Off-Meta Deck Guide: Jinx Poppy Discard Aggro

Hello! Wamuu here with another deck guide. This time I have a deck that I haven't seen anyone play on ladder other than myself, but I think is very strong: Jinx Poppy Discard Aggro.

INTRODUCTION

We found this deck with Leer while writing the article about Balco’s Single-Shard Stash (link).

At first, I thought this deck was nothing special because it doesn’t look too great on paper. When I decided to try it out on Masters though, it was a different story. I started the day at 0 LP Masters -- I had just reached Masters the day before -- and with this deck I managed to hit 150 LP in a single day with a 75% win rate. I was honestly so amazed at how well the deck did that it was actually a consideration in my Seasonal tournament lineup.

This deck is basically the newer version of an old archetype that has been nerfed quite a bit: Discard Aggro. Instead of running Noxus as our second region, we run Bandle City in this deck for just a couple of cards that synergize well with the discard synergy. These cards are:

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The basic gameplan of the deck is to win the board early game and remove the opponent’s units efficiently with cards like Electro Harpoon or Flame Chompers!, plus Purpleberry Shake or Suit Up!.

After doing this, we get Nexus damage in with our board advantage.

To close out the game we have burn spells as finishers such as Mystic Shot, Electro Harpoon, Get Excited! and Jinx to create a Super Mega Death Rocket!.

CARD CHOICES

3x Jinx: Our main finisher in this deck as she levels once our hand is empty and this is extremely easy to achieve with this deck. Once she is leveled she generates a Super Mega Death Rocket! every single turn and this can quickly kill your opponent if she’s not dealt with.

3x Poppy: Poppy is a good unit in this deck to help our wide attacks be deadlier. This deck runs nine one-drops plus discard synergy, so your board usually gets super wide with one-drops and Flame Chompers!, and Poppy can buff all of them.

Poppy can even buff Boom Baboon if you use Tiny Spear on her, so keep this in mind if you have it in hand.

3x Forge Chief: Great one-drop that is basically free as it generates a spell mana on strike. Sometimes you can get two mana from this one card which generates a lot of tempo with spells like Purpleberry Shake, Electro Harpoon and Suit Up!.

3x Yordle Squire: Good one-drop that generates discard fodder in the form of a Tiny Spear or Tiny Shield. In this deck you usually want to choose the Tiny Spear because it has better synergy with cards like Flame Chompers! and Poppy if you need the +1 attack.

3x Zaunite Urchin: Staple one-drop for Discard Aggro, it helps us cycle our deck and summon Flame Chompers! for free while also putting pressure on turn one.

3x Boom Baboon: Discard fodder generator. It generates a Flame Chompers! in hand that can be used to cycle our deck with cards like Rummage and Zaunite Urchin, and alternatively it can be used as discard fodder for removal like Electro Harpoon or Get Excited!.

3x Flame Chompers!: The more Flame Chompers! the better! This card is mainly used for value trades in combination with Purpleberry Shake or Suit Up!, but can also be used to remove blockers for other units to deal damage to the enemy Nexus.

3x Augmented Experimenter: Amazing card in this deck as it is a body, a removal, and a refill card all in one. You usually want to play Experimenter once you have used all cards in your hand, or only have Flame Chompers! in it.

2x Purpleberry Shake: Amazing card in this deck, since people never play around it. It can be used to save a unit from removal and push a bit more damage, but the best target for this card is Flame Chompers! in order to value-trade or deal more damage with a wide swing.

3x Suit Up!: This is a card that can win games single-handedly, this is why we run three copies. We cycle A LOT in this deck so this card usually costs two mana, and this is a huge tempo swing if you cast it on a Flame Chompers! for example or any card really. Even at four mana it can be good to surprise your opponent when he tries to remove an important unit.

2x Rummage: Good card in this deck as it can help us cycle our deck when we have too many Flame Chompers! or useless cards in hand. This card can also be used to level Jinx at burst speed if needed and if you can play the two cards you get from it in the same turn, you can get a Super Mega Death Rocket!.

3x Electro Harpoon: Removal card that is used early game to gain board advantage and also deals two damage to the enemy Nexus, which is always nice in an Aggro deck.

3x Mystic Shot: Staple PnZ spell. Can be used as removal if needed, but it is mainly used as a finisher in combination with cards like Get Excited!.

3x Get Excited!: Our main burn finisher but can also be used as removal for important cards.

MATCHUPS

Veigar Senna (Unfavored):

Mulligan: Forge Chief, Yordle Squire, Zaunite Urchin, Boom Baboon, Flame Chompers! (if you have discard), Poppy (if you attack on evens), Mystic Shot or Electro Harpoon.

This is a very tough matchup mainly because Veigar Senna is a control deck with a lot of one-health removal and we are an aggro deck with a lot of one-health units. The way to win this matchup is applying as much pressure as you can in the early game and try to kill the opponent before they can play Ixtali Sentinel.

Poppy is great in this matchup because if she attacks with a wide board, all your units will be buffed outside of Withering Wail range, which is huge. That way the opponent won’t be able to remove all your units fast enough and you should be able to win. 

Purpleberry Shake and Suit Up! are also good cards to draw into this matchup as it can save units from removal while pushing a bit more damage.

It is extremely important to keep an Electro Harpoon or Mystic Shot in your opening hand to deal with Twisted Catalyzer on turn two, so Darkness doesn’t remove unleveled Jinx and Poppy.

Besides that, there is not much you can do as they run nine pings in their deck so your units probably won’t be able to stick.

Kennen Ahri (Favored):

Mulligan: Forge Chief, Yordle Squire, Zaunite Urchin, Boom Baboon, Flame Chompers! (if you have discard).

Ahri Kennen has very limited removal, and it takes a while to come online and close out games so we are naturally favored into decks like that.

In the early game, get as much board presence as you can and try to remove their units with buffed Flame Chompers!. When deciding which unit to pull with Flame Chompers!, try to pull a unit they WOULDN’T like to recall, because if you pull the ones they do want to recall like Kennen or Dancing Droplet you fall into their game plan. If you pull units they don’t want to recall, they will be forced to block with units they do want to recall and they would have to pre-commit Recall when blocking, which is extremely awkward for the opponent.

Our deck is favored into all Kennen Ahri versions but the Go Hard version can be pretty tough to deal with if they get an early Go Hard to shut down our attacks on turn one or two.

Use Mystic Shot to get rid of Kennen once the opponent pre-commits a recall spell on him, since playing multiple Kennens is the only way their deck can beat us.

A good target for Electro Harpoon is Navori Conspirator, as Ahri Kennen don’t usually want to recall this unit and it is a pretty good trade.

In these types of matchups don’t keep any removal spells and try to be more board centric, so their Nopeify! and Deny cards are dead in their hand most of the game.

Scouts (slightly favored)

Mulligan: Forge Chief, Yordle Squire, Zaunite Urchin, Boom Baboon, Flame Chompers! (if you have discard) and Poppy if you attack on odds.

Scouts is a tricky matchup because we have a lot of one-health units so the opponent can remove them very efficiently with Valor plus Miss Fortune. The basic game plan is going wider than them and dealing as much damage as possible in the early game, and rely on our burn to close out the game. Scouts does not have any form of healing so any damage you put on their Nexus is permanent.

The main threat in their deck is Miss Fortune, and they have mainly two ways to protect her: either Sharpsight or Ranger's Resolve. So, keep this in mind when trying to remove her.

In most games you have to make the decision to either remove Miss Fortune or save your burn for the Nexus -- once Miss Fortune hits the board you have about two turns before she is leveled, so keep this in mind when deciding whether to remove her or not.

It is usually better to save the burn for the Nexus, and try to threaten Miss Fortune with Flame Chompers! plus Suit Up! or Purpleberry Shake. 

Against Scouts, try to always set up good open attacks because they run Brightsteel Protector, and this can shut down your attack pretty badly if you develop.

Poppy can be very good in this matchup because they don’t have any removal for her, so she usually gets to buff all your units at least once.

Lurk (Favored):

Mulligan: Forge Chief, Yordle Squire, Zaunite Urchin, Boom Baboon, Flame Chompers! (if you have discard), Mystic Shot or Electro Harpoon (if you have a good hand).

This is an easy matchup because Lurk tends to play one unit per turn while you get to play two or three per turn in some cases. They have no healing, so pulling blockers with Flame Chompers! and dealing damage with your other units can go a long way, especially if you manage to buff them with Suit Up! or Purpleberry Shake.

Lurk has no interaction outside of Bone Skewer and Death From Below, and some version don’t even run Bone Skewer so you can drop Jinx pretty safely if you don’t think the opponent has Death From Below.

Pyke can completely shut us down if he gets to level so don’t hesitate to cast Get Excited! on him if necessary.

Mystic Shot and Electro Harpoon can be used to remove two-health units like Snapjaw Swarm or Sharkling when needed. It can also be used to remove Xer'sai Hatchling since our deck lacks good fearsome blockers.

Iceborn Poros (Favored)

Mulligan: Forge Chief, Yordle Squire, Zaunite Urchin, Boom Baboon, Flame Chompers! (if you have discard), Poppy (if you attack on evens).

This is a favored matchup, mostly because Iceborn Poros is sort of a combo deck. They take a while before they get their big elusive Poros, and by the time they do get them, they are usually dead against our deck.

In this matchup you go as aggressive as possible -- they have a limited number of units and some of them are Daring Poro which they do not want to be blocking with in the early game. 

Getting Flame Chompers! down and trading their units with Suit Up! or Purpleberry Shake is a huge blow to their strategy because it forces them to block with their poros later in the game. If you can remove Daring Poro efficiently with this combo then it is even better, but if the Iceborn Poro player is good they should not be playing them without Iceborn Legacy or Poro Snax backup.

The opponent only runs Get Excited! and Mystic Shot as removal, so your champions (and especially if you can level Jinx) are hard for them to deal with, since they want to use these spells as burn to close out games.

Taric Pantheon (50/50)

Mulligan: Forge Chief, Yordle Squire, Zaunite Urchin, Boom Baboon and Flame Chompers! (if you have discard).

Unlike other Pantheon decks, even though we are an aggro deck we are not favored into Taric Pantheon. The main reason for this is because they run both Saga Seeker and Brightsteel Protector. Some versions also run Chain Vest, which can blow us out in combination with Saga Seeker early on. The one thing their deck is not good at is going wide, so use this to your advantage. Go as wide as possible and set up good open attacks to play around Brightsteel Protector.

Even If we draw Suit Up! early on, it is not always enough to kill off their units in combination with Flame Chompers!. So, instead, we should use Suit Up! on our unblocked units to deal direct Nexus damage if possible. 

Save all your burn for the Nexus because it is highly unlikely you will get to remove any of the opponent’s units. The only exception to this rule is when they are completely tapped out.

Our champions are not too good in this matchup as they get removed by a Single Combat or Concerted Strike, so prioritize playing small units and going wide over them.

Fizz Lulu (Slightly Unfavored):

Mulligan: Forge Chief, Yordle Squire, Zaunite Urchin, Boom Baboon, Flame Chompers! (if you have discard), Purpleberry Shake (if you can get a Flame Chompers! on board), Mystic Shot and Electro Harpoon (if you have discard fodder), one Get Excited! (f you have a good hand for it).

This is a very tricky matchup because both decks are very similar. Both decks use Flame Chompers! to up-trade, and both decks go very wide.

The way to win this matchup is simply to make better trades than your opponent. The two biggest threats in their deck are Flame Chompers! and Lulu. You can remove Flame Chompers! with Mystic Shot or Electro Harpoon, and you can remove Lulu with either Get Excited! or Flame Chompers! plus Purpleberry Shake or Suit Up!.

As a general rule, you want to keep the opponent’s board as clean as possible. This is because if they get a wide board they can play Yordles in Arms and blow us out. If they only have one or two units, Yordles in Arms is suddenly a dead card in their hand.

We have a very hard time dealing with Yordle Captain so try to save your Suit Up! to deal with him in combination with Flame Chompers!.

Zilean Xerath (Slightly Unfavored):

Mulligan: Forge Chief, Yordle Squire, Zaunite Urchin, Boom Baboon, Flame Chompers! (if you have discard).

This is a very funny matchup because I think we are favored or not depending on how the opponent draws. Basically, a single Time Bomb blows us out but if they don’t draw it they have a tough time keeping up with our aggression. This deck also has no healing, so the earlier you deal damage the better to close out games later. 

Xerath can also be a problem if the opponent gets a lot of Roiling Sands on the board because he will just keep removing units we summon. He is usually a tempo loss tough, so he can be a double-edged sword unless he has a pretty good opener that stops our aggression early on.

Usually we want to set up open attacks because of Hexplosive Minefield and Desert Naturalist, since these cards help them even out the number of attackers vs blockers, making us deal less damage if we develop.

Jinx and Poppy are usually not too good in this matchup because they get removed by a single Rite of the Arcane, so mulligan them away when you see them.

Feel The Rush (Unfavored):

Mulligan: Forge Chief, Yordle Squire, Zaunite Urchin, Boom Baboon, Flame Chompers! (if you have discard), Purpleberry Shake and Poppy (if you attack on evens).

Shadow Isles control decks are our bogeyman, because they have one-health removal, drains, two-health removal and many more things that scare us. This is nearly an impossible matchup to win because of the sheer amount of removal the opponent plays, but if we get lucky and manage to get a Poppy down and attack a couple of times, or protect our units with Suit Up! and Purpleberry Shake we can cheese out a win.

There is not much to say about this matchup outside of playing around cards like Avalanche, The Box, Withering Wail and hoping for the best.

Kindred Sentinels (Unfavored):

Mulligan: Forge Chief, Yordle Squire, Zaunite Urchin, Boom Baboon, Flame Chompers! (if you have discard), Purpleberry Shake, Mystic Shot and Poppy (if you attack on evens).

This is also a bad matchup since it is a Shadow Isles control deck but it is way more manageable than Feel The Rush. Their main strategy is removing our small units with cheap spells to buff up their Sentinels. Cards that can help us deny this are Purpleberry Shake and Suit Up! if we manage to draw one. We can also Mystic Shot their Burgeoning Sentinel once they commit a removal spell to prevent her from buffing.

Poppy can also be good in this matchup if the opponent doesn’t have an immediate answer for her, as she buffs all of our units and makes them significantly harder to remove. 

Kindred is their big threat, remove them with Get Excited! when you get the chance unless you’re close to finishing off your opponent.

The main cards you need to play around in this matchup are The Box and Withering Wail, so don’t go too wide if you don’t need to.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Overall, I really enjoy this deck as it is a fun deck to play but a pretty competitive one at the same time. It is a great deck for climbing since the games are pretty fast, so you get more LP for your time than other decks. It is really only bad when there is a lot of control on ladder.

If you liked old Discard Aggro with Draven Jinx, you will love this deck and you should learn to play it pretty fast. If you are new to the deck, I recommend you try it out in Normal games first because the discard mechanic can be a bit complicated to use correctly when you are starting out.

As for competitive, this deck is a pretty strong competitive deck in an aggro lineup if you are not expecting too much control in the tournament you plan on playing. 

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 coaching from me you can dm me in Discord at: Wamuu#7531