Used this to get from Rank ? => Master in May, 2023.
There's no real obvious theme, but it did originally derive from a deck that had a clear (and ultimately too greedy) theme: use cards like Vara and Living Reflection to re-use Units with great Summon effects.
Playing around with that deck led me to realize that the cards themselves were really good in this meta and didn't really need to be cheated out twice in consecutive turns to make a big impact. Instead, what was needed was other tools to round out the strategy.
Several incarnations later and the deck I'm presenting today was realized. I went on massive win streaks to Master rank, often winning about 80% of the time during some sessions. It just plays a lot of really, really good Units. MVPs of the deck:
- Hail is an auto-win against many matchups. You have sufficient draw power to handle the discard cost.
- The suite of Market cards really steals wins in situations where you should lose.
- Nightfall effects can do that extra 1 damage needed to break a Weapon or burn the opponent for game.
- Wasp needs no explanation.
All-Nighter
x4
1
Permafrost
x4
2
Endangered Qirin
x4
2
Swift Subverter
x4
2
Wilderness Delivery
x4
3
Display of Survival
x4
3
Heavy Hail
x4
3
Lipa, Witch of the Woods
x4
4
Pincer Ant
x4
5
Krogar, Burdened Hero
x4
5
Riftfeeder Wasp
x4
7
Sashenka of Kosul
x4
Primal Sigil
x6
Time Sigil
x5
Elysian Cylix
x4
Elysian Tome
x4
Midnight Reprieve
x4
Seat of Wisdom
x4
View Deck on Shiftstoned
- I can empathize with the experience of trying a Master/tourney deck that seems to not work well.
- This can be due to several reasons, including a shift in the meta and just bad match-up luck.
- But the most likely reason for poor deck performance is playstyle. One needs to pilot the deck the right way to get good results (which is a good thing; who wants to play a zero-skill game where strong decks auto-win?)
- In this specific case, a lot of subtleties are required when playing. For example, one needs to plan ahead against aggression. Don't over-commit Units; set up Hail, then restore the board and Heal with Krogar.
- Don't save Deliveries; float 2 Power, play them on the enemy turn to get Aegis and draw/cycle through the deck.
- Ramp against slow decks (you can outlast a lot of attrition matchups), but stall/AOE aggro decks.
- Mulligan for 3-Power hands and think carefully about your Reprieve selections. Do you need 2 Time, 2 Primal, or activated Cylixes? Does your opponent benefit from Nightfall draws?
- When played correctly, this deck should be very annoying for your opponents and make them feel like you always have the perfect answer for every situation.