Curiox Creations - Deck Tech Included

Link to SoundCloud for the audio version of the deck tech

Hello everybody, I’m Batteriez and this is a deck tech on Curiox Creations. It is a deck that uses card filtering, removal, big units and spells that create multiple units to win the game. While many decks can answer go big or go wide strategies on their own, they can struggle to handle them both at the same time. So with that lets start by talking about the deck’s name sake cards.

For those who are unfamiliar, Curiox, Insatiable Seeker is a unit that costs 6 power and requires you to have 2 Fire, Time and Primal influence. It is a 5/5 flyer that gets +2/+2 while you have a relic and has an ultimate that says “When Curiox hits the enemy player, if you have five or more spells in your void, create and draw a Dragon’s Eye.”

When Curiox is a 7/7 he is able to beat units like Tavrod, Worldbearer Behemoth, Icaria and Sandstorm Titan in combat, to name a few. The fact that he also has flying and is able to go over the top of many decks makes him a formidable threat. If an opponent is unable answer Curiox before he triggers his ultimate, they will often be in a position that is hard to recover from.
He does force the deck to run a certain mass of relics and spells to reach a high power level, but these numbers are pretty achievable when running a go wide package.

Moment of Creation is also a card that creates units capable of reaching that same 7/7 stat line or greater and creates 2 of them. It is a great finisher for after your opponent uses all their 1 for 1 removal on other threats and their sweepers on tokens. While it is powerful, it costs 7 power and requires 7 spells to be in the void for it to hit the 7/7 stat line so I only run two.

Another big unit I play because it also beats other big units is Cirso, the Great Glutton. He can push in damage against midrange decks that would have to 3 for 1 with their units to stop him.

The last big unit in the main board is Sandstorm Titan. He is the fastest big unit we can get into play while also helping us against units that try to fly over our tokens and Cirso. Playing a turn 3 Sandstorm Titan off Power stone can create some free wins when decks can’t answer it. He can still block some big units but not as many as our other big units do.

Switching over to cards that fit the decks go wide strategy, there is Scouting Party. These little yetis can fill many roles like sitting back to block after swinging with big dudes, attacking along side big dudes or by themselves to pressure drawing cards, and can also be played when behind to chump and buy time for the deck to catch up. While it can be powerful, casting this for 6 can be lack luster if there is no way to draw cards from them, or if there isn’t an obelisk in play so I run 3.

Assembly Line also fills these same roles but replaces card draw for a lower power cost and 1 less unit. Because of that it can apply some good pressure against control decks and decks that durdle around too much.

The last card in the go wide strategy is Xenan Obelisk. It helps make big threats bigger as well as make the go wide package bigger when needed. I only run 2 because I don’t want to draw more than 1 a game against most decks and want to keep the spell count as high as possible.

Going over our removal package we have Torch and Purify for aggressive decks. I don’t run storm or rockslide main board because they can be dead against quite a few decks. If I am playing this deck on ladder though, I will often swap some cards to make room for 2 Rockslide to help against aggro match ups. The silence on Purify can also be relevant in other match ups besides aggro.

We have 2 Scorpion Wasp to deal with big units, aegis units, and units with weapons on them. Scorpion Wasp is a very good card against Argenport Midrange since it dodges Sabotage and Protect as well as giving us a clean answer to units that get equipped with Bloodletter, Doom and Tavrod if he whiffs.

Then there is 2 Polymorph to give us an answer to big units that get value when they attack or remain in play like Ascendant or Ironthorn.

The last removal we have is 1 Predator’s Instinct. This used to be a 3rd wasp but running an Instinct instead gives us another spell for Moment of Creation and Curiox and provides a way to remove a threat the same turn I play a big one since wasp and polymorph can be a heavy cost when trying to play big units. It’s only good if when a big unit is in play so I only run 1.

The last part of the deck’s mainboard is the power base and card filtering. The biggest thing that helps this deck work is the 12 Crests and Strategize. Having the ability to put cards that are dead in certain match ups on the bottom of the deck as well as getting through the deck faster to find threats makes it consistent and able to attack decks where they are weakest.

Playing Power Stone helps mitigate the effects that depleted power have on the deck, and gives us relic card number 3-6 to make Curiox a 7/7 with good consistency.

Seek Power fixes influence requirements and is also being a spell for Curiox/Moment. I only run 3 because the deck had issues with flooding at 4 of them and running 2 felt too few.

We also have Wisdom of Elders to help us see more cards and gain value. I only run 3 Wisdom because the deck can find it awkward to play on turn 3 at times.

One thing to note is the influence requirements for the deck as a whole. I don’t run any cards that require triple influence mainboard because the strain it puts on an influence base is massive. Running a 3 faction deck already comes with certain inconsistencies and since I am running a card like power stone instead of find the way or amber acolyte, I have less fixing than other 3f decks do.

Moving over to the side board we have 4 Eilyn’s Intervention. With Argenport Midrange’s prevalence in ETS and no signs of going down, I am running 4 Eilyn’s Intervention as way to fight it. It is capable to kill 12 units in the deck as well as countering their best removal spell, Slay. At fist this card started as a joke but after testing, it quickly became a 4 of in my sideboard. Its just nuts. Drawing 2 of these against Argenport mid in this deck is almost a sure way to win. The card is also good in many other match ups due to the representation of Valkeryie Enforcer and Unseen Commando. These decks typically have a corresponding 3 power spell as well as other fliers. Combrei has Stand Together in the fliers deck, and Hooru Fliers has access to Eilyn’s Choice. Overall the deck has a weakness to these spells and units so I choose to run 4 for now. If the meta shakes up, this would be the first card to cut, but until then I will keep running 4.

Next we have Rockslide which is our extra bit of removal for aggro decks. It is also usually better than purify against armory. If aggro, rally or grenadins were to gain popularity, I could see these either being storms or more rockslides.

I run 2 unseal as a way to fight removal from control decks as well as an include against reanimator combo. I wouldn’t bring these in against most decks, but its nice to have interaction for it if necessary. I only run 2 because holding up power can be awkward for the deck.

Eye of Winter is a relic that can be brought in in over Obelisk if I don’t need as much of a go wide plan. It is also for match ups where our removal is weak to help clear the way for our threats. I only run 1 because I think it gets much worse in multiples, and there are few match ups I’d want it in.

I have 2 Xenan Obelisk in the board for when the go wide plan needs to get bigger or when our big units need to be bigger. Eye of Winter or Obelisk can come in to boost relic numbers to 7 if getting Curiox to a 7/7 is important for the match up.

Predatory Carnosaur is a strong 6 drop unit so we can reinforce our go big plan when needed. It can also help us deal with aegis units and flyers as well as clear the way for an attack.

We have a 4th Scouting Party to help reinforce the go wide plan when needed.

And last but not least we 1 more Moment of Creation in the board to help us go big and go wide when we need both, or find value against control decks.

And that is Curiox Creations. I think it is a good deck with strong cards and good synergies. It has been a very fun deck to play so far and I have enjoyed working on it. I also think it has a good position in the meta and hope to get some results with it this weekend. I would like to thank TheTrystero for getting in touch with me and inspiring me to take the deck in this direction. Without him I don’t think Scouting Party would been in the deck for a while. He has been working on the deck a lot and I hope it gives good results for him too. I would like to thank Kang (or KangBreathe) as well for suggesting Eilyn’s Intervention tech and working on many builds of the deck with me that ultimately got put away for this one. And finally I’d like to thank BobtheLob and Darkness for their help with testing the Argenport Mid match up to make sure this deck could go toe to toe with it. Thanks for reading and I hope you give the deck a shot!