[LL] Homunculus Praxul - aka RIP from v3.13

[BP Holy Punisher]

I was planning to post this deck for some time, being the most fun deck I ever played! But I kept postponing this, until now it is too late with the upcoming balanced changes in v 3.13. But I wanted to post this to have its rightful place in SE history

Originally inspired by Demnchi's deck: http://www.shadowera.com/showthread....ombo-Praxix%29
I thought the idea of using Racksul in Praxix was really cool. So I've decided to build a deck focusing on this location and my next question about which allies to add answered pretty fast. I went with Homunculus because of the synergy they have on exiling allies and abilities. First of all, Gravemonger has a great potential of getting any discarded card from your graveyard back to your hand. Then we have Splicer's Crown, another amazing synergy with recycling your own allies or even better stealing your opponent allies!

So let me first present my deck and then I'll explain the cards:
deckbox.gondorian.com/se/#/decklist?deck=sf010x1:ex016x3:ll017x3:sf049x4:sf05 4x4:sf128x4:sf044x4:sf056x4:se157x2:ll143x3:sf127x 2:se149x2:se121x3:ex092x2:sf152x4:sf166x3:ex147x2: ll188x4

Hero: Praxix

Allies (26):
3x Rotling
3x Sword Gobbler
4x Voracious Arachnid
4x Brimstone Devourer
4x Reactorary
4x Gravemonger
4x Falseblood Cultist

Abilities (12):
2x Bad Santa
3x Sinkhole
2x Mimic
2x Shadow Font
3x Energy Discharge

Items (11):
2x Infinity Core
4x Crystal Shards
3x Splicer's Crown
2x Shadowvein

Locations (4):
4x Racksul: Warped Desert

= 54 cards

As I said above, this deck focuses on abusing the power provided by Racksul to recycle or steal cards from the graveyard. To do so, you wish to have long games to enjoy all the benefits of such a play. This requires good control cards or constant ally spamming that the opponent will struggle to deal with.

Let's start with allies. I've added Brimstone, Reactorary and Cultist as they are 'standard' Praxix allies who work well with his ability and the discard theme of the deck. Then I needed a few Homunc allies. Gravemonger was top on the list, due to his ability to loop himself infinitely with Racksul (unless the opponent has an option to exile graveyard too). He is usually a late game ally because you want various cards discarded first to have lots of options and also lure opposing abilities to other allies before you play him.
Other allies that supplement this theme is Arachnid (a great ally easily to become a monster and with a single buff from Splicer is out of Nova's range), Rotling to steal opposing or recycle own allies for just 1cc (plus a cheap target for Energy Discharge) and Gobbler. Gobbler is not usually as useful as the rest allies, since it has a weak body early game, but it provides good steals against weapon based heroes (AB is my fav ). It also helps with a higher ally count for Prax ability, that's why I've decided to keep it in.

For abilities, I've went with ED over Mind Control, because I have cheap targets that I don't care to kill, I prefer clearing opposing board than just kill a single ally and more importantly because of Racksul. I don't want the opponent to draw a MC, but using an ED is ok for me. The latter was the reason I didn't include Soul Reaper but went for Infinite Core. Sinkhole is a good card to control the board; it helps with an early ally steal, supplements Prax ability in killing allies and also uncovers my Racksul. Shadow Font was added later because sometimes I struggled after using my ability and opp played a fatty. Thus now there is an option of triggering it again the next turn and also helps to mill your opponent.
I have only 2x BS (this can be increased because draw can be a problem sometimes) as alternative draw (main is Cultist and Shards) which should be used only if your opponent has almost full hand or you are desperate about digging for answers! I have 2x Mimic inspired by Demnchi's deck, useful to use opp's abilities or recast BS/Sinkhole. Be aware that Racksul+Mimic will always return Mimic at hand.

About items, as I said Crystal Shards is one of the two draw engines which also helps with the discard and mill your opp. Splicer is one of the key cards, helping to recycle/steal allies, buff friendly allies and sometimes useful as an armor too! Highly advisable to not sac it and if possible to add a 4th copy!
I explained why IC over SR, it is a bit slow but it helped me a lot of times winning a game, since it is not uncommon to mill yourself too Lastly, Shadowvein is added for 3 reasons: buff Gobbler, SE regeneration and helps to kill allies/hero without overextending on the board (if there is a reason to afraid a board wipe).


Key things to note:
- There are some cards with only 2x copies which someone might say they are too few in a 54 card build. BUT you have the recycling options of Mimic, Gravemonger and Gobbler!
- If you don't afraid to get rushed, don't play Rotling in an empty board. Sometimes saving Gobbler for later is wise too. You might think you'll recycle them back later, but after T6-T7 you'll have way to many targets to recycle and you don't want to waste them to a 1cc/2cc ally!
- It is definitely not an easy deck to play! It needs a lot of experience to know when (and if) to play Racksul due to the risk of having one of your key cards stolen. My suggestion is to play it a lot and take all your time to play your turns!

PS: Hope you enjoy it as much as I do until the new version comes

[Shadows R Us]

Awesome deck for a limited time only.

Good write up as well.

[Kosmiker]

Rip

[dejvo]

Too bad Racksul will be nerfed

[seedog]

I ran a smilar deck before but seems not consistent enough for me. Nice to see it work for you!

[BP Holy Punisher]

Thanks it can be inconsistent when you are short of cards so more draw cards might help with this. But the last couple of months, the meta helps the "slow" decks to uncover their combos. I have problems vs rush of course and can't be top tier. But I think you can easily get to ~280 rating. I used it last season to get at that rating, but then a had to switch to Victor to break into top 100. This season looks the same although I have played less.

I don't claim that this deck will give you a top-100 rating or tournament wins, but it will give you enjoyment by playing it*

* limited time only. terms and conditions apply

[TheHighMage]

What do you think about shocking grasp vs sinkhole? Sinkhole works with racksul, but is the difference in utility worth the synergy?

[BP Holy Punisher]

What do you think about shocking grasp vs sinkhole? Sinkhole works with racksul, but is the difference in utility worth the synergy?

That's a great suggestion, I didn't think of this card
I have to test it though because Sinkhole kills any 1-2cc ally which is extremely useful against rush (I believe the worst match up for this deck). On the other hand Shocking Grasp will be more useful against any ally with passive or active ability. I'll give it a go and let you know. Thanks for the suggestion