-Disclaimer-

This build was developed as the result of experimentation and theory-crafting which focused on team play and achieving objectives. This is not designed for overwhelming power or to exploit system mechanics to your benefit. It requires focus and forethought to play effectively, often becoming dependent on team co-operation.

If this prospect has dissuaded you, then I suggest trying a different build.

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-Spells-

"Safe Bet"

Always be a team player. The extra sustain and speed from Heal helps with engages and securing escapes, but keep party composition in mind.

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-Items-

This is where most of the build deviation comes in, as well as confusion.

I will attempt to explain the base logic behind the categories and the priorities within, and encourage players to adapt from this format as situations dictate.

>Pocket: The first two cards dealt to you face down, for your own private use.

Similarly, these items are prioritized highly within your build order and can often define your options in comparison to other champions.

Relic Shield monopolizes on the need for Health, builds on your enhanced gold generation from Loaded Dice, and the AP shifts the Adaptive Power from both the Rune Shard and Ghost Poro to the more favorable conversion early game. Twisted Fate's passive Health Regeneration is notably high for a mage, the enhancement of which can play a major role in your roaming capabilities.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity early game assists with keeping Pick A Card at the ready and allows for a convenient 30% Cooldown Reduction after Nashor's Tooth is built for mid-game. The spell Cooldown Reduction I find often will allow for more effective use of both Heal and Flash when utilized with Destiny to keep your options harder to predict.

As Ghost Poro can contribute up to 30 AP when fully stacked, constant utilization of Stealth Ward is needed to get the most out of this combination. The Stealth Ward has a lifespan of 90 seconds at game start, which will need to be run out to get a Ghost Poro. The longer the game lasts the longer Stealth Ward will live, up to 120 seconds when every champion is at level 18.

When Relic Shield upgrades to Targon's Buckler the Ward Charges it generates have a lifespan of 150 seconds, which can have a negative impact on your Ghost Poro generation rate. Only when you are confident your Ghost Poro count is sufficiently close to 10 would I suggest trading out the Stealth Ward for Oracle Lens, at which point you have amazing vision control of the map in conjunction with Destiny.

>The Flop: The three community cards dealt face up after the first round of betting.

These options seem fairly self evident, so I will only highlight certain synergies.

Blade of the Ruined King's Life Steal is practically required for extended lane pushing or roaming. While I have tried other methods, Twisted Fate's inherent Attack Speed allows this to outclass the practicality of other options in my experience. The On-Hit damage and ability to manipulate Movement Speed allows you to become a sudden threat to those unwary after you acquire this.

Nashor's Tooth was an odd discovery which attempts to reconcile the split between an AP and AD Twisted Fate build. In all honesty, this may be more akin to an On-Hit build that tries to be both. Regardless; the jump in Attack Speed, AP, and Cooldown Reduction compounds the threat you posed after building Blade of the Ruined King. The additional On-Hit damage becomes noticeable immediately as your AP approaches or exceeds 100 at this point.

Guinsoo's Rageblade is a relic of the countless Attack Speed Twisted Fate builds of yore and still thrives as a central component of On-Hit builds. AP, Attack Damage, Attack Speed, On-Hit, Armor and Magic Penetration... but the real key is it's Rage mechanic. As you land Basic Attacks you gain stacks of Attack Speed, which then doubles On-Hit effects every third attack. It is at this point that any extended engagement with your character will fall heavily in your favor, a feat easily achieved with your stun which should be available every 4 seconds (2 of which they will be stunned for).

>The Turn: The fourth community card, often the point at which players determine whether they should fold or not.

These are options to monopolize on advantages you have over enemy champions.

Rapid Firecannon's extended range allows you to stun Mages and Marksmen that stay just out of reach.

Runaan's Hurricane clears out entire waves of Minions and multiply your On-Hit effects (Not Pick A Card, it's complicated).

Edge of Night is a great counter to champions who rely on a particular ability to start an engagement, denying the opportunity for it all together while granting you Health and Lethality.

>The River: The last community card in a hand of Poker, and the potential to turn the tide for those who stayed in the game.

These items are merely suggestions for what to build should you desire more versatility or a more specific way to counter your opponents.

With the exception of Mortal Reminder and Hextech Gunblade, each of these are stepping stones to some of the most versatile items in the game IMHO.

Mortal Reminder is excellent for it's Grievous Wounds
and Hextech Gunblade enhances the rest of The River.

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-Abilities-

Stacked Deck and judicious use of the variety of Pick A Card is the core of this build.

Blue cards are good for quick damage and help keep your Mana above half.

A Red Card in the midst of the Warrior Minions slows the whole wave, while the same card into the Mage Minions cleans up quickly and provides pressure to your lane opponent.

Gold Cards should be used as an deterrent and punishing tool for when your opponents try to break the line.

No matter the situation; ALWAYS look to monopolize on opportunities.

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-Runes-

"Maverick"

This rune set rewards vigilant use of all your resources.

If played right, you can break the speed cap shortly after level 12 assuming you get your Flop items.

Combining Ghost Poro with a laning item's ward generation and Destiny will increase ambush opportunities, team security, and grant you significant Adaptive Damage from simply tending to the map.

Twisted Fate's abilities become expensive quickly, which Presence of Mind more than negates, in turn allowing for a self sustaining lane presence when life steal is introduced.

Cheap Shot synergizes with both Red and Gold cards, in turn activating Coup de Grace for quick Takedowns.

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-Tactics-

These are from my experiences and will likely differ depending on individual play-styles.

Twisted Fate's versatility comes at the cost of having some of the most sub-par attributes until late game.

Even then, the ability set and resource management would make other options seem more practical: Twisted Fate's major damage is predictable and in a relatively small area, he has only one form of Crowd Control which forces the player to choose between options instead of combining them, and the reliance on Basic Attacks creates so many counter opportunities for other champions it can seem laughable to try to engage them.

Despite this, or perhaps because of these limitations, Twisted Fate thrives as an opportunist and team tactician.

While it is true any advantage makes an engagement easier, the ability to selectively target types of Crowd Control as well as the use of Destiny's strategic utility can deny the entire enemy team position while allowing plays that may have been previously not achievable.

With these thoughts in mind; Twisted Fate cycles through multiple styles of play as situation dictates.

>The Cooler

Prominent in early play as well as team fight standoffs, your mere presence severely impacts how the enemy can initiate combat.

Staying safely out of reach; just close enough that you can punish aggression with a swift stun from Pick A Card or damage from a held Stacked Deck, but far enough that you do not incite unneeded hostility.

This style can be difficult to maintain against champions with extended range, but can still be well worth the effort to give you allies reprieve from the onslaught.

"Nothing better than a fool playing tough..."

>The Hustler

Around mid-game you have the option to become a highly mobile threat, but less so in the traditional manner.

You do not gain a movement speed boost or scale walls like others, you simply can be very effective when engaging from the Jungle suddenly to bolster another lane for a push or defense. Show up with a Gold or Red card in hand and the tide of the battle changes, often to lethal effect! Should you be left to freely clear waves with Red Cards the enemy will rapidly find multiple lanes pushed up and the transgressor able to disappear into the darkness.

The freedom of this tactic can become rather addictive, but if you lower your guard you can be easily picked off by a clever assassin. It is immensely important to actively place wards and clear enemy wards as you traverse the Jungle.

"Never lost a fair game... or played one."

>The Shark

You never know when lady luck will come knocking, all you can do is be ready for her.

That Mage in the back line making a team fight impossible, the Assassin escaping to the bush, the Marksman daring to dart around at half health... time to make a play.

One card your team can monopolize on, one card and you deny escape, one card and their gambit was a mistake. You must act quick and without hesitation, trust that your team will not let your winning hand go to waste.

This is where most want to be, what many players think of when they see Twisted Fate. Coordinating with your team is the difference between survival and suicide in the face of your foes.

If your allies are unwilling or unable to act try to resist the urge to throw yourself into the fray.

If you can punish a lone threat always do so with an advantage.

"Only a fool plays the hand he's dealt."

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-Math-

The following are a series of details and calculations that have contributed to this build and may hopefully be useful to others.

>Attack Speed

Twisted Fate's Base Attack Speed is 0.651 per second and increases by ~3.22% per level, which is slightly lower than Ashe's progression for comparison.

Attack Speed is calculated by taking a champion's Base Attack Speed and then increasing that rate by the listed percentage which is then scaled to the Statistic's Growth Formula*.

Basically you are not getting the full benefit of increases until later levels,
this is why buying Attack Speed closer to mid or late game has a much more immediate effect.

Attack Speed Cap is 2.5 per second which Lethal Tempo can allow you break for 3 seconds while active.

Lethal Tempo grants between 40% to 110% Bonus Attack Speed while activated,
while also being affected by the aforementioned Statistic's Growth Formula.

The ideal level for breaking the Attack Speed Cap due to both Lethal Tempo's Scaling and the Statistic's Growth Formula appears to lay between levels 10 and 12, or ~77% to ~85% bonus from Lethal Tempo.

>Damage

Twisted Fate's Attack Damage starts at just under 50 and progresses* at a rate of 3.3 per level, which is barely higher than Soraka.

This means that even at end game your Base Attack Damage will still be well below average.

Ability Power must be purchased and the highest ratio for an ability's damage is 90% for Pick a Card while benefiting from 100% of your Attack Damage and denying the ability to slow or stun the target.

Unfortunately while the Wild Cards ability has great base damage progression to compensate for the 65% ratio, it is particularly slow moving and can only hit a particular target once.

The optimal path for dealing damage therefore appears to be in between these extremes, which is why I chose a dual AD and AP build that monopolizes On-Hit effects.

The loss in instant damage is quickly compensated for by the DPS which surges at both the initial engagement and during the conclusion.

> Practice Data

Lvl 12 TF with Full Stacks and Flop Items
vs 2000 Health Dummy with 50 Armor and Resist

AD = 149 (84 Base + 65 Bonus)

AP = 169

AS = 1.95 < 2.26 Guinsoo's Rageblade < 2.82 Lethal Tempo

Basic Attack DPS = 1200-650 which falls with target's current health

CDR = 30% : Wild Cards and Pick A Card both have 4.2 second cool-downs

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-Technicalities-

Pick A Card has an odd series of mechanics to it to keep in mind:

• It is an Empowered Attack and not an On Attack or On Hit effect.
  
• The use of Pick A Card will convert the entirety of the attack's damage to magic.
  
• Pick A Card cannot Critically Hit despite otherwise following Basic Attack mechanics.

Certain Crowd Control interactions should be kept in mind to plan out your engagements.

• Because Pick A Card registers as a Empowered Attack it is unaffected by debuffs that would affect your cast animation like Slow, and due to it becoming a "Unstoppable Basic Attack" Attack Speed Reduction and Interrupt effects will not affect it.
  
• After you have chosen a card, Silence will not revert your next empowered attack, but a spell shield will negate it's effects.
  
• If you are Blinded after the Pick A Card has left your hand, it will still miss if the Blind is in effect.
  
• Hook abilities will not be stopped by Stun, but Slow effects will affect the animation and Hitbox.
  
• Nocturne's Paranoia will negate Destiny's vision but still allow you to teleport using it.

MORE TO FOLLOW...