Thoughtstealer Love

[Kyoushu]

Hello fellow lovers of Shadow Era! Being that this is my first post, I'd like to thank everyone I've chatted with in-game as I believe this community to be fairly stellar

[WARNING] While not a ridiculously long post, there is a TL/DR at bottom.

A few thoughts before I begin, so we're all on the same page:

I've been playing SE for 3-4 months. Before this I played MTG from the age of about 13-19 (I'm 32 now), and Hearthstone almost exclusively from beta until I found this game (7x Legend). Let me state that this isn't to toot my own horn so to speak, it's only for my card game background. I post this because I am looking for advice Also, I haven't spent a cent on this game building this deck, and it really didn't take long at all. I will donate in the future (Thanks, Wulven!).

I started out playing mages until I got rekt by a Serena player so badly that I had to try her out, and I really enjoy playing as her. As I slowly learn the matchups and cards (still a learning process!) I think this is a strong deck, but there's always room for improvement. Work keeps me busy (god bless) so I only play a few matches a day generally, unless it's the weekend and I have some time to kill. Anyway, here's the list I've been using (currently only rank 208 but I was near 300 last month at end with a much weaker deck):

3x Agent Rex
4x Night Owl
4x Sabreen
2x Oliver Fagin

3x Sinkhole
4x Assassination
4x Stop Thief!
4x Hit List
4x Ill-Gotten Gains

1x Spirit Shuriken
2x Anklebreaker
4x Thoughtripper's Cutlass
2x Spelleater Bands

Total: 41 Cards + Hero

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My personal thoughts on card choices:

-- 4x Sabreen: Seems like a no-brainer. I always play from behind, and comfortably at that. With all the "OMFG NERF SABREEN" out there, I feel it's important to point out that she is only strong when you are behind on board control. Amazing card.

--3x Agent Rex: I'm extremely conflicted on this guy. Rex is great for Assassination and against Mages/artifact hungry Elementalists. This card single handedly has won me games on turn 2 just because he can not only steal opposing card draw, but also prevents artifacts from even being cast at all. I'm conflicted on whether 3 is justifiable, but I really have no idea what to add in place of him.

--2x Oliver Fagin: I really love this guy. He's nigh impossible to see coming, can steal packbeasts, troll, etc. I only hate him when I get him in my opening hand He's nearly always a finisher unless I steal a large creature from my opponent.

--2x Spelleater Bands: This card has only come in handy a few times since I was able to add it, but it's immensely powerful. I can't really justify getting rid of any, and given it's cost, 2 seems like a great number.

--4x Hit List and 4x Ill-Gotten Gains: Card draw, baby. I'd looooove to reduce both to 3x and tech in 2 cards, but good god almighty I'm reliant on card draw. Without it, I lose for sure. Both cards pretty much sell themselves.

--1x Spirit Shuriken: I read so much about this card (thank you, posters!) that I had to add it. That being said, I honestly hate it. It's never proven useful, and with my current setup t4 is much more suited to playing IGG or Sabreen than this thing. Yeah, you can kill 1 single ally with it, but it has never turned the tide in my favor nearly as much as a Sabreen t4 play + weapon on t5. What are your thoughts?

--3x Sinkhole: This may be my favorite card in the deck. So much versatility that there's never a bad spot to use this card. Whether its 2cc for 2 dmg and location removal or just to laugh at the 2cc [insert awesome faction] card that has no chance to start up the opponent's engines, I love having 3 of them

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I really don't ever feel like I'm up against a bad matchup with this deck. Maybe I'm just new or bias, lol, but really, it's pretty strong across the board. Not drawing removal is rough though, as this deck almost functions entirely on hard removal. Blessing and a curse, yeah? I'm interested in ideas to strengthen that process, as once I get to t5 with board control I win nearly 100% of the time. Some cards I had in there, and removed, or are thinking of adding:

Spirit Warden: I had 2x of these fellas in there for a while. I just never seem to find him useful at all. It doesn't matter if opponents can return cards to hand, although the active ability is strong. Same with the Steadfast. Great card, although I haven't missed him this month, as I rarely find decks built around the graveyard/discard lately.

Backstab: Same as Spirit Warden, I had 2 of them in as well. Cycles itself, adds a nice element of surprise, but just is kinda a "meh" card to me. Don't get me wrong though, there's times I thought "Fuckin-A it'd be nice to have a backstab right now" lol.

I'm open to suggestions and look forward to hearing what anyone has to say. I don't really want to talk about gameplay and decision making with my deck as it will bog down this post and it really comes down to matchups and knowing your opponent. Should anyone want it, sure, I'll add it or message you

Thank You for your time and assistance!

~Kyo

TL/DR: I'm a newer player building a competitive Serena deck. This is a control-oriented deck. Your thoughts are appreciated

[segalion]

Agent rex is very situational
Yes he can steal stuff but with 4 stop thief (resource acceleration), IGG, hit list and Cutlass you have probably enough draw so i am not sold on him. nightshade with his ambush is brobably better or even diplomat / Ironmager

Also i might suggest split of Assasination into 2/2 garth concotions and think on running some groundshift instead of sinkhole (Sandworms/viska/Wisp can be a real pain)

[Kyoushu]

Agent rex is very situational
Yes he can steal stuff but with 4 stop thief (resource acceleration), IGG, hit list and Cutlass you have probably enough draw so i am not sold on him. nightshade with his ambush is brobably better or even diplomat / Ironmager

Also i might suggest split of Assasination into 2/2 garth concotions and think on running some groundshift instead of sinkhole (Sandworms/viska/Wisp can be a real pain)

Wow, I never even really knew Garth Concoction existed, haha! Thank you for your advice! I agree, Sandworms and company can be sooo annoying without the appropriate removal in hand, and I hate praying for the appropriate draw (as we all do!). I definitely am going to add 2x Garth and go 2x Assassination for the time being and see how it works.

Groundshift also looks really strong, another card I didn't even consider. Do you think -1 Agent Rex, -1 Sinkhole, +2 Groundshift would work? I agree with your take on Nightshade also, I had 2x of them at one point but haven't been running them for a bit. Not sure what to take out for him though :\

Ironmager or Diplomat are both fairly strong, I just don't know what to take out if I remove a Rex and Sinkhole for 2 Groundshift. Suppose I could remove a Stop Thief! but the item removal is so crucial! Maybe I could just add a few more cards? Thank you for your assistance

~Kyo

[segalion]

i personally don't like sinkhole as it only a 2cc ally removal or 2 damage. it helps with early board control but i prefer different cards. Diplomat will do the trick if you don't run groundshift (help with those hard to kill allies) but it actually depend on meta to decide if ironmager or nightshade is better. since you don't run black grab (which is also something to consider, it might be even better then concotion) then nightshade is better probably but again due to night shade high survavebility most of the time it interfere with sabreen

[Light0fHeaven]

hi there, always nice to see another player that love serena
im not a high rating player, but i just wanna share few thoughts since i also played using serena a lot

1. shuriken : i found that this card is very useful against heavy weenie rush deck. 1 se to kill the highest treat ally, and if u dont mind spending another 3 se, u can swing 3 attack to kill another 3hp ally. with IGG or hitlist on board, it gave u lots of draws. followed by sabreen on next turn hopefully to regain back the board

2. agent rex : i personally nvr use this card. but im fairly agree about how useful this card is against those heavy artifact deck. but 3 res + shuffled back to deck, isnt it just too much?

other than that, it is a very interesting deck. and also very nice write up
ill try it and gave another feedback

cheers

[Kyoushu]

Thanks for the fast replies, you guys are amazing

A few thoughts in reply to both posts:

Black Garb is definitely a great card. At one point I had two in there and they certainly had their use! Do you think I should maybe increase my card count from the 40-ish range, or perhaps take something out? Sorry for all the questions! Maybe 50 cards? I'm conflicted on raising the card count above ~44 + Hero but am certainly open to the idea

Diplomat seems like he has his place, but I don't know about this deck. I think maybe Nightshade is a better fit? Not sure though, as removing 2x Assassination makes me use it way more situationally as opposed to simple removal when I need to get rid of something for board control. I'm still tweaking my deck since your original reply Segalian, so I haven't played a game yet Thank you again for the help!

I also think that Shuriken will pay off eventually, Light0fHeaven, so I haven't removed it quite yet You're right about the usefulness, it is extremely strong given the right circumstance! Thanks for your ideas, and I look forward to your thoughts after playtesting! I appreciate your time and investment!

This is why the Shadow Era community is fantastic

~Kyo

[Halalboy]

I would not raise the deck size as serena needs consistency and getting that t5 cutlass or t4 IGG is important.

Black garb is an auto include for me as I worry less of fatties. T3 u play it and opponent won't touch you. Or wait for his fatties to come.
-1 assasination
-1 sinkhole
+2 black garb

[Rajawali]

Consider to make room for this two cards : Black Garb and Retreat

Black Garb can be use to kill big health/hard to kill allies and to halt rush in early game. It's also combo well with Thougtripper Cutlass (kill ally and discard their card) and Skilled Ironmonger if you use him.

Retreat it's a cheap temporary ally removal, IMO much better than Sinkhole. Very good against enemy with Ellos Resolve, Tala Ability, Gravebone Ability, and Buffed Ally (Elemental ability or Homunculus). Combo well with Serena ability (retreat the enemy and then discard/steal them).

[Kyoushu]

Thanks for the replies!

I've taken out 1 Sinkhole and 1 Assassination for 2x Black Garb, and am definitely thinking of swapping out maybe a Rex for a Retreat. Gonna see how it goes this evening, I'll update after some playtesting

~Kyo

[Kip thorp]

Serena has changed so much over the years, I'm very glad she's back and compteative , I can't add to much to what your doing w your deck but if control is your goal retreat is a great card. Hopefully you retreat a threat and use ability and Thoughtrippers cutlass next turn to kill the threat and streal a card!