Taric Poppy Rally Deck Guide

Hello everyone, Sorry here! In today’s guide, I’ll break down Taric Poppy Rally deck, digging deeper into how to pilot the deck and how to approach different matchups.

The archetype has existed in the past but it only started getting more attention when Relentless Pursuit was changed in Patch 2.18 – it was intended to be a nerf, but for Taric Poppy specifically, this Rally card was pretty much a buff. The fact that now you have to target an allied unit with Relentless Pursuit means that it now has a similar interaction as Golden Aegis on Taric.

This Demacia Targon deck relies on board presence – your goal is to build up your side of the battlefield, take value trades, and keep your champions alive.

When you start an attack, Challenger units like Fleetfeather Tracker, Laurent Protege, and Screeching Dragon can pull away units capable of blocking and killing either Taric or Poppy.

It’s critical to keep your champions alive as they are your win condition, Pale Cascade, Ranger’s Resolve, Sharpsight, and Barriers are all tools that aid you in protecting your champions.

The deck has two win conditions, the first is getting Poppy to level up in which she will buff up your units on the board by +2|+2 while granting them the Impact keyword as well. It will be extremely difficult for your opponent to deal with your buffed-up board – especially with a Rally follow-up.

The second win condition is Taric + Rally interaction. Playing Golden Aegis or Relentless Pursuit on Taric, and supporting a unit when attacking will activate a second Rally effect making it so that your opponent has to deal with multiple attacks per turn.

Leveling up Taric isn’t necessary for this deck to realize its game plan – in fact, you’ll probably rarely see him level up. The main objective for Taric in this deck is to retrigger Rally effects while also making it hard for your opponent to take down both Taric and the supported ally, enhanced by the buff effects and Tough keyword.

If you do manage to level him up though you’ll be in full control on your attacking turn, the fact that Taric and the supported ally will become invulnerable once an attack has been committed will absolutely devastate your opponent’s board.

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Techs and Options

• Mountain Sojourners: Will aid in buffing up your Taric along with the unit Taric is supporting. It will as well help level up your Taric faster while also creating a board with high stats units. The card though relies on having a unit worth buffing up like Taric or Poppy on the board. If you’re confident you can build a board safely keep key units alive until you can play Mountain Sojourners, then the buffs will be worth it. You can cut Screeching Dragon for Mountain Sojourners, or, if you want to keep all the Challenger units in the list, you can cut 2 Guiding Touch for 2 Mountain Sojourners.

• Single Combat: Can remove key units from your opponent’s board or be used on an ally that’s about to die from a spell. It provides interaction with the board, a tool to shutdown an opponent’s game plan. You can cut Guiding Touch for Single Combat – but I wouldn’t advice running more than two copies of it as you might struggle sometimes to find the right time to play it or can brick your hand.

• Riposte: Helps protect your units while also giving them additional Power that can aid in removing high health units. Riposte is a game swinger against midrange decks, especially lists that don’t run Barrier pings. It’s probably never worth to run more than 2 Riposte in the deck, can be added instead of Prismatic Barrier. I’m running Prismatic Barrier because early game we’re tight on mana and I’m primary using the Barrier to keep my champions alive.

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General Tips

• Protect your champions. Both Poppy and Taric are important pieces for your gameplan, keeping both alive for as long as possible will strengthen your board presence. Brightsteel Protector’s barrier can act as a protection tool when attacking with your champions.
• Golden Aegis or Relentless Pursuit + Taric. Play your Rally cards on Taric which will activate the Rally effect again once Taric attacks. After Rally is cast beware not to ovewrite your Taric with another spell. Keep in mind that Taric will also share the Barrier from Golden Aegis with the unit he’s supporting, so choose wisely which unit you want to protect.
• Level up Poppy when possible. With a deck that runs a lot of Rally cards, leveling up Poppy shouldn’t be too difficult if you have the right tools to protect her. You can even level her up in one turn if you have Taric on the board. If you’ve already used your attack token for the turn, the Rally played on Taric will allow you to attack two additonal times, which means Poppy will level up.
• Pale Cascade and Guiding Touch + Taric. If you are running out of cards in hand you can consider playing Pale Cascade or Guiding Touch on Taric just before you start the attack. Taric will acticate the burst speed spells a second time on his supported ally providing an additional card draw.
• For Demacia! + Rally play. Vanguard Sergeant will create a For Demacia! in hand. The card buffing your whole board by +3|+3 can be a game swinger if it’s comboed with a Rally card. Ideally you want to play it on your attack turn, go for a swing with your buffed up units and then play a Rally card for a second attack! Taric can give you a third attack which in most cases would be a game ender.

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Matchups

Mulligan for: Taric, Poppy, Laurent Protege, Rangers Resolve.

• Hold on to Ranger’s Resolve as a counter for Make it Rain or Twisted Fate‘s Red Card.
• Some lists run Monster Harpoon, hold enough mana to keep your Taric alive with Sharpsight or Pale Cascade.
• Do not overextend with units if you think your opponent is setting up for a Powder Keg + Make it Rain or Red Card play
• Try to ignore Twisted Fate and avoid killing him unless he’s about to level up. This will prevent your opponent from playing another Red or Gold Card on your units.

Mulligan for: Taric, Poppy, Fleetfeather Tracker.

• Try to kill Twisted Catalyzer the first time it attacks to deny multiple Darkness buffs.
• Darkness spells are expensive to play early game if they haven’t played Stilted Robemaker. Keeping your unit alive with Ranger’s Resolve, Sharpsight, or Pale Cascade can set up for a solid attack.
• Screeching Dragon is a reliable Challenger unit to remove your opponent’s champions.
• Your Taric + Rally combo play can be shut down with a Minimorph, but you’ll still have a 3|3 unit on board and an attack token whereas your opponent just commited 6 mana to shut down your combo.
• Try to close out the game before turn 8, the Darkness created by Dess & Ada can potentialy wipe out your board.

Mulligan for: Taric, Poppy, Laurent Protege

• Stop Bandle Commando from striking your Nexus. One of your Challenger units can pick her off or play Sharpsight when she goes for the attack. This will deny your opponent Hungry Owlcat that acts as a cheap blocker and gives them the Ionia follower to play for Bandle Tree wincon.
• Kill Bandle City Mayor as soon as possible, the ability to play multi-region units for cheaper will allow your opponent to swarm the board.
• Ranger’s Resolve can save your Poppy from a Buster Shot, it’s safer to go for the attack immediatly and buff up your board before your opponent follows up their play with a Ravenous Flock or Scorched Earth.
• Guiding Touch can shut down a Ravenous Flock or Scorched Earth.
• Your Taric + Rally combo can be interrupted with a Minimorph.

Mulligan for: Taric, Poppy, Screeching Dragon, Brightsteel Protector.

• Take out Herald of Dragons as soon as possible to slow down their Dragons deployment.
• Barrier off of Brightsteel Protector on your champions when going for an attack can keep them safe, ideally you value Poppy and her ability to level up. Outside of Single Combat or Concerted Strike your opponent cannot remove the Barrier.
• Keep your board alive until you can play For Demacia! with a Rally follow up. It will force opponent to take unfavourable trades in order to protect the Nexus.
• You can take advantage of your opponent tapping put of mana when they Eclipse Dragon or Aurelion Sol and commit your Rally attack.

Mulligan for: Taric, Poppy, Laurent Protege, Fleetfeather Tracker, Sharpsight.

• Your Challenger units are important to remove their Elusive units like Greenglade Duo, Young Witch, and Shadow Assassin off the board.
• Sharpsight is important to shut down Elusive units when your opponent goes for an attack.
• You might find yourself in situations where a Rally play can be useful to remove more of your opponent’s units off the board. Taric + Golden Aegis and a Challenger unit can be game-ending for your opponent.

Mulligan for: Fleetfeather Tracker, Laurent Protege, Taric, Vanguard Sergeant.

• Your top priority is to take the least amount of damage early game from your opponent’s units. Your opponent can close out the game with burn cards like Noxian Fervor and Decimate.
• Brightsteel Protector can be played defensively, the Barrier could force your opponent to halt their attack for that specific turn or commit to an attack despite the fact that you’ll end up with a value trade.
• Ranger’s Resolve can come in handy to keep multiple units alive on your side of the board when you’re attacking or defending.
• It’s extremely difficult for your opponent to shut down your Taric + Rally combo. Once you find an opening – commit to the play, you’ll have to close out the game before your opponent draws more of their burn cards.

Mulligan for: Fleetfeather Tracker, Brightsteel Protector, Taric, Poppy.

• Brightsteel Protector’s Barrier on a Challenger unit will allow for a free trade on one of the Lurkers.
• Try to remove Lurkers early on with Challenger units, value trade, and build a board.
• Your opponent might try to kill Poppy or Taric with Death from Below or Bone Skewer. Keep them alive with your combat tricks.
• Pyke can wipe out your board if he levels up, try to kill him or close out the game before he levels up.
• Watchout for Snapjaw Swarm on your attack turn, always have a unit ready to block it.
• Jaull-Fish can be a game ender for you if your opponent has multiple Lurkers on the board.

Mulligan for: Taric, Poppy, Laurent Protege.

• Try to deny your opponent from activating Plunder easily, force them to commit a spell to activate it.
• When playing Taric or Poppy keep in mind that your opponent can take them out with a Monster Harpoon.
• You’ll have to close out the game before your opponent levels up Sejuani, once they have her on the board it will be difficult to win the game from there.

Mulligan for: Taric, Poppy, Laurent Protege, Vanguard Sergeant, Brightsteel Protector.

• Preserve your health early on, it’ll be hard to deal with Twinblade Revenant.
• Your opponent can keep their strongest unit alive with Survival Skills, so be careful which unit to challenge.
• When you drop Poppy on the board your opponent might attempt to take her down immediately with a Get Excited! Ranger’s Resolve acts as a good cheap counter.
• Expect a Sion on turn 7/8 – at that point you’re going to have to close out the game or your opponent will finish it off with Sion + burn cards like Mystic Shot or Get Excited!

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Closing Words

Taric Poppy is one of my favorite decks to play, it has the ability to create some threatening boards and forces your opponent to commit a lot of resources to deal with it.

The Rally play on Taric is magnificent, especially if you manage to have all the required pieces on the board – you’ll find yourself winning games earlier than expected with the Rally play.

The deck does struggle against some popular lists that you can see on ladder, but it can still sneak in wins if you manage to get Taric and Poppy on the board safely.

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