Gangplank Sejuani Plunder Deck Guide

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Hello everyone! Gangplank Sejuani Plunder has recently gained a lot of popularity, landing it in first place among the most played decks.

Gangplank Sejuani is a midrange archetype that focuses on leveling up both your champions as soon as possible, both of which have the same level-up condition.

Early units like Shellshocker and Jagged Butcher help damage the Nexus early game and advance your champions’ level-up conditions. Shellshocker’s Attune makes it much easier to set up a Riptide Sermon in future turns. Additionally, you can still play Parrrely followed by a Black Market Merchant on your follow-up turn (If you have the attack token on turn 1). Spell cards like Warning Shot, Parrrley, and Make it Rain can be played to deal damage to the opponent’s Nexus, ideally on defensive turns.

You’re mainly running Piltovan Castaway for his Equipment. The Pot O’ Pain can be useful to advance the level-up of your champions with the Impact keyword. As for, Upcycled Rake‘s Scout keyword can be set up on one of your champions, which allows for two attacks with an Overwhelm unit.

The ideal – and very realistic – scenario is to level up both your champions on turn 6-7. From there, you can leverage their Overwhelm keyword and unique abilities that make the deck formidably strong at that point.

A leveled-up Gangplank pushes in a ton of damage with his ability Powderful Explosion – especially if you have a Powder Keg out, removing the opponent’s low-health units off the board.

Sejuani’s ability allows you to Freeze your opponent’s whole side if you deal damage to the opponent’s Nexus, which is an easy requirement to accomplish with the cheap tools in your deck. The ability to Freeze the board shuts down your opponent’s units and their trading potential completely.

Moreover, Riptide Sermon is one of your strongest plays. You’re able to remove a unit off the board, summon a 3|3 tentacle, and on top of that, deal 2 damage to the opponent’s Nexus. It can be useful if you’re trying to keep an aggressive plan or remove a key unit from your opponent’s board.

Finally, The Dreadway is your late-game unit that draws a Gangplank from your deck while also doubling the damage you deal with any source, be it units or spells. With The Dreadway, any damage you push onto the Nexus with your Overwhelm champions should be enough to close out the game, especially since the Gangplank you’ll tutor with The Dreadway will be leveled up at that point of the game.

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Techs and Options

• Tusk Speaker

An early unit that lets you ping the Nexus on defensive turns with their Dance of Tusks skill. Tusk Speaker can potentially deal damage to the Nexus with the assistance of the Overwhelm keyword. Parrrley or Piltovan Castaway for Tusk Speaker.

• Crackshot Corsair

An early unit that can help you ping the Nexus to advance the level-up condition of your champions without having the need to directly strike the Nexus. You can replace Shellshocker with Crackshot Corsair.

• Dreadway Deckhand

Summons a free Powder Keg that enhances your spells like Make it Rain, Ice Shard, Parrrley, or Monster Harpoon.

Dreadway Deckhand is useful if you’re looking to remove multiple low-health units off the board with Make it Rain.

• Pilfered Goods

If you’re looking for more value, Pilfered Goods allows you to draw two cards from your opponent’s deck. With the Black Market Merchant on board, those cards’ costs will be reduced by 1 mana.

• Ice Shard

Helps you ping the opponent’s Nexus to advance the level-up condition of your champions, it also has an advantage over Parrrley with its Fast Speed that allows you to trigger Sejuani’s effect late game. At the same time, it can kill off low-health units, helping slow down your opponent’s aggression. You can cut Parrrley for Ice Shard. Don’t run more than two copies of Ice Shard as it lowers your chances of hitting Allegiance.

• Monster Harpoon

A removal tool that synergizes with your Nexus ping package. You’ll have to cut Riptide Sermon to run Monster Harpoon in the deck.

• Three Sisters

Three Sisters is a versatile card that can come in handy depending on the scenario. You can push additional damage with Fury of the North, stop an attacker from closing out the game or killing your unit with Flash Freeze, or Entomb a unit that is shutting down your game plan. Don’t run more than two copies of Three Sisters as it lowers your odds of hitting Allegiance on Yordle Grifter.

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General Tips

• Leveling up your champions is essential

The main goal of this deck is to level up both your champions as soon as possible. With their unique abilities, Gangplank and Sejuani put enormous pressure on your opponent.

Playing Warning Shot, Parrrley, or Make it Rain on your defensive turn will accelerate the level-up condition of both champions. Often it’s worth playing these spells even if you’re not getting any additional value from them, apart from progressing the level-ups.

Additionally, keep close track of whether or not you’ve damaged the opponent’s Nexus on any given turn. You don’t want to throw away a precious direct damage card when you’ve already pinged your opponent for the turn.

• Use Sejuani’s freeze effect efficiently

Sejuani is a great board control tool when she’s leveled up.

Ordering your units in combat is crucial. If, for example, you don’t have any cards to directly damage the Nexus, placing an Overwhelm or Elusive unit first to the left will allow you to trigger Sejuani’s effect, after which the rest of your units can survive the attack phase while forcing your opponent into taking losing trades.

Keep in mind that Sejuani’s ability can be triggered on the same turn she has leveled.

• Don’t forget that Powder Kegs are Vulnerable

When you play Gangplank he will summon a Powder Keg, and on your defensive turns, you have to be very aware that Powder Kegs are Vulnerable.

If your opponent has a powerful Overwhelm unit on the board, like another Gangplank, they will be able to challenge the Keg and push a lot of damage to your Nexus, without having to deal with a blocker.

• Be careful when playing The Dreadway

Although The Dreadway seems like a strong card to just play on turn 8, sometimes your opponent can very efficiently remove it, or completely ignore it for the turn. Meanwhile, spending 8 mana on The Dreadway will leave you with few resources to work with. The opponent could take advantage of it by setting up a solid attack that could potentially end the game.

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Matchups

Miss Fortune Twisted Fate (Pirates) – favored

Mulligan for: Shellshocker, Jagged Butcher, Marai Warden, Black Market Merchant.

• In this matchup, you’re focusing on simply preserving your health. Your plan to level up your champions is not as important as preventing as much early damage as possible.
• Your opponent will try to swarm the board with early units. Try to keep up with their early aggression.
• Make it Rain can be a solid spell to remove your opponent’s low-health units, like Legion Saboteur.
• A Riptide Sermon is a great tool to kill Miss Fortune while also summoning a 3|3 Tentacle on the board.
• Be wary, your opponent can kill an unleveled Gangplank with their own Riptide Sermon.
• Sejuani can act as a removal unit, but her level-up ability will rarely get you any value in this matchup. By the time you’ve played and leveled Sejuani, your opponent has already pushed their early damage and now has shifted to closing out the game with their burn spells like Noxian Fervor and Decimate.

Gwen Katarina – favored

Mulligan for: Shellshock, Parrrley, Make it Rain, Marai Warden, Black Market Merchant

• Preserve your health against your opponent’s early aggression while working on leveling up your champion. Make it Rain and Parrrley are great tools to deal with Boisterous Hoist and Phantom Butler.
• Riptide Sermon can be the perfect answer for a Gwen on turn 4. Make sure to bank 2 spell mana to have your play ready.
• A leveled-up Sejuani can shut down your opponent’s attacks completely. The freezing effect will save you from The Harrowing play your opponent is setting up.
• An Arachnoid Sentry can stun your Gangplank on your attack turn. Your opponent could follow up their play with a Ravenous Flock. Ensure that your champion is leveled up which forces your opponent to commit more resources in order to kill your champion.
• Most lists don’t run Vengeance, your opponent will not have an immediate answer for your champions

Nami Twisted Fate – favored

Mulligan for: Shellshock, Parrrley, Make it Rain, Marai Warden, Black Market Merchant, Gangplank

• You’re playing against a deck that wants to set up a leveled Nami on the board and start buffing up the board.
• Put early pressure on them. Push as much damage as you can and work on leveling up your champions. You’ll need to use an aggressive game plan in order to close out the game before their units get big enough and become problematic.
• Riptide Sermon can potentially kill Nami or Fleet Admiral Shelly. However, cards like Deny, Momentous Choice, and Wuju Style can keep their key units alive.
• Concussive Palm and Homecoming can slow your champions’ ability to push overwhelm damage.

Kindred Nasus – favored

Mulligan for: Shellshock, Jagged Butcher, Parrrley, Make it Rain, Marai Warden, Black Market Merchant

• You’ll want to work on leveling up your Sejuani quickly, as she’ll act as your main win condition.
• Use Parrely and Make it Rain to pick off 1 health units on your opponent’s side of the board like Fading Icon while also pinging their Nexus.
• Use Riptide Sermon to kill Kindred. You want to avoid losing units to Kindred’s ability and if they’re leveled, they’ll turn into your opponent’s win condition.
• Once Sejuani is leveled, you’ll be able to freeze your opponent’s side of the board. This is crucial to shutting down their Nasus. Try to save a Warning Shot or Make it Rain to activate Sejuani’s effect if your opponent goes for the Atrocity play.

Lurk – favored

Mulligan for: Shellshocker, Jagged Butcher,Marai Warden, Black Market Merchant, Make it Rain, Sejuani.

• Your early game objective is to block and remove all the early Lurkers before they swarm the board.
• Make it Rain combined with a Powder Keg can potentially remove multiple of their low-health Lurkers. A Lurk deck does not run spells that can remove your Powder Keg aside from Bone Skewer – and they are extremely unlikely to spend it on a Powder Keg.
• Their biggest threat is Death from Below, the Pyke spell. They will most likely save it to play on one of your champions. Sejuani will probably be their main target.
• Once Sejuani is leveled up, she’ll shut down the opponent’s Lurk units completely. Sejuani’s Freeze ability can also stop Jaull-fish from removing your board with the Strike ability it provides to other Lurkers on the board.
• A leveled-up Gangplank along with a Sejuani are capable of pushing a lot of damage with their Overwhelm keyword. Sejuani’s board freeze will make it impossible for your opponent to kill your champions outside of Death from the Below.

Darkness – favored

Mulligan for: Shellshocker, Jagged Butcher, Marai Warden, Riptide Sermon.

• Work on getting your champions leveled up.
• Jagged Butcher, Marai Warden, and Shellshocker are essential early game to block a Twisted Catalyzer. You want to deny your opponent from Darkness buffs as much as possible.
• Riptide Sermon is saved for either Veigar or Senna. Ideally, you want to kill Veiger on the exact turn he’s played to deny Darkness buffs.
• If you’ve managed to keep the Darkness buffs under control, your champions, especially a leveled-up Gangplank can push in a lot of damage.
• Sejuani can also be used as a removal tool for your opponent’s champions.

Ezreal Kennen – slightly favored

Mulligan for: Shellshock, Marai Warden, Parrrley, Make it Rain, Black Market Merchant

• You need to adopt an aggressive game plan. Level up your Gangplank as soon as possible and put Overwhelm pressure on your opponent.
• Try and play Make it Rain reactively when your opponent casts a recall spell on their Kennen.
• Riptide Sermon can be an answer for Ezreal. However, your opponent runs multiple tools to counter your play, with Deny being the strongest one.
• Homecoming is the most problematic card for you. Your opponent recalling your champions will slow you down immensely on board pressure.
• Sejuani can pull and kill Ezreal with her ability. Unfortunately, your opponent can counter your play with any recall spell or Concussive Palm.

Gangplank Sejuani – even

Mulligan for: ShellShocker, Jagged Butcher, Make it Rain, Black Market Merchant

• Slow down your opponent from leveling up their champions. Block or use Make it Rain to prohibit attackers from striking your Nexus. This will force your opponent into using resources to level their champions.
• Make sure your Gangplank is leveled before dropping him on the board. Riptide Sermon can kill an unleveled Gangplank.
• If your opponent has the attack token on turn 5 and they develop a Gangplank, do not retaliate with your own Gangplank. Your opponent can drag your summoned Powder Keg and push for free Overwhelm damage.
• You might find yourself prioritizing low-health units with Sejuani’s Vulnerable ability. This allows you to push additional Overwhelm damage and potentially set up a lethal attack.

Norra Heimerdinger – slightly unfavored

Mulligan for: Shellshocker, Jagged Butcher, Parrrley, Gangplank, Eye of Nagakabouros

• Norra and Heimerdinger can generate a lot of value. Your main win condition is through pushing Overwhelm damage with your champions.
• Parrrley can kill Choncologist and damage the Nexus. However, if you’re able to set up a kill on Norra with a Make it Rain and Parrrley, it’s best to commit to the play before she levels up or plants a Mysterious Portal in the deck.
• Riptide Sermon is the perfect answer for Heimerdinger. It’s important to kill the Yordle champion before your opponent gets too much value off of him.
• Your opponent runs Vengeance and Crumble to deal with your champions. The Dreadway and Eye of Nagakabouros will keep the engine running as you’ll need a lot of resources to stay in the game.

Evelynn Viego – unfavored

Mulligan for: ShellShocker, Marai Warden, Jagged Butcher, Make it Rain, Black Market Merchant

• Kill the Husks using Parrrley or Make it Rain to halt Evelynn from leveling up and gaining a permanent keyword.
• Sejuani is crucial to win the match. Try to hold onto her and use her Vulnerable ability to kill off a Viego or Invasive Hydravine. Unfortunately, your opponent can easily kill your Sejuani with a Vengeance.
• Freezing the board will shift the board presence to your advantage, allowing you to set up attacks that force your opponent into unfavored trades.
• Another threat your opponent can set up on the board is Neverglade Collector. The drain effect will slowly burn you down and shut down your attempt to destroy their Nexus. It’ll be difficult to kill if your opponent buffs up its health with a Husk.

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Closing Words

Gangplank Sejuani is currently one of the strongest decks in the meta, and it has proven itself as a solid deck in a tournament lineup.

What makes Gangplank Sejuani unique is the number of “close matchups” it has. Its ability to beat a lot of popular decks and its lack of many polarized matchups makes it a safe pick in a line-up or a good complement for a game plan as the third deck.

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