[top 75 masters] Scream Queen

This is my slightly-modified version of crankypanda's Scream Queen, found here: [top 5 masters] cranky's scream queen.

I played close to cranky's version of the deck from gold up to masters in season 22, and have thus far maintained around my (very nice) initial rank of 69, while only playing a handful of games a day since reaching masters. Having played over a hundred games with the deck while grinding, as well as being a competitive TCG/CCG player for 15+ years, here are some thoughts & modifications. Please see cranky's deck description for additional insight!

1) Modifying the power base: The initial power base of 25 power + the marketed power is, frankly, a disaster (though cranky does note that it is unoptimized in the deck description). Viewing on shiftstone will indicate that you only have something like a 50% chance of hitting your power on the appropriate turn, though the influence requirements are largely spot on. I am in the process of correcting this deficiency, and will update accordingly. The first change was to cut the third copy of Devour for the power formerly in the market. I'm also expecting to cut the 4th Vicious Highwayman for an additional power card, likely the 4th Crest of Cunning . With such a lean powerbase (I played most games with the unmodified powerbase), the 3rd Devour is rarely relevant. It is at its best when cast in response to removal or in combination with Madness, but holding power up / getting to 5 power is a rare occurrence. You're more likely to be able to (and want to) Madness + Combust than you are to be able to Madness + Devour. I was often proactively casting it on a Grenadin to draw into my 4th mana source - clearly not an optimal use. The lack of Assembly Line here also means you have fewer expendable to throw around, so cutting this for one of the cards I'm trying to dig for seems like the right move. Note that Devour is stronger than Combust against the Icaria Blue decks that this deck was originally designed to prey upon, so change that accordingly based on your pocket meta.

2) Crunch, the Hoarder vs. Gorgon Fanatic: I find the card advantage and life gain provided by Gorgon Fanatic to be absolutely necessary when racing against faster aggressive decks on the ladder, so I've opted to play a 2/2 split. It should likely be 3 Gorgon, as you do want to draw one most games. That being said, I'm still not convinced that 4 Crunch is incorrect. One could possibly go to 3 Kerendon Merchant and add the 3rd Crunch; the 3rd or 4th merchant usually only has marginal utility, due to the way the market is diversified. This is a lineup I'm actively observing while testing.

3) Rindra, the Duskblade in the market: After cutting the power from the market, I believe our free slot is best used for lifegain. I played Midnight Gale in the Bandit Queen slot during my laddering to masters, which was a mistake; Gale's lifegain is too slow + it dies to Torch. In nearly every situation you'd want Gale, dropping Rindra and threatening a block + gain 5 is stronger. Additionally, you absolutely want either the Bandit Queen or Vicious Highwayman in the market for situations where you need to close the door. I trust 'panda on this one and am playing the Bandit Queen now, which has been a great improvement.

On playing the deck:
- Mana sequencing is everything. Being able to cast Champion of Fury on-curve is one of your strongest plays, particularly if it gets Torch'd so that your Dusk Raider can live. I prefer the sequence of Champion -> Raider against an opponent playing Torch; if they don't have Torch, you may want to sandbag the Champion or use it as bait to force a board wipe. As long as it doesn't disrupt a strong curve, hold your crests til the last minute so that you can get maximum value off of the scout.

- Madness + Combust is absolutely one of the power plays for this deck against any Time/X Legendary.dek. You'll nearly always want to Merchant for whichever half you don't have, or you can often pro-actively Merchant for Combust.

- You can comfortably sit behind any two units against control, as long as you have sufficient removal for Rizahan or Icaria. Ideally you'd like to have 5 or 6 power on the board; 4 can be too slow, but it's better to sit behind 4 than overextend into a sweeper (unless you have a way to recoup the lost advantage). If you have the luxury of choosing, save your charge units for post-sweep.

- This deck is slightly slower than the Gunslinger Tribal decks going around, but careful play can usually see you through. Line up removal based on how much power the individual cards can put out. Rakano Outlaw is a nightmare, but you can usually survive it and wait for a favorable trade. Counting their cards in hand compared to yours is key.

- I believe this deck to be favored against Kennadins, particularly if you can assemble the Madness + Combust combo. Remember that Kenna gains flying with spells cast, so you can occasionally leverage their Kenna + your spells to get lethal in the air. Killing a unit in response to Mirror Image negates Mirror Image. I lost a lot of games to Kennadins while learning how to play against it, but am no longer frightened of the deck.

- Madness on an early Teacher of Humility is generally worth it. You draw a lot of cards. At the same time, if you have Combust / Madness in-hand and you know their on a bigger deck, Teacher is not so scary. It's ok to throw a Grenadin or some such at the teacher in order to be able to Combust / Madness and hit a Sandstorm Titan.

I'm sure I'll update this with further thoughts as the season progress! Many, many thanks to crankypanda for this wonderful list.