Runeterra Deck: Shiraza OTK Patch 3.3.0

A combo deck centered around effectively banking mana and bursting your opponent down with super-buffed Shiraza!

In the first 4-5 turnes, all you want is to just bank Shiraza buffs before you even play her.
Simply putting her on board and spamming all the buffs on her is rarely enough to kill your opponent - to win the game we need to "bank" the buffs so when Shiraza comes into play, she will already be supported well enough to OTK or 2TK the opponent.

Always mulligan for Shiraza - she is your only key to victory! If you have her in your hand, try to instead fish for Elixir of Wrath as it is your most efficient form of attack buff. Another good card you can potentially mulligan for (if you have Shiraza in hand) is Greenglade lookout. That card is great as it helps you bank mana for a big Shirza turn. Then there is Ghost/Might - great cards that allow you to actually reach for the nexus when attacking with Shiraza. Just don't pick Ghost against Elusive decks xd

You can also mulligan for some situational cards based on the matchup:
- Syncopation - usually trash, however it is the only card in the game that can safe Shiraza AND let her attack. Use it mid-combat in certain control matchups with deadly fast speed spells. Alternatively just use it as "Ghost" by switching her with Young witch/other non blocked ally.
- Nopeify - A more stable but less useful then Syncopation. You don't need 2 allies in order to use it and it can safe you from nontargetted spells HOWEVER you can never get a cheesy Shiraza attack off of it.
- Ki Guardian - if you know that you just can't play Shiraza and opponent keeps their mana up - this card can help you effectively protect your Shiraza in advance, while stalling for time/better cards.
- Sharpened resolve - good in case you need both attack-buff AND health-buff to attack with Shiraza.

Cards we use as buffs-in-advance are usually units like Young Witch, Inspiring Mentor, Pix, Greenglade Lookout and Blade squire. All of them are very cheap and are capable of buffing Shiraza when you finally decide to put her in play. While Young Witch and Pix are the most effective out of those, they can also be problematic as Shiraza can always be supported by only 1 unit. If you have 3 Pixes in play, only 1 of them will actually help you buff up Shiraza.

Both Pix and Young witch work really well with Syncopation as Young witch has Elusive keyword and Pix often ends up not-blocked because the opponent might not have enough units to care about a 0-attack attacker.

Always make sure you have enough mana to support Shiraza either offensively to OTK the opponent or defensively to protect her.

When the time comes, unleash a full OTK attack, combine your burn buffs (Elixir of Wrath, Twin Disciples, Sharpened resolve, Transfusion, +Attack blade fragment), with buff-banking cards (Mentor, Young Witch, Pix) and nexus-hit-enabling cards (Ghost, Might, Syncopation, Overwhelm blade fragment) + some safety effects if necessary. Put it all on Shiraza and strike for the win!

Q&A

Q: Why aren't you playing Kato? He seems strong.
A: Kato is waaaay too expensive for the buff he provides, and his big 5|4 body usually gets chump blocked anyway so we are paying 5 mana for what really is nothing more then +3 attack and Overwhelm. That's just way too inefficient, Might does the same thing for -2 mana and can be cast for spell mana as awell. On top of that Kato can really mess up our Greenglade Caretaker cost reductions as we always want Shiraza to receive them.

Q: Is this deck meta or just a meme?
A: It's not 100% refined but it can do wonders when played correctly. So I dare to say it is both very good and very fun.

Q: If you like buffs so much then why don't you run Crimson Aristocrat in this deck???
A: I tested it, and while it may sound good on the paper in reality that card has one huge problem: You have to play it AFTER Shiraza for the buff to apply. And that sucks quite a lot. Because as a "burn-buff" it's only +2 attack for 2 mana. Meanwhile Mentor is +1 attack for 1 mana that can be used BEFORE you play Shiraza. And in a deck like this, where we want to bank our buffs for later - THAT is a big difference. Crimson Aristocrat simply doesn't work here. On top of that - it makes Shiraza vulnerable to 2 attack spells like Mystic shot and that ain't good.

Q: What other cards can be possibly ran in this deck?
A: Not many. Only cards that are not in this deck and "can" work here are Fuzzy Caretaker, Weapon Hilt and Sonic wave. And those cards just aren't all that good :d
However I definitely suggest you to keep an eye out for Thorned blade. That card might be terrible as of right now, but if Riot decides to buff it, it may just end up on this deck list one day :D