Deck Tech: Rumble Sion Midrange - Survive removals!

This is a Midrange deck with a bit of pressure in the early rounds, but its potential in rounds 4-7 is incredible, probably one of the strongest in the whole game! Rumble/Sion has powerful removals which are not well used in other decks, so you also have the surprise factor.

Why play Rumble/Sion?

We have here a Midrange list powerful against controls. When the meta is slower and focused on removals, Rumble/Sion is unbeatable. Mechas, besides having good numbers, count with powerful keywords, such as

spellshield

. The bit that I like the most is that it is an underground list, so many opponents won't know how to play around it, and all of the sudden will be overwhelmed by mechas and level 2 Sion.

Our focus is to find good mechas with Scrapheap, Bilgerat Rascal and Arena Promoter, which alongside Rumble, making it possible to quickly level him up. At level 2, Rumble creates in hand a random mecha-yordle, and each time the enemy Nexus is dealt damage, he discounts in 1 mana and grants +1/+1 to all mechas in hand. Whirling Death and Bloody Business are removals in which your unit strikes the enemy's. If used while you're attacking, your unit will cause the damage from

Impact

again in case it has the keyword.

Remember: Dunehopper Mech is extremely strong, and if it shows up in any of your "manifest a mecha yordle" cards, take it! It is the strongest option, but be wise with your choice.

Rumble

The deck is about hoarding fuel for Rumble, which is the main champion! When summoned, you can discard up to THREE cards. For each discarded card, he gets a keyword. First is

impact

, second

quick-attack

and the best of all is the third one,

spellshield

. We lean on cards which want to be discarded, such as Reborn Grenadier, and cards which create discard fodder, such as Yordle Squire.

Sion

Sion has two main jobs. The first is when he is discarded by Rumble, granting him overwhelm. The second is when he is played at level 2, being able to finish a game all by himself. Remember that, when Sion level 2 dies, he comes back ephemeral and granting a

Rally

. Hardly anyone survives this second hit. You need to get to know every piece, because each has a unique role. I separated them between

Discard

and

Value Generators

Discards

Yordle Squire is the only one who doesn't have an effect when discarded, but she creates a Tiny Spear or a Tiny Shield in hand, which are excellent to discard, and she is still a great 1 drop. When the situation is dire, you can discard her. Reborn Grenadier is very good with Scrapheap because at burst speed, you have a 3/2 attacker or blocker. Sion has the role of granting overwhelm to some powerful unit, most of the time Rumble himself. Lost Soul and Fallen Rider are units which become something more powerful when discarded. The thing about Lost Soul is the infinite creation of discard fodder, as when Twinblade Revenant dies, you get another Lost Soul in hand.

Value Generators

Grave Physician is very important in this list, because it draws you a unit, especially since most of them are of great importance in order to keep the deck working. Bilgerat Rascal gives you a spellshield mecha yordle. If, by chance, you get Dunehopper Mech, the game will be practically decided. Arena Promoter, besides getting you a discounted mecha, has good numbers, and the keyword

tough

. He is excellent for getting useful mechas at a good price, increasing pressure in late rounds.

Combat Tricks

These two are excellent removals/combat tricks. Their big problem was being Noxus cards, and this region can't protect the unit that is striking all that well. Here the greatest differential is that Rumble, besides having good numbers, comes with

spellshield

, which makes it very hard for your opponent to deal with him. Alongside overwhelm and impact, while attacking you can easily find a lethal attack.

Value Generators

Scrapheap is another mecha-yordle generator. When discarding, it is possible to find some fun interactions, such as discarding Sion at burst speed, granting overwhelm to a Rumble while in combat. As for Pokey Stick, not much to say, right? Simply the best card in the region. Doesn't match the deck all that well, but it is too good not to include. Whispered Words has the reputation trigger, which is easily achieved by the many mechas that strike for 5+ and the combat tricks. Spending 2 mana to draw 2 is simply broken. Your initial hand is quite complicated. It is very important that you have a balance between cards that discard and cards that want to be discarded. A Rumble in your initial hand and 3 cards that want to be discarded is the dream. Don't keep Whispered Words nor combat tricks in your hand. As for Lost Soul, even though it is a 8 mana drop, it is excellent in your initial hand, as it, when discarded, becomes a 4 cost unit. Because it is a proactive deck, in every match you will try to go fast with your mecha generation, besides wanting to level up Rumble. When choosing mechas, your approach changes against control. You will want the tougher ones, which impact the board a lot. As for aggro decks, you will favor smaller mechas to be able to battle for the board in the initial rounds. Our list performs well against slow decks, specially controls.

Feel The Rush

This is a deck famous for using small unit removals, such as Avalanche, which barely scrapes our powerful mechas. Usually the answer is Vengeance, which also has trouble going through the robots' spellshield!

Karma Viktor

It is a list which relies a lot on a good late game. Karma is a real problem after round 10. The deck has minor removals and some stuns, and this way it can't effectively take down mechas. But be careful, Sion is beat easily by Ionia and some stuns. Try using him only as a source of overwhelm for your powerful units. Summoning him can cost you the game. Unfortunately, this list can't handle aggros in general.

Pirates

It is very hard to deal with the swarm of pirates that come down pretty early on the board. The plan will be to slay Miss Fortune as quickly as possible and find your best mechas to run over pirates. By not having many small units to defend yourself early, a lot of damage can come through, leaving you vulnerable to burns.

Lurk

Lurk's units even take a while to grow, but once they start to hit for 5+, it becomes very hard to block, as all of your mechas have from 4 to 6 health, making every trade unfavorable. Take advantage of your combat tricks, alongside spellshield, to tilt the game's rhythm in your favor. I think the only relevant alteration can be the addition of Squeaker, as it creates a mecha and costs 2. You would have mecha creators from curve 1 to 4. The mechas are important to level up Rumble. I ended up opting for Grave Physician because it comes down as a 2/2 already and for the lack of card draw in the deck. In this new collection, some new cards came and 2 new cards caught my attention for this deck. One of them is The Gray Apothecary, which creates resources in your hand, and is able to be recycled later with discards or even summoning it for real, and Legion Deserter, which gains all allied buffs that we send to Rumble. Don't underestimate the power of mechas. Riot has thrown some buffs to this archetype and it remains dormant. When the meta becomes more Control-like and slow, I believe that our deck will awaken and will become one of the most popular ones, because it is consistent and has big units which are complicated to remove. Currently, I recommend this list because it is underground, so besides winning because you play well, many opponents will end up being beaten because they don't know exactly which archetype they are facing. This is my cue, see you in the next article!