Aramia Izikus [3.173]

I've been trying to make a working wand of Izikus deck for a long time, and if anyone else has tried you know it's the amount of shadow energy required that makes it usually impossible to win any matches. Whilst this deck is by no means strong, I've finally tuned it enough to win some matches and have some fun in the process. I'm still refining it further and have tried a lot of cards you may think would work well, but so far this is what I'm using:

Current Build (40):

1 x Aramia

4 x Darklight Apprentice
4 x Aldmor Artisan
3 x Aldmor Scavenger
(11 Allies)

3 x Retreat
3 x Fireball
1 x Dawn Raid
(7 Abilities)

2 x The Last Harvest
1 x Loom of Fate
1 x Tome of Knowledge
1 x Scrying Eye
1 x Aldmor Conduit
1 x Urigon's Fang
3 x Wand of Izikus
1 x Amulet of Conjuring
3 x Aldmor Accelerator
1 x Disruptor Field
2 x Shadow Cannon
(17 Items)

4 x The Wild: Trading Port
(4 Locations)

http://www.shadowera.com/cards/ex143.jpg http://www.shadowera.com/cards/ll044.jpg

It's almost impossible to win the board back, so you need to take control and never lose it. Tough for any deck, but Izikus can possibly never run out of allies for you.

Synergies:
Retreats are useful in surviving early domination, and for 2cc fit in nicely with resource gains from Trading Port. They can also return an artifact to your hand if you need it again later (chances are if this combo works you're probably going to win anyway).

Dawn Raid can trigger the Trading Port when you need, and Trading Port also works nicely on their artifacts if they use it to destroy any of yours.

There are a variety of artifacts that can be seeked by Aramia, or Aldmor Artisan, drawn from the graveyard by Aldmor Scavenger, and converted to allies as needed by Wand of Izikus. In order to fund this shadow energy decadence you need to set up a few different combos to generate shadow energy.

The most efficient is using Aldmor Accelerators and recycling with Scavenger. Given it uses durability it also can activate Trading Port when using the last point so save this if you do not have a 4 cost artifact in hand, or cannot get one on your next turn.

Another method is if you are able to get multiple Darklight Apprentice in play to generate more shadow energy than you use, who can be kept alive by The Last Harvest, which can also be reused thanks to Scavenger.

And last but not least is recycling of Shadow Cannons.

The lack of high cost weapon or armour destruction can hurt, but if you are trying to tech you need a low cc option or the momentum loss will kill you anyway, so I would try Poor Quality if you feel you need it.

the upcoming mage cards will probably help this strategy

Disarming Personality - 3cc Mage Ability - Target weapon with X base attack becomes a readied ally with X base attack, health equal to its durability and no abilities.
-this can be used on Wands last durability in lieu of use SE and double as potential ID

Living Ice Wall - 3cc Mage Artifact - While Living Ice Wall is a frozen ally, it has protector. 0SE: If Living Ice Wall is an artifact, it becomes an ally with 2 ice base attack and 5 health and it is frozen for 2 turns.
-artifact that can be searched by aramia, fits theme and can protect newly animated allies

Suspended Animation - 4cc Mage Ability - Target item in a graveyard is returned to play under your control as an ally with 2 ice base attack, 3 health and no abilities: all opposing allies are frozen for 1 turn.
-recycling artifacts into allies also fits theme

also consider using road less traveled for the animated artifacts being returned to hand and additional draw with retreat potential especially with shadow cannon being good source of SE.

shrine of negatia also has synergy with shadow cannon/trade port with dual id support


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Buqs

the upcoming mage cards will probably help this strategy

Disarming Personality - 3cc Mage Ability - Target weapon with X base attack becomes a readied ally with X base attack, health equal to its durability and no abilities.
-this can be used on Wands last durability in lieu of use SE and double as potential ID

Living Ice Wall - 3cc Mage Artifact - While Living Ice Wall is a frozen ally, it has protector. 0SE: If Living Ice Wall is an artifact, it becomes an ally with 2 ice base attack and 5 health and it is frozen for 2 turns.
-artifact that can be searched by aramia, fits theme and can protect newly animated allies

Suspended Animation - 4cc Mage Ability - Target item in a graveyard is returned to play under your control as an ally with 2 ice base attack, 3 health and no abilities: all opposing allies are frozen for 1 turn.
-recycling artifacts into allies also fits theme

also consider using road less traveled for the animated artifacts being returned to hand and additional draw with retreat potential especially with shadow cannon being good source of SE.

shrine of negatia also has synergy with shadow cannon/trade port with dual id support


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Check out the last match I played IGN Borlaug. It was against a pretty poor deck, but at least showed most of the cool combos. There's a further match down I beat a decent rush Eladwin deck.

Nice! I'll take a peek at more of your games

I've tried to do something similar before. The closest I've come to getting something decent is using Elad/Loest running aldmor cards, and maxing out on shadow cannon and amulet of conjuring.

The problem is that the decks I've used have ALWAYS just worked better without the wand! This is because there are no direct synergies with it. Those two cards I've mentioned are the closest it gets, I think, and none of the LLpt2 cards effectively contribute to this either.

Its a shame, though, because this could be a really fun and unique strategy for the Human mage that isnt burn focused.. but it seems that there are no plans from a design perspective to make this kind of deck anything more than gimmicky :(

Well almost three years (lol) ago I had this: http://www.shadowera.com/showthread....amia-Puppeteer. There was no LL at the time so artifact pool was poor. I went for cheaper ones because they are easier for tempo to squeeze in on same turn with ability to control the board and develop hand and board presence at the same time.

But that deck is unplayable now since Aramia nerf. With LL there is DA to mitigate that but it requires you to have DA by t4 alive. Otherwise it falls apart.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kross

Nice! I'll take a peek at more of your games

I've tried to do something similar before. The closest I've come to getting something decent is using Elad/Loest running aldmor cards, and maxing out on shadow cannon and amulet of conjuring.

The problem is that the decks I've used have ALWAYS just worked better without the wand! This is because there are no direct synergies with it. Those two cards I've mentioned are the closest it gets, I think, and none of the LLpt2 cards effectively contribute to this either.

Its a shame, though, because this could be a really fun and unique strategy for the Human mage that isnt burn focused.. but it seems that there are no plans from a design perspective to make this kind of deck anything more than gimmicky :(

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Even better is the win I just had Vs a 326 rated TJ discard Zal deck. I even made some mistakes.