Top 4 Lineups for Gauntlet & Tournaments – Patch 3.19 Week 2

The nerfs in Patch 3.19 ended Seraphine and Vayne‘s dominance on the meta, making room for a variety of archetypes to exist.

Jinx’s buff also brought back the old-school Discard aggro deck, which forced the meta to adapt to its aggressive nature. The ranked ladder has a more diverse nature, with various different archetypes performing splendidly well.

With Vayne’s popularity dropping, Shadow Isles decks have been increasing in play rate, and a lot of control decks are expected to be present in players’ lineups due to their ability to deal with aggressive decks.

---

Shadow Isles Beatdown Lineup

• Good against: Seraphine Viktor SI, Trundle Tryndamere, Heimerdinger Jayce
• Ban recommendation: Zoe Teemo, Annie Jhin, Draven Jinx
• Other fitting decks: Kayn Vayne, Pantheon Varus

Taliyah Ziggs, Gwen Katarina, and Quinn Vayne are all solid decks against the three popular Shadow Isles control decks: Seraphine Viktor SI, Trundle Tryndamere, and Heimerdinger Jayce.

With this lineup, you’re able to put enough unit pressure on your opponent to win the board presence and make it difficult to set up their game plan. It’ll be a hassle for them to deal with the threats you create, and the ability of both Quinn Vayne and Gwen Katarina to attack more than once per turn can prove to be too much for the opponent to deal with.

Your weak link in this lineup is Taliyah Ziggs. Although it’s the perfect choice against slow Shadow Isles decks, it does crumble when you’re up against an aggressive lineup. As for your other two decks, they can put up a fight against aggressive decks, which means one of them will end up getting banned by your opponent, leaving you vulnerable with Taliyah Ziggs.

If you’re looking to beat Annie Twisted Fate, you could consider switching Quinn Vayne with Pantheon Varus. This creates a lineup capable of dealing the Shadow Isles control decks and still holding up well against Annie Twisted Fate.

---

The Safe Lineup

• Good against: Heimerdinger Jayce, Draven Jinx.
• Ban recommendation: Trundle Tryndamere
• Other fitting decks: Vayne Quinn

I usually prefer safe lineups because they perform well against a wide range of archetypes in the environment. This lineup isn’t afraid of matching against aggressive decks and can beat down control decks like Heimerdinger Jayce.

You should bring this lineup if your game plan is to reduce the chances of matching against counter lineups. Having an almost even matchup means games will rely more on your efficiency to pilot each deck.

Your best matchup with this lineup is Draven Jinx, as you’re capable of keeping up with their wide board and can deal with their win conditions.

Vayne Quinn is a consideration to bring instead of Vayne Kayn; however, I recommend Vayne Kayn here as the deck has a favored matchup against Vayne Quinn and Draven Jinx, two decks you’d rather not ban.

---

The Shadow Isles Lineup

• Good against: Draven Jinx, Zoe Teemo
• Ban recommendation: Vayne Kayn, Taliyah Ziggs
• Other fitting decks: Norra Veigar, Heimerdinger Jayce

This lineup wants to face aggressive decks like Annie Jhin, Jinx decks, and Zoe Teemo. All your decks have the removal tools to shut down your opponent’s game plan and keep their Nexus healthy.

Keep in mind that these decks are difficult to pilot, and you might find yourself in spots that require crucial decision-making. Make sure you’ve practiced the decks and are accustomed to the different matchups you might face.

Annie Twisted Fate has been increasing on the ranked ladder, which means we might see it included in players’ lineups. Lucky for us, this lineup wants to face Annie Twisted Fate, as all of your decks have a favored matchup against it.

Heimerdinger Jayce is a solid choice to include in the lineup instead of Seraphine Viktor SI. I decided to feature Seraphine Viktor SI instead because of its ability to beat both Heimerdinger Jayce and Annie TF.

---

Full-on Aggro Lineup

• Good against: Taliyah Ziggs, Pantheon Varus
• Ban recommendation: Trundle Tryndamere, Heimerdinger Jayce
• Other fitting decks: Zoe Teemo

This is a risky lineup with all the Shadow Isles roaming around, but you can bully specific archetypes in the meta that can’t keep up with your aggression. Additionally, this lineup wants to face off against Zoe Teemo. Your decks can deliver enough early aggression to force your opponent to block with their elusive units, disrupting their game plan and putting you ahead.

The aggressive lineup is capable of going wide on the board and starts chipping away at the opponent’s Nexus. You want to end games as quickly as possible before your opponent can set up their game plan.

The deck has a difficult time against Shadow Isles decks like Heimerdinger Jayce and Trundle Tryndamere. Both decks have the removal tools to deal with your early aggression and can shut it down.

Zoe Teemo could be a consideration to add to the deck, the archetype can crush specific matchups but lacks the burn capabilities your other decks have. You’ll rely purely on your elusive units to strike and destroy the opponent’s Nexus.

---

Closing Words

With the diversity of the meta, we have a lot of unique and different lineups that make it difficult to predict which decks we’ll end up facing the most.

Annie Twisted Fate made a comeback a little over a week ago and has been putting up good numbers. This only popularized the existence of Shadow Isles decks capable of dealing with aggressive decks and counters Annie Twisted Fate.