A 225 rated (and climbing) Serena deck.

[EverKnight]

First thing is first. I have high hopes for Serena and I truly want her as a force to be reckoned with in SE.

I have constructed a Serena Hand Disruption that has won 11 out of the last 16 games, which is a great start imo for Serena. After a lot of thought I decided that I really want the community involved in this to help it grow so I decided to post it.

If you guys have a passion for Serena like I do then please help me make this a great (and hopefully at least semi-competitive deck)

Here we go.

***HERO***
Serena Thoughtripper

***Allies (22)***
2x Lily Rosecult
4x Kristoffer Wyld
2x Tainted Oracle
3x Night Owl
4x Aetherborn Wisp
1x Viska, The Scarlet Blade
4x Tenacious Buccaneer
2x Thunderstrike Construct

***Abilities (9)***
2x Stop, Thief!
3x Pay Day
4x Glimmer of Hope

***Armors (2)***
2x Black Garb

***Weapons (6)***
3x Thoughtripper's Cutlass
3x Spirit Shuriken

TOTAL: 39 cards + Hero


Okay, I'll start with the weaknesses I have seen so far.

Gravebone. If he doesn't use his ability on Dakrath he is managable. But there is no hard creature kill in this deck except for Spirit Shuriken and even that is situational.

Inconsistencies. The games that I have lost, sometimes I drew 2-3 tenacious buckaneers in the first hand or shortly after (first two draws)

So far honestly that's all I have found. the goal is to stay one step ahead of your opponent and force them to make moves.




Here is what I have been doing.

1CC: Play Kristoffer if you have him

2CC: Glimmer of Hope if you have 0 Tenacious buccaneer's in your hand and cross your fingers.

3CC: Situational. Use payday if he will have 4+ cards in his hand. or if you have a spirit shuriken in hand and are pretty positive you can get away with a discard without throwing away early game, do it. if you have a Glimmer of Hope and a wisp in hand and you think you can get away with it play the wisp and GoH next turn for hopefully a buff (and a buccaneer)

4CC: Optional, Spirit Shuriken obviviously if they have 3+ allies. A tained oracle for the draw is also a great idea. I'll be honest at this point its heads up.

On turn 4 I have either summoned SS because they have 3+ allies or I can get away with a discard. Or a tainted oracle if I have some sort of upper hand on field control thanks to the lucky Buccaneer!

The Thunderstrike Constructs serve as a great (and unexpected) ally, dealing 2 damage which could help you kill a 6 health ally assuming you can pump your cutlass to 4 damage.

I don't really know what else to say.

Please give me you're input and together lets build a great deck!

[segalion]

You are missing Main Draw Engine. 2 TO and 3 NO are just not enough
Tenacious Buccaneer is not That good with Rouges. You mostly rely on luck (get Glimmer of hope, discard Tenacious Buccaneer). If you don't have a tool of targeting and discarding Tenacious Buccaneer from hand it is rathar useless ally
Also not a huge favorite of Thunderstrike Construct. It might work well in Lance (Dropping him, hasting him and hit opponent) but if not it should have more Hummancules allies to get the +2 attack buff on his drop

[EverKnight]

The reason why they are in there is because they haven't proved useless. I understand this deck is different from a recommended build and even lacking some of the basic fundamentals like 4-6 draw engines but I urge you to give it some games before you say it needs a better draw because it's been working just fine for me.

Also, did you have any recommendations?

[segalion]

First of all i will drop Kris and change it to a 2 CC allies (NS, Agent Rex, COI) to present more of a threat (kris is no threat to no one)
As said earlier i will drop Tenacious Buccaneer (all 4). It is too much luck based (don't have it in hand, have glimmer of hope, draw it with glimmer of hope) so i would change it (drop all 4, drop 1-2 GOH)
I would drop 1 Payday
I would drop Thunderstrike Construct as i am thinking this is not good 5cc ally and would add SW instead (serena needs though allies)
I might add Lyra Blackrose (if we are going on the discard theme).
I think i will drop 1 Spirit Shurikan and think on having 2 Fan of Blades.

[4Ak]

...hi EverKnight,
first of all, since you posted the deck looking for ideas how to improve it, i suggest you let us know what is it you're having problems with. that would b great starting point. while i agree with almost everything Segalion had said, i would like to avoid attempting to turn your deck into a standard build (...although you might find out that its actually needed at some point)

.so, let us know whats the main problems while playin and we can take it up from there

[EverKnight]

So far the deck I feel is struggling against allies with abilities that reduce damage like sandworm and dakrath

Like I said before there is no real creature kill in here

I do agree that the Kristoffer can go for something that has more to be desired.

Maybe 4 NIghtshaven with some assassinations.

Perhaps -1 wisp as well for... Im not sure.

Also I did have a problem with victor. Dropped hp to 1 used that new hunter draw and drew two cards all the time. But I can't think of anything I can do about that.

End of mid game/intro to late the hand size slows down. I'm usually playing with two cards in hand.

[bobrossw]

I like that this is an original take on Serena, and that it's pretty aggressive, rather than mid-range or control, which is more standard for her. Black garb is great for ally killing, especially those damage resistant ones - just attack them, then on their counterattack, they kill themselves. There is the added bonus of the combo with thoughtripper cutlass (according to some, it's a bug, but I haven't seen it anywhere in the bug list). Just pack a few more and you're set. Then your only problem will be allies like nightshade.

Skilled ironmonger will also do great double duty in this sort of deck as a solid T2 drop, and a way to get more out of your weapons / armor. I'd sub out Kristoff for him. Alternatively, you could pack some layorian diplomats for those few allies that are tough to get, but without good bounce, they'll have limited use in this deck.

I don't know how this would work as well with Serena as it does with Lance, but I think Marshland sentinel/Raven have gotten much better in the current meta (with allies like dakrath out there). I think they may combo nicely with spirit shuriken and night owl;since giving the opponent two useless allies means you'll be able to outright kill any ally they play with shuriken and those allies provide cover for night owl. But then you're using all your shadow energy on board control, and will have little left for discard (so Serena's ability will only be useful vs solo decks). On the other hand, if you force them to keep allies in hand, payday may become more effective.

[bobrossw]

Here's another quick thought, if you're discarding and forcing discards, then cards like Procured and Restored and Lily Rosecult become much better...

[EverKnight]

Thank you for the kind words I really appreciate it I actually tried marshland sentinel and 4 hp just wasn't enough to keep him on the board long enough. As for raven I m definitely up for giving her a shot I'll try that.