Pantheon Shyvana Deck Guide

Hello there, Sorry here! Pantheon Shyvana has recently seen a rapid surge in play rate on the competitive ladder, making it one of the best performing Demacia decks.

Since Pantheon’s release, the champion has had different versions of Demacia Targon decks, starting from Taric Pantheon, then cutting Taric for a more aggressive Mono Pantheon version which later proved to be a more consistent deck. Lastly, the deck evolved to Shyvana Pantheon, relying more on Dragons to dominate the board.

Unlike Mono Pantheon which heavily relies on Overwhelm keyword + Cataclysm, Shyvana Pantheon favors board domination. With cards like Wounded Whiteflame, Shyvana, and Screeching Dragon you’ll be able to take value trades while keeping your Dragons alive on the board.

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Click here for the Taric Pantheon & Mono-Pantheon guides!

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In the mulligan phase, generally, you’ll be looking for Dragon Chow, Mountain Goat, Wounded Whiteflame, and Shyvana. Early game you’ll set up Dragon Chow for your Dragons to come and feast on later. Mountain Goat is a great turn-two play that will create a Gem once it strikes. In some cases, you might opt to bank the mana in case you need to play Sharpsight or Pale Cascade on your Wounded Whiteflame or Shyvana.

You’ll be working on leveling up your Shyvana, but the end goal isn’t really to have her leveled, but to try and take control of the board. Mountain Goat creating a Gem is important to trigger the Fated keyword on Wounded Whiteflame and at the same time advances the level-up requirement of Pantheon.

Leveling up Pantheon will feel slower than the Mono Pantheon version, but he still remains an important win condition. It is not the only win condition in the deck, and as such a slower level up is fine while you work on winning the game with your primary win condition.

So what is the primary win condition? Board domination with Dragons and granting them the Overwhelm keyword with Dragon’s Clutch. Getting your Dragons to high stats is achievable, especially with the Fury and Fated keywords. Once they have gained enough stats, Dragon’s Clutch can threaten to close out the game.

Dragon’s Clutch can also act as a card draw, giving you more units to play if your hand is running dry a bit. This spell is overall very versatile, making it the perfect addition for a Dragon’s deck.

Golden Aegis is another tool to try and close out the game, the Rally effect will make it difficult for your opponent to deal with your Dragons attacking a second time, especially if they have the Overwhelm keyword.

While you’re busy trying to close out the game with Dragons, Overwhelm keyword, and Rally you’ll also be working on leveling up your Pantheon at the same time, which will turn into your finisher, especially if you’ve increased his stats by triggering the Fated keyword.

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Techs and Options

• Fleetfeather Tracker: An early unit with Challenger keyword, allows you to keep up with early board against aggressive decks. Will require you to add Brightsteel Protector to get value from the Barrier early game. You can cut Pale Cascade for Fleetfeather Tracker.

• Brightsteel Protector: The Barrier triggers the Fated keyword on Wounded Whiteflame and advances Pantheon’s level-up requirement. Can be useful when played defensively or on one of your Challenger units. Cut Guiding Touch or Blinded Monk for Brightsteel Protector.

• Judgment: A cheesy card that pretty much clears the board if played at the right time. If played on a unit with the Fury keyword it will grant it additional stats depending on the number of units it kills. Usually, just one copy of Judgment in the deck is enough. You can cut one Hush for it.

• Moonlight Affliction: Double Hush in one card! It’s mostly a tech card to deal with Elusive units, but it can also prevent your opponent from blocking with their units, allowing you to set up a lethal attack. Cut Hush for Moonlight Affliction, but no more than 1-2 copies.

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General Tips

• Wounded Whiteflame does not kill Dragon Chow.
  Wounded Whiteflame will strike Dragon Chow for 2 damage, this will allow you to draw a card while also keeping Dragon Chow alive for another Dragon to finish it off and draw a second card.

• Board presence is important.
  Your Dragons can dominate the board, especially with Pale Cascade, Sharpsight, and Guiding Touch to keep them alive. Work on getting your Shyvana leveled, the Strafing Strike she creates allows you to remove opposing units off the board.

• Spread your targeting spells across turn to efficiently level-up Pantheon.
  Single Combat, Concerted Strike, Pale Cascade, Sharpisght, Gem (from Goat), and Guiding Touch are cards that advance Pantheon’s level-up. Do not play several spells per turn – unless you have a very good reason.

• Hold on to your Rallies until you have a solid board.
  Once you have a strong board an additional attack turn will likely be difficult for your opponent to deal with, especially if your Dragons have the Overwhelm keyword off of Dragon’s Clutch.

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Matchups

Mulligan for: Mountain Goat, Dragon Chow, Wounded Whiteflame, Shyvana.

• It’ll take your opponent until turn 3 to set up a Daring Poro into Iceborn Legacy. You want to try and pick off those Daring Poros early on before they gain a lot of stats.
• Sharpsight and Single Combat are two cheap early removals. Hush and Concerted Strike are other tools that deal with the Elusive Poros.
• It’s difficult for your opponent to deal with a leveled-up Shyvana, on top of that a Dragon’s Clutch that offers the Overwhelm keyword can be brutal for your opponent. Keep in mind they can cast Flash Freeze with the help of the Three Sisters in order to slow you down.
• Your opponent cannot interrupt your Golden Aegis, make sure to play the Rally card once you’ve developed a threatening board.

Mulligan for: Mountain Goat, Wounded Whiteflame, Shyvana

• Wounded Whiteflame is a nightmare for your opponent, it’ll be difficult for them to kill it.
• Your top priority is to kill Miss Fortune, the only way you lose this matchup is if they manage to level her up.
• Single Combat, Concerted Strike, and Screeching Dragon are all solid cards to deal with Miss Fortune.
• Play around their defensive tools like Ranger’s Resolve and Sharpsight when going for a removal card.
• If your opponent has a wide board expect a Genevieve Elmheart on turns 6/7.
• Your opponent doesn’t run any burn cards, they rely on board units to push Nexus damage. It’s fine to drop down in health if it means you’ll take control of board presence later on.

Mulligan for: Mountain Goat, Wounded Whiteflame, Shyvana, Dragon Chow

• Mountain Goat is important as a turn 2 play! You need to block and kill Twisted Catalyzer on its first attack to prevent your opponent from buffing Darkness damage more than once.
• Your removal cards should be saved for your opponent’s champions. Make sure to kill Veigar as soon as possible to prevent Darkness buffs.
• Leveling up Shyvana puts you ahead of your opponent! The Strafing Strike she creates will make it difficult for them to develop their champions.
• Screeching Dragon is an amazing removal unit, usually, you want to challenge Veigar or Senna.
• Rally can be a game swinger if you have a solid board, be wary of The Ruination.
• Pantheon is your late-game carry, you want to get Spell Shield on him once he’s leveled up, the more keywords you get the better. The Spell Shield will force your opponent to oing it down with Pokey Stick or Groupshot in order to play either Vengeance or Minimorph on Pantheon.

Mulligan for: Dragon Chow, Mountain Goat, Wounded Whiteflame, Shyvana

• Your goal is to close out the game before your opponent can play Feel The Rush safely.
• Turn 3 your opponent will try to play Catalyst of Aeons. If it’s your attack turn and your opponent is holding on 5 mana, consider taking the pass and not swinging, this will waste their mana and slow their gameplan.
• Avalanche isn’t much of a threat to your Dragons, at the same time it’s a big mana commitment for your opponent. Cards like Sharpsight, Pale Cascade, and Guiding Touch can keep your Dragons alive if need be and set up for a strong attack.
• The biggest shut down for you is The Ruination, try not to develop if you don’t have to when your opponent is holding 9 mana up. There are scenarios you’ll have to identify where you just can’t afford to play around Ruination, mostly when you have to end the game or you’ll lose your board pressure.
• Feel The Rush is not the end of the world! It’s a heavy-commitment spell that’ll leave your opponent with no mana left. Concerted Strike can kill the 10|10 Trundle. As for Tryndamere, you will have to block him and stay above 10 Nexus health. Atrocity on Tryndamere will not be enough to end the game and you could potentially end the game on your next attack turn. You do not have to block Tryndamere if you have a Guiding Touch in hand that’ll put you above 10 health.

Mulligan for: Dragon Chow, Mountain Goat, Wounded Whiteflame, Shyvana

• Winning the board is important in this matchup! Keeping key units like Shyvana and Screeching Dragon alive after a trade can put you at a massive advantage.
• You want to be reactive as much as possible in this matchup, meaning you want to force your opponent to play their spells like Single Combat and Concerted Strike first and counter them with your own.
• A leveled-up Shyvana can dominate the board, the additional stats she gains on attack along with the Strafing Strike will put you way ahead on board presence.
• Watch out for Dragon’s Clutch, your opponent might try to set up a lethal attack with the Overwhelm keyword, Hush can come in handy to keep you in the game.
• You could play Pantheon on the defensive turn, the Barrier will make it awkward for your opponent to attack.

Mulligan for: Mountain Goat, Wounded Whiteflame, Shyvana

• You’re playing against an aggressive deck, keeping your Nexus health up is your primary objective.
• Dragon Chow can act as a blocker especially turn one Legion Saboteur.
• Block and kill the Fearsome units first.
• If your opponent goes wide on the board you might be forced to play Single Combat mid-combat. Of course, this might prompt your opponent to answer with Noxian Fervor.
• Hold on to Guiding Touch for your Nexus rather than units, play them only if you’re about to die or need the card draw.
• Watch out for Frenzied Skitterer, do not develop a 3-Power unit if you expect your opponent will play a Frenzied Skitterer. (You can usually figure out that they’ll play more than one in a turn if they got the Skitterer from Stalking Shadows)
• Sharpsight and Pale Cascade can up the power of your units to block Fearsome units.
• Pantheon can seal the deal, getting Lifesteal on Pantheon will most likely guarantee the win. Your opponent will try to end the game with their burn spells Decimate and Noxian Fervor. Single Combat and Concerted Strike can interrupt a Noxian Fervor.

Mulligan for: Mountain Goat, Wounded Whiteflame, Shyvana

• Work on developing your board, setting up your Dragons, and trying to level-up Shyvana.
• Sharpsight allows you to block their Elusive units, usually, you favor killing The Mourned to slow down Kennen‘s level-up.
• Keep 2 mana up, your opponent runs Recall and Homecoming, you want to try and counter those cards with Single Combat.
• Similar to Sharpsight, Hush can stop an Elusive unit in its track. You can also hold on to Hush to counter a leveled-up Ahri from closing out the game.
• Screeching Dragon is a good Challenger unit that can try to pick off some pesky units on the board, usually the Elusive units.
• A leveled-up Pantheon could potentially gain the Elusive keyword which will enable you to block your opponent’s Elusive unit.
• Your opponent runs Deny which they will most likely save for your Concerted Strike or Golden Aegis.

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Closing Words

Pantheon Demacia keeps on evolving, the deck is one of the best in the current meta, and it keeps adapting its playstyle to match the current top-tier decks.

Although the deck is unfavored into the best deck of the environment – Kennen Ahri, the archetype performs well into the rest of the meta, standing as one the best picks for the competitive ladder and the tournament scene.

If you’re a player that favors midrange archetypes then Shyvana Pantheon is your best choice! Hopefully, you found the guide useful! If you wish to keep up my content, follow me on Twitter.