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TOP 10 MASTERS Kairos, Heart of the Peaks

Throne Deck By
RoninX

+4

Cost Curve

Type

Faction

Information

This deck got me to Masters in dominant fashion. It is basically the classic Jennev Peaks shell with the addition of Tocas in the main and Kairos in the Market. The only card I'm not 100% happy with is the equivocate in the market. Since moving to red merchant to accommodate Kairos, I rarely get it any more. But I haven't found a replacement.

Between early interaction, merchants, Tocas and Titan you have a good bridge to the mid game vs. Aggo. Yetis can nut draw you or you can die to too many tap lands and awkward removal draws. But you have so many tools that stabilizing and winning is pretty trivial.

This deck crushes unitless control as long as you are patient. They only have a handful of cards you care about. If you don't over commit, hold back on your merchants, use your counterspells judiciously, and use your removal to prevent onslaughted Royal Decree - and then *you* have inevitability. Kairos should be cast on 12 power to draw 3-7 cards and you should sandbag lands after 12 to make the most of Kaleb's ultimate.

I played almost a third of of my matches vs. unitless on the way to Masters and lost twice.

Have fun.

Update: made it to #1 Masters.

Update #2: The shift away from aggro post Oct balance changes has open up the door to other midrange decks. In particular the FTJ decks now inhabit a similar space, but without yetis to prey on them they can go over the top of you and your torches etc.

Update #3: The shift towards an FTJ meta seems like it is best dealt with by getting on the board earlier which puts the burn and tempo elements of the Jennev shell in a more favorable position. This makes Ramba a huge addition to the deck, bringing your costs down and letting you cast two cards much earlier than normal, plus he is always relevant in the late game since his ability is *much* better than "pay 7 - draw a card" (especially with scout lands). After getting beaten down into the 40s I'm now back into the teens with this build.

Details

Shiftstone Cost
Does not include campaign cost
81,200

Premium Cost
297,600

Influence Requirements
3 3 2

Power Sources
15 18 10 17

Power Calculator
Shiftstoned Icon View Deck on Shiftstoned

Deck Rarities
8 28 14 21

Card Types
29 4 18 3 26

Contains Cards From Campaigns
Dead Reckoning [Set1003]
Trials of Grodov [Set1006]

Archetype
Midrange

Updated
October 25, 2019

Added
October 10, 2019

Views
2,264

Eternal Version
The Flame of Xulta

BBCode For Comments

Deck URL

Revisions (Since last major patch) October 25, 2019


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Comments

ErisELITE Eternal Version: 1.47.3
Thanks for the list! I'm typically not very good w/ decks like this but I'm starting to get the hang of it. I'm newly back to the game and climbing from Bronze again, so lots of time to learn along the way. Any other tips, tricks, things to remember or watch out for?
RoninX Eternal Version: 1.47.3
I think one of the keys to playing this decks is knowing what to keep and what to throw back. This deck has all the tools to be great in the right environment (I'm currently #2 in Masters, but I can't seem to catch Eric) but you do have to have a good sense of what you are trying to accomplish AND what the current meta is, both globally, and in your area of the ladder. Don't be afraid to use your free mulligan aggressively to find what you need. Essentially, a perfect opening hand with this deck has 1) 3 power and all three colors - ideally at least one coming it untapped, 2) an early piece of interaction (10), 3) a merchant (7), 4) a fate card (8), and 5) a way to get on the board before 6 power.
You'll note that a perfect hand takes all seven slots - but every hand doesn't have to be perfect and there is some overlap here. For instance, vs. some decks a merchant may count as a way to establish a board presence so bear that in mind - but (unless you recognize the player) you probably won't know that when making your keep/mull decisions.
What you absolutely need to do is keep in mind that you need to check off three of the five boxes or you are going to have a rough game if the opponent has a good hand. Being aware of your "local" meta also plays into this. The top of your library can always save you vs. control decks - but most aggro decks won't give you a chance at too many draws if you stumble. So in the lower ladder and early part of a season prioritizing checking the power and interaction boxes is even more important than checking any of the other boxes.

Once to keep a good hand the deck is generally pretty easy to play well (though tougher to play perfectly). The other things "good to know" things I'd throw out there are:
1) Be patient with your market and your card filter. It is probably correct 75% of the time to get the power first. Sometimes this feels bad if you are playing a T3 merchant and subsequently flood a bit - but it is way better to start playing Hearts and Peaks on T6 than to stall out - and that extra power usually comes in handy eventually - even if just as fodder for your card filtering.

2) Display of Instinct is the most versatile - and one of the best - cards in this deck. Having the 3 - 1 split of it is the main reason this version of deck runs Ixtun Merchant over a black market merchant. It does not check any of your boxes for keepable hands - but if you've kept a good hand this is one of the cards you really want to find subsequently. Be patient with this card as well, and be aware of all three modes - I use each with great frequency. Saving a double torched Titan and gaining six life will prompt many aggro plays to concede. Vs. Control and combo the counter and burn modes are invaluable, negating their board sweepers or other key cards (don't - usually - counter the card draw), killing sites, or just going to the dome.

Sorry if that was a tl;dr answer to a short question.
ErisELITE Eternal Version: 1.47.3
This was exactly what I was looking for! Thanks for taking the time to explain further. Especially the mulligan guide / hand selection.