[RS Seadog] Competitive Deathrace Majiya

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First of all, massive thanks to Jlbjork for saving Shadow Era! Words can’t describe how much I respect you! Look forward to the future development of the game!

Initially, I planned to play my favorite deck in the last season of SE. It took me to #1 rating currently in quick match. It is basic and fun to play and brought me back to the good old days of Shadow Era.

Aggro-burn Mage has been around since the early days of Shadow Era and has never faded away. However, human has dominated shadow in this area ever since. Thanks to the crippling effect from Seductress and buff from Aldon, the board controlling power is decent which allow players to switch between weenies and direct burn.

However, this is not my ideal form of aggro burn deck as half of the damages come from allies attack which requires board control, and that is contradictory to the Supernova board wipe.

Shadow mage has turned to use sticky allies such as eternal troll and phoenix for a better sustaining power but it is still too slow in my opinion and is prone to counters such as Soul Seeker and Emore Crossbow.

From my experience in MTG mono-red deck, burn decks should use allies that can deal direct damages. Therefore I build this deck.

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Version 1

Hero: Majiya

Allies (18):
4x Fire Snake
4x Deathbone
4x Frostflame Harpy
3x Death Mage Thaddeus
3x Rampant Krygon

Abilities (16):
4x Bad Santa
4x Fireball
4x Lightning Strike
4x Supernova

Items (5):
1x Staff of Disintegration
4x Amulet of Conjuring

= 40 cards

Playstyle: Deathrace

Rule of thumb: If I can deal more damages to my opponent than he can deal to me, I would go for face.

For that reason, most of the cards I picked have come-into play damages.

Firesnake: 1cc for at least 1 on-death damage. On-death damage is great because it doesn’t rely on attack. Playing Firesnake and Supernova on the same turn has a pseudo-haste effect.

Deathbone: 2cc for 1-2 on-death damages. This is more situational than Firesnake because the on-death damage maybe dealt to allies instead of hero. Besides, your own Supernova would deal 1 extra damage to you. So I prefer Firesnake over Deathbone in late game.

Frostflame Harpy: The only ally in this deck that has no come-into-play damage. However, it is one of the best ally in game which generates great value for just 2cc.

Death Mage Thaddeus: Very useful ping on summon. Works great with Frostflame Harpy.

Rampant Krygon: 3cc for 2 damages. Its ability can turn your horde into glass cannon.

Bad Santa/Amulet of Conjuring: Maximize card draw for the best consistency. I usually sac Amulet in early game and draw with Bad Santa first. Amulet is best to play when you reach 6/7 resources so you can play your burn spells together.

Staff of Disintegration: Originally I had Ley Line Nexus to counter Spell Eater Band, then I found this card even better than LLN cause it can handle all the dangerous weapons such as Gwen’s Weevil and Amber’s Jewelers Dream. In case there is no target, it can still ping your opponent face.

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Version 2

Currently, I am testing another version which works even better under the deathrace theme.

Hero: Majiya

Allies (18):
4x Fire Snake
4x Deathbone
4x Darkwood Leech
3x Sun-blighted One
3x Rampant Krygon

Abilities (16):
4x Bad Santa
4x Fireball
4x Lightning Strike
4x Supernova

Items (5):
1x Staff of Disintegration
4x Amulet of Conjuring

= 40 cards

Frostflame Harpy -> Darkwood Leech
Originally I thought healing in aggro deck is bad. However after a few testing, I immediately love this card. Most of the time when you play Supernova deathrace, you would be down to a few HP difference to your opponent. Darkwood Leech gives you a great advantage in the race and can sometimes turn a draw into a win.

Death Mage Thaddeus -> Sun-blighted One
Sun-blighted One is a great Turn 3 play going second as you can play Majiya ability which is very powerful early game. It can also save you from destroying your Amulet when you run out of shadow energy. The ping damage is on par with DMT despite that it cannot target ally.

Overall, the second version is more aggro oriented but weaker on board control. Both versions are very good to climb in rated games.

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Other cards to consider:

Despair

The anti-healing feature is great against control decks that rely on healers. However, I don't find a lot of these decks around so I decided to drop this card. It can still be very useful in the right meta and the come-into play 2 damages is decent.