Tristana Flex ---> Masters

Getting to Masters this set took eternity, but I did make it, largely off of the back of this comp:

Here is a pretty basic Trist carry level 6 board. Janna is not consistent because she's a 4 cost, but all of the other units are 1's/2's.  Not pictured is the 3* Ziggs on my bench to force the Yordle Trait to generate 2/3 gold a turn.

Trist comps rarely if ever win, but consistently top 4.  According to my lolchess, 85% of the games where Trist is on my end game board, I top 4 the game.  High-end Arcanist/Challenger/Fast 9 legendaries boards typically edge you out and push you into 2nd and 3rd.

Why Trist?

This comp is very strong against Melee units, Trundle, Yone, Warwick, and yes even Katarina.  Trist's 3* ult knocks back 3 hexes, and if you can get the fight into overtime, Rageblade means that you instantly win against any melee units; they can't close the gap.

Consistency is your second big benefit.  As long as you can get Yordles active early (no later than 2-5), the units find themselves, and the extra money acquired allows you to transition into other comps/builds as needed.  While trying to play Trist, I find it easy to get into Arcanists or other AD carries, Jhin especially.

Carousel Priority

Unit is more important than your starting item here, as the earlier you can put Yordles together, the higher your chance to succeed.  Ziggs/Poppy are of equal value, the tiebreaker being if they have an item they could use, Poppy with Belt/Chain, Ziggs with Bow/Sword.  Even though Bow is the best starting item, I would only take Bow on a non-Yordle if it forced me to take Tear, this comp can only use Tears for Redemption or Shojin Cait.

Starting Item Priority after unit:

Bow > Sword > Glove > Belt/Chain > Cloak
If you start Tear or Rod, do not play Trist.

Bow Ziggs/Bow Poppy are optimal starts.

Socialite

Only play Socialite if it's in the back row.  Moving up a hex hurts Sniper, and is only good if it's one of the far side spots.  No other Socialite hexes are good for you.  Always try to scout the Socialite Hex early, when it's in a good spot Taric is an insane unit.

General Strategy

95% of your games you're going to try to lose streak.  Put in whatever units you can to make Yordles at 2-1 or fish for it in the next few rounds.  Don't put items on Ziggs because they're going to get stuck on your bench.  Don't feel bad if you take 38 damage on Stage 2, once you stabilize you are hard to stop.  Don't level early unless you are streaking/can streak, typically this means you spiked an early Trist/Poppy 2 with a Rageblade.  Level to 5 as early as you can without breaking 50, sometimes this will be at Krugs, sometimes this will be at 3-1/3-2.  

Trist 2 with a damage item is enough to stop taking 10 damage every round, as long as you have Poppy 2/Blitz.  Runaan's/Rageblade are highest priority, IE/DB/GS are decent but not as strong early, HOJ/Last Whisper are pretty terrible, none of the units you care about killing have more than 50 armor and HOJ is just a terrible item that no one should build unless forced to.  Runaan's helps you not get stuck on Vex against Arcanist players, and Rageblade + a Healing item allows you to outrace.

This is your level 8 board, try to end up here.  Tank items on Poppy 3, Damage items on Tristana 3, extra carry items on Jhin, Utility on Lulu.

Set 6 Initial Impressions

Set 6 is great.  Easily the best set thus far, even if we were forced to play the initial patch for the next 3 months.  The only true balance outlier is Twisted Fate, who egregiously has extra Armor/MR.  Yone is too forgiving, Fiora too weak, Lux too punishing.  A few of the augments are not balanced very well (Phony Frontline especially).  This is my entire list of gripes.  I only hope the high complexity and sheer amount of reading don't scare off the casual players.

I hope to see the following for accessibility's sake alone.

• Socialite and Mutant need to be revealed at the start of the game.  It's not fun to repeatedly have to figure these out, especially when they drastically change the power level of affected units.  I am OK with the second Socialite hex staying hidden because revealing will probably just confuse people.
• The first augment should be on 2-1, not 1-3.  Too many of the augments are really committal, and you're often forced to take a massive risk at the very beginning of the game.  

My core argument in favor of these is fun.  Clerical work is not fun.  Having to take a massive risk before the game really begins is not fun.

Twisted Fate

Twisted Fate is probably the best unit that's ever been in TFT.  1 cost, 1 auto to first cast, huge AOE, reasonable base damage, Range, good traits, decent base HP... AND 5 EXTRA ARMOR AND MR?  Something always slips through the cracks early in a sets life cycle, and here it's TF.  Unlike set 4.5's Rakan, who basically made every fight go to overtime and killed the entire team with Sunfire Cape at 2 star, TF is a fun unit to play with that's just too powerful, nothing egregious.  Maybe it's a little egregious that 2 star TF is an acceptable carry into the end of the game, especially with Morello and maybe a GA too, but he's certainly not shining at that point.

If you get the privilege of starting Rod/Belt TF so that you can fish for early Morello, you're really doing it.

I think you might be able to play Vanguard/Mystic this set with Braum/TF/Darius, filling out the rest of your comp as needed, but only because TF is so overpowered.  Hopefully I'll get to try it once.

No More Demotion

One of the best general changes this time around.  Demoting sucks, and it's a huge incentive for people to stop playing or make alt accounts and grief bad players.  Especially with end of season cosmetic rewards on the line, this is a fantastic change.  Everyone has gone on that awful streak where they play 20 games while tilted, drinking, limit testing, and demote from Master to Diamond or worse.  I personally know someone who demoted from 750 LP GM to Diamond 1 in the span of a week.  Their (I)dentity is safe with me.

Quick Thoughts:

Best/Worst Unit by Cost

• (1) Best: TF, obviously.
     Worst: Ziggs, can lose to creeps
• (2) Best: Swain, CC/Good Traits/Resilient.
       Worst: Kog'Maw, 30 AD KEKW
• (3) Best: Zac, great CC/Good Traits
       Worst: Lissandra, buggy and narrow
  
• (4) Best: Yone, stupidly forgiving
       Worst: Fiora, stupidly low damage
• (5) Best: Yuumi,  Good at everything except actually killing units
       Worst: Viktor, takes 8 years to cast, bizarre ult targeting

Item Priority

1. Rod:  Morello and Spark are the best items.
2. Belt:  Strong and versatile.
3. Sword/Glove:  Comps that want these items really want them.
4. Bow:  Similar to Sword/Glove but worse.
5. Cloak/Tear:  Usually easy to come by later in the game if you need them.  Largely taken to insure Bluebuff or Runaan's respectively.
6. Chain:  None of the chain items are good except for Titans.

Until next time,
Kevin