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Teemo Swain Deck Guide

What’s the difference between Teemo and Swain? Well… one is a ruthless war criminal, and the other is the Grand General of Noxus. How do they team up? Here's Jasensational with the detailed run-down!

Regions
Noxus
18 cards
Bandlecity
22 cards
Rarities
27 300
champion
6
epic
3
rare
13
common
18
eternal
Mana cost
0
0
8
1
8
2
9
3
5
4
3
5
4
6
3
7+
Champions
6
1
Teemo
3
Teemo
5
Swain
3
Swain
Followers
18
2
Conchologist
3
Conchologist
2
House Spider
2
House Spider
3
Arachnoid Sentry
3
Arachnoid Sentry
3
Loping Telescope
2
Loping Telescope
4
Aloof Travelers
2
Aloof Travelers
4
Lecturing Yordle
3
Lecturing Yordle
7
The Leviathan
3
The Leviathan
Spells
16
1
Poison Dart
2
Poison Dart
1
Ravenous Flock
3
Ravenous Flock
2
Pokey Stick
3
Pokey Stick
3
Death's Hand
2
Death's Hand
3
Scorched Earth
2
Scorched Earth
6
Hidden Pathways
2
Hidden Pathways
6
Minimorph
2
Minimorph

Teemo Swain: a Deck Guide

Hey guys, Jasensational here. What’s the difference between Teemo and Swain? Well… one is a ruthless war criminal, and the other is the Grand General of Noxus. Together, they create a deck that the likes of Ionia haven’t seen since the first invasion.

But enough of the lore recap, one of the main reasons why TeemoTeemo SwainSwain has seen a bit of a resurgence lately is its favorable matchups into two of the strongest decks right now, being ZoeZoe Lee SinLee Sin and KennenKennen AhriAhri. With its flexibility of pings, single target removal, landmark removal, and MinimorphMinimorph it has game into most decks as a very solid control deck. I’m here to break it down for you.

Win Conditions

Like with any SwainSwain deck our general late-game strategy consists of a leveled SwainSwain with a The LeviathanThe Leviathan to stun-lock the board and present threatening open attacks.

In addition to the three damage from The LeviathanThe Leviathan at round start, any cards that the opponent draws can contain puffcaps, which will also proc SwainSwain’s ability for an additional stun. Adding cards like Pokey StickPokey Stick Arachnoid SentryArachnoid Sentry and Poison DartPoison Dart, we have strong ways to prevent blocks and swing for big damage in mid to late turns.

Swain The Leviathan

To get to the late game, we have a plethora of different control tools that synergize well with each other. Cards like Ravenous FlockRavenous Flock and Scorched EarthScorched Earth are very efficient tools for controlling the board. However, they are conditional and require the target to be damaged. This is where Lecturing YordleLecturing Yordle comes into play. With the ability to generate pings with Poison DartPoison Dart along with the other ping cards that are naturally in the deck, the deck constantly can shut down most mid-game cards for two to three mana. This is also the main way to level up SwainSwain and begin to pressure the opponent.

Lecturing Yordle Ravenous Flock Scorched Earth

While we have some puffcap synergy with the Lecturing YordleLecturing Yordle, TeemoTeemo is rarely our main win condition. In the early game, TeemoTeemo is a great early play to get in twice for some initial shrooms and as an elusive blocker. In the late game, a strike with a leveled TeemoTeemo may greatly speed up the clock the opponent is on, but will likely just help to bait out removal instead. Either way, the shrooms that TeemoTeemo puts into the opponent’s deck helps to progress and level SwainSwain, while also proc SwainSwain’s ability.

Mulligan

Most mulligans will just consist of us looking for our early game. While we don’t necessarily need to curve out with this deck, we can apply a bit of early game pressure so that The LeviathanThe Leviathan can start burning out the opponent.

Teemo House Spider Conchologist Loping Telescope

Generally, good cards to keep include TeemoTeemo if attacking on odds or if the opponent doesn’t run early pings. Other cards include our suite of two drops being House SpiderHouse Spider for early blockers, or ConchologistConchologist and Loping TelescopeLoping Telescope.

If Early Game Secured >>> Lecturing Yordle

If Playing Defensively >>> Ravenous Flock Pokey Stick

With an early game secured, the next main card we are looking for is Lecturing YordleLecturing Yordle. This card is just a solidly statted powerhouse that activates our flocks and generates value by itself. In matchups where we need to play more defensively, I would also look for our early spells in addition to our two-drops such as Ravenous FlockRavenous Flock and Pokey StickPokey Stick. 

While it may be tempting to start keeping cards like SwainSwain and The LeviathanThe Leviathan in slower matchups, I would still advise you to mulligan more aggressively for early tempo. So rarely do we get to favorably play SwainSwain down on turn five and get a nexus strike in. The same goes for The LeviathanThe Leviathan. In most matchups, we play very heavily to put ourselves in a stable position, before we have the breathing room to play down our ship. These cards may sit dead in our hands, so we should mulligan them away in favor of our control tools.

Matchups

Zoe Lee Sin (65/35)

What makes this matchup so favored for the Teemo Swain player unlike the olden days of DravenDraven EzrealEzreal or Twisted FateTwisted Fate GangplankGangplank is the ability to run MinimorphMinimorph and Aloof TravelersAloof Travelers in our deck.

These cards provide direct answers that the other region combinations lacked. In addition, we can run and generate much more pings, so that it’s very easy to keep Eye of the DragonEye of the Dragon damaged, so that Ravenous FlockRavenous Flock confirms the kill. We can easily outmaneuver Guiding TouchGuiding Touch with the help of Pokey StickPokey Stick and Poison DartPoison Dart. Finally, when SwainSwain and The LeviathanThe Leviathan do come down, it can only be answered by a narrow range of cards such as Will of IoniaWill of Ionia or EquinoxEquinox or other bounce/silence spells.

Teemo Lecturing Yordle Minimorph Aloof Travelers

In this matchup, look for TeemoTeemo and early pings to negate ZoeZoe from getting any value. Each Supercool StarchartSupercool Starchart we can prevent is one less chance at finding an EquinoxEquinox for our ship. Lecturing YordleLecturing Yordle will also provide a constant threat of pings to thin out the opponent’s board. Finally, look for MinimorphMinimorph and Aloof TravelersAloof Travelers to disrupt the opponent’s Lee SinLee Sin gameplan.

Kennen Ahri (60/40)

The slew of pings makes it difficult for the opponent to keep key units such as KennenKennen and Dancing DropletDancing Droplet alive. We want to prioritize mulling for our ping spells like Pokey StickPokey Stick Group ShotGroup Shot and Lecturing YordleLecturing Yordle. Even ConchologistConchologist gives us the ability to find more copies or extra removal cards that will prove vital. Be wary of dropping SwainSwain or The LeviathanThe Leviathan too early as HomecomingHomecoming will provide an easy answer and a mana disadvantage. 

Pokey Stick Conchologist  Lecturing Yordle

Going wide on board to pressure proactive recalls can be a good way to save and use our removal, so cards like House SpiderHouse Spider and Loping TelescopeLoping Telescope to generate more units on curve can become threatening.

Bandle Tree (60/40)

It turns out that running landmark removal makes you good into a deck that mostly relies on having The Bandle TreeThe Bandle Tree to win games makes this a favorable matchup for us. If we can control the early game, then we stand a good chance to eventually grind out our opponents. However, there is a risk of being beaten down since the Bandle City Swarm package is so wide. If we cannot answer PoppyPoppy reliably, then there is a risk of getting out-tempoed.

Arachnoid Sentry House Spider Scorched Earth

Valuable cards in this matchup include Death's Hand to deal with Mayor, and Arachnoid SentryArachnoid Sentry and Ravenous FlockRavenous Flock to answer PoppyPoppy. Look for early game units to stabilize the board such as House SpiderHouse Spider and ConchologistConchologist.

Plunder (50/50)

As we start to get into the more aggressive decks, you will find that Teemo Swain may start to see some struggle. A leveled GangplankGangplank may overpressure us and wipe out our board, and an early swarm needs to be answered appropriately. But as the turns progress, plunder units will have two to three health, and without cards, like Make it RainMake it Rain our pings will find hard times to finish off units.

House Spider Conchologist Pokey Stick

If we can stabilize, then we can play pretty reactively to eliminate threat after threat. Since Plunder can only really play one threat a turn, we can line up answers appropriately, such as with MinimorphMinimorph or Scorched EarthScorched Earth.

Teemo Ziggs Burn (40/60)

Without any heal against a burn deck, we have to prioritize our early game blockers. House SpiderHouse Spider will be your best card to go wide and set up Ravenous FlockRavenous Flock. Pings and early blockers will be your friend here, so look for a range of Pokey StickPokey Stick and units. Keep Lecturing YordleLecturing Yordle if we already have a good early game, but ditch it if we don’t.

House Spider Conchologist Loping Telescope Pokey Stick

Should you face a higher proportion of aggro, consider going up on copies of House SpiderHouse Spider and more early game units.

Twisted Fate Nami (40/60)

Wrapping up the matchups is the new dark horse of the meta, Twisted FateTwisted Fate NamiNami. The reason why this matchup is not the greatest is because of their sheer threat density. While we have lots of pings, we need our removal cards to reliably kill opposing units. With three Ravenous FlockRavenous Flock, two Scorched EarthScorched Earth and 2 MinimorphMinimorph, we need to be able to answer NamiNami Fleet Admiral ShellyFleet Admiral Shelly Twisted FateTwisted Fate and Curious ShellfolkCurious Shellfolk. But because our removal is at fast speed, the opponent can get in their buffs by casting spells on the stack. Our deck can answer units with one health pretty well, but if they become two or three health units, suddenly every unit becomes a flock target.

Conchologist Lecturing Yordle Aloof Travelers Minimorph

Look for removal, and look for ways to apply early pressure. ConchologistConchologist and Loping TelescopeLoping Telescope may grant you additional niche cards such as Culling StrikeCulling Strike EquinoxEquinox or MightMight on SwainSwain to surprise the opponent. Lecturing YordleLecturing Yordle will be a solid midrange unit that will be hard to remove, and then find answers for their Curious ShellfolkCurious Shellfolk such as MinimorphMinimorph and Aloof TravelersAloof Travelers.

Wrapping Up

This deck has sprung up recently as a counter to some of the top decks, especially the Ionia ones. Hopefully, this guide helps to break down the key points and give tips on how to better pilot the deck and improve your game. 

Let me know if you have any questions! You can find me here:

Discord: Jasinsane #0246

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jasensational