How to Play Tortured Prodigy Go Hard OTK
There aren’t many one turn combo kills in Runeterra, but this deck offers something different for players who miss playing true combo decks. The OTK combo is centered around Tortured Prodigy, Insightful Investigator, and Go Hard.
Deck code: CECAEAYFAQIAGAIEAEWTSBABAUDSQMJTAIBAIBYKAIAQCBJLAIAQIHBUAEAQGBIC
This champion-less deck uses Go Hard multiple times in a turn and transforms it into Pack Your Bags to do 5 damage to your opponent. Due to creating units and sacrificing them, you refill your spell mana and continue to play more and more Go Hards.
By doing this, you’re able to play multiple Pack Your Bags on a single turn to complete a one-turn kill. It isn’t the strongest deck within the scope of the meta, but when the combo goes off it can often be hard to stop.
However, it can be a difficult deck to play. The combo is very long and often takes 10 minutes to complete. It is very easy to mess up as it relies on using the 3 spell mana given from Tortured Prodigy over and over again while completing the combo.
A single misstep and the combo is broken which is often game losing as this deck has very few defensive tools.
In this guide, we’ll be covering the deck’s win conditions, mulligan, tech choices, and more! Keep in mind that the archetype is still unrefined and being worked on by many players, so this may not be the final decklist once it’s optimized.
Win Conditions
This deck uses the draw power of Insightful Investigator as the engine to cycle through the deck. It is then combined with Tortured Prodigy which refreshes the spell mana when a friendly unit dies.
Two cost cards are used to draw with Insightful Investigator. Some of the cards such as Scrapdash Assembly and Haunted Relic create more creatures to kill off during the combo to refresh mana.
Cards such as a Vile Feast, Unspeakable Horror, and Go Hard are used to kill off your own creatures. It is generally recommended not to use these cards defensively or when Insightful Investigator is not in play. These are combo cards that are critical for completing the combo.
Drawing two cost cards in this deck is extremely important to continue the combo, so you must be careful not to add too many Go Hards into your deck which will brick the combo. You don’t want to use Go Hards until you are beginning your combo.
Look to make creatures with two mana from Haunted Relic and Assembly and then kill them off with the remaining spell mana using Go Hard.
Playing multiple Go Hards is also important as this is how you slowly kill your opponent during the turn. The Go Hards also keep you from running out of cards.
Generally, the end game with the combo ends up having two Insightful Investigators even if you only need one. This picture shows what an ideal combo board looks like.
You can see that I have zero mana with a Go Hard about to refresh three spell mana.
I have a Rummage to search for additional cards and then I can kill off the other Scrap Scuttler with either a drawn card or Glimpse Beyond to reset my mana once again.
Pack Your Bags is also a possibility of finishing the game too as there is plenty of draw power from the two cost cards in my hand and two Investigators up.
Setting Up the Combo
Setting up the combo can be hard as you don’t have many defensive options. Ideally, you skip multiple turns and bank mana, but often times you will be searching for combo pieces with your draw cards. Another option is playing Stalking Shadows which is used as a way to tutor one of the main combo pieces. If you get the option the priority is the missing card whether it be Insightful Investigator or Tortured Prodigy.
It is best to take Tortured Prodigy or Insightful Investigator. If you have Tortured Prodigy and Investigator already, then take Investigator as even if you don’t have Tortured Prodigy Investigator can help you find Tortured Prodigy and other combo pieces.
Ideally, you play Insightful Investigator on turn 4, but it is common to be on turn 5 instead. After that, the final piece is Tortured Prodigy. Then the combo is performed through spell mana.
In some cases, you may also get additional mana by attacking Ephemeral units or regular units in hopes that your opponent will block it and trigger Tortured Prodigy. This is especially ideal if you are looking to play a second Insightful Investigator.
The Mulligan Phase
The mulligan is the same across the board as you are looking for combo pieces. You want to keep Tortured Prodigy and Insightful Investigator every time.
Stalking Shadows is also a solid keep as it allows you to find your combo pieces easier. Vile Feast is an okay keep when you already have your combo pieces as it can sacrifice a unit while creating one to take its place.
If you already have the pieces, Haunted Relic or Scrapdash Scuttler are also okay keeps. If you don’t have Insightful Investigator, Stalking Shadows, or Tortured Prodigy, it is best to do a full mulligan.
Tech Choices
- Greenglade Collector: The original version of this deck used Greenglade Collector to drain life each time a unit died and relied on having Phantom Prankster and Collector to deal damage to the opponent for the one-turn kill. This card helps stabilization be a bit easier especially if you are fearful of messing up the combo. It is an okay option. The reason I am not running it in the main version is that it wants to be played on turn 5, and I am looking to play Tortured Prodigy during that time.
- Gotcha!: If you need additional removal
- Absorb Soul: If you need more ways to heal and kill off more units
- Flame Chompers: Allows for draw as well as a way to kill off your own units or to get value From fleeting. It is extremely flexible. I believe that it should be fun in the regular version. As I said, this deck is new and rapidly changing, so I don’t have it in the deck I wrote the article on originally.
Closing Thoughts
This deck is hard to master and not one I would recommend for the ladder as it doesn’t have any strong matchups. It is a combo deck that is fun to pull off but could get stronger with more cards.
There aren’t many decks like it in Runeterra, so it is likely to scratch the combo itch for some players. After a few games, the combo and deck will get a bit easier. Good luck!
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, feel free to ask Silverfuse during her streams (usually daily from 2-6PM CST).
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