Rubick vs Timbersaw

How this matchup plays

Forcing Timbersaw off his aggressive timing is the whole story here. Timbersaw's entire game plan relies on constantly using his active abilities to deal damage, stay mobile, and control fights. The problem is that every one of these spells is a fantastic target for Rubick's Spell Steal. A stolen Timber Chain gives Rubick unmatched repositioning and escape, Whirling Death offers a powerful area-of-effect nuke with a stat reduction, and stealing Chakram provides a huge slow and pure damage that can turn any engagement on its head.

This creates an impossible situation for the Timbersaw player. To have any impact, he has to cast spells and risk giving Rubick the perfect tool to dismantle his team. If he plays passively to avoid this, he's not creating space or threatening enemies, which defeats the purpose of the hero. As a result, Rubick can often sit back and wait for Timbersaw to hand him a game-winning spell. Timbersaw ends up being a liability, forced to either underperform or actively help the enemy Rubick take over the map.