Mulligan Strategy

Because Silent is always available from the Champion Zone, the deck can tolerate a slightly lower threat count in hand than most tempo decks.

Premium configurations

Early unit plus Stellacorn Herder gives you a unit to create the first battlefield contest, a second card-generating threat, and a target that turns Shuriken Flip and the Legend into card advantage.

Early unit plus Kai’Sa gives a clean bridge from early pressure into a conquest payoff. When Accelerated she can enter ready, and her conquest trigger replaces some of the resources spent forcing the point.

Early unit plus Shuriken Flip is particularly strong when the unit is Mournful Witness, Stellacorn Herder, Silent on the following turn, or Deadly Weapon post-board. Shuriken Flip deals 2 to up to one enemy unit and then moves a friendly unit; it can later be replayed from trash through Flow before being banished.^◆src

Acceptable slower hands

One early unit, Defy, Discipline and a Gear can be functional because Silent supplies the turn-four body. A hand with no early unit but multiple cheap interaction cards is much more dangerous — your interaction does not proactively score, and waiting for Silent can concede the first battlefield cycle.

Cards to return aggressively

• Multiple Gear without units. Mask and Hourglass are not threats; a hand of two Gear, two tricks and no shuffled unit spends its first turns preparing to protect nothing.
• Unsupported Cleave. Excellent when it converts an attack into a conquest, among the weakest cards without a unit already able to attack.
• Duplicate four- and five-Energy units. Silent is guaranteed, so multiple Herder, Kai’Sa and Irelia can become congested.
• Multiple Defy against unit-dense decks. Against pressure that comes from units and activated abilities, a second copy may be worth less than a second body.
• Flow cards without an early battlefield plan. Flow improves long-game access but does not compensate for failing to contest the board.

Play versus draw

On the play, prioritize any functional two-Energy unit, Mournful Witness, Kai’Sa or Herder, En Garde or Discipline, and a hand capable of converting the first conquest.

On the draw, prioritize two units where possible, Charm, Defy against spell-heavy opponents, Shuriken Flip against small units, Back Off when the opposing deck relies on one premium attacker, and Zhonya’s Hourglass when preserving a scarce midgame unit is essential.