Deck History #3 - Stonescar Syl

In every episode of my Eternal deck history video series I include a modern take on the historic archetype. Some of them will still be good, while others are in a much worse state thanks to nerfs or because they just received less support to keep up with powercreep compared to other decks.

This is the list for my third episode, Stonescar Syl. I kept the historic core, which means Etchings, Syl, Exploit, Champion and Tasbu, which are all still good cards and then decided to use the rest of the spots to give the deck a more aggressive direction. I really wanted to play Jekk because he is great against any decks with early units, like FTJ Project, Hooru Kira, Stonescar aggro or Praxis Midrange, which meant that I had to included more than just 16 duals, so I had to cut Shadow Symbol. That meant that I also had to cut Acantha Ascending (she is not good enough without influence acceleration) and it meant that I needed another 2-drop next to Vine Grafter because Syl is now unplayable on 2. I went with Murgo because he can break face aegis for Exploit/Burn, advantages are good market/discard/plunder fodder and because his ultimate makes him exactly what the deck wants, a unit that is good early and late into the game.

Like the old Sylscar lists, the deck can play both an aggressive pro-active and a grindy, more reactive gameplan depending on the matchup. Some important interactions: You can revive Jekk with Krull if you have 4+ power (with Etchings), 5+ power (Delivery) or 6+ power (Grafter) and then discard Krull for Jekk's effect (and if the Jekk in void already had double damage, he deals 4 damage that way). Garrote can be used alongside Exploit or any burn damage (especially Menace) to secure those effects going through (unless the opponent has fast speed relic removal/face damage + fast speed face aegis). Rhysta, Etchings, Syl and Exploit can all give you a sigil for Jekk, which is something to keep in mind while planning your curve.

Overall the deck felt really good. I went 31:10 on ladder and I know Lightsoutace even went 20:0 with the old version (Dangerous Gambit instead of Garrote and Wildlands Scavenging instead of Silverblade Menace, which is a bit better against relic focused decks and big midrange, but worse against primal control decks), so I would give the deck a 9/10, mabye even a 10/10.