Deck Guide: Lulu Jinx Brings in Crazyness and Explosions

Good morning, good afternoon, good night! My name is Yangzera, and I am extremely happy to be bringing you my first article here at Cards Realm! It is a great opportunity to connect with more people in the LoR community, so I will try to bring as much content as possible, so we can all evolve together.

Today's deck is Jinx Lulu, which has been the most played deck in the ranked ladder this patch. Without further ado, let's talk about the deck, card by card.

Card by Card

Champions

This cuckoo duo gives life to our deck and is responsible for both types of game plans we have available — swarm and burn!

Lulu is extremely strong alongside a Flame Chompers!, not only being able to eat up units for free, but also divert blockers and use her buff in a smaller unit, maybe a 1/1 or a 2/1, to deal a little bit of extra damage and allow us to transition our game plan.

Once we are able to lower our opponent's Nexus points down to: 7, 8 or 11, it's when this deck can transition into its "direct-damage" side. I say these three numbers because they relate to the damage combinations this deck can hit, with multiple Get Excited! and Super Mega Death Rocket! combinations.

Try to play Jinx when you can empty your hand at fast speed, at least, so she can create her first rocket even if she is removed. Keep in mind that Lulu's value increases based on factors unrelated to her as well — for instance, having Chompers in hand with ways of discarding it at burst speed (Poro Cannon), and having the attack token on odd turns, so Lulu can get value out of her support ability as soon as turn 3!

Chompers

Poro Cannon and Scrapheap are our ways of discarding Flame Chompers! at burst speed, and they have even more value when our hand has both Chompers (or a Boom Baboon) and Lulu.

It's important we use this card at burst speed to summon Flame Chompers in the same action Lulu buffs her supported ally, to not give our opponent the possibility of using Quietus or some sort of removal on Chompers before we take full advantage of its value.

Boom Baboon is one of our best plays at turn 2 as it creates Chompers in hand and starts applying pressure based on the possibility of burst discarding Chompers, which forces our opponent to respect our deck's capability of dealing a lot of damage early on in the match and shifting into a direct-damage game plan easier.

Early Game

Unlike the spells previously listed, Zaunite Urchin is a slow way of discarding Chompers and Scrap Scuttler.

Keep in mind that Zaunite Urchin + Jury-Rig is our biggest damage output opener when we have the attack token on odds, so always try to start the match with this combo in hand, when possible — but don't mulligan good cards away to go after this combo particularly!

Direct Damage

After the game plan of dominating the board early on and filling it with units is over and done, we shift to the part of dealing direct damage to the opponent, and Get Excited! is a part of it, allowing for an easy Jinx level up and declaring a lot of damage to the opponent's Nexus.

1 Drops

Our 1 drops are interesting, as they either bring extra status to our units with more value, or they bring cards to our hands that can be used as discard fodder.

Don't fall into the trap of having a lot of 1 drops in your initial hand! As the deck's unit curve is low, we can actively try to have better hands than usual without risking not having pressure early on.

Mecha-Yordles

Mecha-Yordles are big units which bring a lot of power and tempo to the battlefield, and Squeaker does that very well, being always at least a 2 mana 3/2 (after Augment is activated by the Mecha-Yordle they create themselves).

Usually, the best Mecha-Yordles are Geode Mechaforcer, Furyhorn Crasher, Smash & Dash, Dunehopper Mech and Trumpetecher. Each of them is good for a specific situation.

Geode Mechaforcer is useful when you have an extra Chompers, or if you're playing without a Lulu in hand.

Furyhorn Crasher is a great body overall, which has the potential of buffing a champion that is in the top 3 ally cards in your deck.

Smash & Dash are a great turn 3 play, in case you use Squeaker on curve.

Dunehopper Mech is a huge body which summons sand soldiers, which can be subsequently buffed by your Lulu or even by a Geode Mechaforcer, just put them on the right side while attacking, where the sand soldiers will be created.

Trumpetecher is a mini Sneezy Biggledust! which comes with a good body for its mana cost, ideal for when your board is already nicely developed.

Sneezy Biggledust! is a card important enough to deserve its own section.

When you have a hand with it, try to look for opportunities with a big open attack using it, but don't be afraid to discard it in case you realize you can't play with an extensive board any longer.

Early Game

Our deck tries to deal as much damage as possible with units early on, so the plan is to build a board that can actively deal damage and not lose much value while it does it. Sometimes it's ok to skip an attack with our units early on if we know that a Flame Chompers! will make us deal more damage in a future turn.

Odds and Evens

It's very important to keep an eye out for which token you get, regarding if it's on even or odds because that changes the way you mulligan and do your plays. With an odd attack token, the best hand always has a Lulu on curve with some way of discarding a Flame Chompers — or already have some on board.

With an even attack token, there is more possibility for an open attack with a Sneezy Biggledust!, which many times is devastating. This doesn't mean that with an even attack token you must mulligan Lulu and Chompers away, but keep in mind the play potential that opens up.

Change of Plans

Throughout the match, our deck starts to run out of gas, and our units are too small to keep pressuring the board against decks with bigger units.

From round 4, 5 and 6 onwards is when we start to shift from the board aggressive plan to the direct Nexus damage defensive plan. Look for ways of summoning Jinx at the same turn you can create a Super Mega Death Rocket!.

You can usually do this from turn 5 onwards, with full spell mana to spare, when you can summon Jinx and in that first action use a Get Excited! to the Nexus, having 1 mana left for the Rocket.

Hecarim Zed

This matchup is relatively easy because this deck can't build an extensive board such as ours early on, and the non-ephemeral units usually don't want to block — this gives us plenty of margin for dealing damage early on.

Another important aspect is that Lulu + Chomper's combo can deal with important cards in this deck such as Shadow Apprentice, Soul Shepherd and Zed.

Annie Jhin

A very easy match, which we can play passively as the control deck. We have enough blockers for their attackers, and Jinx can overcome any Aggro x Aggro matchup.

Lulu + Chompers, as usual, allow us to win the pressure race, as it can trade favorably and open up the way so other units can deal damage.

Azir Xerath

The Sundisc deck has problems dealing with decks that grow their board horizontally, as they start the match with one less unit space — Sundisc's space.

Try to fill the board early on and keep abusing this deck's difficulty in dealing with an extensive board, then finish it with direct Nexus damage when the deck inevitably goes out of the Rite of Negation mana range.

Pantheon Varus

Just like Sundisc, Pantheon Varus can't deal with an extensive board, and Sneezy Biggledust! plays are usually lethal. The only concern with this matchup is if your opponent can level up Pantheon at turn 6 and get Lifesteal.

Trundle Tryndamere

The Feel the Rush deck is no longer an Aggro counter. The addition of Wild Mysticism and the lack of Aggro in the last Back Alley Bar meta made this list a lot greedier and caused it to ignore Aggro decks, inexistent so far.

Nowadays, this deck returned to using more board wipe tools, but it is still not enough to hit Lulu Jinx, particularly, head on. Try to fill the board and have an open attack play with Sneezy Biggledust!.

Usually, these decks use just a little bit of healing, so the damage you deal is usually permanent. After enough aggression, most matches end with a Get Excited! followed by a Super Mega Death Rocket!.

Gwen Katarina

We have blockers enough to handle this deck's early pressure, and the Lulu + Chompers combo can eat up a Gwen for free.

Usually, the strategy here is to force your opponent into using their Ravenous Flock copies early on, so that Jinx can come down unanswered and finish the job.

Taliyah Ziggs

The secret to this matchup lies in not taking damage early on while you retain board control. This deck's turn 5 and 6 can be quite explosive, so it's important to keep a relatively high number of Nexus points, so you don't die to the Taliyah + The Absolver combo in these turns, as this deck usually can't deal with direct damage at the same time they are trying to finish the match with a big attack play.

Swain Twisted Fate

This matchup is terrible, as this deck has an answer to all our units, besides a ability Red Card on curve being devastating for a board filled with x/1 units.

Try to play around units with more than 1 HP, and get Yordle Squire's Tiny Shield. This matchup is usually won when we can make our opponents spend their Ravenous Flocks early on and Jinx can get two rockets in.

Aphelios Leona

It isn't a good matchup, as this deck also fills the board early on, besides being an Aphelios deck. It's essential for our success that Aphelios isn't able to create more value than the first Crescendum and Calibrum cycle because a Severum can end our chances of finishing the match with a W.

The opponent will keep their Vengeances and Sunbursts to deal with our Jinx, so we're working with a limited amount of direct Nexus damage, most times.

Aatrox Kayn

This matchup is usually won with an early Sneezy Biggledust!, before Aatrox can come on board. The opponent can also stabilize the match with an equipped Keeper of the Box, so be careful with this deck's great access to healing.

Veigar Norra

Just like Leona Aphelios, this deck has early blockers to deal with our attackers, and many ping spells such as Pokey Stick and Vile Feast. Usually, the opponent will try to create a Darkness that deals 4 damage, so they can deal with the first Jinx easily, and keep their Vengeance for the second one.

We can try to win with a big board and a Sneezy Biggledust!, but that requires a good setup, and the right attack token.

The Jinx Lulu deck is one of the best options for the ranked ladder in the current metagame, filled with favorable matchups and a few unfavorable matchups, which have only seen play as counters to this strategy, though it's still possible to grab wins against these decks if it's well-piloted.

I hope this guide has been informative, and I hope it has helped you pilot the deck if not just a little bit better, and I'm always open to feedback and answering questions on my social media or in the comments down below!