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INTRODUCTION
Gangplank Sejuani is a very old deck in the meta as it first sprung out from The Rising Tides expansion. The idea of the deck is pretty simple, both Gangplank
and Sejuani
have the same level-up condition so the whole deck is built around dealing damage to the enemy nexus as often as possible. We also try to maximize tempo by dealing damage to the enemy nexus by running plunder cards. After we have dealt enough damage to the enemy nexus and have won the board with the tempo from our plunder cards we play either Gangplank or Sejuani as a finisher to close out the game. This means this deck is a midrange deck as we usually win by turn five, six, or seven.
CARD CHOICES
3x Gangplank: He is one of our main finishers in the deck as he is very easy to level up and his leveled-up form usually wins the game in one attack as it removes blockers while dealing direct nexus damage with both his ability and his overwhelm keyword.
3x Sejuani: Our second finisher as she allows us to essentially make our opponent’s board useless. Being able to frostbite each turn by dealing direct nexus damage means you probably have to do a lot of bad trades against our deck. It usually takes two attacking turns for Sejuani to win once to remove his board and a second one to finish the game unless your opponent is pretty low on health. She can also shut down any unit-centric deck such as Demacia decks.
3x Crackshot Corsair
: The best one drop specifically for this deck as it guarantees the nexus damage on turn one even if your opponent has a blocker. Usually it is best to keep her back if you have other units that can attack as you want to make sure that the plunder trigger is activated in your attack turns.
3x Black Market Merchant
: Great two drops in this deck as it usually replaces itself in your hand for a card on your opponent’s deck. This is very important as your opponent can’t play around with a random card from his deck. He also adds the tilt factor as getting beaten with your own cards can feel pretty bad.
2x Dreadway Deckhand
: Good two drop that help us blow out opponents with wide boards in combination with Make it Rain
. She can also be used to create two blockers for your opponent if he’s trying to play it safe.
1x Fortune Croaker
: Good cycle card that synergizes with our two health one drops. I usually ran three of these but they would often brick my hand with multiple Fortune Croakers so I switched two out for two Dreadway Deckhand instead as she can be played more easily.
2x Marai Warden
: Basically the House Spider
of Bilgewater. Great card both for creating chump blocks against aggressive matchups and swarming the board against combo decks. She allows us to get more minions on the board than our opponent which in return gives us a plunder trigger as one of our units usually gets to hit the nexus. Unless you roll The Wings and The Wave
in which case you just cry.
2x Monkey Idol
: Amazing three drop for slower matchups as it is one guaranteed Powder Monkey
most of the time in a turn we don’t have the attack token. You usually want to play this card once you open attack to set up for the plunder trigger on the next turn to advance Gangplank and Sejuani’s level up condition. If your opponent doesn’t run any interaction this card can win you the game by itself as it creates blockers while dealing damage to the enemy nexus.
3x Yordle Grifter
: Amazing card in this deck because we only run four freljord cards, allowing us to hit allegiance most of the time for a Warning Shot
and the bottom card from our opponent’s deck. This is extremely valuable as Warning Shot helps us with our champion’s level-up condition and stealing cards helps with the tilt factor mentioned before.
3x Zap Sprayfin
: Because he has the elusive keyword he allows us to strike the nexus directly unless they have another elusive unit to block. This means most of the time he is a good turn-four plunder trigger for our win condition. He also helps us cycle our deck and find spells that can deal damage to the enemy nexus.
2x The Dreadway
: Alternative finisher for matches that are hard to wrap up. It allows us to get lethal with either overwhelm units or direct damage spells. Two Warning Shots when The Dreadway is on the board means a burst speed Decimate
for cero mana, just think about that.
3x Warning Shot: Premium spell for this deck as it allows us to trigger plunder at burst speed for no mana cost. Something to note is that even though it is a “free card” it is not actually free as you lose a card advantage, so try to not have two or more main deck copies in hand.
1x Parrrley
: Great one of to keep in matchups where your opponent has a one-drop to guarantee plunder on turn one. It can also be targeted to the nexus and be considered a fourth Warning Shot for the deck.
3x Make it Rain: Amazing spell for this deck as it can be used to guarantee a plunder trigger and removal for small units at the same time if your opponent only has two units on board. It has great synergy with Gangplank and Dreadway Deckhand as they both summon Powder Keg
.
3x Monster Harpoon
: This is your mid-sized unit removal, it usually costs three mana in this deck so more often than not using this card is a huge tempo swing as you remove your opponent’s five cost unit with a three-mana spell.
1x Feel The Rush
: This card was originally an Aloof Travelers
counter tech but since they have been nerfed this card is not as relevant. I still enjoy running this card in the deck as it can help you win some otherwise unwinnable games in the late game. Because your two champions are overwhelm units this card is another alternative finisher.
GENERAL MULLIGAN
Because of its straightforward and simple game plan, the mulligan for this deck is pretty simple. You want cards that allow you to plunder as many turns as possible, this usually means one drop, two drop, three drop, or some spells.
Mulligan: Crackshot Corsair, Jagged Butcher
, Black Market Merchant (if you can proc him on turn two), Dreadway Deckhand, Fortune Croaker (if you have a one drop]], Marai Warden, Monkey Idol, one Warning Shot, Parrrley (if you think your opponent will drop a one drop) and Make it Rain.
MATCHUPS
Pyke Rek’Sai Lurk (55% WR):
Mulligan: Crackshot Corsair, Jagged Butcher, Black Market Merchant (if you can proc him on turn two), Dreadway Deckhand, Fortune Croaker (if you have a one drop]], Marai Warden, Monkey Idol, one Warning Shot, Parrrley and Make it Rain.
This is a favorable matchup as you can block most of their lurker units and trade while at the same time advancing your champion’s level-up condition. You can usually win the game before they get to play Rek'Sai
and since their deck is unit heavy if you drop a leveled Sejuani it is basically game over for the lurk player.
Make it Rain in combination with kegs is amazing in this matchup as you can get rid of all their two and one health lurkers. This gives you a crazy amount of tempo and will probably win you the game.
You should try to save at least one Monster Harpoon for Pyke
as high rolling and leveling up Pyke is about the only two ways lurk players can beat you.
Parrrley is a great keep in this matchup as they usually run five to six one health one drops and you can deny a lurk trigger early on.
Dragons Demacia (50.8% WR):
Mulligan: Crackshot Corsair, Jagged Butcher, Black Market Merchant (if you can proc him on turn two), Dreadway Deckhand, Fortune Croaker (if you have a one drop]], Marai Warden, Monkey Idol, one Warning Shot and Make it Rain.
This is a 50/50 matchup and mostly depends on who draws better than the other. In this matchup you want to go wide and run him down with units while triggering plunder to finish up the game by turn five or six with Gangplank or Sejuani. The longer the game goes the more chances the dragon player has to win the game.
Because all of Dragons is a unit-based deck and all their removal is strike-based, you can blow out your opponent if you get a leveled Sejuani on board.
Monster Harpoon is an amazing card in this matchup because it can remove Shyvana
and Screeching Dragon
if your opponent doesn’t have a combat trick or spell mana. If you manage to kill one of these two units you can potentially blow your opponent out if he has a bad hand.
Bandletree (51.5% WR):
Mulligan: Crackshot Corsair, Jagged Butcher, Black Market Merchant (if you can proc him on turn two), Dreadway Deckhand, Fortune Croaker (if you have a one drop]], Marai Warden, Monkey Idol, one Warning Shot, Parrrley, Make it Rain and Yordle Grifter.
This is a very interesting matchup and a bit counterintuitive, against Bandletree you need to end the game FAST this means get as many plunder triggers as you can in the first five turns. The problem is Bandletree goes so wide with units so you probably won’t get to strike their nexus. Because of this you need to prioritize direct damage spells and units such as Crackshot Corsair, Warning Shot, Make it Rain and Parrrley.
In this matchup you have to watch out for mainly two things: Minimorph
and Aloof Travelers. We can’t play around Minimorph but we can play around Aloof Travelers. The easiest way to do this is by playing Sejuani or Ganplank as soon as you can. Their deck can only remove them efficiently with Buster Shot
or Ravenous Flock
so play around those.
Monster Harpoon should only be used to remove Bandle City Mayor
and Poppy
.
Make it Rain does wonders against this deck, especially if you get a keg on the board you can keep as many as you want on your opening hand.
Draven Sion (50.7% WR):
Mulligan: Crackshot Corsair, Jagged Butcher, Black Market Merchant (if you can proc him on turn two), Dreadway Deckhand, Fortune Croaker (if you have a one drop]], Marai Warden, Monkey Idol, one Warning Shot, Parrrley and Make it Rain.
Draven Sion is another 50/50 matchup in which you have to race your opponent. You need to win basically before turn seven if possible as this is the turn when they drop their win condition Sion
. This matchup got a bit better with the nerfs to cards such as Twinblade Revenant
and Draven
. Twinblade Revenant can no longer remove our Zap Sprayfin and Monkey Idol and Draven is now more easily removed.
Against this Draven Sion you want as many pings as possible because they run cards such as Zaunite Urchin
, Poro Cannon
and Boom Baboon
. Make it Rain is probably the best card in this matchup as it clears their board while giving us plunder triggers.
Dreadway Deckhand is amazing in this matchup to remove units with Make it Rain and Parrrley.
Our deck has very few fearsome blockers so save your Monster Harpoon for Twinblade Revenant or Risen Rider
.
Leveled Sejuani means game over as it makes their Sion completely useless and they cannot remove her efficiently.
Veigar Senna (50.9% WR):
Mulligan: Crackshot Corsair, Jagged Butcher, Black Market Merchant (if you can proc him on turn two), Dreadway Deckhand, Fortune Croaker (if you have a one drop]], Marai Warden, Monkey Idol, one Warning Shot, Parrrley (if you think your opponent will drop a one drop) and Make it Rain.
This is another matchup where you need to run them down. Focus more on leveling your champions than burning them down as they do have a lot of drain to survive early game aggro. The key to this matchup is keeping their Darkness
as low as possible.
Remember to always play a two-drop if your opponent has the attack token on even turns as a free strike with Twisted Catalyzer
can be a huge advantage for your opponent.
Monster Harpoon should be used exclusively on Senna
or Veigar
. Keep in mind that they run Stress Testing
so you always want to have a ping to finish off their champions if they do have Stress Testing.
Dreadway Deckhand + Make it Rain is an amazing combo in this matchup if your opponent plays a bunch of small units and taps out because all their early game units are two health or lower.
Try to pressure your opponent into wasting their mana on turn five or six so you can play Sejuani or Gangplank and strike before they can Minimorph them.
Poppy Ziggs (45.3%):
Mulligan: Crackshot Corsair, Jagged Butcher, Black Market Merchant (if you can proc him on turn two), Dreadway Deckhand, Fortune Croaker (if you have a one drop]], Marai Warden, one Warning Shot( if you have a plunder card), Parrrley and Make it Rain.
This is a different matchup as now you just want to survive instead of rushing down your opponent. To do this you need to mulligan aggressively for blockers and good spells to make favorable trades. This means Marai Warden, Dreadway Deckhand, Make it Rain and Parrrley are cracked cards in this matchup. If we manage to stabilize we win the game even if we don’t level up our champions so focus on survival.
Remember to prioritize health over good trades because our deck does not run any healing.
Save Monster Harpoon exclusively for Ziggs
, Poppy and Lecturing Yordle
. It can also be used on Bandle City Mayor if you’re having trouble keeping up with their swarm.
If your opponent plays Poppy and you can’t remove her but you can play Sejuani, frostbite her, as she will only give herself +1/+1 and you basically remove an attacker while creating a blocker. This reduces their damage output by a ton when you’re in a bad spot.
Monkey Idol is too slow in this matchup so don’t get baited into playing it.
Gangplank Sejuani (50% WR):
Mulligan: Crackshot Corsair, Jagged Butcher, Black Market Merchant (if you can proc him on turn two), Dreadway Deckhand, Fortune Croaker (if you have a one drop]], Marai Warden, Monkey Idol, one Warning Shot and Make it Rain.
The mirror is basically who can level their champion first. Try to execute your game plan of leveling up your champions as fast as possible while denying your opponent and if you have a good hand you will probably win.
If you have a bad hand and your opponent is the aggressor try removing their units with Make it Rain and kegs. Also, save your Monster Harpoons for their champions.
Interestingly enough, Nab cards are stupidly good in the mirror because you steal a card that is extremely synergistic with your deck so try to nab as many cards as possible.
Monkey Idol is also a great card in the mirror as it guarantees plunder triggers and denies theirs by creating blockers.
Zed Poppy (42,6% WR):
Mulligan: Crackshot Corsair, Jagged Butcher, Black Market Merchant (if you can proc him on turn two), Dreadway Deckhand, Fortune Croaker (if you have a one drop]], Marai Warden, Monkey Idol, one Warning Shot and Make it Rain.
This is a very interesting matchup and requires a lot of skill to play. The main problem against Zed Poppy is that they have a lot of combat tricks to protect their units from removal. This does not mean you shouldn’t try removing their units with spells as they sometimes run out of combat tricks. It just means that you have to be careful and not get blown out.
Because our spells are countered by their spells we usually want to go wide on the board and force them to trade or take enormous amounts of damage on their defending turns. Don’t be afraid to attack with units even if they might have a combat trick as this means they can’t use it offensively.
Monster Harpoon should be saved mostly for their champions but can be used against a high attack buffed unit as well. Now, there are some funny scenarios where it is better to play a six mana Monster Harpoon than a three mana one because they run Nopeify!
but not Deny
. This can be useful if your opponent goes all-in on a unit.
Make it Rain can be a great card or a bad card in this matchup. It can be amazing if your opponent doesn’t have Ranger's Resolve
on hand but can be bad if they do so try baiting it out before playing Make it Rain.
Finally, this is another matchup where leveled Sejuani is an auto-win as this deck is also unit dependent on killing us.
Sivir Akshan (59,5% WR):
Mulligan: Crackshot Corsair, Jagged Butcher, Black Market Merchant (if you can proc him on turn two), Dreadway Deckhand, Fortune Croaker (if you have a one drop]], Marai Warden, Monkey Idol, one Warning Shot, Parrrley and Make it Rain.
This is a favorable matchup for us as Sivir Akshan is a slower deck with fewer units than us. This means we can swarm them in the early game forcing them to trade. All of this while leveling up our champions. Sejuani is the main win condition because if she drops on the board, leveled is over since it is a Demacia deck essentially. The Sejuani freeze goes through spellshield for all of those wondering so even if your opponent has a full board with leveled Sivir
it is worthless.
Monster Harpoon is an amazing card to get rid of Vekauran Bruiser
if they drop it on turn five, just watch out for Sharpsight
. It can also remove a Sivir without spellshield even with Sharpsight so you have that option too.
If you have a guaranteed plunder trigger don’t develop an open attack instead because Brightsteel Protector
can punish you otherwise.
Try not to play Gangplank or Sejuani if they are not leveled because they can be removed easily with Concerted Strike
or Cataclysm
.
Make it Rain is an amazing card as they run a lot of low health units and it removes Sivir’s spellshield. Combine this with kegs and you can remove most of your opponent’s board.
Twisted Fate Gangplank (51,5% WR):
Mulligan: Crackshot Corsair, Jagged Butcher, Black Market Merchant (if you can proc him on turn two), Dreadway Deckhand, Fortune Croaker (if you have a one drop]], Marai Warden, Monkey Idol, one Warning Shot, Parrrley and Make it Rain.
This is a very interesting matchup as you both want to deal nexus damage every turn, except they do it in a more aggro way to finish the game with only Gangplank and Double Up
. Against this deck you want to focus more on survival than your win condition, so prioritize negating their plunder triggers over advancing yours.
Monster Harpoon should only be used on Lecturing Yordle and Gangplank.
Sometimes it is correct to not remove Twisted Fate
unless he's close to leveling as their deck does not run many draw effects and Twisted Fate is mostly used for his Red Card
. This does not allow our opponent to replay another Twisted Fate and wipe our board.
Watch out for kegs as they run Line `Em up and Dreadway Deckhand. If they have a keg on board for turn four play around Red Card as it can swipe your board.
Because we have no healing and no way to remove our own units we can’t play around Double Up so play like you have eight less health than you actually do because that can be in your opponent’s reach.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
If you don’t like the rock-paper-scissors nature of the ladder this is the deck for you. Gangplank Sejuani is the most neutral deck currently in the meta with most matchups being a 50/50 on the stats. This means that most of the time on the ladder you have a very good chance to win no matter the deck.
I recommend this deck for new players as it has a very simple game plan and doesn’t punish you too much for misplays. Lower Elo games tend to be longer because newer players don’t finish the game as quickly as a master player, your overwhelm units will close the game out for you so you have the advantage in this sense.
I also recommend this deck for higher-level players. It might be a slower grind but can be more consistent against all decks on the ladder at the moment.
For competitive play, I absolutely recommend this deck. Having 50/50 matchups across the table can be a great thing if you’re looking for a third deck to complete your lineup. This can serve as sort of a wildcard for filling that spot safely.
I hope you enjoyed this deck guide and wish you the best of luck on your games!
Wamuu
Top 200 Master LoR player. I have a lot of passion for this game and love sharing my thoughts and game knowledge through deck guides and articles for competitive play.
If you would like to watch me play you can follow me on twitch at: https://www.twitch.tv/elwamuu
If you would like coaching from me you can dm me in Discord at: Wamuu#7531