Hey guys, it’s Scissorsbox, your resident Gwen connoisseur. I have made a couple of Gwen deck guides in the past (and if you are interested, there is a Gwen Katarina deck guide that is still viable). Today, we'll be breaking down a deck that fully aims to utilize Gwen and win with her level-up: Gwen Vayne.
22 cards
18 cards
36 200
Gwen Vayne's goal is to win by utilizing Demacia’s Rally cards and constantly using the Hallowed keyword. Our primary win condition is to level up Gwen
by using Vayne
's Tumble
, as well as other Demacian spells that allow her to attack.
The deck also runs a variety of Equipments to buff our key units: Vayne, Gwen and Eternal Dancers
. Both of our Champs flip extremely easily in this deck, and if they are removed they can be brought back with Eternal Dancers.
While it is still early to say if it will be one of the best LoR decks, at worst I think it will be a Tier 2 archetype and definitely a viable option to climb to Masters. If you like a deck that fully utilizes and aims to level-up both champions, and with many combos and synergies, then you will enjoy Gwen Vayne.
Vayne Gwen – Quick Mulligan Guide
This section is for people who just want a quick breakdown of the Mulligan. Details about each card will be explained in the Card Breakdown section later.
If you are new to the deck, I highly suggest following this mulligan guide, as it is very simple and will work in most matchups.
Always keep: Boisterous Host
, Phantom Butler
Keep a single copy: Vayne, Gwen, Opulent Foyer
, Fireth, Reaper of the Sands
Keep along with two early-game units in a slower matchup: – Glimpse Beyond
, The Darkin Halberd
, The Darkin Aegis
.
Best LoR Decks: Gwen Vayne – Card Breakdown
A Nine-Champion Deck
As mentioned above, these are your key cards and will usually be how you win the game.
Even if zero Hallowed units have died in this game – which is extremely rare – Gwen can level as early as round four if you are attacking on evens. Here's how:
- Bank at least two spell mana during rounds one and two,
- Play Vayne
on round three – she will create a Tumble, - On round four, Vayne will discount her Tumble to cost two mana; if you play Gwen now, and you have the attack token, Gwen can attack twice (once with the attack token, another with Tumble) and level-up.
That being said, a Gwen (level 2)
without any Hallowed buffs is not enough to win the game – our goal is to have as many Hallowed units as possible to die, so we can capitalize on the Hallowed buff as often as possible with Tumble and other Demacian spells.
Vayne can also be a threat: while she has no aggressive keywords, there is a lot of equipment that can be Improvised which she can then put to good use and safely attack, such as The Fix-Em 5000
. With how often this deck attacks, Vayne can also level really easily.
Eternal Dancers in this deck are basically extra copies of your champions, as they will always revive Gwen, unless she is unleveled and Vayne is leveled. The only other units you can play that will be revived instead of our Champions are Joraal
and Taarosh
, but you will almost never be playing the former for this reason, and you will usually win the game if you play the latter.
Hallowed Cards
Our Hallowed followers are here mainly to boost our wincons' Power enough for them to threaten lethal.
Boisterous Host and Phantom Butler are great early-game units that apply a little bit of pressure while alive, and near-infinite value throughout the game after they die. They should almost always be kept in the mulligan, and you usually do not mind keeping multiple copies of them in hand.
Opulent Foyer is a great card that constantly creates free Hallowed units, which can also be used as sacrifice fodder for Glimpse Beyond and The Darkin Halberd. It's optimal to play Opulent Foyer on a round when you do not have the attack token, as it summons a Ghastly Band
on summon and when you gain the attack token, so using it this way will give you an extra Ghastly Band. When you attack, if you make Ghastly Band gain the Hallowed buff, you will force your opponent to either trade a unit, or take a lot of damage to the Nexus – since the Band is Ephemeral it will die either way, in turn guaranteeing a discount if you have Faithful Wolfdog
in hand.
In slower matchups, like against control decks, two copies of Opulent Foyer are extremely helpful since they can ramp up the Hallowed buff extremely fast.
Equipment
These cards are great to buff up your Champions or any other units to maintain board and threaten extra damage, and both the Halberd and the Aegis can be equipped with Vayne's Tumble .
Although you have the option, you should almost never play Joraal: you do not want Eternal Dancers to revive Joraal instead of Gwen or Vayne.
The Darkin Halberd is a great one-mana play that can be used on an Ephemeral unit to buff up one of your key units on board. A great combo is killing Fireth, Reaper of the Sands with The Darkin Halberd, then playing Faithful Wolfdog to equip whichever equipment Fireth was carrying.
If you somehow get to round ten, Taarosh can be played as a win condition.
Improvise & Equip Units
Fireth, Reaper of the Sands and Combat Cook are used to generate Equipment for other units to utilize, but can also threaten deadly attack themselves, especially if they get a big Hallowed buff on attack. Fireth is especially good because even though she is Ephemeral, she can often force a block or threaten a lot of damage later in the game.
The best Equipment cards to pick are Upcycled Rake
– which will often win you the game if equipped by Gwen – Fishawhack
, and The Fix-Em 5000 for Vayne. Remember that all these Equipment cards can be equipped with Vayne's Tumble, so this deck utilizes Equipment really well.
Faithful Wolfdog is used to gain tempo if you manage to trigger its discount, since a one-mana play that has a lot of stats can be hard to deal with for some decks.
Attack!
These spells help you level up your champions and threaten more damage later in the game. They should primarily be cast on Vayne, Gwen, and Eternal Dancers. Golden Aegis has synergy with Opulent Foyer, as gaining the attack token will give you an extra Ghastly Band; Cataclysm can remove troublesome units the opponent has, such as Ezreal
or Seraphine
.
Other Spells
Glimpse Beyond provides us with consistent draw – we have a lot of units to sacrifice, such as Ghastly Band from Opulent Foyer and Fireth, Reaper of the Sands. Concerted Strike is one of the best removal cards we can have in this deck.
Other Options
Ranger-Knight Defector actually works great in this deck, as it synergizes well with equipment and rally cards since it has Scout, but has one key problem: if your Champions are not leveled, then Eternal Dancers will revive Ranger-Knight Defector instead (because the Defector would be the strongest ally in that case), which is the main reason why Defector is not in this list. If you want to play it, it does have great synergy with Cataclysm, Opulent Foyer and Tumble.
Vile Feast and/or Single Combat can be used if you think the deck needs more interaction. Feel free to take out some units, such as Faithful Wolfdog or Combat Cook, or even a Golden Aegis.
The Harrowing can be used as a one-of if you want a late game finisher, but it is usually not needed.
Vayne Gwen: General Gameplan
This deck aims to level-up Gwen extremely quickly, and aims to abuse the Hallowed buff with Vayne, Golden Aegis, and Cataclysm.
To get to this point, one plays Hallowed cards in the early game to build up the attack buff, and Improvise units that can create Equipment to provide Vayne and Gwen with valuable keywords, such as Scout or Overwhelm.
If Gwen or Vayne get removed, lethal can still be threatened with Eternal Dancers, especially if you have Gwen (level 2).
Vayne Gwen – Matchups
Rumble Vayne – Unfavored
This match is extremely hard if they have both Vayne and Rumble
on board. If you are running into this deck a lot, I highly suggest teching in Vile Feast and one or two copies of Single Combat – this is because Vile Feast is a great card to defuse Rumble's Spellshield, so you can then remove Rumble with Concerted Strike Cataclysm, or Single Combat. However, be careful with using Cataclysm, as they often run Whirling Death
.
Sometimes you can race them if you have Gwen, Vayne, good equipment and a lot of Hallowed units, but usually they will win the race.
The key to this matchup is often removing one, or sometimes two, Rumbles, and hoping they do not draw the third because we do not have the resources to deal with three. Cataclysm can be used to remove Spellshield, and Concerted Strike can be kept in the mulligan for this matchup.
Further reading: for the other side of the matchup, you can check Card Gamer's Tumble on the Rumble – A Vayne Rumble LoR Deck Guide.
Ezreal Seraphine (NX) – Very Unfavored
In this matchup, the Ezreal player will probably save their removal (like Ravenous Flock
and Disintegrate
) for your Champions and Eternal Dancers. So, you need to pressure them as much as possible in the early game. Opulent Foyer is good here as it allows you to have a constant stream of free units that can attack and apply pressure. Faithful Wolfdog is a great one-mana play if you have an Equipment in hand, to get a lot of stats on board.
If you want to check the other side of the matchup, here's Card Gamer in-depth Seraphine Ezreal Deck Guide.
Annie Jhin – Even
In this matchup, mulligan for your early game units and Gwen. Although Gwen is a round-four play, she drains health from the enemy Nexus, and if you level her, she can heal your Nexus so much that it will be hard to burn you out. That being said, prioritize your Nexus life, and trade Vayne if it is absolutely necessary.
Be aware that Annie Jhin will try to use multiple stuns in a single round to push for lethal, so try and be able to develop more units or have Cataclysm, Vile Feast or Concerted Strike to respond.
Most of the time this matchup is even, but if they high-roll and hit the perfect cards, then they will most likely win no matter how good your hand is, and that is okay.
Vayne Gwen – Even
In this matchup, hard-mulligan for your champions. Vayne and Gwen are crucial, and will often decide the game.
Other cards that are good in the matchup are Opulent Foyer, Concerted Strike, and Cataclysm. Being able to remove the opponent’s Champions and Eternal Dancers is extremely good.
Vayne Pantheon - Even
The Vayne Pantheon player will most likely try to build a big Saga Seeker
– it is important to play early Hallowed units, so Gwen can safely attack without getting traded.
If you need to pass with even mana, it is usually fine because your opponent will often want to target an ally to progress Pantheon
's level-up, so you can try to force them to burn their mana first, then proceed to develop safely.
Opulent Foyer is good to play early in this matchup because it will constantly progress your Hallowed buff and let Gwen attack and safely level up.
In Closing
That ends my Vayne Gwen LoR Deck Guide!
This deck aims to level Gwen as quickly as possible, abuse the Hallowed keyword by being able to attack multiple times in one round, and utilize equipment effectively to buff key units like Gwen and Vayne. While not the strongest on ladder right now, it can definitely hold its own against some of the top meta decks and is a fun, viable option to climb with. I hope this guide helped you learn more about this archetype and lets you find success with the deck. Thank you for reading!
If you have any questions, let me know – Here are some of my socials:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sciss0rsbox
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Scissorsbox
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/sciss0rsbox
