This is a deck idea I've been working on. The deck does well enough against low ranks and AIs but I've not actually pushed it to its limit because quite frankly I haven't really had enough time, nor skill to do so.
Instead, I would like to discuss its merits on a pure theoretical basis. I'm not sure if that's okay to do here, or if you have put a deck through its paces in ranked before it's even worth discussing. This is my first deck I've ever posted on these boards, and I've largely kept my deck designs to myself because I've quite frankly never thought they were any good.
Regardless, here's the deck, in all its glory.
Cardlist
***HERO***
Elementalis
***Allies (16)***
4x Fire Snake
4x Ironhide Karash
2x Kairos Doombringer
3x Xar Modulator
3x Voracious Arachnid
***Abilities (21)***
3x Conversion
4x Mind Control
2x Shriek of Vengeance
2x Ley Line Nexus
3x Super Focus
4x Bloodthirsty
3x Exaltation
***Armors (3)***
3x Morphic Armor
TOTAL: 40 cards + Hero
Playstyle
The idea behind the deck is to get one minion on the board and then buff it to the high heavens and win the game before your opponent can counter. Naturally this strategy is incredibly easily countered by Tidal Wave, Retreat, The Harder They Fall etc etc, so it's built with some backup in mind. The addition of Super Focus in the deck ensures that if you get board wiped, any minion you put on the board is still going to be somewhat of a treat. Even a lowly Fire Snake will be a 3/2 with attachement immunity, which is not to scoff at. Add in Elementalis shadow ability, and it's a 4/5.
The deck plays a bit fluidly. There's no rigid order in which to play cards, but you have to work around your draw and what the opponent does. If you start with Fire Snake, Ironhide Karash and Voracious Arachnid in your opening hand, well congratulations! Your plan will most likely be to play for early board control and completely forgo Super Focus unless you suspect you will lose control, or the enemy begins picking your allies off one by one. The obvious punch of the deck is Kairos Doombringer, who provides you with a Steadfast (cannot be retreated, nor Exiled) minion that hits hard, has some health and will provide your lategame punch. He also counters the usual solution to Super Focused decks: Mass ally rush. Even if your opponent drops 6 minions on the board, thinking you can only kill one, Kairos will kill them one by one as they attack your hero. He's still killable by any kill-type removal (Tidal Wave, The Bigger They Are..., The Harder They Fall... etc).
Sometimes you might keep board control with just a buffed Ironhide, and just keep buffing that, while keeping other minions on hand should the Karash be killed. I've even won games with my first Firesnake because my opponent didn't manage to kill it in time.
Motivation for card picks
Some cards may look wierd, and I'll try to explain:
Xar Modulator: I picked this as a backup in case your "main" minion gets offed. You can then drop the Xar, buff it with the shadow ability, pull Exaltation from the graveyard and continue as before. It's quite a strong comeback, but it needs to survive the exhausted phase, obviously, so save any buffing (except possibly if you think they'll drop a lot of damage on it before you get to use it).
Shriek/Ley Line: I've noticed that some items can really ruin this deck, so some basic item removal is there for utility, but nothing more.
Bloodthirsty: Your draw can get really bad by the mid game as there is NO draw in the deck whatsoever. If you feed your minions regurlarly with Bloodthirsty you can get some draw out of that. It also synergizes hilariously well with Voracious Arachnid. You can get up to 3 extra attack per turn if you are lucky.
Conversion: I know this seems strange, but there are moments when another minion on your hand would be a better play than the one currently on the board. For instance, you have a buffed up Ironhide Karash on the board, but a Xar in your hand. You can attack with the karash, Conversion it for a bit of healing (or a lot if you used your ability on it) and drop the Xar, pull Exaltatation/Bloodthirst from the grave, buff it with shadow and continue. You lose a touch of tempo, but gain some healing with it. I don't know if this is a great idea, but it has worked well for me.
Mind Control: Well...obviously. Your one-stop easy removal of pesky fatties.
Morphic Armor: This is a card I've found I very rarely use, unless I have two minions on the board and one is a Xar with an attachement on it. This isn't an ideal situation to start with, so I'm iffy on this pick. If there was any cards I'd replace in this deck, this would be the first to go due to it's expense and limited use.
Pro's
If your draw goes well and your enemy isn't sitting on a ton of removal, this deck can snowball to hilarious proportions in a hurry. It's also quite fun to play!
Cons
I need your help for this one. But a few cons are of course the fact that it's rather easily countered by liberal usage of Retreat (at least until you get Kairos/Exaltatation).
It doesn't do well against rush decks. You simply don't get online fast enough to regain any semblance of control. Not even with your minor heals.
Draw. The draw is far from fantastic. In fact, it's pretty darn bad, but that hasn't stopped me yet. Against ally heavy decks it does really well on the draw and keeps snowballing, but I'm imagining that on higher levels people simply won't keep feeding you allies, thus starving your draw (and snowball potential).
Considerations
I've thought of including Soul Reaper and Eternal Renewal in the deck. SR to heal up and kick out any allies you won't get back anyway, and then recycle all useful abilities and attachements back into your deck. I'm unsure if this is a good idea, as this deck has either won by the time this would be useful, or you have long since lost anyway.
Draw. I'm not sure what a proper draw engine for this would be, outside of Bloodthirsty. Antimatter is so expensive and you risk drawing Karios+Exaltatation and being forced to off one. Easy pick if Xar is on the board, however. Or being forced to discard a Mind Control. Bazaar is unilateral and Bad Santa favors more rushy-style decks. Meh, I dunno.
Conclusion
So I'm aware this won't win any tournaments. Heck, it probably won't make it very far on the ladder, but I'd still like to hear some constructive criticism. Hear some outside input. Some ideas I've not thought of. Even if you end up hating the deck, tell me WHY so I can improve.
Thank you for your time!
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