Lulu Poppy Deck Guide

CARD CHOICES

[Lulu]: Synergizes amazingly with the deck as most of our units are small so buffing them with Lulu can translate into great value trades for us. Some targets you want to buff with Lulu are the following:

Fleetfeather Tracker: By far the best buff target as it becomes a 4/4 challenger unit which can remove most early game units easily and survive the trade.

Bandle Commando: Because of her elusive keyword she will most likely deal direct nexus damage, by buffing her with Lulu you can guarantee four nexus damage or trade with an elusive unit from your opponent and survive the trade.

Yordle Smith: He is a great target for Lulu as she turns him into a 4/4 and this in return gives all allies with four or fewer attacks Quick Attack, protecting your Lulu and forcing unfavorable trades for your opponent.

Poppy: One of the best champions in the game, Poppy allows us to turn our wide board of small units into a real threat by giving all your units +1/1 in stats. She can often level up in this type of deck as we run a couple of Rally spells such as Relentless Pursuit and Golden Aegis. If you manage to level up Poppy is probably game over for your opponent so try to protect her with combat tricks.

Fleetfeather Tracker: Great one drop in this deck as it synergizes well with a couple of cards in the deck such as:

Brightsteel Protector: If you attack on evens you can play Fleetfeather Tracker into Brightsteel protector to most likely guarantee a free trade or deal five nexus damage to your opponent.

Yordle Smith: The same thing as with Brightsteel protector as it gives it Quick Attack but can also be good in later turns when you buff both cards with Poppy, Yordles in Arms , or Cithria the Bold/

Lulu: As mentioned above buffing Fleetfeather Tracker with Lulu usually guarantees a trade.

Bandle Commando: Good two drop if you attack on evens as it generates a Hungry Owlcat every time you strike the enemy nexus with her. This has good synergy with our deck as it generates small cheap units with SpellShield which are hard to remove.

Brightsteel Protector: Good protective card. Helps a lot in the mirror and other aggressive matchups as giving a unit Barrier in your opponent’s attack turn can shut down their attack. She can also be used in your attack turns to protect important units such as Poppy, Lulu] and Fleetfeather Tracker.

Loping Telescope: Good two drops for this deck as it generates value by manifesting a multi-region follower an epic or a celestial card. Loping Telescope also helps enable Yordles in Arms as itself is a multi-region follower and generates another one.

Yordle Smith: One of the most important cards in the deck as it gives most of your units Quick Attack. Try to protect him with combat tricks as much as possible as he will generate most of the value trades in this deck. Buffing him with Lulu and Sharpsight can help you grant higher attack units Quick Attack when needed.

Bandle City Mayor: Amazing card in this deck. He discounts both your champions by one as well as other units and generates value by manifesting a multi-region follower. He can help you swarm the board really fast to set up a big attack with Yordles in Arms or Poppy.

Tenor of Terror: Good card for swarming in the mid-game and their Impact keyword can help you get more reach when swinging with a wide board. He also helps you enable Yordles in Arms . Remember to play a created card either from Bandle Commando, Bandle City Mayor or Loping Telescope or you won’t be able to generate Bass of Burden.

Cithria the Bold: A good one of as she helps you finish out games. She is kind of a fourth Poppy with the added benefit of granting your allies fearsome, which can help you against chump blockers. She can also tank Aloof Travelers discard to protect Yordles in Arms .

Ranger's Resolve: Great protective spell against one damage AoE spells. It protects all our small units from removal and can sometimes be used to protect a single unit from targeted removal.

Sharpsight: The best spell in Demacia, it helps us protect a unit from removal and can also help us trade and block elusive units. Solid spell overall.

Relentless Pursuit: Rally spell that helps us close out games. You usually want to use it in combination with Yordles in Arms and Poppy as your opponent probably will run out of blockers for the second attack, winning you the game.

Golden Aegis: The same thing as Relentless Pursuit with the benefit of giving a unit barrier, this can be used to protect a unit when you want to swing but an important unit is going to get traded with a blocker.

Riposte: Good protective spell that can also help you trade. Usually good against challenger units that pull an important unit or against a Quick Attack unit.

Yordles in Arms : The main finisher of the deck. Usually, you want to use this when you have a wide board and a rally in hand as it is almost impossible to block two attacks with Yordles in Arms buffed units.

GENERAL MULLIGANS:

Regardless of the matchup with this deck, you usually want to mulligan for the strongest opener possible. Key cards you want to keep in your hand are: Lulu, Poppy, Bandle City Mayor, Fleetfeather Tracker, Yordle Smith and Ranger's Resolve.

In most games you will want to keep some combination of these cards, in the next section I will cover the most popular matchups and slight mulligan changes for each one.

MATCHUPS

Sion Draven (Unfavored):

Mulligan: Lulu, Poppy, Bandle City Mayor, Fleetfeather Tracker, Yordle Smith, Ranger's Resolve and Sharpsight.

By far your worst matchup, this is because this deck runs a large number of chump blockers as well as fearsome and challenger units. Our deck has no way to deal with Sion so we must try to close out the game before turn 7.

Your best bet for winning this matchup is getting a strong opening hand that also enables Yordles in Arms for a huge swing and rally if possible.

In the early game you want to trade units while keeping yours alive so don’t be afraid to take some damage in the early game in exchange for setting up for a better attack.

Yordle Smith is by far the most important card in this matchup as they run low hp units so you can get some free trades with him. Try protecting him from cards such as Mysitc Shot and Get Excited! as it will be their top priority to remove it.

Poppy Ziggs (Unfavored):

Mulligan: Lulu, Poppy, Bandle City Mayor, Fleetfeather Tracker, Yordle Smith, Brightsteel Protector, Ranger's Resolve and Sharpsight.

This matchup is not as bad as Sion Draven but they are favored. In this matchup, you want to execute your game plan while retaining as much health as possible. Key cards in this matchup are cards that help you kill their units while keeping yours alive such as: Ranger's Resolve and Sharpsight.

Bandle City Mayor is a great card in this matchup because they have a hard time removing it and he can help you swarm the board with chump blockers.

Brightsteel Protector is a great card in this matchup as she is a development punisher and Ziggs Poppy usually develops before attacking. Giving a unit barrier in their attack round can help you block a unit for free.

Don’t be too afraid to receive some damage in earlier turns if it means you get a better trade later in the game-saving you more HP in the long run.

Senna Veigar Darkness (Favored):

Mulligan: Lulu, Poppy, Bandle City Mayor, Fleetfeather Tracker, Yordle Smith and Ranger's Resolve.

A very easy matchup, execute your normal gameplan of killing their units while keeping yours alive and you should be able to win easily.

Ranger's Resolve is the most important card in this matchup as it completely shuts down most of their AoE removal and pings on important units.

Try to keep a two-attack unit for turn two on the mulligan so it can trade with Twisted Catalyzer because this card can get out of control if not dealt with early in the game.

Watch out for Ruination as you probably will have a full board by the time they can play it. Try open attacking if possible on turn six so your board gets its value before being removed.

Nami Zoe Favored: 

Mulligan: Lulu, Poppy, Bandle City Mayor, Fleetfeather Tracker, Yordle Smith and Ranger's Resolve.

Favorable matchup overall as they don’t run many units and they can’t deal with rallies, especially if you get a Yordles in Arms off before them.

Look for your high-value cards and kill their early game units with combos such as Fleetfeather Tracker + Lulu or Yordle Smith.

Keep Ranger's Resolve as it helps you keep your units alive against Line ‘Em Up.

Sharpsight can be a good keep but is usually not needed as you kill them faster than they can kill you with elusive units. Could be good to block early Zoe or Sparklefly.

They can’t deal with Bandle City Mayor outside of Supercool Starchart into Equinox or Line ‘Em Up. So, play him if you have some protection as he will get you a lot of value.

Gangplank Twisted Fate (50/50):

Mulligan: Lulu, Poppy, Bandle City Mayor, Fleetfeather Tracker, Yordle Smith, Brightsteel Protector and Ranger's Resolve.

The most important card in this matchup is Ranger's Resolve because they run a lot of pings and one damage AoE removal that can be combined with kegs. 

Use your health as a resource in the early game as it translates into better trades in the midgame. 

Be very careful on turn three if you have the attack token as they might want you to attack before developing Dreadway Deckhand to develop Twisted Fate on turn four and wipe out your board with Red Card.

If possible try to finish them off before they can level up and play Gangplank as he is a good finisher and does AoE damage to wipe your board.

Brightsteel Protector can be a great development punisher in this deck so try to use it on defensive turns to slow down Gangplank’s level up condition.

Sivir Akshan (Slightly Unfavored): 

Mulligan: Lulu, Poppy, Bandle City Mayor, Fleetfeather Tracker, Yordle Smith, Brightsteel Protector and Ranger's Resolve.

This is a tricky matchup as their gameplan is very similar to yours but with bigger units and not as wide.

The key to winning this matchup is going wider than them and overwhelming them with numbers, so some key cards that can help you achieve this are Bandle City Mayor, Tenor of Terror, and Loping Telescope.

Barrier is great against Quick Attack units so try to keep Brightsteel Protector if you have a good hand as it can shut down their attacks or you can use it on a buffed Fleetfeather Tracker to pull Sivir to kill her for free.

Yordles in Arms + a rally is probably the best way to win this matchup so try to summon units from four different regions to set up a Yordles in Arms top deck.

Lurk (50/50): 

Mulligan: Lulu, Poppy, Bandle City Mayor, Fleetfeather Tracker, Brightsteel Protector and Yordle Smith.

This matchup comes down to how fast you can kill them before they kill you with Rek'Sai or other overwhelm units.

In the early game, you should look for trades with a buffed Fleetfeather Tracker as most of their early game units have low hp.

Brightsteel Protector is great in this matchup as Lurk is usually forced to attack every turn they can basically so a buffed unit with barrier can trade very well into a low hp lurk unit.

Bandle City Mayor, Lulu and Poppy can be played without protection as they lack removal. Usually, their only removal outside of combat is Death From Below. Play these units without fear of them getting removed and try to get as much value as you can.

Lurk does not have many units so if you manage to force them to block with Yordles in Arms and then rally you will probably win on the spot. Try to set this up in the early game by playing four units from different regions.

Pyke is the biggest threat in this matchup, try to save Fleetfeather Tracker to remove him later in the game.

Gangplank Sejuani (Favored): 

Mulligan: Lulu, Poppy, Bandle City Mayor, Fleetfeather Tracker, Yordle Smith and Ranger's Resolve.

In this matchup, you want to force them to block with their units until they run out of blockers or kill their attackers while keeping your blockers alive with combat tricks.

Earlier in the game do not trade with them, wait for better attacks. By turn 3 or 4 try to block them to prevent Sejuani and Gangplank level up. 

Bandle City Mayor and Loping Telescope are great cards in this matchup as they generate a lot of chump blockers and Gangplank Sejuani does not run much removal for Bandle City Mayor.

Ranger's Resolve is super important in this matchup as it makes their Make it Rain useless against you. Giving you a lot of tempo if they play it and doesn’t kill anything.

Riposte should be used to save an important unit such as Lulu or Poppy against Monster Harpoon.

If you get Aloof Travelers from Bandle City Mayor or Loping Telescope consider keeping them as they can discard Gangplank or Sejuani.

Yordle Smith is a very good unit to keep alive because most of their units have only two or three health. If you manage to buff your units with Poppy, your Yordle Smith will give them all Quick Attack forcing them to make bad trades.

Shellfolk Ezreal Vi (50/50):

Mulligan: Lulu, Poppy, Bandle City Mayor, Fleetfeather Tracker, Yordle Smith, Ranger's Resolve and Sharpsight.

The key of this matchup is making sure you have mana open for protection such as Sharpsight and Ranger's Resolve for important units before playing them. 

Piltover and Zaun and Bandle City region combination struggles against wide boards so use this to your advantage.

Keeping Bandle City Mayor alive is key in this matchup as he allows you to swarm the board and your opponent won’t be able to keep up.

Picking up Aloof Travelers from manifests can be clutch as they might discard Curious Shellfolk or Vi.

Fizz Poppy Bandletree (50/50):

Mulligan: Lulu, Poppy, Bandle City Mayor, Fleetfeather Tracker, Yordle Smith and Ranger's Resolve.

Against this deck you want to make sure to kill their Bandle City Mayor with Fleetfeather Tracker when possible as he is their main way to swarm the board.

Don’t worry too much about taking damage as they don’t have much reach and usually win through The Bandle Tree.

Sharpsight and Ranger's Resolve are good in this matchup as they can save your important units from pings or a Buster Shot.

Lulu and Poppy are good in this matchup as they both have three health and is very hard for them to remove them if you have protection for them.

Cithria the Bold is incredibly good in this matchup if you manage to play her because she gives fearsome to all your allies and most of their units are two attack units so you will be able to directly attack their nexus with a huge board.

Try to set up a Yordles in Arms into a rally to win the game because they won’t be able to refill their board fast enough for the second attack.

CLOSING WORDS

Overall Lulu Poppy is a very solid deck that can get some unexpected wins out of your opponent and does fairly well into the meta. Remember this deck is about setting up good attacks and trades rather than attacking all the time like an aggro deck. Try to be mindful and play slow when playing this deck as a single bad decision can cost you the game.

I would recommend this deck for the middle of the pack or advanced players as it is not as easy to play as it seems. 

Thanks for reading and I will be looking forward to writing more guides!

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