Skill Shot Ezreal - MattorigusPlays

# **Skillshot Ezreal — Battlefield Control & Hyper Carry** **Ezreal, Dashing Hyper Carry** *Charge up, make gold, gear up, and dominate the battlefield.* --- Note: if you have questions or need help with anything, I respond to all comments on the YouTube Video. ## **Overview** Skillshot Ezreal is a battlefield control deck built around early captures, relentless pressure, and punishing interaction. Your goal is to take an early lead, deny your opponent clean ways to contest it, and leverage Ezreal’s mobility and disruption to close games before your opponent can stabilize. The deck is highly consistent, with strong card draw and search tools ensuring you almost always have access to what you need. While your units tend to be smaller than those found in traditional stat-check decks, you compensate with equipment, mobility, and interaction that let you dictate the pace of the game. --- ## **Core Gameplan** ### **Early Game (Turns 1–3)** Your early game is focused on **establishing gold generation and battlefield presence**. Ideally, you want to deploy **Treasure Hunter**, **Plundering Poro**, or **Ravenbloom Student** to capture the first battlefield and begin producing gold. **Cull** is a key early tool, accelerating your economy and setting up future equipment plays. Once you’ve secured a point, your next objective is to deploy **Ezreal, Dashing** onto a battlefield and hide **Edge of Night**. The hidden equipment allows you to react when your opponent tries to contest Ezreal, often pushing him just out of removal range and letting him pick off attackers efficiently. At this stage, avoid spending interaction too freely. Your goal is to establish control, not to trade resources prematurely. --- ### **Mid Game** The mid game begins once **Ezreal, Dashing** is equipped and established on a battlefield. Your priority here is **maintaining control while scaling resources**: - Protect Ezreal with tools like **Arcane Shift**, **Switcheroo**, and **Frigid Touch** - Deploy **Seal** early if possible to permanently cover equipment costs - Find **Boots of Swiftness** to unlock Ezreal’s ability to pressure both battlefields With sufficient gold, Ezreal can retreat to base and re-enter the opposite battlefield, forcing your opponent to split their attention and resources. It’s important not to overspend power when doing this — maintaining the ability to respond is often more important than forcing tempo. Once you’re ahead, your interaction becomes devastating. Opponents are forced to overcommit to contest points, allowing you to punish them and score repeatedly while denying clean counterplay. --- ### **Late Game** A winning position usually looks like being **two points ahead**, with an **equipped Ezreal** on the battlefield and your opponent struggling to interact efficiently. Large, singular threats are heavily punished: - **Fight or Flight** pushes massive units out of position - **Switcheroo** allows Ezreal to outmatch oversized units - Stacking equipment prevents threats like **Deadbloom Predator** from simply running him over You also have access to **Thousand-Tailed Watcher**, which is excellent for breaking through wide boards and creating openings to reassert control. This deck does not want games to go long indefinitely. If you exhaust key tools like **Frigid Touch**, opponents with repeated large threats can eventually overwhelm you. Your goal is to force early commitments, answer them cleanly, and threaten the final point before your opponent fully stabilizes. **Legend Reminder:** Ezreal’s shot counts as **half of your Legend trigger**. Combining it with cards like **Fight or Flight** in the same turn draws a card and keeps your momentum going. --- ## **Openers & Mulligans** ### **Battlefield Selection** - **Game 1:** Fortified Position - **Game 2 (after a loss):** Grove of the God Willow - **Game 2 (after a win):** Candlelit Sanctum - **Game 3:** Grove of the God Willow (when choosing and going first) *Grove of the God Willow* is especially important. You want to reach it first and maintain control — never choose it when your opponent may be going first. --- ### **Early Keeps** You want **early gold generation and battlefield presence**. **Priority units:** 1. Treasure Hunter 2. Plundering Poro 3. Ravenbloom Student Beyond units, look for: - **Cull** - **Edge of Night** Ezreal is a bonus, not a requirement — you can find him later. --- ### **Cards to Mulligan Away** Aggressively send back: - Arcane Shift - Rebuke - Singularity - Thousand-Tailed Watcher Avoid keeping multiple copies of **Ezreal, Dashing** — maintaining him is power intensive. --- ### **Mulligan Philosophy** Mulligan hard for **tempo and economy**, not perfect answers. If your hand can capture a battlefield and start making gold, it’s usually a keep. --- ## **Matchups** ### **Kai’Sa** A difficult matchup due to efficient removal and fast scoring. - Use equipment to push units out of removal range - Force Kai’Sa to play spells on her own turn - Be mindful of **Falling Star**, **Darius**, and **Icathian Rain** - Avoid overcommitting small units The matchup improves significantly post-sideboard, where you gain tools to punish spell-heavy sequencing. --- ### **Go-Wide Aggro (Rek’Sai, Darius Hook)** Ezreal struggles when attacked by multiple units at once. **Versus Rek’Sai** - Never allow free conquers - Force trades and deny card advantage - Ezreal excels at picking off mid-sized threats **Versus Darius Hook** - Your equipped Ezreal matches well into mid-sized units - Aim to build a point lead before late-game threats arrive - **Thousand-Tailed Watcher** is excellent here **Nocturne** is particularly strong in these matchups, patrolling both battlefields and buying time to find Ezreal. --- ## **Tips & Tricks** ### **What Separates Good Players from Great Ones** Energy discipline. Knowing when to hold answers versus deploy them wins games. Hold-effect battlefields like **Star-Tipped Peak** and **Grove of the God Willow** should be prioritized whenever possible. --- ### **Gold & Power Management** - Sacrificing **Treasure Hunter** is often correct if it generates gold and frees Cull - Avoid over-investing equipment into Plundering Poro - Use **Arcane Shift** to reposition equipment efficiently --- ### **Ezreal Deployment** Never deploy Ezreal without protection unless you’re forcing an advantage. However, being too conservative can also lose games — early equipment plays can lock battlefields permanently. --- ### **Interaction & Sequencing** - Interaction is strongest **after control is established** - **Frigid Touch** should almost always be repeated - Retreat Ezreal against temporary boosts like Assault - Gold is usually preferable to power unless blue runes are scarce --- ### **Advanced Reminders** - Ezreal shot = half Legend trigger - Repeating Frigid Touch draws a card - Ezreal Prodigy reduces optional costs - Switcheroo can be hidden or played openly (hidden carries risk) > **Note:** Certain timing interactions involving Arcane Shift are still subject to final rulings and may change. --- ## **Side-Deck Strategy** ### **Against Spell-Heavy Decks** **Vex, Cheerless** - Taxes opponent interaction - Reduces your interaction costs - Extremely strong with Boots of Swiftness **Hard Bargain** - Counters large spell turns - Becomes brutal alongside Vex --- ### **Against Big Stat Decks** - Extra **Switcheroo** ensures Ezreal can always outmatch threats --- ### **Against Aggro & Tempo** - Extra **Nocturne** (especially on Candlelit Sanctum) --- ### **Against Gold / Equipment Decks** **Pickpocket** - Removes seals and cheap equipment - Generates gold while denying efficiency --- ### **Sideboarding Philosophy** - Support Ezreal, don’t replace him - Force inefficient sequencing - Buy time, deny clean turns, close decisively --- ## **Final Thoughts** Skillshot Ezreal rewards patience, precision, and matchup knowledge. You’re not trying to win explosively — you’re denying your opponent clean plays until they simply run out of options. **Control first. Pressure second. Close decisively.**