WKDP | Ansо̄nen 🏆 PLAY UNBEATABLE

Let me tell you something 1160 Riftbound followers! As with most banlists we have gotten, the issue with the game is not it having no balance. The issue is that we don't have effective answers to the most popular decks. Riven is ultra-high movement + tons of draw, while Kennen is just ultra-high movement and also slamming 10 Rhasas. We have gear removal, unit removal, mass removal, and conditional reaction spells like Unyielding Spirit that prevent direct damage. But we don't have graveyard interaction (that's actually useable), as well as cards that punish moving so often or drawing half your deck. We have Vex to curb playing ready units, or ambush, and we have Invert Timelines to kind of deal with drawing a ton of cards. But those all have their own issues that make it so they don't fix the overarching issue. So until we do have cards that allow us to answer these cards, we should have more bans. Besides, do you really want THIS to be our future? Look at all those Riven decks, and the deck JUST came out! riftdecks.com/riftbound-tour… Lets do this! ***********************First ban: Defy************************** Rath has been against banning Defy for ages, and for those ages Defy has been a fine card. Its strong, but balanced. But now that the power of the format has gone up a bit more, Defy's starting to become a major problem. The issue with Defy isn't the fact it is a counterspell. The issue is that it hits almost everything in the format. Back when Irelia first came out, Rath remembers Defy being cut down to a 2-of because the primary threat to Irelia was Rebuke, which couldn't be defied. But now if you're playing Green, running 3 Defy is mandatory. But that's not even the main problem with it. Lets say LeBlanc suddenly gets super good. Everyone and their mother suddenly starts playing more Gusts and Star Crossed. LeBlanc can't really do much about that other than forcing their way through, or using stuff like Sacrifice and Deathgrip so they can keep some kind of power on board. This doesn't occur for Green decks. If a Green deck becomes good, the people who bring in the interaction to deal with whatever the Green deck is doing will also have to deal with Defy. Defy makes it so Green has a lot of safety, meaning any deck that is strong will be made even stronger. If Defy costed more than 1 energy, this wouldn't be as eggregious of an issue, but that's the other issue with Defy. It's extremely efficient. As Rath said earlier in the post: Defy hits almost everything in the game at only 1 energy and 1 power. Defy has officially overstayed its welcome, and its time for it to go to the banlist. **************Second Ban: Stellacorn Herder*************** Rath has made it no secret that he doesn't like Stellacorn. Rath has been calling for Stellacorn to be banned from day 1. This card is nuts. The primary reason that people say Stellacorn shouldn't be banned is the fact it doesn't see play in all Green decks, which doesn't matter. In the decks that can play Stellacorn, which are Riven, Irelia, and Akali, if you stick a Stellacorn, you win the game. There is almost no contest to a Stellacorn that has been allowed to live for more than 1 turn. Combined with a turn 1 Zhonyas, Stellacorn effectively becomes a 4-energy wincon. Just get rid of it. Something else that is released in the future will absolutely break it again. ************Third Ban: Rhasa the Sunderer***************** Thus far, all the hits have been for mostly Riven. But with Riven out of the way, Kennen will have free reign to take over the format again since he now has 6 Stacked Decks again. The issue with Kennen is that he is too consistent. Having access to this much card draw allows him to always have the perfect hand, while at the same time filling up his trash for Rhasa. Honestly, Rhasa feels like a break in the color identity of Purple. Purple is notorious for having weak units, but here's Rhasa, a 1 power 0 energy 6 might unit that Kennen will always have 3 of on board. Rath thinks if we take away Kennen's strength, then the fact he has unmatched consistency becomes a non-issue. Hell, even give back his Stacked Deck so the other Chaos decks can have their consistency back. *****************Fourth Ban: Star Spring********************* Rath was initially skeptical of banning Star Spring. But now that there is even more decks that can abuse it, Rath is convinced its time for Star Spring to go away. Funnily enough, it appears that having battlefields that can move your units is proving to be too strong of a battlefield effect. The decks this hits is LeBlanc, Rengar, and obviously Riven. But Riven and Rengar are the primary threats. Rengar initially abused Star Spring's power by playing Faefolk turn 1, a move so powerful it became a meme in how it pretty much guaranteed a win. But then Riven came along and REALLY broke it. Thanks to Riven's Legend ability, Star Spring is effectively a free win for Riven on account of how much safety it gives her. You conquer it, play a unit there, and then you can retreat everything back to base. Boom, instant value, and extremely hard to stop. Combined with Riven's great conquering ability, you better have a Rocket Barrage to send that Riven straight to hell. Its fairly obvious that this card is going to be broken over and over in the future as more cards come out. Just ban it. *****************Fifth Ban: Dazzling Aurora****************** Let me tell you something Dazzling Aurora that Rath hates with all his might! Rath will storm Riot HQ and eat all the copies of Aurora if thats what it takes to get rid of you! This card should be banned simply because it is THE MOST UNFUN DECK TO PLAY AND TO PILOT IN THE GAME! ************First UNBAN: Draven Vanquisher*************** When Draven was first born into the world, it was only the second set. So obviously, the resources available were not enough to deal with whatever nonsense Draven had. And since all the cards needed to beat Draven were also Red and Purple, obviously your only choice was to just play Draven yourself. But that time is long gone, and the game has opened up quite a lot. With all this considered, and the fact that Draven is pretty much non-existent in the meta, perhaps it is time to give a little love to Draven and unban his Chosen Champion? **************************Conclusion*************************** Let me tell you something person who is reading the last part of Rath's extremely informative and objectively CORRECT post! Rath loves you! <3 This concludes Rath's RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATH talk!