Battle Mistress
Body
ChaosIntermediateSivir turns spent runes into future Gold, builds toward Dazzling Aurora and lets Elder Dragon change the removal math. The challenge is reaching that board without giving away too many early points.
Pick Sivir if you enjoy building the resources for a large control turn, then making those resources last. Think twice if you want an opening full of cheap attackers.
Battle Mistress can turn a recycled rune into an exhausted Gold, preserving a Power payment for a later turn. Aurora supplies a unit at the end of each of your turns, and Elder Dragon makes any amount of your damage lethal to enemy units. Those are the cards this list is built to support. Mercenary remains the chosen Champion and gives you a much cheaper way to put a ready attacker into play.
Battle Mistress
Legend
Dazzling Aurora
Key card · Body
Elder Dragon
Key card · Body
Sivir is a resource and control Legend. Recycling a rune can leave an exhausted Gold behind if Battle Mistress is ready, and enemy unit deaths ready her for another later use. The Gold matters because a future Power payment can come from it instead of another rune. It does not give the spent rune back, and it cannot be used while exhausted. Ramp, Gear and card selection buy access to expensive threats while cheap interaction limits the points lost along the way. The deck needs a plan for reaching those threats, not just enough impressive cards to fill the late game.
Build enough Energy to deploy Aurora and preserve enough Power to make the resulting board useful. Aurora finds and plays a unit at your end step, ignoring its base cost. Elder can remove one enemy unit at each location with its play trigger, then makes small damage effects far more dangerous. Mercenary supplies a quicker attacker: paying for Accelerate costs five Energy and two Chaos Power in total, which also turns on her six Might and Ganking for the turn. The Dragons stabilize the board, but actual presence still has to earn points. A Dragon at base does not score by itself, and Ganking does not ready an exhausted unit.
Battle Mistress · Treasure Trove · Gold
Recycling a rune can create a Gold after you pay the Legend's exhaust cost. That Gold enters exhausted; it is a future Power, not an immediate refund. When an enemy unit dies, the Legend readies and can support another later rune recycle. Spending Gold is not recycling a rune, and killing Trove is not an enemy unit death. Keep those distinctions clear before counting the resources for a large turn.
Elder Dragon · Flurry of Blades · Challenge
With Elder active, Flurry's one damage kills enemy units at battlefields while dealing ordinary damage to your own units. It still cannot touch units at base, and completely prevented damage does not kill. Challenge can use a friendly unit to deal lethal damage to an enemy anywhere, but that friendly unit still takes the enemy's Might in return. Elder's play trigger only chooses up to one enemy per location, so the follow-up damage matters against a wider field.
Pack of Wonders · Treasure Trove · Dazzling Aurora
Pack can return Trove to your hand, triggering its draw and exhausted rune. Replaying Trove costs two Energy; paying its Chaos Power and exhausting it to kill it then gives another draw and exhausted rune. This builds toward the expensive plays while preserving options in hand. Pack is exhausted afterward and has normal activation timing, so it cannot repeat the bounce without being readied or rescue Aurora as a Reaction to removal.
Last Rites · Lunar Boon · Elder Dragon
Last Rites gives its bearer two Might and a chance to play a unit from your trash after conquering or Holding. You still pay that unit's costs, including Elder's twelve Energy and four Body Power if nothing else changes them. Boon can put a Dragon into the trash while finding more cards, but that is setup, not free reanimation. Equip also costs a Chaos Power and two recycled cards from your trash; do not recycle the unit you intended to recover.
96th place · S4 Wuhan Regional Open, 2026-08-30
We may earn a commission if you buy through this link.
Deck total $436.50
11
2
4
1
331221323
43212332I like this list's commitment to Elder. The four main-deck units are three Elders and one Mindsplitter, so Aurora is looking for a very specific kind of payoff without promising the same hit every time. Three Flurries make an established Elder much harder to play into. The Troves and single Pack are useful before that point: they keep cards moving and help rebuild the rune count while you work toward Aurora's nine Energy and two Body Power. I would not keep every expensive card just because the deck eventually makes a lot of resources. Mercenary is the affordable way to contest a point, and the first Gust or Sabotage may matter more than a second late-game engine. Once Aurora is active, I want the Dragon to arrive somewhere useful and leave enough protection or removal to keep it there. A large unit sitting at base while the opponent takes the last point is not a successful ramp turn.
Forgotten Monument · Mobilize · Catalyst of Aeons
Monument prevents each player from scoring here until their third turn. That can give the resource opening room to develop, but it does not delay points at the other battlefield or stop units from establishing control here. I would start with it when early ramp is the hand's strength and there is a realistic plan to contest the field when scoring opens.
Dragon Roost · Dazzling Aurora · Elder Dragon
Roost lets a player pay two additional Power to play a Dragon here. Both Elder and Mindsplitter qualify, including when Aurora ignores their base cost. Keep two ready Gold or another actual payment available if that placement is part of the plan. A Dragon entering here exhausted can still contest the field, but it is not being readied for a standard move. I would choose Roost when the direct placement turns the payoff into a point instead of leaving it stranded at base.
Sigil of the Storm · Battle Mistress · Sivir, Mercenary
Conquering Sigil forces you to recycle a rune. That does not add Power, although a ready Battle Mistress can turn the recycle into an exhausted Gold. You are trading a rune now for a possible Power later, not gaining free resources. I would use it when Mercenary can contest the field and the ramp can absorb that loss. If every rune is needed to reach the next large play, Sigil can work against the hand rather than support it.
Baron Nashor · Mindsplitter · Up from the Deep
Baron offers a hard-to-target twelve-Might threat, improves other friendly units and adds Baron Pit if it is not already present. The second Mindsplitter favors hand disruption. Adding either changes what Aurora can find. Up from the Deep instead supplies two small bodies for three Energy and another paid Flow use later without adding a unit card to Aurora's main-deck hit pool. Bring the payoff or early presence the matchup needs, trimming a slower engine or less useful answer; do not cut the resource plan while keeping all the expensive threats.
Repulse · Hard Bargain · Abandon
Repulse protects a friendly unit at a battlefield from an enemy spell or ability choosing it and no other friendly unit. It cannot protect Aurora. Hard Bargain can counter a spell unless the opponent pays two Energy, with another two-Energy payment demanded if you pay for Repeat. Abandon stops a spell now but normally returns it to the opponent's hand. Choose between those restrictions instead of treating all three as the same answer, replacing a less relevant removal or refill card.
Disposal Order · Boots of Swiftness · Rampage
Disposal can recycle up to three cards from opposing trashes as a Reaction, or draw a card instead. Boots adds two Might and Ganking after its paid Equip, giving a ready Dragon a route between fields without readying it. Rampage supplies another damage exchange when you already have a useful unit, with an optional Body Power for two more Might. Bring these for an actual recursion target, movement problem or fight; trim the least useful answer rather than adding all three to an opening that still needs to ramp.
