How to Play Sion Draven
Hey guys, NicMakesPlays here. Today I’m going to go over my Sion Draven deck.
Sion Draven is tearing up ladder as one of the strongest decks of the new expansion!
It makes great use of all the new discard tools that have been added to the game.
We’re constantly covering new decks so be sure to check out our previous deck guides.
Deck Code: CECQCAYECIBACAYUEMBQKAYBAYGQGAIEEYTS2AIEAQIAGAIBAQAQGBIDAQCQSAIDAMHQA
[See Sion Draven deck details]
Win Condition
This deck utilizes the new Discard cards to output aggressive pressure while maintaining card advantage. This deck wins the game around turn 7-8 with Sion, offensive pressure, or Get Excited as a finisher.
Mulligans
In this deck, you want to mulligan for a 1 drop, Fallen Rider and Draven.
You can keep cards like Draven’s Biggest Fan to search Draven or Zaunite Urchin/Poro Cannon + Fallen Rider.
Usually, you want to mulligan away Sion and draw him later after your early game.
You’ll want to save Sion in hand for turn 7 rather than discarding him most of the time.
Card Choices & Key Synergies
Zaunite Urchin & Poro Cannon
Zaunite Urchin and Poro Cannon are two cheap cards that allow you to start activating your discard triggers. On turn 1 you can use these cards to discard Fallen Rider and set up your curve nicely.
In the mid-game you can use these cards are cheap ways to discard Lost Soul, Ancient Warmonger, Survival Skills, or Axes for value.
Fallen Rider & Lost Soul
Fallen Rider and Lost Soul are two of the ways this deck generates value through discarding. When Fallen Rider is discarded it creates a Risen Rider.
Risen Rider is a 2 drop 4|2 Fearsome which is a powerful card on its own, but the fact that Fallen Riser replaces itself generates a lot of value too. When Lost Soul is discarded it creates a Twinblade Revenant in hand.
Twinblade Revenant is a 4 drop 4|3 Challenger with Last Breath: Create a Lost Soul in hand. Lost Soul can infinitely cycle itself and this allows you to maintain card advantage and out grind your opponents.
Draven & Survival Skills
Draven is important in the deck because he can enable all kinds of different hands. He gives you cards to discard, ways to discard other cards, and applies pressure on turn 3.
The pressure he puts on turn 3 sets the pace of the game and allows you to have an easier time finishing off with Sion. Survival Skills is key against removal and combat-based decks.
You can discard Survival Skills with Draven’s Axes against decks like Ezreal to keep him alive and continue the pressure through a Get Excited.
You can also use this card in combat with an Axe to kill threats like Poppy while also keeping him alive.
Using an Axe on Draven while discarding Survival Skills helps work towards his level up progress, and then you can level him up next turn.
Sion & Get Excited
Sion and Get Excited are your finishers of the deck. On turn 7 you always want to drop a leveled Sion and finish the game from there. Most of the time when you draw Sion you want to keep him to finish the game rather than discarding him for his effect.
With his huge Overwhelm damage output along with a Rally Last Breath effect he usually is always enough to close a game out. In the chance you don’t draw Sion, Get Excited burn damage is a nice alternative finisher.
Reborn Grenadier & Boom Baboon
Reborn Grenadier and Flame Chompers created by Boom Baboon are great ways to apply pressure through discarding cards. Reborn Grenadier can be discarded by an Axe or Poro Cannon to attack/block with a 3|2 at Burst speed.
Boom Baboon is a solid 2 drop that generates you a Flame Chomper. You can use a Flame Chomper on your offensive turns to hook away blockers and push for a ton of damage.
Good Matchups
This deck does great against combat-oriented decks like Poppy.
You can use Reborn Grenadier to get free blockers against units they paid their mana for. Survival Skills is also amazing during combat on Draven for easy combat trades and level-ups.
These decks also don’t have answers to Sion so if you make it to Turn 7 you should be able to reliably finish from there.
Bad Matchups
Darkness and Bandle Tree can be rough matchups for Sion Draven.
Against Darkness and Bandle Tree, you want to apply as much pressure as possible before they can stabilize and win the game from there. These decks have a ton of blockers, answers to aggression, as well as Minimorph for Sion.
Fallen Rider is good in these matchups as Fearsome chip damage, Reborn Grenadier can chip good damage and Boom Baboon’s Flame Chompers allows for good early game pressure.
Tech Choices
Fallen Reckoner
Fallen Reckoner is great at applying more Overwhelm pressure and stopping their chump blockers from gaining value.
Mystic Shot
Mystic Shot is good because it can double as a generic burn or unit removal.
Augmented Experimenter
Augmented Experimenter is a great way to refuel as well as trigger all your discard effects.
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, feel free to ask NicMakesPlays during his streams (usually 6PM-1230AM EST).
Catch NicMakesPlays live at twitch.tv/nicmakesplays 6PM-1230AM EST
