Gdaymaverick
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6 Min read Today, I’ll be giving you guys an inside look at the thought process and reasoning when creating a lineup and deckbuilding for tournaments with the Conquest format, similar to the upcoming Ascent of Targon Invitational.
Note that the Invitational was postponed by 2 weeks due to launch bugs.
In the Conquest format, to win the match, you must win with your two decks that were not banned by your opponent.
Once you win with one deck you may not use it again in that match. If a deck loses, it may be repeated or swapped out with the other deck that was not banned.
Since it’s region locked, three decks must be brought to the tournament and each must have a different region and no region can be repeated. For example, if I use Ionia in one of my three decks the other two decks cannot use Ionia.
So when creating a lineup, it becomes tricky as you can’t overlap regions and bring both Deep and TF Swain since they both use Bilgewater.
For a deep dive on lineups, deckbuilding, and tech choices related to this article, be sure to check out my video discussion with Freshlobster!
To be aware of what other people will be bringing, you need to keep up with the tournament meta and recent tournament results. Other great resources are the Mobalytics meta stats and tier list.
[See Twisted Fate Swain deck details]
Alternatives:
[See Ezreal Karma deck details]
If Ezreal Targon is the 2nd deck, this slot could also be:
Alternative:
[See Lulu Demacia deck details]
Alternatives:
[See They Who Endure deck details]
Alternatives:
[See Ashe Sejuani deck details]
[See Lee Sin Taric deck details]
In a new format, it’s hard to get a great read of the meta game but when there is more time and things are more settled, you can be more certain when allocating % to each of these decks/lineups on your prediction, and that will help when building your lineup and changing (or teching) your deck to meet the metagame.
Keep in mind that sometimes it might be just a good idea to play top tier decks that you’re comfortable on, don’t force yourself to play the most popular top decks without any prep time.
It’s important to plan your ban when building a lineup. In the upcoming invitational, most lineups will be coming into the tournament banning the Swain TF deck.
The exception is if you are planning on bringing They Who Endure. If this is the case, you may opt to ban Targon due to their easy access to Silence.
This isn’t just in running 1 or multiple copies of Hush but also because Invoke from Spacey Sketcher has around a 42% chance to discover a 1 cost Silence that counters your win con in Endure for 7 mana.
Keep in mind when building your three-deck line up in Conquest that it’s not about bringing the strongest deck but bringing the strongest 3rd deck.
Let’s use Ezreal Karma as an example – say that your other two decks are solid or good against aggro and Ezreal Karma is your weak point against aggro lineups.
If this is the case, you’ll want to tech Ezreal Karma towards aggro but still keep it strong against certain decks. For the most part, since the deck will allow you to win the game by getting to turn 10 regardless, you’ll have some room to tech.
You don’t want to bring polar opposite decks by bringing a lineup with 1 deck that is really good vs aggro and 2 decks that aren’t good against aggro. Doing so would allow your opponent to abuse their ban by banning the deck that has a good matchup into aggro.
Example: If your line up has 2 decks with 70% win rate vs aggro and then a 20% deck vs aggro, that means you’re gonna have a super weak point and will very likely lose to everyone who brings an aggro line up.
Knowing your matchups is very important when playing a tournament and this is why most competitive/pro players will scrim for a tournament instead of playing on ladder.
Consider finding a practice partner to work on certain matchups, figure out the best way to improve vs expected matchups, test your tech choices, and see the impact in the matchups they’re in there for.
It’s crucial to pre-plan your mulligan vs each of the matchups you expect. By being familiar with them and knowing them ahead of time, you’ll be more likely to have optimal opening hands and improve your win percentages by knowing the matches up and mulliganing correctly and that’s also why knowing your matchups are important.
Practice your mulligans with the Starting Hand Simulator!
For example, in the ramp mirror, always hard mulligan for ramp and keep 1 Asol in my opinion. Throw everything else away. The matchup is determined mostly by who can get to turn 10 the quickest and have Asol. If you don’t have Asol at turn 10 and your opponent does, it’s game over.
That’s all for now! Good luck if you’re playing in Ascent of Targon or any other upcoming tournaments. If you have any questions, please feel free to drop by my stream (basically every day at 7PM – 10PM Australian time/2AM – 5AM Pacific)
Mav streams at twitch.tv/gdaymaverick everyday @7PM AUS time
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