Big Combrei [Masters (32nd) - 11/9/18]

Hi everybody! I haven't posted a decklist in a while because I haven't constructed anything noteworthy lately, but I've been working pretty hard on Big Combrei this month, and I think I've really nailed it with this one.

Got from Gold 3 to Masters (almost) entirely with Combrei this month. This specifically is the list that got me from D3 to Masters. Went through a LOT of changes along the way, so let's dive right in!

I started with Big by DankyMcBuds. The deck was powerful and fun, kinda a hybrid between classic big combrei and combrei aggro using Copperhall Bracers and on aggressive units to ramp you into Sword/Mystic Ascendant/Telut. The deck was a lot of fun, powerful, and could really suprise opponents, but most of the time I kinda found like I was playing a worse aggro deck or a worse big combrei deck. So I tried the combrei aggro deck, absolutely hated it, I don't know how people are successful with that thing, and then I shifted over to Big Combrei by MarvinTheImp. I really liked this deck a lot more, but after grinding a lot of games with it, I realized there were a few things I just hated and had to change. So I want to talk about a few of those specific cards.

So first on things to go were Copperhall Bracers and Shush. Bracers, I just found to be bad in this shell, and I wanted more interaction, while with shush, I kinda just wanted a Valkyrie Enforcer or Desert Marshal every time. It's very rare that shush is better since it just has no interaction to the board whatsoever. And I know a lot of people playing Combrei have moved away from marshal, but the card is absolutely insane against aggro.

Speaking of insane against aggro, Awakened Student and Knight-Chancellor Siraf... were both just terrible lol. Honestly they felt bad in every matchup. Student just ALWAYS dies to torch against fire decks, and against other aggro decks they almost always have pump spells where we don't have any. It's really rare that he is relevant, even the optimal turn 2 on the play, he rarely impacted the game. And against control, late game, just the deadest draw ever. Kinda exact same applies for Siraf. She seems good as far as stats go, but in the current meta, honestly she's just too slow to compete, and again, no pump spells make her a terrible blocker. Even in the few rare games where I got to 8 power and had time to activate her, she wiffs at least half the time. I wanted more cards that had immediate impact on the game, and more interaction.

So after all those cuts, I went back to the old combrei classics, Desert Marshal, Temple Scribe, Valkyrie Enforcer and Sandstorm Titan. I can't believe I was playing this deck without sandstorm titan, not only is he an insane and efficient threat, but I'm pretty sure he is THE BEST card in the deck against aggro. He just makes attacking so difficult for any aggro deck, even with pump spells and torches, it's tough to overcome those stats, especially when a friend can join in for double blocks. Marshal and Enforcer are also fantastic against aggro, and the Temple Scribe.. he's honestly amazing.

Just want to take a quick moment to really stress how good Temple Scribe is in this deck, because like literally no combrei decks are playing him. So one of the big problems with combrei, is it's weakness to Vara. Having a free unit to just throw away and keep Vara in check is huge. That combined with all of the silence effects in the deck make Vara really not a big challenge to over come. He's also fantastic against Skycrag, he's just a straightup 2 for one and also gains you 1 life. Period. They can't just ignore him. I've even had games where they were forced to turn 2 permafrost it because they just had no better play with an oni ronin on board and a handful of 2/1s. Then my turn 3 I silenced the permafrost with a Valk Enforcer making it even more awkward for the skycrag deck. (I figured if it was good enough to frost, it was worth having around. Plus i had vanquish in hand for whatever got the warcry triggers.) So ya, all of that, plus he really smooths out your draws and helps you not miss land drops and keep advancing the board.

So final change was going down to zero copies of Marshal Ironthorn. This is another card that's just too slow, too low impact. Bad against aggro, and feels pretty bad against control too. He was easy to cut. Worldbearer Behemoth and Telut, Queen's Hand already give the deck a similar "Big" ramping aspect, and are just way more powerful cards overall, I really don't miss Ironthorn.

Last card I'll mention, Stand Together. 2 main 1 market. It's just too good not to play some copies. Even with all the Vara's running around, it just wins the game so often in response to removal, it feels mandatory. And again, with all the silence effects, it's still great in that matchup. I had a game this morning where I had a flyer with equipment on it and a standtogether in my hand, my opponent had a vara in play, but was deck next turn if he didn't draw a removal. So the right play was just, main phase, silence Vara with Desert Marshal, pass turn. Opponent topdecks a slay, I stand, win the game. I mean you all know what stand together does, I'm not sure why I'm explaining this.

So finally, just to touch on the Market.. This has changed a lot, I'm pretty happy with it, Predatory Carnosaur could be whatever, something that kills relics is not a bad idea. Most of the games against Cookbook, I found it's best to just ignore it, like it's only really good once they've drawn 3 cards, and even then they payed 11 power to draw 3 cards over 3 awkward turn where they didn't interact much. I know cookbook is powerful, and it's really great in all these removal piles, but we're just doing something more powerful, we're silencing and removing their relevant cards, and slowing ourselves down to kill their clunky draw engine is not what we want to be doing in my experience. That's why it got the axe from me, but I will not fault you at all if you change the market.



Very very last thing, I swear to god. I didn't spend any time messing around with the powerbase. I am by NO MEANS and expert on properly constructing a powerbase, some amount of Seek Power, or Lingering Influence could be correct/more correct than what I have here. But I've been happy with the find the ways and initiates, so I'm not breaking my brain trying to optimize any further. I'm happy.

Any Questions or comments feel free to drop them below! This deck is really fun and really powerful. It does require a knowledge of the meta and very careful play to always take the best lines against JPS and haunted highway, but I have managed a favorable matchup with both, (JPS is kinda even). Happy Combeiing!