Hello there! I’m WamuuÂ
Today I’m bringing you what I consider to be the Top 4 Lineups for the Seasonal Tournament this weekend.Â
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INTRODUCTION
For this list, I looked at lineups from different tournaments during this past week like OLS, GGToor, and Mastering Runeterra. I’ve ordered them in order of my suggestion to play. This is based on several things but mainly how many lineups or decks it can beat in the current meta vs how many beat them. There might be lineups that performed better than some on the list but they were not included because they had two decks of a lineup already on the list, so it would be mostly the same lineup.
As always, I’m basing my analysis on personal opinion and stats from the Mastering Runeterra MU Table while utilizing the Mastering Runeterra Bo3 Ban Helper to cover lineup matchups.
With this out of the way let’s jump into the Top 4 Lineups for Seasonal’s:
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#1 GRANDPAROJI (OLS and Mastering Runeterra)
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4 cards
36 cards
28 700
19 cards
21 cards
23 600
19 cards
21 cards
23 400
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No surprise here, this is a rally lineup that I have been covering for a couple of weeks now and it is still holding on strong to the tournament meta. The lineup consists of the top two performing decks on the ladder which are Gangplank Sejuani and Rally Elusives plus Sivir Akshan as a second rally deck. What this lineup wants to do is punish slow decks that can’t deal with rally effects like Veigar Senna, Liss Taliyah, Bandletree, Shellfolk, etc… While also being a very well-rounded lineup with Gangplank Sejuani, this lineup does not have any clear weaknesses outside of a specific deck being targeted.
GrandpaRoji ended up getting second place in the OLS tournament last week and went 3-1 in this week’s Mastering Runeterra community tournament so this lineup has pretty solid results.
Let’s see some examples of good and bad matchups you might run into in the tournament.
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GOOD MATCHUP
For this example, we are going to utilize a slower lineup that is targeting Draven Sion:
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We can see here that two of our decks counter their lineup quite heavily. Our opponent is forced to ban Rally Elusives as it is by far his worst matchup, leaving open Sivir Akshan and Gangplank Sejuani. We then ban our only bad matchup which is Lissandra Taliyah and we end up with one guaranteed good matchup and a 50/50 matchup. This gives us a significant advantage and we are more likely to win the series.
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BAD MATCHUP
This lineup doesn’t target not-so-popular matchups, instead, they are targeted outside of lineups targeting a specific deck. For this example, we will use a lineup that is looking to target Gangplank Sejuani, the most popular deck right now:
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As we can see here we only have one good matchup against his lineup and it is probably getting banned. If we don’t ban Draven Sion we run the risk of getting Sivir Akshan paired into it which is a terrible matchup so we will most likely ban it. Assuming our opponent bans Rally Elusives and we ban Draven Sion this leaves our opponent with one guaranteed good matchup and one 50/50 matchup. Therefore, our opponent is more likely to win the series.Â
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TAKEAWAY
By far the strongest lineup out there in a vacuum. Now it might not be as good as it seems during Seasonal’s as you might have a lot of targets in your back for running two of the most popular decks. You will most likely beat anything that isn’t a target lineup and even when targeted, this lineup can still put up a good fight so I still think people should bring it if they’re confident with your abilities with the decks.Â
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#2 VOID (OLS)
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4 cards
36 cards
28 700
22 cards
18 cards
29 500
26 cards
14 cards
29 700
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Void ended up getting third place in the OLS tournament this past week and for a good reason. This is sort of a counter meta lineup, it targets Draven Sion while simultaneously being good into Gangplank Sejuani. Besides that, it is also good for a variety of not so popular decks that might show up in Seasonal’s such as Teemo Swain, Glorious Shellfolk and Gangplank Twisted Fate. Overall a very strong lineup against what I personally expect to see at Seasonal’s.
This lineup is mainly weak to Rally Elusives, Lissandra Taliyah, and Feel the Minah. This makes for a funny situation. People probably won’t target this lineup specifically but a lot of players might want to target Gangplank Sejuani and Draven Sion. The thing is, this lineup is weak against some lineups targeting Gangplank Sejuani and Draven Sion so it will most likely die in the crossfire. We will see some examples later on.
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GOOD MATCHUP
Since this lineup targets Draven Sion and is good into Gangplank Sejuani, a dream scenario would be a lineup that runs both:
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As expected Draven Sion is pretty bad into our lineup. Our opponent will most likely ban Lissandra Taliyah as it gets rid of two good matchups for us. Since our opponent is forced into banning it we can predict this and ban Gangplank Sejuani. This leaves us with potentially two good matchups and two 50/50 matchups. Making us the favorite to win the series.
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BAD MATCHUPS:
For this section I will use two examples: one versus a Draven Sion target and one versus a Gangplank Sejuani target. First, let’s see the Gangplank Sejuani target lineup:
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Here we can see that we have pretty bad matchups across the table. We should probably ban Lissandra Taliyah while our opponent will most likely ban either Lissandra Taliyah or Tryndamere Trundle if he predicts our ban. In the first scenario, we end up potentially one bad matchup and three 50/50 matchups. While in the second scenario our opponent has one guaranteed good matchup while we have only one potential good matchup. This makes our opponent more likely to win the series but it is not too bad for us.
Now let’s see an example of someone targeting Sion Draven:
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As we can see in the MU table, this is a nightmare scenario for us. All three of his decks hard counter our Tryndamere Trundle (SI) deck. This means our opponent has one guaranteed win. If we go to the bans, we are forced to ban Tryndamere Sejuani Trundle (IO) and they would probably ban Lissandra Taliyah knowing this. This leaves us with potentially two terrible matchups, one bad matchup, and one 50/50 matchup. So, we probably lose the series.
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TAKEAWAY:
This is the lineup for all Freiljord control enjoyers out there. It runs six copies of Avalanche
and Blighted Ravine
so it is very good to target Draven Sion decks while also doing good into Gangplank Sejuani. The lineups that counter you are very specific so you should be able to dodge them most of the time. Recommend this lineup as a control alternative.Â
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#3 YOKIPI (Mastering Runeterra)
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13 cards
27 cards
24 000
19 cards
21 cards
23 600
22 cards
18 cards
28 800
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Yokipi went 3-1 in the Mastering Runeterra tournament and I must say his lineup is pretty smart. It doesn’t target anything particularly outside of Trundle Tryndamere (SI) but it does well into most meta lineups that run Draven Sion or Gangplank Sejuani. Its only real weakness is against double rally lineups or triple demacia lineups specifically.Â
It is an all-around lineup while also being a counter meta lineup. There’s not much else to say about this so let’s jump into some matchups:
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GOOD MATCHUP:
As stated before it targets Tryndamere Trundle (SI) while being good into Gangplank Sejuani and Draven Sion so let’s use Void’s lineup as an example:
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Yokipi hit the mark here. Void has to choose to either ban Rally Elusives or Lissandra Taliyah but it is the same thing. Let’s say he bans Lissandra Taliyah and Yokipi proceeds to ban Lissandra Taliyah as well since it is his only bad matchup.Â
Yokipi ends up with potentially two good matchups and two 50/50 matchups. This puts Void in a hard spot and will probably make him lose the series.
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BAD MATCHUP
The worst-case scenario for this lineup is a triple Demacia lineup which is not as common but could show up at Seasonal’s if you get matched into a Demacia fanboy:
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This is a pretty simple matchup table where both players ban Rally Elusives. You end up with one bad matchup and three 50/50 matchups. Something to note is that these 50/50 matchups are mostly favored toward our opponent so it is not as good as it seems. For being our worst matchup though this is pretty solid.
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TAKEAWAY:
Although this lineup does not target many of the meta lineups it is still good into them. This is the safest lineup to run on the list in my opinion because it probably won’t get targeted too much. A ton of skill is required with this lineup to make it to top 32 but if you’re good with all three decks you have good chances to make it.
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#4 SNIPECROSSGG (Mastering Runeterra)
15 cards
25 cards
26 700
22 cards
18 cards
26 300
20 cards
20 cards
26 100
For all the triple aggro lineup Chad’s out there, I present to you SnipeCrossGG’s lineup. If you have been reading my Gauntlet articles you may have already seen this lineup. SnipeCrossGG’s lineup is a triple aggro lineup consisting of an aggressive version of Draven Sion, Pirate Aggro and Poppy Ziggs. Even though people often say that triple aggro lineups are not consistent I disagree when it comes to this lineup. SnipeCrossGG has gone 4-0 two weeks in a row in the Mastering Runeterra community tournament. So, the consistency is definitely there.
His lineup exploits the fact that the most popular lineup is a rally lineup and this tends to be weak against heavy aggro decks while also targeting Pyke Rek’Sai. These aggro decks are also good into the general meta decks with a few exceptions such as Lee Sin Zoe, Draven Sion, Twisted Fate Gangplank, and Jayce Sentinels.
GOOD MATCHUP
The best matchup for this lineup is a Rally lineup with Pyke Rek’Sai. This type of lineup targets Lissandra Taliyah so, some people might bring it to counter the counter deck.
We see here that the matchup table is mostly 50/50 while us having some good matchups. Our opponent will most likely ban Draven Sion and we can ban either Rally Elusives or Sivir Akshan to leave Pyke Rek’Sai open. This leaves us with potentially one good matchup and three 50/50 matchups. Making it slightly favorable towards us.
Let’s see how this deck does against what I think will be the most popular lineup:
As we can see here the triple aggro lineup goes 50/50 against the strongest lineup. This is no easy feat and it is very good because you can hold your ground against it and not get targeted as hard as them.
BAD MATCHUP
The most likely bad matchup we could have in Seasonal’s is against someone targeting Draven Sion:
Our opponent has a guaranteed good matchup. If we ban Lee Sin Zoe and our opponent band Miss Fortune Gangplank (NX). We end up with potentially two terrible matchups, one bad matchup and one good matchup. So, we would have a very hard time winning the series. Now, something to note is that the version of Draven Sion that we are running is much more aggressive so it might not be as bad as it seems in the matchup table.
TAKEAWAY:
If you like triple aggro lineups then this is the lineup for you. It is a very solid lineup as it will mostly go even or favored into most lineups you will encounter in the Seasonal tournament with a few exceptions that target Draven Sion or Poppy Ziggs. The Draven Sion version that SnipeCrossGG made however is not as bad into counters as the normal version is, so don’t be too afraid of the counter matchups.
CONCLUSION
The Seasonal tournament is very close so unless you have already practiced with all three decks of any specific lineup in the list I would not recommend you to bring them. Remember that the first thing you need to do is be comfortable with your decks before making a lineup. Don’t fall into the trap of bringing the best lineup to Seasonal’s because the stats say so. Statistics can be misleading at times so take them with a grain of salt.
If you know how to play the three decks of any of these lineups I would heavily recommend bringing them to Seasonal’s as they have in my opinion, the best chances of making it into the top 32.
I hope this was helpful to everyone reading this and wish you the best of luck in the tournament!
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 or have any questions about my articles you can dm me in Discord at: Wamuu#7531