How to Play Yasuo Riven
Hey everyone, NicMakesPlays here to give you a deck guide for a Yasuo Riven deck that I think is tons of fun.
I’ve had some amazing success with Yasuo in the past and I really enjoy building around him.
This is a Cosmic Creation version that utilizes Riven and some of her new tools so I hope you have a good time playing it.
As usual with our deck guides, we’ll be covering its win conditions, mulligans, matchups, and tech cards.
Deck Code: CECQGAYDAEBQOAICAMEQGAICBAHTCAQBAMSC4AICAICQGAQBAISS4AICAIEQCAIDGYBACAYCAYAQCARB
[See Yasuo Riven deck details]
Win Condition
This deck utilizes Yasuo + Stuns to control the board and seal out the win.
You can also use Riven as an alternate win condition by giving Fae Bladetwirler Overwhelm after she has amounted huge attack.
The Fragments and Monastery allow you to easily use Deep Meditation to refuel, as well as search and reuse Concussive Palm for Stuns.
General Mulligan
In this deck, you always want to mulligan for an early game blocker + Riven or Yasuo.
The early game blocker allows you to not take too much damage at the start and then you have Riven or Yasuo to start controlling the field or working towards your Fragments.
If you already have an early game blocker + Yasuo or Riven then you can mulligan for Fae Bladetwirler, Stuns, or cards that are good in the matchup like Deny vs decks with expensive spells or Intimidating Roar vs decks with a lot of 4 or less power units.
Card Choices & Key Synergies
If you have Yasuo on the field and use Intimidating Roar on a wide board, Yasuo can potentially clear their entire field and Level Up. This is one of the main ways to utilize Yasuo’s effect.
Monastery of Hirana can be used to keep adding Tail of the Dragon back to your hand which allows you to reuse Concussive Palm over and over unless your opponent has an answer to it.
Fae Bladetwirler can easily get 11+ attack in this deck and then you can use an Overwhelm Fragment or Blade of Exile to lead to a win through Overwhelm damage.
A bonus of this deck is if they have a unit with high health for blocking you can Stun it first to open up your way to lethal.
Tips & Tricks
You can use Monastery of Hirana to fuel Deep Meditation. This search for Concussive Palm so you can start reusing it.
Spirit Refuge protects Yasuo but also gives you Lifesteal on his ability.
For example, if you Spirit Refuge Yasuo, then use Intimidating Roar you can easily heal back to 20 health.
In the late game, if you have Monastery of Hirana then you can reuse Minah Swiftfoot over and over put your opponent in an unwinnable position.
Blade Squire is a good 1 drop to put damage on opponent’s units to set them up for Ravenous Flock.
Good Matchups
The good matchups are decks that Intimidating Roar is potent against and they also don’t have removal spells for Yasuo.
These would be decks such as Scouts, Endure, Fearsomes, and Elusives.
You can easily utilize Yasuo’s stuns to their best ability and keep your opponent at bay while removing their field.
Even one Intimidating Roar can be a blowout here and Yasuo can find huge value.
You want to mulligan for an early game blocker to save health, Yasuo, and stuns such as Intimidating Roar to start dealing damage to all of your opponent’s units while stunning them in the process.
Bad Matchups
The hardest matchups for this deck are decks that don’t rely on attacking to win, like Ezreal Draven.
In these matchups, you can try and go a bit more aggressive with Fae Bladetwirler and Yasuo using their Quick Attack to chip in damage.
Yasuo and Fae Bladetwirler can be protected with Deny, and when Fae Bladetwirler has a high enough attack you can give her an Overwhelm Fragment and go for lethal.
The perk of this matchup is you can be more sparing with your Stuns and save them for Ezreal or Draven, and then using Intimidating Roar to help Stun their blockers and go for lethal when the time is right.
Tech Choices
Guile
- This is a simple 1 mana Stun which can be extremely mana efficient in the late game with Yasuo.
- It can deal 5 damage for 1 mana with a Leveled Up Yasuo, it can fuel Deep Meditation and it can help open up the way for lethal.
Legion General
- This card is amazing and a huge consideration for this deck.
- You can easily get Legion General to high attack with this deck and give him the Overwhelm Fragment to go for lethal.
- He makes use of your Stuns without Yasuo on the field since he gains +1|+1 in the deck and hand.
Yone
- Yone is good because he can Stun two cards at once, which with a Leveled U Yasuo becomes extremely powerful removal.
House Spider
- House Spider sets up good blockers which makes it hard for your opponent to deal damage to you, while also setting up Ravenous Flocks.
Might
- This is like the Overwhelm Fragment but gives a +3 attack which can be the game-deciding factor when going for lethal.
- This is a nice 1 of since it is searchable off of Deep Meditation and can be used for the final blow.
Will of Ionia
- This is good in metas where people commit into big units such as Mindsplitter and Leviathan.
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, feel free to ask NicMakesPlays during his streams (usually 6PM-1230AM EST).
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