deflect plus Ganking at six XP.
No alternate · The sideboard carries no second Chosen Champion, so the XP plan and the Champion sequencing never change between games. §9 →