How to Play Ekko and Jinx Arcane Clash
Ekko and Jinx haven’t found themselves paired together much in Legends of Runeterra and certainly not in popular meta decks. That has changed and they now offer a unique synergy to each other.
While Ekko is looking to use as many low-cost predict cards as possible to level up – Jinx is able to offer a helping hand once the hand is empty and Ekko is leveled up.
This gives the deck two unique win conditions between Jinx’s Mega Death Rockets and Ekko’s Chronobreaks.
One top of Voice of the Risen offers a third win condition through easily being activated through Ekko and Jinx.
Ekko hasn’t gotten to shine in the past due to requiring Predicts to level up. The problem is that Piltover and Zaun don’t have many Predicts while Shurima has been adding more over time. The most recent one that was added and allowed this deck to come together was Forsaken Baccai.
This has upped the consistency of the deck and helped it boast a 56% win rate in over 7000 games. While playing this deck, I had several instances where Forsaken Baccai could predict the card or champion I needed to complete my game plan.
Jinx has been in and out of meta decks as long as she can remember, but since her most recent buff of receiving a Mega Death Rocket upon level-up – she has seen a huge boost in power and in play.
Between Jinx getting a much-needed buff and Ekko getting more cards that synergize well with him – they have been found to make a good team – just as when they were children in Zaun.
However, there are a couple of times that when they grow up (level up) that they clash with each other. When both are in hand sometimes it can slow down emptying the hand for Jinx’s Mega Death Rockets.
Ekko being a 4-cost card while drawing additional cards can cause some troubles, so be on the lookout for the order you play your cards and don’t predict too many high-cost cards, or else you won’t be able to execute your game plan!
Deck Code: CECQIBAHAEOE6UYDAQCACAQEAECQIGIBAYDQKAIBAQUAGAYEA5GWJCQBAEAQINABAQCAOAA
[See Ekko Jinx Arcane Clash deck details]
The Game Plan
The general idea of the deck is quite simple – play predicts in the early game to advance your Ekko level up and empty your hand to prepare for Jinx.
This means in the early turns of the game, you will be looking to Fallen Feline to shuffle the Hexite Crystals into your deck. You want to do this so you give yourself the best chances of drawing it through your Predictions that you will do in your following turns.
On top of finding Hexite Crystals during Predicts, you are also hoping to find Dropboarders. Seeing these gives you chump blockers as well as thins out your deck. On top of this, Dropboarders become solid attackers and blockers later in the game when buffed by Voice of the Risen.
Generally, if you don’t have Fallen Feline, your early game consists of playing Forge Chief, Ancient Preparations, and Forsaken Baccai. As well as Aspiring Chronomancer.
During these Predictions, you are either looking for more predictions to have a minimum of 4 before you play Ekko. If you already have enough Predicts, then you will be looking to predict either Jinx or Ekko. Which one you pick can depend on your hand.
If your hand is empty and you are needing some extra push to finish the game, then Jinx is your girl. If you have Voice of the Risen and units on the board then Ekko might be who you are looking for.
If you already have one or the other, then you might be looking for things that benefit them. Such as if you already have leveled Ekko with units on board, then a Voice of the Risen might be more powerful in some cases than Jinx. Of course, there are cases where you will also be looking for Chronobreak to finish the game as well!
It is very situational, so make sure to assess your board state, your opponent’s health, and if you are lacking in resources or not when determining which win condition you want to Predict between Ekko, Jinx, and Voice of the Risen! Predicting the correct cards to set up your win is what defines the skill of the pilot of this deck!
If you want to see the deck in action be sure to check out my video on it:
How To Mulligan
This deck generally plays the same most games, so that makes the mulligan relatively easy. You want to keep at least one Fallen Feline whenever you see it. Against slower decks, you can even keep two!
After that, you want to keep one cost Predict cards that are units. You don’t want to keep the spells because you want to make sure you have board presence in the early game. Make sure to always throw Dropboarder back into the deck as you can get them for free in the future!
In general, you don’t keep most spells unless you know your opponent’s deck. For example, if you know they are going to play a 2 health unit that needs to be removed early on, you might consider keeping a Mystic Shot.
I think unless you know what your opponent will be playing, then you should be focused on proactively going for your game plan of playing predicts early game into your champions.
I don’t keep champions in my starting hand. This is because I know I can hit them assuming that I am playing predict cards each round. You don’t want to get two champions into your hand as they are very expensive and can make it hard for Jinx to level. So by pitching champions in the mulligan, you can give yourself the best chances to level up Ekko quickly with Predicts as well as drawing into your champions. This means that you will have more options in your early game rather than having your hand clunked up by a 4-cost champion.
In this hand, I would keep Fallen Feline. You don’t want Feral prescience because it isn’t a unit that gives you board presence. Dropboarder is a card you want to find later in your Predictions. You don’t have any predicts in your hand which makes Jinx incredibly clunky so you will also toss her in hope that you find early game Prediction units.
Match-Ups
This deck has strong match-ups into other decks that flood the board such as Annie Jhin, Elise Gwen, Norra Bard, and Miss Fortune Twisted Fate. This is due to Jinx’s Mega Death Rocket clearing their creatures as well as being able to trade your units and then play Chronobreak to resummon them and rally. Essentially, you are able to outvalue other swarm decks.
The deck has weak matchups against Jayce Heimerdinger, Lux Jayce, Katarina Twisted Fate Annie, Yasuo, Katarina, and Kayn Aatrox. This is due to the fact that they are able to keep your swarm in check while outvaluing the deck.
The big part is the outvaluing, so if you find yourself against these decks try to take a more aggressive line and go for an early level up on Jinx since burning them out is likely your best shot at winning.
I hope you are able to find this deck as fun as I have! It has been fun seeing a new play style emerge from two champions that have both seen their share of struggles fitting into the Legends of Runeterra meta. I’m glad they get to shine – together!
Thanks for reading,
Silverfuse
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, feel free to ask Silverfuse during her streams (usually daily from 2-6PM CST).
Catch Silverfuse live at www.twitch.tv/silverfuse
