Wuju Bladesman gives a friendly unit +2 Might while it defends alone. This list holds a battlefield with two-Energy units and cheap reactions, then adds Rengar, Trophy Hunter and Master Yi, Tempered as the larger threats that defend or take the next point.
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Should you play Master Yi?
Pick Wuju Bladesman if you enjoy defending efficiently and making the opponent commit first. One supported unit can hold a lane while the rest of your board prepares the counterattack.
Best for
Midrange players who like cheap card flow, patient reactions, and keeping their threats spread across the board.
Think twice if
You naturally pile several units into every defense or want the Legend to improve attacks. Its bonus only applies while a friendly unit is defending alone.
Key Cards
Rengar, Trophy Hunter is the most important threat in this list. Ambush lets you play him as a Reaction to a battlefield where you already have a unit, and he can also be played to a battlefield with enemy units even when you have none there. Charm gives the Legend a job on your own turn: if you move an enemy unit to a battlefield you control with only one of your units there, your unit becomes the defender and still gets +2 Might. Punch First is an Action, so it also works in a Showdown on the opponent's turn. On a lone Lonely Poro, its +5 Might and the Legend's +2 make a nine-Might defender.
Wuju Bladesman - Starter
Legend
Rengar, Trophy Hunter
Key card · Body
Charm
Key card · Calm
Punch First
Key card · Body
Master Yi’s Field Guide
This is Wuju Bladesman, the lone-defender Legend, not Wuju Master, the XP-based Legend. While a friendly unit defends alone, it has +2 Might. Alone means no other friendly unit is at that battlefield; the opponent can have several attackers. The bonus costs nothing, but it is not permanent. It disappears when the unit stops defending or another friendly unit joins it. That makes reactions which improve the existing defender especially useful. You can change the combat calculation without spending another body or switching off the free Might.
How Master Yi wins
Make the opponent spend too much to take one battlefield, then use the resources you kept to take the other. Cheap units and draw effects keep the hand moving, while a larger threat makes the next attack difficult to contain. The Legend is doing its job when one defender lets the rest of the deck stay flexible. Do not turn that into a rule that you must always defend alone. Adding Rengar may lose the two-Might bonus but add six actual Might and save the point. The question is whether the new unit earns more than the bonus you gave up, not whether the board still looks perfectly arranged.
Key interactions
Shadow's Pick
Master Yi tournament list by BIanche
1st place · Showdown Series Bristol by Organized Play Events,
Early gameLonely Poro and Pit Rookie both defend alone at four Might, Poro draws a card if it dies alone, and Scuttle Crab draws as soon as you play it. Put one unit at a battlefield and keep the next one at base when moving it in would switch off the Legend's +2. Pit Rookie needs another friendly unit to buff, so it works better as your second unit than your first. Keep Energy for Discipline or En Garde on the opponent's turn instead of spending every rune on development. Zhonya's Hourglass gives you no choice once it is face up: the next friendly unit that would die is saved instead, even a Poro you wanted to trade for a card or a Crab whose Deathknell you wanted. Hiding it for one Power at a battlefield you control lets you play it from the following turn onward, at no Energy cost, only when you actually need it.
Starter Deck
Master Yi - Wuju Bladesman
Proving Grounds
Improve the defender without adding another unit
En Garde · Discipline · Wuju Bladesman - Starter
A lone defender gets the Legend's +2, and En Garde can add another two Might for one Energy. Discipline adds two and draws a card for two Energy. Those are temporary increases, not buffs to keep next turn. En Garde checks whether the chosen unit is your only unit there when the spell resolves. Its resolved bonus lasts for the turn; the Legend's separate bonus continues checking the board. An opponent moving another friendly unit into the lane can remove the Legend's contribution even after your trick has resolved.
Know which death you are choosing
Lonely Poro · Scuttle Crab · Zhonya's Hourglass
Poro draws when it dies alone. Crab draws when played, then its Deathknell reveals the opponent's hand, allows you to inspect their facedown cards for the turn, and gives an XP. Hourglass replaces a friendly unit's death with a heal, exhaust, and recall to base while killing the Gear instead. That preserves the unit, but you do not also get its Deathknell. If the saved unit was the only defender, the lane may still be lost. Be clear about whether you need the body next turn, the death effect now, or the point neither option can protect.
Use Tempered's XP for a real second attack
Master Yi, Tempered · First Mate · Scuttle Crab
You gain two XP whenever Tempered conquers or Holds. At six XP he gains Deflect and Ganking; the Legend itself does not change. Crab deaths can help reach that total. If a conquest takes you from four XP to six, First Mate can ready Tempered and his new Ganking permits a move directly to another battlefield. Before six XP, readying him does not grant that route. Leaving the first battlefield empty also means giving up its defense, so take the extra attack when it advances the score more than staying would.
Strengths
The defensive bonus asks for no Energy, Power, or card. That leaves more resources for the response which actually decides combat.
Cheap draw effects and units that replace themselves help the deck keep developing after the first exchange.
A lone defender leaves other threats available. Rengar and a leveled Tempered can punish an opponent who commits everything to one lane.
Weaknesses
Adding or moving another friendly unit into the defense immediately removes the Legend's bonus. Tokens count too.
The bonus does nothing outside a defense. A unit that survives comfortably in combat can be much easier to remove during the opponent's open Main Phase.
Protecting every small body can exhaust the hand without improving the score. Know which lane can be surrendered and which point has to be defended.
This is my Wuju Bladesman pick because its cheap cards and its expensive threats both work through the lone-defender bonus. Lonely Poro, Scuttle Crab and Pit Rookie each cost two Energy, so you can leave one unit at a battlefield and still keep runes ready for Discipline, En Garde, Punch First or Defy on the opponent's turn. When you choose Star Spring, it connects that defense to Rengar, Trophy Hunter: if the opponent attacks your lone unit there, Ambush lets you play Rengar as a Reaction, and because he is the first non-token unit played there that turn, you may move the original defender to base. Rengar then defends alone at eight Might, and the smaller unit leaves the fight instead of dying. I also like that Charm gives the Legend a use on your own turn, since moving an enemy unit to a battlefield you control with one unit there makes that unit the defender. Master Yi, Tempered is the long-term threat. You gain 2 XP each time he conquers or holds, Scuttle Crab adds 1 XP when it dies, and at 6 XP he has Deflect and Ganking. From there, First Mate can ready him after a conquest so he can move directly to the other battlefield. The deck is at its best when it adds one unit to a fight at a time, so check whether a second friendly unit is worth more than the +2 Might it switches off.
Midgame
Master Yi, Tempered costs four Energy from the Champion Zone, and you gain 2 XP each time he conquers or holds. Grove of the God-Willow draws a card when you hold it, so holding there with Tempered gives you XP and a card at the same time. Charm costs one Energy and one Calm Power and has neither Action nor Reaction, so play it during your own turn to move an enemy unit off the battlefield Tempered wants to attack, or to move an enemy unit to a battlefield you control with one unit there so your unit defends with the Legend's +2. Rengar costs five Energy and one Body Power, which is a lot to keep open on the opponent's turn, so decide before passing whether you are holding him for an Ambush. Sabotage reveals the opponent's hand and recycles a non-unit card, while Defy counters a spell that costs no more than four Energy and one Power.
Late gameRampage and Onslaught are main-phase removal, and your unit does not get the Legend's bonus while you use them on your own turn. Onslaught gives a unit +6 Might this turn, then Rampage makes that unit and an enemy unit deal damage equal to their Mights to each other. Paying Rampage's extra Body Power adds +2 to your unit first, so Rengar with Onslaught deals 14 damage, but he still takes the enemy unit's Might in return. Onslaught's Flow lets you play it again from the trash for four Energy, and then it is banished. Ruin Runner can't be chosen by enemy spells and abilities and defends alone at seven Might, while Tomb-Raider Barbara answers an enemy Gear only if you control seven or more runes when she is played. Count the runes you have recycled for Power before relying on her.
Battlefields
Blind
Grove of the God-Willow · Master Yi, Tempered
Grove rewards the plan the Legend already wants. If one unit defends Grove through the opponent's turn, you hold it at the start of your turn, score, and draw a card. You also gain 2 XP when Tempered holds here, so he can level and draw from the same battlefield. The opponent draws from Grove too when they hold it, so contest it before they settle in with a unit of their own.
Going First
Emperor's Dais · Scuttle Crab · First Mate
Going first gives you the first chance to move a unit onto an empty battlefield. When you conquer Dais, you may pay one Energy and return a unit you control here to hand to play a two-Might Sand Soldier token here. Returning Scuttle Crab, First Mate or Pit Rookie lets you use its play effect again later, and the Sand Soldier defends alone at four Might. Keep Rengar or Ruin Runner in place when the bigger unit is the better defender. The opponent can use the same trigger when they conquer Dais.
Star Spring
Star Spring · Rengar, Trophy Hunter · Lonely Poro
Star Spring is the battlefield for the Rengar line. The first time a player plays a non-token unit here each turn, they may move another unit they control here to its base. When the opponent attacks your lone unit here, Ambush lets Rengar enter as a Reaction, the original defender goes to base, and Rengar defends alone at eight Might. That costs five Energy and one Body Power on the opponent's turn. The move does not ready the unit you sent to base, and the opponent can use the same effect when they play a unit here.
Sideboard
Take Mind cards before they are played
Decree of Strength
Decree of Strength costs one Energy and no Power. The opponent reveals their hand, you choose a Mind card, and they recycle it. Unlike Sabotage, it can take a Mind unit, but it does nothing against a hand without Mind cards. Bring the two copies against Mind decks in place of a Sabotage or a combat card that is weak in the matchup.
Protect the defender from targeted answers
Not So Fast · Decree of Focus
Not So Fast counters an enemy spell or ability that chooses a friendly unit or gear, for two Energy and one Calm Power. Decree of Focus is the cheaper option against Fury: for one Energy, it gives +4 Might this turn to a friendly unit in combat with an enemy Fury unit or chosen by an enemy Fury spell. It does not counter that spell, so it will not save a unit from an effect that kills outright. Swap them in for an En Garde or Charm when the opponent's removal, rather than combat, is what beats your lone defender.
Threats that are harder to remove
Ruin Runner · Akali, Silent · Ambessa, The Wolf
The third Ruin Runner and Akali, Silent both resist targeted removal: Runner can't be chosen by enemy spells and abilities at all, and Akali can't be chosen unless she is in combat. Akali also gets +2 Might this turn when she moves to a battlefield. Ambessa, The Wolf protects against damage instead: once empowered for three Energy and one Body Power, she has +3 Might and can't be dealt damage unless she is in combat. Bring these in over a cheap body or a trick when the opponent wins by removing your one defender outside combat.
Answer Gear and the trash
Tomb-Raider Barbara · Disposal Order
The third Tomb-Raider Barbara helps when the opponent's Gear matters, as long as you control seven or more runes when she is played. Disposal Order is a Reaction that either makes the opponent recycle up to three cards from their trash or draws you a card, so it slows Flow spells and other cards played from the trash without being dead in other games. Replace an early body or a Sabotage, depending on which part of the matchup you need to slow down.
