When
Subversion of Nature released yesterday, I knew I had to build a deck around it, but I wasn't expecting it to have a ~70% win rate in the mid-Masters ranks. This deck brought me from rank 250 to 150 in one day. That's especially terrifying because this deck isn't anywhere near properly optimized -- I mean, seriously, it maindecks two copies of
Highway Devourer. I just threw that in there for fun.
Anyway, the deck's strategy is pretty straightforward -- ramp as much as possible, hit as many Empower triggers as possible, get as much shadow influence as possible, and if they're still alive by the time you have 9+ Power, steal their hand with
Subversion of Nature to remove any possible answers they have for your board. There might be a few times that you want to steal their units instead, but unless that'll guarantee you win
this turn, it's usually better to just steal their hand.
If you want to reduce the shiftstone cost of this deck, the first thing you should do is remove
Highway Devourer and write an angry comment shaming me for ever putting it in the deck in the first place. You can also replace the market cards with whatever your favorite Time market cards are, just as long as you have a way to remove relics and/or pop the opponent's face aegis. Lastly,
Shen-Ra, Unbreakable actually works pretty well in this deck, but if you're a new player who doesn't have a lot of shiftstone, she's probably not worth crafting -- I'd replace her with another 2-strength 1-cost unit like
Alessi, Combrei Archmage
Shen-Ra, Unbreakable
x4
2
Intrepid Longhorn
x4
2
Sinister Research
x4
2
Vara's Favor
x3
3
At Any Cost
x2
3
Auralian Merchant
x3
3
Rhysta, Acantha's Herald
x4
3
Scalesworn Patrol
x3
3
Slay
x4
3
Talir's Sanctum
x3
4
A New Beginning
x4
5
Shen-Ra Speaks
x4
7
Nahid's Distillation
x3
9
Subversion of Nature
x3
10
Highway Devourer
x2
Justice Sigil
x3
Shadow Sigil
x5
Time Sigil
x3
Argenport Cylix
x4
Combrei Painting
x4
Shadow Symbol
x2
Xenan Cylix
x4
View Deck on Shiftstoned
How often do you find yourself using the invoke on Sinister Research? Has it ever been meaningful for you that it's fast?
Have you found the draw from A New Beginning to be worth the +2 cost over Lost Scroll?
The power base looks solid, though it looks like Shen-Ra Speaks would be hard to play. How often do you find yourself needing it on curve?
I actually use the invoke on Sinister Research pretty often. If I have it in hand past turn 4 or 5, I'll generally invoke it.
A New Beginning is absolutely worth it for the +2 cost. It's guaranteed to draw at least one card, and there's a not-insignificant chance that you'll draw multiple. If there were fewer low-cost cards in the deck I might substitute it for Lost Scroll, but as the deck stands, you'll generally have better cards to play on turns 2 and 3.
You don't generally need Shen-Ra Speaks too often on curve. That's more the job of Nothing Remains. Shen-Ra Speaks is there primarily to deal with the abundance of Xenan Midrange decks in the meta (more at the time I posted the list than now) that peak around turns 7-9, when you're much more likely to meet the influence requirements.
Edit: Whoops, I forgot that I'd tuned this deck since posting it. I replaced Shen-Ra Speaks with Nothing Remains and put a Shen-Ra Speaks in the market in place of Passage of Eons, hence the comment above
But in all seriousness, you could replace Highway Devourer with basically anything. The safest bet is probably just to add another copy of Scalesworn Patrol and Vara's Favor, but if you want to keep the slot occupied by a unit, Azindel, Mastermind and Baby Vara are both decent options
If it is you, I want that Blow the Dam list, assuming that is the win-con. I was trying to make a very similar deck yesterday.
EIther way cool list here.
I'm waiting for the day that direbeast tribal decks take over and make Daggerclaw Howler even more op
The deck is not great yet, but I think it's got promise