3×Unit–Two bonuses, one cardPlayed, it makes a permanent buff and a temporary Legend +1. Those are two separate allocations and they do not have to go to the same unit, so one two-Energy card can change two battlefields.
3×Unit–PositionalDisturbs where the opponent wanted the fight to happen. Against a deck built on one protected defender, moving the pieces is worth more than out-sizing them.
2×Unit–Cheap trigger, positional debtThe cheapest Legend trigger in the deck, and it carries real debt: it cannot move to base, so Star Spring cannot rescue it and it can be stranded alone at Forbidding Waste.
Reactive units
5 cards
3×Unit–Combat into a cardNot a generic Ambush body. It rewards winning the combat, so it goes in when the result is already likely or when the Legend trigger is what makes it likely.
2×Unit–Distributed interactionAmbushes to a battlefield you already hold. Its own Might handles that combat while the Legend trigger goes somewhere else entirely, which is one card affecting two battlefields.
Card flow and second actions
8 cards
3×Unit–Conditional replacementThe condition is checked when the ability resolves, not when it triggers. At four other Might, order the Legend trigger above it and the draw happens anyway.
3×Unit–Second actionReadies another unit, never itself. Played while everything is already ready, it is a three-Might body with no text, so the target has to be exhausted first.
2×Unit–Attack into a second actionHas to attack to trigger, and readies another friendly unit. Build the exhausted target before the attack; the trigger cannot be banked.
Midgame threats
8 cards
3×Unit–Temporary Might into a real cardThe best way the deck has to turn a temporary +1 into a permanent card: the Legend bonus turns a marginal conquest into a successful one, and the conquest draws.
2×Unit–Mobile pressureGanking lets it migrate between battlefields, which is what makes it a good First Mate target and a good Thrill target when Accelerate is affordable.
2×Unit–Curve compressionFour Energy on paper, two after any other card has been played this turn. If that first card was a unit, the pair produces two Legend triggers and two bodies.
1×Champion–Champion ZoneAmbushes to a battlefield holding enemy units even with nothing of yours there. That is why an apparently empty battlefield is never safe while you have five Energy and Body Power.
Top end
3 cards
2×Unit–ReconstructionThe answer to a removal-heavy opponent: killing it leaves two bodies at base. The weakness is speed, because those tokens arrive at base rather than where Ferrous was standing.
1×Unit–Protected turnThe lock starts when the play ability resolves, not when Brynhir is announced. It is the first action of a decisive turn, never the last card after the interaction has already happened.
Spells
8 cards
3×Spell–Replay engineBanishing and replaying makes the unit a new object: damage, Stun and temporary modifications all clear, the play ability happens again, and the Legend triggers again.
3×Spell–Scoring conversionA held Punch changes how the opponent deploys. A spent Punch changes one turn. Exhaust the unit-based alternatives before reaching for it.
2×Spell–Split damageTwo sequential three-damage instructions with all targets chosen up front. Six to one unit or three to each of two, and choosing the same Deflect unit twice costs the Deflect price twice.
Legend and battlefields
4 cards
1×Legend–The engineWhenever you play a unit, a unit gets +1 Might for the turn. Any legal unit, not necessarily the one just played, which is the whole flexibility of the deck.
1×Battlefield–Value battlefieldConverts one conquest into a token, a unit back in hand, and a future play ability plus Legend trigger. Do not do it if the two-Might token cannot hold the position.
1×Battlefield–Anti-tallA unit defending alone there is two Might smaller. It is the reason Trophy Hunter breaks one-defender decks, and it is symmetrical, so your own lone defender pays it too.
1×Battlefield–Flexible defaultThe first non-token unit each player plays there may move another of their units back to base. Symmetrical, so playing there first can hand the opponent the same reposition.
Might, Energy and Power appear only where the guide states them; anything it leaves unstated is left blank rather than filled in with an invented value.
Sideboard · 10
Brittle Steel · new this revision
2×Hidden reactive bodyHidden and Ganking, with an optional Fury cost for extra immediate tempo. The card that lets you add reactive coverage after boarding without dropping the shuffled unit count.
2×NewGear removalKills Gear outright and can be replayed from the trash through Flow. The recommended second copy: the field asks for credible Gear interaction more often than it asks for damage prevention.
2×Non-unit engineStrips the protection spell or the engine card before you commit several bodies to a battlefield they were going to answer anyway.
2×Mind-domain answerAimed at the Mind card most capable of breaking your sequence. Many of the best answers this deck faces are Mind cards, which is what makes a restriction rather than a removal spell worth a slot.
1×Anti-wide scalingGives one unit +2 Might for each opposing unit at its battlefield. Excellent once they have committed three or more, and close to blank against a single defender.
1×Damage preventionOnly against damage. It does nothing about combat damage, kill effects, Stun, recall, movement or recycling, which is exactly why the second copy became a second Brittle Steel.
Chosen championRengar, Trophy Hunter, in every matchup. Always available from the Champion Zone, and it can Ambush to a battlefield holding enemy units with nothing of yours there.
No alternateThe sideboard carries no second Chosen Champion, so your post-board identity never changes. Matchups shift through interaction and unit texture instead. §9 →
From the guide . §2 Exact Configuration
The configuration covered is G. Mascheroni’s list with as the Chosen Champion. The main deck is preserved exactly. The one change recommended for an open field turns a single copy of into a second .◆src
Why that change
is excellent when the opponent’s main interaction is spell or ability damage. It does nothing about combat damage, kill effects, Stun, recall, movement, recycling, or any other non-damage interaction. kills Gear outright and can be replayed from the trash through Flow, which makes it live against Hourglass, Spinning Axe, Baited Hook and the Equipment engines generally.◆src
The current field asks for credible Gear interaction alongside plans for Master Yi and Kennen. Another successful Rengar build registered two in its own sideboard, and the broader snapshot names Gear pressure as an axis decks should be prepared for.◆src
The published sideboard remains defensible in a room dominated by , Bellows Breath, Hextech Ray, damage-based , damage-heavy Kennen and other spell-based removal decks. For a blind open field, the second is the better slot.
The locked core
Three , three , three , three , three , three , three , and . Thrill was universal across the verified Rengar lists in the August snapshot, and most successful builds also converged on , Faefolk, Punch First, Kinkou and the low-cost unit shell.◆src
⚠ WarningThe published list contains no shuffled five-Energy card. That is deliberate: Trophy Hunter fills the tier from the Champion Zone and never has to be drawn.