Okessa Málaga is pretty fun and got me all the way to
Diamond 1 :D
(Update: just brought it to
Masters whoo)
This deck mainly focuses on getting out expensive fire relics like
Shavka's Embrace and
Doomsday Assembly as quickly as possible while using small justice and time relics like
Avigraft and
Ancestral Oasis to ramp and hold off our opponent.
Dinosaur Nest is a real treasure in this deck:
- it provides small blockers against aggresive decks
- it provides a bunch of units that turn into big hitters once
Doomsday Assembly is out
And most importantly:
- the consistent supply of dinosours helps with
Okessa Málagas ability
Tayana, the Mender works great in the current meta against a lot of decks using
Shrine to Karvet and other relic-based strategies and she provides insane card advantage when paired with
Okessa's Audience and
Ancestral Oasis. Her and
Okessa Málagas abilities also synergize really well with
Shavka's Embrace, effectively re-drawing your entire hand after discarding it.
Steyer's Eyes also helps in a ton of ways. Discarding a relic while having either
Tayana, the Mender or
Okessa Málaga in play is just straight up
*chef's kiss*.
Lingering Influence is what's used most often in the beginning to ramp up to those expensive relics while Crownwatch Tactic can be used to regain a bunch of life to secure your win later on in the game.
This deck's
market also provides a helpful tool for pretty much any situation:
Waystone Core is perfect on-curve ramp after playing
Auralian Merchant.
Shen-Ra Speaks buys you a lot of time to set up your big relics.
Sandstorm Scarf is helpful against decks trying to beat you down by swinging over your units' heads.
Pit of Lenekta can be grabbed when you have a
Okessa Málaga in hand but no big relics to cheat into play.
And lastly,
Unlock the Vault is a beautiful alternative way to cheat in big power engines, especially after discarding them with
Steyer's Eyes.
In total, this deck is a blast to play while also being pretty decent in the current meta and I finally found a fun way to use
Passionate Artisan :D
Let me know if you have and suggestions to improve/change up this deck!
However, should you decide to give it another try, this is how I face each of the difficulties you mentioned:
Too slow: as is the nature of combo/control decks, this deck don't fair well against fast-faced aggro decks. The best option against aggro in this deck is using Dinosaur Nest and Passionate Artisan to hold off enemy units untill you can deal with them using Manacles or Avigraft. But I usually let enemy units hit me, as sacrificing about 15 life to play and activate Okessa on turn 5 is usually worth it.
Prone to color screw: I had some difficulties with this at first, especially hitting triple fire for the big finishers, but with the current power base I rarely run into any problems, since Okessa's audience can turn any unplayable card into the sigil needed, while Calibrate and Steyer's Eyes both help to search for required power cards. If you still run into power problems, I suggest adding few copies of Desert Alchemist and to exchange sandstorm scarf in the market for a three-color power card to really secure against color screw.
Winning condition doesn't finish: It is true that simply playing either of the big finishers doesn't end the game instantly,but both of them put you so far ahead, that it is practically impossible for your opponent to catch up. When cheating doomsday assembly into play through okessa, or even playing a copy made cheaper by Artisan, you can usually spend at least 5 power on ticking grenadins, instantly putting at least 30 unavoidable damage on the board. With Shavka's Embrace, you can gain immense advantage by playing either Tayana to re-draw the already cheaper relics, or Okessa to gain enough treasure troves to draw into a winning hand.
My general advice for anyone playing this deck is that you need to find the best way to get to your big relics quickly, according to your opening hand:
Steyer's Eyes + Merchant > Discard something big and play it with Unlock the Vault
Artisan + Oasis > Make relics cheaper and ramp to play them straight from your hand on turn 4 or 5
Manacles / Avigraft > Hold of your opponent while playing power cards each turn to stall long enough to get into your big relics
Okessa + Any big relic > Keep your units alive no matter what to cheat out your relics on turn 5
Okessa + Merchant > Pull Pit of Lenekta from the market to cheat out on turn 5 and secure your win that way
Tayana + Audience/Oasis > Reuse the Relics' sacrifice abilities to gain gard advantage, ramp and hold off your opponent untill you can use your big finishers
I am once again sorry if my deck didn't meet your expectations, if you've read this far and have any suggestions/improvements to help me make it more consistant, be sure to let me know, thank you :)
I'm loosing to everything with this deck. So sad cause I loved the idea.
I might try switching out some copies of the more expensive relics to get more consistency that way
Feel free to let me know your experiences if you happen to play around with this decklist :D
Thanks again!