How to Play Teemo Ezreal
Throughout each patch, we spend our time discovering new archetypes, tuning old ones, then ultimately settling on what works best.
We often gravitate towards consistency and focus on the decks with the most well-rounded matchups.
However, there are times we can take advantage of a deck with a more polarizing strategy.
It’s Trevor “Shugo” Yung here and today we’re revisiting a deck that many of us tend to forget about; Teemo Ezreal.
Do remember its existence because if you’re not ready to watch your step, you may find yourself walking right into their trap!
Deck Code: CEBQMAIEAEEBSGZEGQAQCAI6AEBQIBIEAMAQCCZKGIAQGAICAEBQIFABAECB6AYCAEAQCBABAMCA2AIBAQ5A
[See Teemo Ezreal deck details]
Deck Overview
Teemo Ezreal is a reactive combo deck built with some proactive engines. The overall strategy is to stall the board as you fill the opponent’s deck with mushrooms and level up Ezreal.
Puffcap Peddler and Ballistic Bot keep the wheels turning while your Freezes and removal slow down the opponent.
Most of our units have 3 health making it easier to sustain some board presence.
Brittle Steel is an extremely powerful card that must be respected or else they’ll be greatly punished.
Teemo Ezreal lists have varied greatly in the past as the deck has so many options worth considering. This build aims to capitalize on each region’s greatest strengths.
PnZ’s valuable engines and Freljord’s incredible combat tricks. As such, we’re not playing any sweepers like Avalanche or Blighted Ravine.
With proper resource management and planning, our opponents will have no choice but to watch their Nexus burn to 0!
Mulligan Tips
We have a lot of good cards worth keeping during our mulligan phase. Priority should be put on our sustainable value engines, so don’t be afraid to toss back a half-decent option to find them. Cheap removal is always welcome to smooth out our early turns.
- Always Keep:
- Teemo
- Ballistic Bot
- Puffcap Peddler
- Keep (Against Aggro):
- Mystic Shot
- Thermogenic Beam
- Kindly Tavernkeeper
- Situational Keep:
- Icevale Archer: Only when you’re attacking on odds against aggressive decks.
- Brittle Steel & Elixir of Iron: Keep if you have a Ballistic Bot or Puffcap Peddler.
- Statikk Shock: Against decks with multiple 1 health units.
- Hexcore Foundry: Against slower matchups.
Example Hand 1:
Example Hand 2
Game Plans
We’re looking to establish our engines early so we can compete in combat and get the most value out of our spells. Ballistic Bot is great early and gives us discard fodder for when we find Rummage later.
Ideally, we want to be casting more of our spells once Puffcap Peddler is online. This is an important means to build up the pressure towards the mid-game.
We can create tons of Puffcaps at Fast and Burst speed; so it stacks up quickly.
The opponent will want to remove Puffcap Peddler as soon as possible, but if you hold up some spell mana they’ll often hesitate or overcommit to avoid a Brittle Steel, Elixir of Iron, or Troll Chant.
When it’s safe to do so, look to set up Hexcore Foundry. Without this or any efficient Rummages, we can struggle to draw answers and eventually run out of steam.
However, with an active Hexcore Foundry, you’ll eventually draw to a position where you’re unstoppable.
Some older lists opted out of Hexcore Foundry and also played fewer or no copies of Ballistic Bot.
I believe Rummage is one of the most powerful cards in all of Runeterra, so it’s important to build accordingly to support it.
In the late game be mindful of the spells you have available. It’s important to calculate the damage you can deal with Ezreal and note the speeds they can be played.
Make sure you take into account whether the opponent could Silence or remove Ezreal while your intended finishing spells are on the stack.
You may think you have lethal but you’ll end up missing critical points of damage. Your Freezes need targets, so try and leave at least one unit alive on their board.
Lastly, don’t forget the pass button is your friend. As the Puffcaps build up, the opponent can’t afford to sit back and wait. Each turn potentially procs free damage and fills your hand with more spells for Ezreal.
Win Conditions
Ezreal
Ezreal in perhaps his truest original form.
Those of you who’ve played since Beta will remember the days of good Ol’ Frosty Ezreal. You won’t have to work hard to level Ezreal in this deck.
Cards like Brittle Steel and Icevale Archer are super-efficient which allows you to progress without loss of tempo.
However, be sure to not play Ezreal too early when he’s susceptible to removal. A good time to play him is post-level up, or when he can be leveled up in response to avoid being killed.
Teemo
Teemo kinda just exists to be annoying, which accurately represents his LoL counterpart. While not a priority, an unanswered Teemo is extremely threatening.
If the shrooms stack up enough, there’s not much the opponent can do other than pray Lady Luck is on their side.
However, don’t overcommit just to try and make Teemo strike through. You’ll occasionally be able to protect him, but it doesn’t take much more than a flick to send him away.
Ballistic Bot & Puffcap Peddler
These two units make the entire deck churn.
They build up the momentum while also providing those crucial points of damage to win the game.
Each Ignition is a 2 damage ping to the enemy Nexus when you have Ezreal flipped on the board, and Puffcap Peddler leaves your opponent terrified of drawing more cards.
When these guys stick around for a while, there’s a good chance you’re winning that game.
Iterative Improvement
This card always finds its way into many PnZ lists because the flexibility it provides is unmatched. Our units make fantastic copy targets and give us the ability to create an extra emergency heal or freeze when necessary.
It’s also a great option to hold for enemy units as it triggers Ezreal’s level-up condition or functions as 2 damage when he’s leveled. Now and then you just copy their best thing for an awesome value.
Other Considerations
As mentioned earlier, Teemo Ezreal can be built in a lot of different ways. Here I’m going to list some considerable options that I chose not to include in my version.
Avarosan Sentry
Doesn’t block well in the current metagame and isn’t great with our combat tricks.
Starlit Seer
Very good with the myriad of spells but doesn’t promote our overall game plan. Although random +1|+1 buffs are nice if they hit Teemo/Ezreal, they aren’t necessary and aren’t consistent enough to be worth it.
Get Excited!
Worth considering if you want access to more burn, but less effective at stalling the game. Usually, you’ll establish a point where the shrooms and remaining spells are more than enough.
Avalanche/Blighted Ravine
The deck’s greatest early strength is in its valuable units and combat tricks. While board wipes can help against aggressive decks, they’re anti-synergistic with our primary game plan.
Conclusion
There are a lot of powerful decks that get overlooked from time to time, so it’s important to go back and try them out.
Decks with polarizing matchups like Teemo Ezreal can even be great considerations for tournament lineups and catch the opponent off guard.
We’re approaching the next Seasonal Tournament so be sure to keep this at the back of your mind when preparing!
Shugo’s Productivity Thought of the Day
How much do you value your growth? As gamers, we often strive to improve and take our rank to the highest level. We’ll go out of our way to make progress, even when we’re tired.
Do you put that same passion and energy into your own self-development? If not, why?
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