Top 50 Masters August / Queen's Image

***BIG UPDATE***
I am trying some major changes with this deck and so far I've been very content with them (some parts of this guide are now outdated).
This deck is incredibly hard to pilot so if you want to give it a try out youll have to be patient and willing to learn in order to master it.


If you thought that Alessi, Combrei Archmage was a busted card why not just try to multiply her with another busted card like Mirror Image?
Ive been doing very well with this deck in ranked last season and finished top 50 Master with it. I think I have arrived at a point where I am very content with my list.
Sadly this deck just got hit big with the nerf of Safe Return but I it is still think that its a busted deck
.
Some of my maybe more unorthodox card choices explained:

Whispering Wind over Teacher of Humility:
First of all, I started playing this deck with 4 Teacher of Humility but I quickly dropped them because this is more of a control/combo deck that wants to assembly certain cards rather than a deck that wants to attack continuously. Even if you play Teacher of Humility on curve, its not always that easy to get her attack through without some of the cards that you would usually see in other Combrei Alessi lists. Whispering Wind helps you find the combo peaces and gets rid of any mid- to late game power flood. Teacher of Humility has been a very weak topdeck/card after turn 2 while Whispering Wind can carry Sword of Unity and fly over any board stalls while getting you further ahead.

Protect over the third Stand Together:
Ive had multiple situations where I really wanted another cheaper option than Stand Together so I tried one Protect. It has been fine, especially since this deck doesn't play a lot of units but I can see going back to 3 Stand Together.

Finest Hour
I am not the biggest fan of the single Finest Hour in the deck but it has been okay against cards with Killer (e.g. Predatory Carnosaur). I am pretty sure that 1 Finest Hour is better than a 4th Protect spell but it is still one of the weakest cards in the deck.

2 Predator's Instinct and 1 Xenan Initiation
On one hand you really want to pay less for the Killer effect in order to be able to play cards like Safe Return or other Protect spells in the same turn. On the other hand, in some other situations the +1+1 from Xenan Initiation can be really game-deciding. Thats why I settled for a split.

Cards that I would consider changing:
Protect, Finest Hour are probably the weakest cards of the deck but fullfill a specific role in certain matchups. Feel free to change them though to something else depending on the current meta.
I am also considering removing Wandering Wisp which would change the whole deck completely. I would then maybe move more into Primal and try cards like Acquisitive Crow and Wisdom of the Elders.

Matchups:
Control: Easy matchup, they have a very hard time dealing with Alessi, Combrei Archmage plus protect and a card like Safe Return that will give her back Aegis after they broke her it and try to remove her with another spell. Crownwatch Press-Gang is also a great card against them.

Aggro: Easy matchup. Can somebody explain to me why Alessi, Combrei Archmage also gives armor? They also struggle with Crownwatch Press-Gang and Sword of Unity is just a busted card.

Midrange: A challenging matchup. Getting hit early by a Teacher of Humility can also be very tough. Early big units and several big flying units can give you a hard time. I actually just recently increased the number of Equivocate in the list to 4, I think this actually helps the matchup quite a lot.

Token: Again, a more challenging matchup. An early hit from Teacher of Humility can be fatal, and if they quickly go wide before you can find a card like Sword of Unity you'll be in some trouble.

Some advice for playing this deck:
Mulliganing is actually quite hard with this deck, you will have to mulligan a lot of hands that seem fine at first but are actually too low on action.
It is not always neccessary to play your units unprotected on curve. Usually, you really want to play cards like Alessi, Combrei Archmage whenevery you can keep up any Aegis spell or Safe Return.
This is not NOT an auto pilot deck, there are many decisions to be made every game. In my opinion it's more of a Control/Combo deck than anything else. Therefore, you'll have to play many games to get familiar with it and in order to do well.


Please feel free to leave any comments!