Updated for Vendetta

Zed

Master of Shadows

Fury

ChaosIntermediate

Zed fills the trash to discount Rhasa, fuel Clone attacks, and replay useful cards. Owned-card banishes empower the Legend, but every card spent is one less for the next payment.

Should you play Zed?

Pick Zed if you like getting several different uses out of the cards you discard or mill. The important decision is which use earns the point you need now.

Best for: Players who enjoy movement, replay effects, and managing the trash as carefully as the cards in hand.
Think twice if: You tend to banish or recycle the first available card. A cheap Rhasa, a Clone's attack, and a Last Rites attachment can all need the same remaining cards.

Key Cards

Rhasa turns the number of cards still in trash into a cheaper six-Might unit. Kennen fills the trash on play and gives a spell there Flow after conquering, letting the removal or movement you already used matter again. Without a Sound is the chosen Champion and supplies Clones; these two cards explain how the deck turns their setup into a sustained board.

Kennen, Storm of Shuriken
Key card · Chaos

Zed’s Field Guide

Master of Shadows becomes Empowered when you banish a card you own. The card can come from the board as well as the trash; the ability does not limit the source zone. While ready and Empowered, the Legend can disempower and exhaust at Action timing to discard one, then draw one. With a card in hand, that is filtering rather than an extra card. With an empty hand, the discard cannot happen and you still draw. Becoming Empowered again does not ready an exhausted Legend, and several banishes while already Empowered do not store several uses.

How Zed wins

The deck develops small units while stocking the trash through discard, Burn, and spent spells. Clones can banish a unit from your trash when they attack for Assault 4 that turn, and that owned-card banish also empowers the Legend. Rhasa rewards leaving enough cards behind to make its Energy cost small. Last Rites and Kennen then let you use selected cards from the trash again. The board still has to score: a large trash pile is not progress unless it makes an attack, a replacement defender, or a useful replay affordable.

Key interactions

A Clone needs a unit, not just a large trash

Death Mark · Zed, Without a Sound · Shadow Order Disciple

Death Mark burns three cards and plays a Clone; Without a Sound makes a Clone at base after conquering. The Clone starts at zero Might and normally enters exhausted. Its attack trigger can banish a unit from your own trash for Assault 4, but a spell does not pay that cost. Burning three cards does not guarantee a unit arrived. Disciple's movement can add another card to the trash and give it +1 Might for the turn. A zero-Might Clone can still conquer or hold an empty field, so you do not always need to spend a unit simply to make its number larger.

Count Rhasa after the other payments

Rhasa the Sunderer · Last Rites · Death Mark

Rhasa costs ten Energy and one Chaos Power, with the Energy reduced by the cards currently in your trash. Last Rites gives its bearer +2 Might, but its Equip costs one Chaos Power and recycles two trash cards. Those two cards no longer discount Rhasa or feed a Clone. The Equipment's conquest or Hold trigger lets you play a unit from the trash while paying its normal costs. Rhasa itself leaves the trash before its play cost is calculated: eight cards there including Rhasa become seven, so that replay costs three Energy and one Chaos Power, not two.

Kennen and Fizz reuse spells in different ways

Kennen, Storm of Shuriken · Fizz, Trickster · Ride the Wind

Kennen gives a spell in your trash Flow equal to its cost for the turn. You still pay that cost, and Flow does not change the spell's normal timing. Fizz instead lets you play a spell with printed Energy cost three or less while ignoring its Energy cost, then recycles it. You still pay Power. A normal Fizz replay therefore does not banish the spell or empower the Legend by itself. Kennen's Flow Ride the Wind costs two Energy and one Chaos Power, moves and readies the unit, and banishes the spell afterward. That can empower the Legend while making the next attack possible.

Strengths

Burn and discard develop the same resource that feeds Clones, lowers Rhasa's cost, and supplies replay targets.
Kennen, Last Rites, and Fizz can make an already used card relevant again instead of demanding a fresh copy in hand.
Switcheroo gives a small Clone a way to fight a much larger enemy without spending every unit in the trash first.

Weaknesses

Clone banishes, Flow, and Last Rites attachments consume resources that later plays may still need.
Many attacks require movement or ready effects; creating a Clone or replaying Rhasa does not make it ready automatically.
The deck has relatively little direct protection. Returning or banishing an important unit can interrupt the replay plan as well as the current attack.

Shadow's Pick

Zed tournament list by 嘴嘴

9th place · S4 Beijing City Challenge, 2026-08-23

Open in Deck Builder

Buy this deck on TCGplayer

We may earn a commission if you buy through this link.

Deck total $441.51

Legend (1)

1x$0.11 ea.

Runes (12)

8x$0.11 ea.
4x$0.10 ea.

Battlefields (3)

1x$0.22 ea.
1x$0.12 ea.
1x$0.17 ea.

Spells (16)

3x$4.92 ea.
Power
1
Energy
2
3x$12.77 ea.
Energy
1
3x$0.58 ea.
Power
1
Energy
2
2x$0.15 ea.
Energy
1
3x$1.37 ea.
Power
2
Energy
2
1x$0.17 ea.
Power
1
Energy
3
1x$0.27 ea.
Power
2
Energy
2

Gear (5)

2x$56.25 ea.
Energy
3
3x$39.41 ea.
Power
1
Energy
0

Units (19)

1xChosen$0.52 ea.
Might
5
Energy
5
3x$0.20 ea.
Might
2
Energy
2
3x$0.14 ea.
Might
2
Energy
2
3x$5.81 ea.
Might
6
Power
1
Energy
10
3x$7.66 ea.
Might
4
Power
1
Energy
3
1x$12.42 ea.
Might
3
Power
1
Energy
3
3x$0.35 ea.
Might
4
Energy
4
2x$0.10 ea.
Might
2
Energy
2

Sideboard (10)

1x$0.27 ea.
Power
2
Energy
2
2x$17.35 ea.
Power
2
Energy
2
1x$0.13 ea.
Power
1
Energy
2
2x$0.27 ea.
Might
3
Energy
3
1x$0.16 ea.
Power
1
Energy
3
1x$56.25 ea.
Energy
3
1x$1.09 ea.
Might
4
Power
1
Energy
4
1x$0.46 ea.
Might
3
Power
1
Energy
2

Shadow's take

The extra Kennens and movement cards make this version more appealing to me. Merchant and Disciple can start filling the trash while advancing onto the board, then Kennen adds two more cards and gives a useful spell another turn after he conquers. That is a better reason to play toward a field than simply milling until Rhasa becomes cheap. I would decide which trash cards are reserved for replay before attacking with the Clones. Last Rites on a surviving unit can bring Rhasa back, but equipping it has already recycled two cards and the Rhasa being replayed does not count toward its own discount. Those small payments change the turn. The three Switcheroos help you avoid spending a unit on every Clone attack: sometimes the zero-Might body is exactly the one you want to exchange Might with their defender. Ride the Wind then makes Kennen or another survivor useful again, while Without a Sound can exchange places with a Clone and leave a body behind. I would keep those two effects separate. Zed's swap moves the units; it does not ready them. The best turns leave a field occupied and a follow-up affordable, not just an Empowered Legend and an empty trash.

The Game Plan

Early gameLook for Merchant or Disciple, a cheap card to enable Hopeful, and a practical first attack. Seal of Discord costs one Chaos Power, enters ready, and can immediately exhaust to add a Chaos Power back. Playing it counts toward Legion; activating the Legend or playing a Clone token does not. Merchant discards then draws when it moves, so it can put a known unit into the trash. Disciple can burn one on a move for a temporary Might increase. Death Mark costs two Energy and one Power from either Fury or Chaos from hand; its Flow costs one Energy and two Power of any domain. The Clone it creates still needs a legal route to attack.
MidgameUse Kennen's conquest to recover the spell that fits the rest of the turn. If eight cards remain in trash, a Rhasa from hand costs two Energy and one Chaos Power. Playing it at the newly conquered field before using Flow Ride the Wind on Kennen preserves that price and leaves a defender behind when Kennen moves away. Replaying Ride first removes a trash card and makes Rhasa cost another Energy. Switcheroo swaps current Might between two units at the same battlefield for the turn; it does not kill the enemy without a follow-up exchange. Perfect Execution readies and gives Assault 3, but has normal Main-Phase timing and does not give Ganking or move the unit itself.
Late gameKeep the useful replay targets and enough cards to pay Last Rites before sending another unit to Banishment. A Clone with Last Rites has two Might outside an attack, making it a more credible Hold body than an unboosted Clone. Rites can replay Kennen for another Burn 2 or Fizz for a spell, but both units still cost three Energy and one Chaos Power. Fizz replaying Switcheroo also needs that spell's two Chaos Power. Use the Legend's discard to exchange a card you do not need for another chance at the answer, while putting useful fuel back in the trash. Overzealous Fan can sacrifice itself when defending to move an attacker to base, but that does not counter the attack triggers already created. Count the cards and the route again after every exchange.

Battlefields

Blind

Minefield · Kennen, Storm of Shuriken · Rhasa the Sunderer

Conquering Minefield puts the top two cards of your deck into the trash. Those cards can improve the next Rhasa payment or supply a future Clone, but they are not chosen. If Kennen conquers here, his Flow target is chosen when the conquest triggers are finalized, before Minefield's mill resolves. You cannot order the mill first and then choose a newly milled spell for that same Kennen trigger. Pick something already available, then inspect the new cards before planning the next play.

Going First

Zaun Warrens · Traveling Merchant · Death Mark

Warrens makes you discard then draw on conquest. Merchant can filter once from moving here and again through the field after conquering, giving you chances to discard the unit or Flow card you actually want in the trash. This is not two extra cards when you had cards to discard. Think about the next Clone before throwing away a spell purely because it is expensive from hand; Death Mark and Perfect Execution may be useful precisely because they can be played from the trash later.

Going Second

Shadow Temple · Last Rites · Rhasa the Sunderer

Temple burns three when you hold. If the holding unit has Last Rites, choose a unit already in your trash when committing that trigger. Letting Temple's Burn resolve first can improve Rhasa's discount, but it cannot make a newly milled unit the target of that same Rites trigger. You still pay the replay during the Hold sequence. The turn's normal two-rune channel happens afterward, so those new runes cannot fund it yet. Protect a real Hold body instead of assuming a zero-Might Clone will survive, and watch the remaining deck: mandatory Burn can eventually force a Burn Out and give the opponent a point.

Sideboard

Choose between damage and returning the blocker

Falling Star · Rebuke · Star-Crossed

The two Falling Stars each deal three twice, either six toward one unit or three toward two different units. Choose both targets when playing the spell. It costs two Energy and two Fury Power and has normal Main-Phase timing, which is a meaningful payment with only four Fury runes. The extra Rebuke returns a battlefield unit to hand for two Energy and two Chaos Power. Star-Crossed is the Reaction that returns both a friendly and an enemy unit, potentially saving Kennen or Fizz for a later paid replay. Bring the option that answers the actual blockers, trimming Cleave or a Switcheroo that keeps lacking a good target.

Use the gear answer that reaches the right window

Brittle Steel · Ravenbloom Prefect · Master of Shadows

Brittle Steel kills an existing gear during your Main Phase, then can be played through Flow for four Energy and one Fury Power before being banished. Prefect threatens a future opposing gear play by banishing itself as the cost to banish that gear. Because you banished your own Prefect, that self-banish does empower the Legend; it does not matter that Prefect came from the board. The gear already entered, so its play triggers are not automatically erased. Bring the two Prefects or the Brittle Steel when gear is central, replacing a weak combat trick rather than sacrificing all the bodies that score.

Replay the threats when ordinary kill trades are working for you

Last Rites · Rhasa the Sunderer · Fizz, Trickster

The third Last Rites is for games where your units repeatedly reach the trash and another paid replay is valuable. I would replace a low-impact Switcheroo or Fan when the opponent is spending removal instead of attacking through combat. Reserve the two cards for Equip without recycling the unit you wanted to replay, and do not assume Rites answers banishment or a return to hand. Those units are no longer in the trash. A later Fizz replay can be valuable, but Rites does not pay for Fizz or remove the Power cost of his spell.

Add bodies without pretending the trash payments are free

Zed, From the Shadows · Vi, Destructive · Rhasa the Sunderer

From the Shadows costs four Energy and one Fury Power and can discard a card as an additional cost to produce a Clone on play. Unlike the Legend's discard instruction, that optional cost really needs a card in hand. You can add him to the Main Deck while keeping Without a Sound as the chosen Champion. Destructive gives you a cheap Ganking unit; recycling a trash card gives her +1 Might for the turn, but that activation has ordinary Main-Phase timing. Bring these when earlier bodies or a Ganking route matter more than another slow Rhasa. Vi's recycling neither banishes the card nor empowers the Legend, and it makes a later Rhasa more expensive.