This is my take on a Xenan Bolster/Lifeforce deck that has been performing well for me. I have had power issues a few times, an unfortunate consequence attributable to playing a deck without Etchings or Paintings that also has an evenly split power base. Only one of those times actually resulted in a loss though. This deck can still put up a good fight while stuck on two power, and all the extra life gain synergy allows for very rapid stabilization.
The deck is capable of some really degenerate draws and typically wins by a landslide. If you happen to derive extra satisfaction from bullying the AI into utter oblivion, then this deck may appeal to you even more. Cards like
Invitation,
Cult Aspirant,
Cabal Slasher, Dran, Won’t Back Down,
Grumbo, Tota Legend, and
Katra, the Devoted all have the ability to generate an ungodly amount of stats very quickly and for very little cost. if you’re thinking that list seems rather long, well it certainly felt like it while I was typing it. Almost half of the non-power cards in the deck are life gain-enabled monsters while the other half is… wait for it… life gain-enablers. By themselves, these cards can be relatively weak, but combined their power is more multiplicative than additive.
A few small tips for playing the deck:
Avoid two power hands. This deck really wants 4 power and you shouldn’t be keeping two power hands unless they have A LOT of explosive potential.
It is often better not to play your 1-drops turn 1 if you also have Grumbo or Invitation. Playing patiently often means getting more triggers.
Dran requires some extra consideration for his sequencing as his Bolster will only trigger once per turn. In practice, that means that if you have Grumbo or Invitation in play you will want to play Dran after your other units.
Auralian Restorationist
x2
1
Condemn
x4
1
Cult Aspirant
x4
1
Nahid's Faithful
x4
1
Xenan Lifespeaker
x4
2
Cabal Slasher
x4
2
Dran, Won't Back Down
x4
2
Grumbo, Tota Legend
x4
2
Invitation
x4
2
Spiritweaver
x4
2
Temple Scribe
x4
4
Katra, the Devoted
x4
4
The Big Wheel
x4
Shadow Sigil
x4
Time Sigil
x1
Amber Waystone
x4
Xenan Banner
x4
Xenan Cylix
x4
Xenan Insignia
x4
Xultan Conclave
x4
View Deck on Shiftstoned
First of all, thanks for sharing this deck
i changed it a little bit, i removed x4 invitation and added x3 ephemeral wisp and x1 rite of renewal. ephemeral wisp has great synergy with some other cards in deck, also it's good blocker early on.
also i removed blackout the skies and dark return from market then added infinite hourglass and sandstorm scarf as i got trouble with some decks
deck works better now and i went 21-0 with those changes
Scarf for Blackout is justifiable, but I wouldn't cut Dark Return as it's the only proactive market grab. I'd cut Edict first, but I also hadn't found myself having issues with stuns. Even when I was getting Deep Freezed, all of the deck's engine infrastructure stays in play and any unit I drew immediately became a huge Lifesteal threat.
I love it is what Im trying to say, and heres to another 2000+ gold + a booster and cards... soooo easy! 🤌🤣
Or Grumbo, Tota Legend and Katra, the Devoted.
Even without, it's great at crippling the enemy board with Dran, Won't Back Down. It's about the only card I've found that's impactful on its own and synergistic with lifesteal combos.
I have not played with Moldermuck in this list. I have played with it in something pretty similar in the past though. It felt like the setup for Muck combo was a bit clunky though since Spiritweaver+Katra tends to generate fairly large boards even without Muck.
I know that our lists have actually diverged quite a lot from one another though. The list of cards which I had originally played with before removing them included:
Pause for Reflection
Sanctuary Priest
Freedom Fighter
Rite of Renewal
Aerie Steward
I also found it kind of funny that our Condemn markets don't have a single card in common.
I think that this sort of deck is so heavily focused on synergies that the whole is likely to be more than the sum of its parts, so I will play with your list a bit and see how I feel about those cards again in that context.
It's a lot more useful now that Dran exists, and you can be boosting Moldermuck much sooner. He's been great in dealing with aggro decks even without playing into a combo.
Also, Moldermuck gives you a nice advantage on a developed board of being able to attack more easily into units with deadly, or just whittling down larger units in general without having to sacrifice any of your other units.
I think the divergence of our lists is indicative of how many different tools these decks have to play with now, and I'm very happy about that.
That is pretty funny about the market, I hadn't realized that. I'm probably going to steal your idea of Turn For The Worse just to deal with Groundbreaker in case of emergency.
Lol it's funny that you should say that about Turn for the Worse as I was LITERALLY thinking that you should to have an answer for problematic units in general and Groundbreaker specifically. Turn for the Worse is a card which I always recommend considering for Condemn markets. I would probably replace Water of Life in yours. I think that Ancient Bauble fulfills the role in that slot a lot better.
I'm not sure how often you use Sinister Rumors to kill anything, but I found Dark Return to be usually be better than both Rumors and Excavate. Yeah, Excavate gains health, but you are almost always wanting a unit back with it, and much of the time you'd prefer not to go down a card to do it.
This deck is really heavily focused on the synergies between its cards, however, the trade off is that a lot of the cards don't function particularly well by themselves. Between enablers and enabled cards, it is also quite possible to draw such a skewed mix that you aren't able to benefit from your synergies properly. This is something which can be further exacerbated when the AI actually has removal or board clears for some of your important units. Historically, this is the reason that this sort of deck was unreliable in a format where your goal is to try to realistically win EVERY game.
The Big Wheel helps a lot with this issue. It provides a constant source of extra cards and life gain triggers to work with. More cards means more synergy means more winning. In the games where everything is going fine then I usually just Plunder it or send it to the market. In the games where I am not outright crushing the opponent, Wheel plays an integral role in outgrinding them. Wheel is the glue that holds the deck together, and the Plan B for when plan A wasn't good enough on its own. You can replace Wheel with something that makes your Plan A a little bit better, but then you just won't have a backup plan for the 20-33% of games where Plan A still isn't good enough. If you cut Wheel, I think you will find yourself having trouble chaining together a full 7 wins with any sort of consistency. The Big Wheel might not be fast, but it is necessary. If it feels too slow for you, then you might enjoy other decks more.