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Imbue + Transform + Killer = ???

Expedition Deck By
Amorphous

+8

Cost Curve

Type

Faction

Information

So, Feral Mandrake is the new flavor of recursion unit for the set. When I think of recursion units, especially in Time, I think of our old friend Dawnwalker in an Elysian Killers shell. Transform is plentiful right now, Imbue can do some fun tricks, and some of our classic Elysian support of False Prince and Cirso, the Great Glutton can bring back both of our recursive friends. Dunno if it will end up in a good spot in the meta, but there is enough synergy and power here in the Expedition pile that I figured it was worth trying. Detailed card breakdown below. If you've got any suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them.

Time Etchings: Obligatory market access. I'm not sure which Etching is better for the deck, but I'm trying Time for now. I'm tempted to swap to Primal for Crystalize and Helio, the Skywinder, but I like the options in Time too.

Savagery: Could probably be Predator's Instinct due to the large amount of native Overwhelm on my units, but I'm greedy. If I swap to Primal Etchings I would swap the current 4x + 1x combo to the opposite distribution. Regardless of which one I end up running in the end, Killer is good on just about any unit in this deck aside from False Prince, so 4x seemed fine.

Wildgrowth Druid: The new Plunder mechanic counts as Transform, so this deck runs a total of 22 cards that Transform things. The high count can help push the Druid into a pretty solid stat line, which makes it a good target for both Imbue and Killer. Note that Imbue copies the stats as they are at the time of resolution though, so any additional growth of the Druid will not help the Imbue unit any more.

Desert Alchemist: This is a pretty dumb-good card in general from the new set, but it gets bonus points here where the Plunder mechanic counts as a Transform. It can be given Killer via Savagery if you really need to kill something, but it is card disadvantage so it is better not to if you can help it.

Feral Mandrake: This is a bad card until it isn't. Transform is plentiful so it is easy to recur. Giving it Killer makes it repeatable removal. Add on Imbue to synergize with Danica, Runed Witch, and it is even a repeatable source of card advantage. This card has a very high power level ceiling depending on what puzzle pieces you currently have.

Lightning Storm: This can obviously be whatever removal you want it to be. In the early days of new meta experimentation I generally like to lean into anti-aggro stuff, so I opted for this one. Some of the removal options in this deck are a bit slow though, so one way or another I think some relatively-fast removal option should be used in this slot.

Maveloft Huntress: Another ridiculous card from the new set. Even without synergies this thing is a Plunder trigger attached to removal at a bargain cost, but in this deck it can also trigger Transform and Imbue. This is probably the strongest card in the deck.

Reshape: Honestly, I just wanted to play around with this card a bit so it is in here as a 2x. It triggers Transform, but beyond that it isn't overly-synergistic with the deck. You certainly never want to target your own stuff with it. If you're not a fan of jank, you could probably sub in either a generically good unit with 5+ attack like Sandstorm Titan, a different removal option, or maybe just a simple 2x of Beseech the Throne.

Dawnwalker: I'm not running a ton of cards to recur it, but I think there are enough to justify its inclusion. Giving it Killer makes it repeated removal, or you can simply use it as some bonus aggressive stats for your Imbue units. Note that Imbue resolves after things enter, so even if your final Imbue unit has 5 or more attack it still won't bring back Dawnwalker.

False Prince: This is a classic nonbo in the old Elysian Killers decks because playing a Killer spell on it made it Transform and lose its stats. In a weird turn of events, the Transform downside can actually help us now in this deck. You get your 5/5 for 3 that can bring back Dawnwalker on the cheap, and if your opponent tries to remove it with a spell you can trigger the effects of Wildgrowth Druid and/or Feral Mandrake. Depending on board state it may even be worth aiming to transform him yourself, especially if you've got a Danica, Runed Witch waiting to trigger off a couple Feral Mandrake coming back from the Void. False Prince is the main reason I kind of want to run Ice Bolt in the main board (so you can target your own False Prince to simultaneously ramp and trigger Transform effects), but I'll see how it goes.

Turn to Seed: Strong removal in general that has bonus synergy in this deck. Not only does it trigger Transform effects, it also provides a nice 0/2 body that you can aim your Overwhelm Killer stuff into for chip damage if the situation calls for it.

Danica, Runed Witch: She draws a card from her own Imbue. That makes her a relatively free addition to the deck that causes Feral Mandrake and Maveloft Huntress to be even better.

Cirso, the Great Glutton: Another classic of old Elysian Killers. He still likes to be given Killer, and still brings back his buddy Dawnwalker, but now he also provides free Transform triggers while being a generically strong unit that can be annoying to deal with for your opponent.

Market:

From Below: Relic removal, in case it is wanted.

Predator's Instinct: Yet another cheap source of Killer to enable our degeneracy.

Grodov's Burden: We've got a decent number of mono-faction units, and we can spread around our Killer + Overwhelm to a degree in order to make people really sad.

Striking Snake Formation: Probably win-more to a degree, but with the huge amount of units in the deck that synergize with Killer, I wanted to try it out.

Grodov's Stranger: Part anti-mill, part card draw engine. Also extremely good with Killer, and can bring back Dawnwalker when he arrives. I wanted at least one generic big thing in the Market, and this seemed like the call.

Expedition Information

Details

Shiftstone Cost
Does not include campaign cost
58,850

Premium Cost
244,000

Influence Requirements
4 3

Power Sources
17 16 8

Power Calculator
Shiftstoned Icon View Deck on Shiftstoned

Deck Rarities
9 24 26 12

Card Types
33 1 21 0 25

Contains Cards From Campaigns
Shadow of the Spire [Set1087]

Archetype
Combo Midrange

Added
June 29, 2020

Views
3,746

Eternal Version
Argent Depths

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Deck URL

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Comments

Ogdred_weary Eternal Version: 20.08.10
Great deck, thanks for sharing it.
I replaced Lightning Storm with Petition for increased consistency
DrTall Eternal Version: 20.06.26
This deck is tons of fun. I really appreciate you putting it up here plus the analysis.

I am still learning how to play it but I will check back if you have any updates and will try to share my own thoughts after I stop making dumb mistakes. :)
Amorphous Eternal Version: 20.06.26
Ha, I think I'm still in that period of making dumb mistakes myself. There are some neat tricks you can do with toggling units on/off being ready with Imbue, and setting up Deadly Overwhelm Killer chains with Grodov's Burden can be pretty silly (and it is extremely easy to do if your opponent is playing Deadly units). At the same time, I've burned myself more than I should using Imbue on things that would be better to save open.

I'm glad you're liking the deck though; I went into building it assuming it was going to be jank, but the decklist turned out cleaner than anticipated so I figured it was worth sharing.
OneAntic Eternal Version: 20.06.26
I think this deck is actually a good candidate for a Wasteland Broker market (potentially on top of your etching of choice) since your abundance of killer and imbue effects really ask for a high unit density.
Amorphous Eternal Version: 20.06.26
I think I like the consistent 1x Grodov's Burden too much to take out Time Etchings, but I think swapping the 2x Reshape and possibly 2x Lightning Storm for 2-4x Wasteland Broker could be a good call, yeah. I haven't really ever been in a position to use Striking Snake Formation yet, so maybe I can swap that out for another good Wasteland Broker target (Grodov Stranger is already a pretty great target for it). I'll have to think some more on what I want the additional target to be, but in the meantime thank you for the suggestion.