Marci vs Phantom Assassin

How this matchup plays

Picking Marci into a Phantom Assassin often means committing your item build to countering her. The core of Marci's kill potential comes from the rapid attacks of Unleash, but Phantom Assassin's passive evasion from Blur can cause most of those hits to miss entirely. This makes bursting her down extremely unreliable. To guarantee her damage, Marci is often forced to buy a Monkey King Bar. This is a major investment that can significantly delay her other core items, especially if she isn't in a farming position.

Early in the game, Marci's lockdown from Dispose is still effective for setting up ganks on Phantom Assassin. As PA gets her items, though, she can become the one hunting. She can use Phantom Strike to close the distance, and Marci is fragile enough to die to a couple of lucky crits before she can react. The matchup often comes down to a race: Marci needs to find a way to deal with Blur before Phantom Assassin gets a Black King Bar and can ignore her control.