Condensed Pilot Card
Master Yi Lone Defender · Aug 2026
Deck thesisMake one defender expensive to defeat, then score with the resources you deliberately kept outside that fight.
Default roleReactive midrange-tempo
Chosen ChampionMaster Yi, Tempered, in every matchup. There is no alternate.
Premium openingEarly unit, one efficient protection card, and one of First Mate, Fervent, Rengar or Sabotage
Primary engineLone defender plus hidden Calm and Body interaction
Secondary engineIrelia, Fervent plus repeated choosing and readying
Primary bottleneckIndependent battlefield bodies and exact Power, not raw card quantity
Best proactive lineFervent acts, First Mate readies her from base, Fervent acts again, and the second body is still free
Best stabilizing lineOne defender absorbs the attack while Rengar contests the lane they abandoned
Key sequencing ruleLet the opponent commit before revealing which protection card is real
Fervent ruleBeing chosen creates the +1 even when the spell is countered
Hourglass ruleHourglass saves the unit, not necessarily the point
Alpha Strike ruleFinalize the enemy targets before Fervent’s Alpha-triggered +1 resolves
Sideboard disciplineUpgrade threat quality without dropping below 18 shuffled units
Protect one lane, preserve the other, and react last.