Pantheon Yuumi to Masters! – Everything You Need To Know!

Introduction and Stats

Hey there, Raphterra here! Today, I’m sharing my guide for Pantheon Yuumi, the deck that I used to climb from Diamond to Masters at 93% winrate (13 Wins, 1 Loss). After reaching Masters, my winrate with the deck stabilized at 66% in 94 games, peaking at Top 24 Masters (~200 LP).

Pantheon Yuumi has been down in the dumps ever since the big nerf to Zenith Blade, but the equipment-focused expansion came with several synergistic tools for Pantheon‘s “target” gameplan. Equipment cards provide consistent recurring triggers for Fated and Pantheon‘s level up requirement, and I think this is enough for the archetype to be relevant in the meta again!

A few days ago, I started testing Pantheon Fated combined with Noxus, Shurima, Demacia, and Jax. After extensive testing, my conclusion is that Demacia is still the best home for Pantheon. Strike spells and Rally effects are very integral for the Fated strategy. Without further ado, let’s go to the deck build!

As usual, if you want to see this deck in action after reading this article, check out my full video guide!

---

The Pantheon Yuumi Deck Build

Pantheon Yuumi is a midrange/combo deck that uses cards that target allies to progress Pantheon‘s level-up requirement. Saga Seeker, Mountain Goat, and Petricite Broadwing are the deck’s main early units; you’re usually looking to target these three units with buffs, spells, and skills in the early to mid game.

In older versions of Pantheon Yuumi, the archetype usually relied on Yuumi or Mountain Goat‘s Gems to proactively get target procs in the early game. With many cards being added to the game since then, there are now more options to help the Fated archetype in this regard: Durand Protege, The Darkin Lodestone, and Wandering Shepherd. Equipment cards in particular are very synergistic with Pantheon. If your equipped units die, their Equipment returns to hand and you can reuse them to get more target procs.

Level 2 Pantheon is the deck’s main win condition, but this list also has alternate win conditions with Camphor, the Doubt, Horazi from The Darkin Lodestone, and Taric with Golden Aegis. I’m running one copy of Taric instead of a third copy of Yuumi since drawing multiple copies of Yuumi is not ideal. I was previously an advocate for three copies of Yuumi because she’s a key early activator for Fated, but the new expansion has given this deck more options for this job (Durand Protege, The Darkin Lodestone, Wandering Shepherd).

The deck has several utility spells like Guiding Touch and Pale Cascade for card draw, Golden Aegis for rallies, Bastion for protection, and Single Combat + Concerted Strike for interaction.

---

General Mulligan

For the mulligan, you’re looking for two components in your opening hand: (1) An early unit that you can target like Saga Seeker, Mountain Goat, and Petricite Broadwing, and (2) an early target activator like The Darkin Lodestone, Yuumi, Durand Protege, and Wandering Shepherd.

The best-case scenario is to get both early units and early target activators in your opening hand. If you get multiple early units but no target activators, you want to keep only one early unit to look for a target activator. An exemption to this is when you’re playing against aggro decks. In this case, keeping multiple early units is better since you will need them as early blockers.

If you have multiple early target activators but no early units, you want to mulligan away everything and look for an early unit. An exemption to this is when you have Yuumi. I personally like always keeping Yuumi in the opening hand just because she can snowball hard if attached early.

If you already have a good hand, you can afford to keep tech cards depending on what you’re facing. For example, Single Combat and Concerted Strike are great against decks that rely on key units to win like Kai’sa Demacia or Viego Shurima. Golden Aegis is essential in slower matchups like Feel The Rush control or Targon’s Peak.

---

Gameplay Combos, Tips, Tricks

• Plan your early turns to get as many target procs as possible.
  Pantheon and Camphor, the Doubt are the deck’s main win conditions. You need to actively work to progress their level-up requirements. Getting Pantheon‘s level up earlier by a single turn can determine whether you win or lose games.

• Look for lethal opportunities with Golden Aegis.
  If you have Golden Aegis in hand, you want to start planning ahead and setting up your board for a lethal turn. Level 2 Pantheon or Camphor, the Doubt can deal massive Nexus damage when you rally.

• Know your deck combos!
  Here’s a quick list of this deck’s combos and synergies for your reference:
  • Attachments and Equipments don’t stack! Be careful when playing an equipment on a unit with Yuumi; this will cause Yuumi to bounce back to your hand.
  • If you can afford to, trigger target procs first before playing Pantheon since this gives you higher chances of getting Spellshield on Pantheon.
  • Upcycled Rake is the best improvised equipment for Pantheon.
  • The Fix-Em 5000 is a great improvised equipment for Camphor, the Doubt or Petricite Broadwing.
  • Great spells to duplicate with Taric are Golden Aegis, Pale Cascade, and Guiding Touch.
  • Horazi permanently grants stats, you can use her to get free 7/7s in the late game.
  • Single Combat and Concerted Strike are best used with Fated units since they proc Fated upon casting.

---

Meta Matchup Tips

Pirate Aggro

Mulligan: Saga Seeker, Mountain Goat, Petricite Broadwing. If you have an early unit: The Darkin Lodestone, Wandering Shepherd, Durand Protege. If you have a good hand: Single Combat.

Gameplan:

• Protect your Nexus health as much as possible. Every health saved counts!
• You will usually stabilize with Level 2 Pantheon‘s Lifesteal. Actively work to level him up as fast as possible. You can secure wins by using Single Combat or Concerted Strike with Pantheon‘s Lifesteal. You can also use these strike spells to counter Noxian Fervor.
• If you have Golden Aegis in hand, look for opportunities to race your opponent down with Pantheon or Camphor, the Doubt‘s Overwhelm.
• Use Guiding Touch to heal your Nexus unless you’re forced to heal your units to keep blockers alive.
• This matchup is slightly unfavored but very winnable if you get the right cards.

Decks that you can apply the same strategies: Draven Sion, Powder Pandemonium.

Scouts

Mulligan: Saga Seeker, Mountain Goat, Petricite Broadwing, Yuumi. If you have an early unit: The Darkin Lodestone, Wandering Shepherd, Durand Protege. If you have a good hand: Concerted Strike, Single Combat.

Gameplan:

• Killing Miss Fortune is your first priority! You can do this early with strike spells or by challenging with Petricite Broadwing.
• Your opponent will try to look for safe spots to play Miss Fortune. Always threaten challengers on your attack turns; don’t give up the attack token if opponent is still representing mana for Miss Fortune.
• Yuumi is an important card in this matchup. She will turn your units into tall walls that are difficult to attack into. You can afford to play reactive when you have Yuumi attached since you are gaining stats advantage even when nothing is happening on board.
• One of the few ways they can win is to go wide and rally. Make reads if your opponent is trying to setup Golden Aegis and make sure that you have enough blockers to survive.
• This matchup is extremely favored unless your opponent gets the high-roll.

Decks that you can apply the same strategies: Poppy Taric, Gwen Katarina.

Norra Heimerdinger

Mulligan: Saga Seeker, Mountain Goat, Petricite Broadwing, Yuumi. If you have an early unit: The Darkin Lodestone, Wandering Shepherd, Durand Protege. If you have a good hand: Bastion, Concerted Strike, Single Combat, Golden Aegis.

Gameplan:

• They don’t have much early pressure. You can safely progress Pantheon‘s level up requirement, but watch out for Vengeance in the late game. Get as many target procs as possible before playing Pantheon. Force out Vengeance with Camphor, the Doubt.
• You can easily remove their champions with strike spells and challenger units. Save Concerted Strike and Single Combat for Heimerdinger.
• Always threaten mana for combat tricks to counter Pokey Stick, Vile Feast, and Hate Spike.
• This matchup is favored, you should win majority of your games unless they’re able to go wide and attack with Sneezy BiggleDust!.

Decks that you can apply the same strategies: Viego Shurima, Feel The Rush, Heimerdinger Jayce.

Ezreal Kennen

Mulligan: Saga Seeker, Mountain Goat, Petricite Broadwing. If you have an early unit: Yuumi, The Darkin Lodestone, Wandering Shepherd, Durand Protege.

Gameplan:

• Go wide and apply pressure! Don’t focus too much on a single unit, spread out your stat buffs with The Darkin Lodestone. They will look to use Homecoming on your biggest threat.
• Once you have established a strong board, force them to tap below mana for Deny to open up Golden Aegis.
• Petricite Broadwing and Camphor, the Doubt are key units that can challenge champions proactively and force out spells. If your opponent is forced to commit spells first, you can react with your strike spells.
• This matchup is slightly favored because you have challengers, but sometimes Ezreal Kennen gets unbeatable hands.

Decks that you can apply the same strategies: Azir Irelia, Nami Twisted Fate

---

Closing Words

Pantheon Yuumi is one of my favorite decks of all time! This was actually the deck that I used to climb to Masters when I came back to playing Legends of Runeterra after my long break. I’m really glad to see that the archetype is once again viable for competitive play, since this is one of my go-to comfort decks for ranked ladder. I won’t be surprised if Pantheon Yuumi becomes a Tier 1 deck as the meta settles!

Hope you enjoy playing this deck! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on YouTube, Discord, or Twitter!