Updated for Vendetta

Jinx

Loose Cannon

Fury

ChaosBeginner

Jinx turns a small hand into sustained pressure. Discard payoffs add bodies or Might, while Loose Cannon helps refill for the next turn's attacks.

Should you play Jinx?

Pick Jinx if you like aggressive decks where deciding what to discard matters as much as deciding what to play.

Best for: Players who want early battlefield pressure with enough sequencing decisions to keep the deck interesting.
Think twice if: You tend to spend the last answer just to empty your hand. Jinx's next draw does not help if the opponent wins before you get another turn.

Key Cards

Flame Chompers and Mask Mother are why discarding a card can improve this board instead of just shrinking your hand. Chompers adds a three-Might unit for one Fury Power; Mother turns one Energy into a temporary Might boost for a unit you already have. Demolitionist is the chosen Champion, but these are the payoffs I would learn to use first.

Jinx’s Field Guide

Loose Cannon draws one at the start of your Beginning Phase if you have one or fewer cards in hand when the ability resolves. That is before your normal draw, not an immediate reward whenever you empty your hand. Cheap units and useful discard effects help you reach that number while developing the board. I would treat the extra draw as a way to keep attacking, not a reason to throw away the card that stops the opponent's next point.

How Jinx wins

Jinx wants the opponent answering a board that keeps finding another attacker. Discarding Flame Chompers can add a unit without spending its printed Energy cost, while Mask Mother can make an existing unit win a fight it was losing. That lets the same discard advance your pressure and reduce your hand toward Loose Cannon's next draw. The deck still needs to occupy battlefields afterward. Winning one fight with every card in hand is much less useful if nothing survives to make the opponent work for the retake.

Key interactions

Give your discard a job

Flame Chompers · Mask Mother · Punching Poro · Traveling Merchant

Punching Poro can discard a card to become Empowered during your Main Phase, gaining +1 Might while Empowered. Discard Chompers and pay one Fury Power to play it, with no Energy payment. Or discard Mask Mother and pay one Energy to give a friendly unit +2 Might for the turn. Poro cannot keep using that ability while already Empowered. Traveling Merchant supplies a different outlet: moving it makes you discard then draw, so the discarded payoff does not also cost you a replacement card. Chompers normally enters exhausted, and Mother stays in the trash rather than becoming a unit on the board.

Pay for the Jinx turn you actually need

Jinx, Demolitionist · Mask Mother · Flame Chompers

Demolitionist costs three Energy and one Fury Power, or four Energy and two Fury Power with Accelerate to enter ready. Her play ability then discards two cards. If those are Mother and Chompers, another one Energy and one Fury Power buys both payoffs: Jinx attacks with eight Might that turn, and Chompers gives you a separate three-Might body. The whole Accelerate line costs five Energy and three Fury Power. You do not need two cards in hand to play Jinx; discard as many as you can. When there is no worthwhile attack now, skipping Accelerate keeps more resources available for the rest of the turn.

Make the next attack possible

Perfect Execution · Cleave · Rengar, Pouncing

Cleave adds Assault 3 but does not ready the unit, and that extra Might only applies while attacking. Perfect Execution does both for three Energy and one Fury Power. It can turn a Chompers at base into a six-Might attacker, but it has normal Main-Phase timing even when played from the trash through Flow. Rengar is the Reaction: for three Energy and one Fury Power, he can enter a battlefield you are attacking and contribute five attacking Might despite entering exhausted. Save the card that fits the actual window instead of treating all three as interchangeable combat tricks.

Strengths

Discard payoffs can add another unit or win a close fight while moving your hand toward the Legend's next draw.
Cheap bodies let you threaten a field without committing the entire turn to one expensive unit.
Accelerate, paid ready effects, and Rengar give an established board several ways to find another attack.

Weaknesses

Many of the strongest numbers come from temporary Might or Assault. The same units are easier to beat when defending.
A hand of payoffs and combat tricks still needs an outlet, a useful unit, and the resources to pay for the effects.
Recycling several Fury runes for one attack makes the next turn smaller. A stopped all-in attack can cost more than the cards you lost.

Shadow's Pick

Jinx tournament list by 哞哞

78th place · S4 Beijing City Challenge, 2026-08-23

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Deck total $55.78

Legend (1)

1x$0.24 ea.

Runes (12)

12x$0.10 ea.

Battlefields (3)

1x$0.08 ea.
1x$0.22 ea.
1x$0.25 ea.

Spells (9)

2x$0.17 ea.
Power
1
Energy
3
3x$0.15 ea.
Energy
1
2x$17.35 ea.
Power
2
Energy
2
2x$0.12 ea.
Energy
3

Units (31)

1xChosen$0.25 ea.
Might
4
Power
1
Energy
3
3x$0.14 ea.
Might
2
Energy
2
2x$0.18 ea.
Might
2
Energy
2
3x$0.14 ea.
Might
3
Energy
3
3x$0.14 ea.
Might
3
Energy
3
3x$0.35 ea.
Might
4
Energy
4
3x$0.20 ea.
Might
2
Energy
2
3x$1.09 ea.
Might
4
Power
1
Energy
4
3x$0.15 ea.
Might
2
Energy
2
2x$0.82 ea.
Might
3
Power
1
Energy
3
2x$0.04 ea.
Might
3
Energy
3
1x$0.46 ea.
Might
3
Power
1
Energy
2
2x$0.10 ea.
Might
2
Energy
2

Sideboard (10)

2x$0.27 ea.
Might
3
Energy
3
2x$0.06 ea.
Power
1
Energy
2
1x$2.77 ea.
Might
5
Energy
6
2x$1.35 ea.
Energy
2
1x$0.13 ea.
Power
1
Energy
2
1x$0.46 ea.
Might
3
Power
1
Energy
2
1x$1.72 ea.
Might
5
Power
1
Energy
5

Shadow's take

This is my pick because it gives Jinx's discards something useful to do throughout the game. Poro and Merchant get the first units moving, then Mother and Chompers turn the cards you discard into a stronger attack or another body. I like Demolitionist here because she gives you that outlet from the chosen zone without needing to draw it, and you can decide whether the attack is worth paying for Accelerate. Zed adds another way to build the board: discard Chompers to his additional cost and you can get Zed, a Clone, and Chompers for four Energy and two Fury Power. None of them enters ready, so this is often preparation for the next turn rather than a surprise attack. Perfect Execution can change that, but I would pay for it only when the new attack matters. The Clone also needs a unit left in the trash for Assault 4; the Chompers you just played is no longer there. This list uses twelve Fury runes because none of its Chaos cards asks for Chaos Power. Count the Fury you need for the next attack before recycling three runes into the current one.

The Game Plan

Early gameKeep a two-Energy body and a follow-up that works with it. Poro plus Chompers is a useful start; Merchant gives you a discard outlet once it can move, while Disciple can burn the top card on a move for +1 Might that turn. Burn is not discard and does not trigger Mother or Chompers. Send back up to two expensive or disconnected cards rather than keeping a hand full of buffs with nothing to attack. Hopeful costs two Energy after another card has been played, but four as your first card. Poro's activation does not turn on Legion; actually playing Chompers through its discard ability does.
MidgameDecide whether this turn needs more bodies or an immediate fight. Zed and his Clone are good preparation, while Accelerated Jinx lets you attack now. Evershade Stalker develops a three-Might body and discards then draws, giving you another chance to use a payoff. Gust Monk can cost three Energy to banish a card from either trash and give a unit Assault 2; take an opponent's useful replay target when that is better than spending your own Clone fuel. Before attacking, choose what the trash is for. A discarded Mother can feed the Clone, Vi can recycle a card for +1 Might, and Perfect Execution can be played through Flow. Spending a card on one of those jobs removes it from the others.
Late gameUse the answer that leaves a unit able to score. Falling Star deals three twice for two Energy and two Fury Power; choose both targets when playing it, either concentrating six damage or splitting it. It is a Main-Phase spell, so clear the blockers before entering the fight. Ruthless Strike is an Action that deals five to a battlefield unit if you pay its discard cost, with Mother's or Chompers' payoff paid separately. Vi's Ganking makes her a useful Perfect Execution target when a second battlefield is the route to the point; readying an ordinary unit does not give it Ganking. If the opponent is about to win, keep Fan or an answer doing a defensive job instead of spending everything to qualify for a draw you may never reach.

Battlefields

Blind

Zaun Warrens · Traveling Merchant · Flame Chompers

Warrens is my default because its conquest discard can use the same payoffs as the rest of the deck. Merchant can filter once when it moves here and again after you conquer. Keep the Fury for Chompers or the Energy for Mother before committing the attack. The battlefield replaces a card when you have one to discard; it is not automatic card advantage. Chompers played here after conquest enters exhausted, but it can still defend the field on the opponent's turn.

Going First

The Candlelit Sanctum · Jinx, Demolitionist

An early conquest at Sanctum lets you look at the top two cards, recycle either or both, and put the rest back in your chosen order. I like that when the board is already developing and the next draw needs to be useful. Keep an outlet when your hand is full of payoffs, or move an expensive card away when your runes cannot support it. This does not draw immediately, so it cannot supply the missing payment or discard for the current Jinx turn.

Going Second

Forbidding Waste · Noxus Hopeful · Overzealous Fan

Waste makes a lone defending unit two Might smaller, which helps Hopeful or a boosted cheap attacker retake the field. The same penalty applies to your own lone defender afterward. Leave a second body when possible rather than assuming the unit that conquered will keep its attacking strength. Fan can sacrifice itself when defending to send one attacker to base, but it does not remove the rest of the attack. If another enemy remains and Fan was your only unit, you may still be giving up the point.

Sideboard

Banish the unit when killing it is not enough

Smite · Ruthless Strike

I would swap the two Ruthless Strikes for the two Smites when keeping a useful unit out of the trash matters more than five damage and the discard outlet. Smite deals three for two Energy and one Fury Power, then banishes that unit instead if it would die later in the turn. A larger target still needs more damage or a combat trade. This is not an unconditional banish spell, and you are giving up a way to discard Mother or Chompers.

Answer Gear at the right time

Ravenbloom Prefect · Brittle Steel

The two Prefects threaten the opponent's next Gear: banish Prefect to banish the Gear after it is played. They do not remove Gear already sitting on the board or erase its play triggers. Brittle Steel handles an existing Gear for two Energy and one Fury Power during your Main Phase; its Flow costs four Energy and one Fury Power before banishing it. Bring the package that reaches the problem, trimming Cleave or a Fan that has no useful defensive job. Keep enough cheap units to capitalize on the answer.

Protect a prepared attack

Hard Bargain · Brynhir Thundersong · Falling Star

When spells are stopping the attack rather than large blockers, try the two Hard Bargains over the two Falling Stars. Each costs two Energy and counters a spell unless its controller pays two Energy. Paying another two to Repeat makes the opponent pay for both instructions, but it still is not a guaranteed counter against spare resources. Brynhir is the expensive option for a turn you have already prepared: six Energy buys a play trigger that stops opponents playing more cards that turn after it resolves. They can answer the trigger first and still use abilities afterward. Replace an ineffective removal slot, and make sure you can still attack after paying six.

Trade passive defense for another threat

Vi, Destructive · Darius, Trifarian · Overzealous Fan

The extra Vi and Darius can replace the two Fans when the opponent is not giving Fan worthwhile attacks to break up. Vi adds another Ganking unit, with trash recycling available to increase her Might before combat. Darius costs five Energy and one Fury Power and can be your second card of the turn to ready himself and gain +2 Might. That makes seven Might for the turn, but you still need to pay for the first card. Do not spend the second-card play on something else and expect a later Darius to arrive ready.