Critique or Compliment my Gwen deck

[The415Noriega]

Fellow Shadow enthusiasts, gurus, and grandmasters,

I just finalized a Gwen deck (43 cards, 198 rank) that seems to work quite well for me. I'm technically a noob, but I was way into MTG as a kid so this all came quite natural for me. Just started playing online two days ago, but I practiced a lot on AI and have the crystals and gold to build great decks. I would love insight on what cards to add, remove, or replace, and how best to downsize the deck in general to both 40 cards and 30 cards. I'd also appreciate analysis on how to best use the core cards any good Gwen deck is built around of you Gwen veterans (especially those who still play her regularly in 1.26) on how to counter some of the more troublesome heroes (cough MAJIYA AND HER OVERPOWERED SNOW SAPPHIRE cough). Without further ado, here's the current deck composition:

Hero: 1 card
1x Gwenneth Truesight

Allies: 17 cards
4x Puwen
4x Jasmine
2x Erika (I don't get why no one else seems to like her)
2x Raven
3x Aldor
2x Aeon

Abilities: 13 cards
3x Rapid Fire
4x Into the Forest
2x Retreat
4x Bad Santa

Armor: 4 cards
2x Night Prowler
2x Wrath of the Forest

Bows: 8 cards
4x Soul Seeker
4x Beetle Demon Bow

Total: 43

Same general build as most Gwen decks but more ally-heavy with no hunter abilities aside from Rapid Fire and Into the Forest. I originally had 4 arrows but scrapped them due to lack of use. I only lose when I get bad bow draws...could be remedied by cutting the deck's card count down or adding Guardian's Oath, probably cutting card count. I know a lot of you are going to tell me to scrap Erika and maybe Aeon but I'd love to hear the reasoning.

Troublesome Heroes:
Majiya-She plays Snow Sapphire, I say GG inside of my head. I also hate Supernova. Is there any way to counter that armor besides attacking continuously?
Jericho-I've only played him twice and both the players sucked so no real experience, but I know he's practically designed to kill Gwen decks.
I think those are the only two heroes Gwen should have problems with, then again I'm not a high enough rank to be playing with the big boys.

Specific Card analysis:
Retreat: I originally had 4 retreats but found myself never really using them and always resourcing them. Since my deck is ally heavy my opponent never can throw down a creature my allies can't deal with, and by the time they do drop a nuisance I've already sacrificed Retreat instead of bows and high cost allies and abilities.
Night Prowler: I threw Night Prowler in begrudgingly due to the praise it receives on this forum(I first used Crimson Vest, not sure why it isn't ever mentioned, great when you've only got BDB and no SS, plus higher defense bonus) and up until late last night always resourced it, but since then I owned two players with it, and it served as a game-winner against another Gwen deck when I jacked my opponent's Rapid Fire, the last card in his hand. Now I like it for when my opponent is always saving one specific card when their hand has been running low.
Bad Santa: What would I do without it...is great for dealing with Majiya, the hero I'm currently having the most trouble with (stupid Snow Sapphire, is there any real way to counter aside from throwing allies into it 4 times?) I tend to use it when my opponent already has a full hand and I'm running low, or when I really need cards. I'm quite hesitant to use it aside from those situations for fear or giving my opponents an advantage.

Well obviously there are more but this is getting long...but yeah, if anyone can explain to me the best use of Retreat, Into the Forest, Night Prowler, Gravedigger's Cloak, Bad Santa, etc. it would be much appreciated.

Thanks for any of your time spent and ideas provided.

[eleena]

First of all, as much as I hate Majiya, I wouldn't call Snow Sapphire overpowered. It only seems like that to Gwen since she doesn't have item destruction. I'm guessing Armor of Ages would give you almost as much trouble, but you don't see it as often. Unfortunately, your only real strategy is to break it down with your allies. In general against Majiya I try to stay ahead of her, and gain life with Soul Seeker whenever possible. Of course the smart ones won't give you anything to kill. I find Wrath really helpful against her too as she will have to kill your allies to stay alive. At least that lets you replenish them.

I've never used Erika. She is very expensive for her stats. Against a pure ally build she may help regain board control but that's about it. She can be killed too easily with any mage burn, Smite, Shield Bash, Zaladar ability, Plasma Behemoth etc. I'd rather have Raven every time. Her ability effectively kills most allies by dropping them to zero attack, and she has double the health of Erika.

If you want to get to 30 cards, you'll probably have to hone your deck more towards either allies or bows. If you want to continue using Night Prowler, you'll probably have to ditch a lot of allies as NP needs a lot of support (Rapid Fire, Retreat, Into the Forest) to be effective. If you want to focus on allies, I'd ditch Night Prowler in favor of Wrath and uses your bows as support damage.

[Brontos]

I'm not sure your deck is built around Bad Santa. You should simply remove them all.

Erika is good, but 3 health is exactly what nearly all damage cards can do. Also, you have issues against mages, Erika won't help you against them. Remove them too.

And finally, think twice about playing two different types or armor. It will happen when you will have to choose between the two. A good idea may be to choose only one to have in your deck, but in 3 copies.

[GS]

Night prowler is the best decision you have there, rapid fire + that = stealing cards galore.

But I agree with the others.

If you want to aim for a 40 card build you need to choose what you want to appear.

Raven is way stronger than erika, and erika dies easily to LS and mages.

You won't need her anyways with aeon. So think about that.

If it was my gwen, -2 erika, +2 raven, -2 wotf, +2 np, -4 Bad santa, +4 baazaar

If you want to keep your np for another turn or two, just play itf.

Ps. Gwen has a HARD time against gravebone too. Played correctly anyways. Something about the ever-returning weenie gargs fucks her up something nasty.

[The415Noriega]

Thx for the input guys, keep it coming and help a novice out! Yeah I'm learning Erica pans out less than I first thought. Why take out Bad Santa though? I always find myself running out of cards against Majiya/Jericho.

If I settled for a mid-30s deck could I keep ally heavy and bow heavy?

And while NP can be great it's usually a "one trick pony" without RF. And it's a 5 cost, with an ally heavy deck Wrath and it's 4 cost sure comes in handy.

Also curious as to why no one has mentioned retreat...many swear by it. Do you guys agree it isn't necessary in a Gwen build similar to mine?

I'll tweak my deck and post a revised version here soon.

[Raphael Majere]

Thx for the input guys, keep it coming and help a novice out! Yeah I'm learning Erica pans out less than I first thought. Why take out Bad Santa though? I always find myself running out of cards against Majiya/Jericho.

If I settled for a mid-30s deck could I keep ally heavy and bow heavy?

And while NP can be great it's usually a "one trick pony" without RF. And it's a 5 cost, with an ally heavy deck Wrath and it's 4 cost sure comes in handy.

Also curious as to why no one has mentioned retreat...many swear by it. Do you guys agree it isn't necessary in a Gwen build similar to mine?

I'll tweak my deck and post a revised version here soon.

If you run 2 NP, you will need 4 retreats.

I swear by retreats with NP. Super-powerful if used in the right deck and correctly.

Retreats prevents your opponent's ally from hitting you, hence preserving the life of your NP.

You will get 2 sure hits with NP, without fear of NP being damaged and hence removed from board.

I just checked: Hunter Strategy has A LOT of recent posts on gwen decks. A lot of good info. Highly recommended that you check them out.

[GS]

Thx for the input guys, keep it coming and help a novice out! Yeah I'm learning Erica pans out less than I first thought. Why take out Bad Santa though? I always find myself running out of cards against Majiya/Jericho.

If I settled for a mid-30s deck could I keep ally heavy and bow heavy?

And while NP can be great it's usually a "one trick pony" without RF. And it's a 5 cost, with an ally heavy deck Wrath and it's 4 cost sure comes in handy.

Also curious as to why no one has mentioned retreat...many swear by it. Do you guys agree it isn't necessary in a Gwen build similar to mine?

I'll tweak my deck and post a revised version here soon.

Baazaar gives more cards more regularly than bad santa.

[Just4theLulz]

I ran 4 Retreat in my Gwen deck and loved it. Retreating an Aeon before sniping off some of the weaker allies your opponent wanted to protect is a huge setback to them. And always remember you can cast Retreat on a Beetle Demon Bow after you convert it into an ally only to replay it as a bow!

[Raphael Majere]

many numerous ways to play Gwen. With bazaar, no bazaar, with/without Santa. Wrath, NP, Gravedigger.

Ally-heavy, bow heavy, ally-less.

With woods, no woods. With/without rapid fire.

[Raphael Majere]

I ran 4 Retreat in my Gwen deck and loved it. Retreating an Aeon before sniping off some of the weaker allies your opponent wanted to protect is a huge setback to them. And always remember you can cast Retreat on a Beetle Demon Bow after you convert it into an ally only to replay it as a bow!

You got it dude.