Udyr Lee Sin

This deck focuses mostly on surviving until you get Lee Sin online. Currently not a great deck because you autofold to Minimorph but I think it has potential. With Stance Swap we can give Lee Sin overwhelm without going too much out of our way in terms of deckbuilding.

- Why would you ever run this over Lee Zoe?

The two big reasons that this deck has over Lee Zoe is that it has a better consistent late game using Udyr and Stance Swap and that it also has access to Entreat for better consistency.

Obviously though, I think that Lee Zoe is still the better deck. Mainly because they have access to better defensive spells, Wounded Whiteflame and Crescendum, which allows them to be more proactive while this deck wants to be more reactive.

- Why Udyr if you're using Entreat?

I actually think Udyr isn't as bad as people make it out to be. This deck doesn't try to play for his level 2 and never will because it doesn't help his gameplan at all. I do think that if you get him to level 2 somehow, you should be able to finish the game with that. Getting Udyr off of Entreat is also not bad because getting Lee Sin super early with this deck is not the greatest. You'll be stuck with an unleveled Lee and you won't be able to play it as proactively. Udyr somewhat helps with that. (I'm not running 3 copies because his Champ spell is really bad.)

Also, he's the reason why I built this deck.

- Why aren't we using Eye of the Dragon?

This deck isn't proactive and doesn't have a great way to tutor it such as Gifts From Beyond into Crescendum. I found it a lot harder to activate Eye of the Dragon than usual so I decided to cut them out for Kindly Tavernkeeper instead.

Mulligan Guide

A lot of the times mulligan will be situational and won't apply to every single game and matchup. However, if you're experienced with Lee Zoe, this deck doesn't have any particular differences outside of a couple odd decisions.

- Mulligan for Udyr, Vulpine Wanderer.

I understand that people might not think that Udyr is a good card, especially since it's 5 mana and understatted for its cost. However, for this deck and its gameplan Udyr is one of the most flexible cards in most situations and can generate value really quickly. This is especially true when Vulpine Wanderer is in your hand.

Don't keep 2 Udyrs though, you only need one.

- Keep Concussive Palm at all times. Avalanche for faster matchups. Entreat for slower matchups. Mulligan all other spells.

Concussive Palm is probably the best card in this deck. Good for a blocker and can also increase Lee Sin's level up counter. Flexibility is what we want.

I don't think I need to explain Avalanche and Entreat.

All other spells are often bad to use early so it's always better for us to find followers early on.

- Lee Sin is only kept when you're sure the enemy does not have a way to kill you early.

You would never play Lee Sin on 5 mana because you won't have him leveled by then and you won't have an effective way to protect him. You can also easily draw him through Entreat so unless you're the faster deck, don't keep Lee Sin in opening hand.

Gameplan Guide and Tips

I think I've played enough of this deck to be able to write up a decent guide for this. If you have other opinions about this, don't be afraid to share it because I would still often misplay this deck.

- Udyr on 5 every time.

This is why we try to mulligan for Udyr.

- Don't think of Udyr as a Champion.

I'm sure you've heard of this tip before when playing a Zilean deck but yes, don't try to dump your resources to try and save Udyr if its unfavorable to you. Udyr is a great card/follower but not a great champion. His champ spell is actually useless and the point of Udyr here it to generate a Stance Swap or to make it cost 0 so that Lee Sin can get his buffs easily. So if you're worried about your Nexus health and need an extra blocker, don't be afraid to block it with Udyr.

The only exception to this rule is when you don't have an Entreat or Lee Sin. At these times keeping Udyr alive would be a priority as he becomes your way to stall out games.

- Control first. Combo later.

I think that most of the times when playing this deck, you'll be playing reactively to your opponent's gameplan rather than focusing on yours. That is why most of this deck has reactive tools rather than proactive ones. You should try to get maximum value from every card as much as possible.

- Spend mana efficiently.

This one's simple but important. A lot of the times when you're playing a control style deck, you would try to smash pass 90% of the time even if it means you're burning full mana. However, this deck has a combo proponent to it and that is trying to level up Lee Sin as fast as possible. It's a very common situation with this deck to level up Lee Sin and get him to 10 attack and overwhelm but have 0 mana left. This is why we try our best to avoid this situation.

- Playing Lee Sin on defensive turns is optimal.

You often want your going off turn to have the most mana so if possible, try to play Lee Sin after your opponent attacks. However, be careful that you don't greed it.

- Don't forget that Sonic Wave gives you Challenger.

Sonic Wave is a great control tool. Your opponent often won't expect this and you can find situations where you can play Icevale Archer to frostbite a Gnar and challenge him with Sonic Wave.

- Try to save Stance Swap for Lee Sin but try to use them efficiently.

Knowing how to use Stance Swaps in this deck is probably going to be the hardest part. Should you use a Stance Swap to give Udyr a regen buff so he can block next turn, or should you save it for Lee Sin instead? There is actually no definitive answer here. However, in these scenarios this is what I like to do.

When you have played Vulpine Wanderer and played Udyr on 5: I would give Udyr the regen buff. He would often be able to generate an extra one anyways so it's a bit of a missed opportunity to not use it then and there.

When you have Lee Sin in hand and Udyr on board: Unless Lee Sin won't be able to attack and level the turn after this, just block with Udyr and make sure your Stance Swap is 0 mana. Don't worry if it's already 0 mana, you need the mana more than the card.

Card Changes

I'm pretty confident that this deck is still unrefined so you can make a ton of changes to this deck and perform better than I did. However, I will try to outline which cards I consider a must and cards you can consider to cut and swap into.

Must:

Three Sisters

Lee Sin

Vulpine Wanderer

Sonic Wave

Twin Disciplines

Shaman's Call

Concussive Palm

Cuttable:

Icevale Archer/Kindly Tavernkeeper - They're reactive followers and is a bit hard to get value from. I would cut one of these but not both.

Udyr - I think having 1 copy of Udyr is optimal as his champion spell is not helpful but drawing him by turn 5 often swings the game heavily into your favor.

Avalanche - This card is often times situational, so if you find that this card isn't helping you out as much. You can cut it entirely. Otherwise, I think 2 copies is optimal.

Swap:

Will of Ionia - Great single target removal. It is something this deck needs but I find it hard to slot in.

Battle Fury - I used to have this card but after testing it out, it wasn't as good as I thought it'd be. It still won me some games so it's a considerable card. It's good against Aloof Travelers and can make Udyr a threat when you don't have Lee Sin already.

Nopeify! -  I don't think this card is optimal in the meta but there are a ton of situations that I would say having a single copy of Nopeify is nice.

Tasty Faefolk -  I considered this card over Kindly Tavernkeeper but having 2 health might be detrimental in some matchups.

Homecoming - Landmark removal tech.

Harsh Winds/Flash Freeze - Extra frostbite might not be too bad in this meta. I decided not to use them because Three Sisters is usually enough.