Winning with this deck is exactly like
this
My version of Paradox's
Dragon Swarm deck. It's pretty much the same list with a few tweaks to make it run smoother. You either ramp out an early Molot & Nakova (or Feast-Caller) and win with that or control the game until you start hardcasting Molot and the Ends. Usually a mix of both. My changes focus on making Tribute easier to get and getting more card advantage both by using the double cards (e.g. Unstable Form) and by drawing more cards.
-4 Crimson Firemaw, +4 Jotun Feast-Caller: Firemaw was good sometimes, but as a unprotected body that does nothing on summon it just didn't fit. I did get a 4 cost Molot once, but usually Firemaw just died immediately and set me back. Rarely did I get to block or attack with it, and the top end seems strong enough that there was no point in getting aggressive that early.
Feast-Caller fits much better. It's not as aggressive, but it's much more threatening. Firemaw can help kill them, but Feast-Caller will straight up win you the game by itself. Plus it's a
lot better to hit with End of Hostilities, and the Aegis really helps soak up removal that they'd use on Molot and Nakova.
-2 Swindle, +2 Herald's Song: Swindle is a neat idea but it usually got sent to the Market/bottom, or costed too much for me to use it and survive. Herald's Song is
much better as it gives you more Strategize/Market fodder, a way to activate Tribute without interacting with the opponent, and something to spend random extra power on.
-some sigils, +3 Granite Waystone: I think I took out some basic sigils and a seat (since there are fewer basics) for the Waystones, and they have been a huge help. The extra card for Strategize/Markets is always nice, but the biggest thing is the easier access to tribute. The 1-cost unit plus Herald's Song, Snowballs and Torch make it pretty easy to activate tribute for 2 without needing the opponent's help. As long as you plan for it it's pretty easy to get tribute at will, and that really shores up what I think was the main weakness of Paradox's version.
-2 Seek Power, +2 Petition: I'm not really sure about this one. My thinking is this slot is only a 2-of so you're more likely to see it late, and between all the Waystones and Crests the sigils offer a lot of utility. Plus you can get a 2 faction sigil and that makes it a lot easier to activate the Waystones. Petition seems better to me, but I haven't really been keeping track of the opportunity cost vs Seek Power.
Market: -1 Swindle, +1 Rain of Frogs: Maybe Swindle is good in the Market but it never really seemed like a good idea to grab it so I added something more proactive. Rain of Frogs has been sweet, the deck has trouble against less explosive, more control-y decks like PJS or Temporal control and Rain of Frogs is a great card against them. I've definitely won some games by grabbing it on turn 3 and playing it on turn 4. Basically you want to use it when your opponent is letting you be the aggressor. You're not going to be aggressive enough to kill them before the lategame, so you use the window they give you by not contesting the board early to hamstring them.
Overall this seems like a tier 1/2 deck; I climbed from mid-100 masters to the top 3 (finished the season at 2) with it and it was a pretty smooth climb. I felt like I had game against most of the decks I played, and the win condition is ridiculously explosive and versatile. It is really hard to pilot though, between all the discards/swaps/Strategizes with the double cards and the fact that End of Hostilities can target enemy units there are a lot of decisions where it's hard to tell what the right choice is, but making the wrong one will really screw you a couple (or many) turns later. The deck is super fun and I would highly recommend you check it out, but pay close attention to your choices and how the game would have played out if you made a different one because you'll probably make a lot of mistakes at first.
Torch
x4
1
Unstable Form
x3
2
Eilyn's Favor
x4
2
Herald's Song
x2
2
Petition
x2
2
Strategize
x4
3
Hailstorm
x4
3
Jennev Merchant
x4
3
Rusty Grenamotive
x4
3
Wisdom of the Elders
x4
5
Jotun Feast-Caller
x4
5
Jotun Hurler
x2
6
End of Hostilities
x4
6
End of the Barrel
x2
8
Molot & Nakova
x3
Fire Sigil
x4
Primal Sigil
x5
Cobalt Waystone
x3
Crest of Fury
x4
Granite Waystone
x3
Seat of Fury
x3
Skycrag Banner
x3
View Deck on Shiftstoned
I did put a Jawbone Greatsword in place of one of the End of Hostilities, to save a little ss. But I am stoked
Hurler has always been deceptively good (IMHO), but it's definitely better now than ever before (because of Markets, basically). It's not flashy but I honestly think it's one of the best cards in the deck because of how much it smooths things out. But it's hard to tell how good it is without playing it because its power comes from its versatility. The secret is that the body is almost never played. Instead it's usually traded for a real card, which makes the Snowball free. And a free Snowball is actually nutty.
The Snowball can kill a unit in pretty much any aggro deck, help Hailstorm clear their board, pop a Aegis (including face Aegis), activate Spark (this is a big one), and activate Tribute (with a Grenadin), among other things. And it does this all of this without costing you a draw (usually). It feels really bad to use a Torch to pop an Aegis so Hailstorm will wipe their board because you're spending two draws which usually makes it an even trade. But Snowball doesn't have that problem since it's usually free. This opens up a lot of plays where you can 2-for-1 yourself (e.g. Torch + Snowball to kill a 4 health unit) without actually 2-for-1ing yourself. Sometimes you won't need it, but then you can just trade it for a better card - this deck has plenty of ways to do that.
You're right that the body is mediocre at best but sometimes a 5 power 4/4 is exactly what you need. That doesn't happen very often though, usually it's just sent to the bottom of the deck, Market or Void in exchange for a real card. It's also a unit you don't care about holding on to (usually), so you can discard it with Herald's Song to activate tribute, and that's pretty sweet.
Basically I want that slot to be a double card to make the Merchant, Strategize, and Herald's Song as good as possible. Hurler is a double card that brings things to the table that no other double card does, namely damage based interaction and a unit. It really increases the versatility of the deck and I think that's one of the deck's main strengths. I don't think you want more than 2 though, the 5 cost body can clog up your hand and you usually only want to see it once a game.
I mean it makes sense on paper, but in practice, a lot of the time you will get hands or situations where you draw the hurler, and you dont have a merchant or strategize, and you just wish it was an actual good card.
It could be ok though as a 2-of, it's hard for me to disagree without trying it. I just look at the list and everything makes sense and lools like it has a purpose, and then i see hurler lol. I mean, I do love that card in draft. I'll have to try it. I'll at least give a thumbs up for ingenuity
definitely seems superior to Pearlescent Drake and the like that i was running in my variant
but yea, might give your list a whirl on the friday tournament. seems like the best iteration to date.
out of curiosity, how do you feel about End of the Barrel?. the other day i remembered that Kindle exists but it probably isn't reliable/impactful enough
I've actually thought about trying Kindle, but Tribute isn't as plentiful for this deck as I'd like and it doesn't have warp so you always have to draw it. It might actually be a good choice in your version though, since it comes online earlier.
End of the Barrel is actually pretty sweet. You can use it to power out a turn 6 Molot & Nakova, but the Warp is also very good. Any time you have 6 power and it's on top of your deck you can just play it to get it out of the way since it pays for itself (sometimes you want to wait but usually not). The Tribute mode is occasionally useful but mostly it's used to get a turn 6 Molot or smooth out the draws with Warp. Sometimes you can get a really explosive turn with it, and it's almost never a dead card. I'd never play more than 2 since you need to combo it with other things but I don't think I'd ever want less than 2 either.
I've been thinking about doing a tournament but I definitely won't have time this week. Maybe we'll face each other one day but for this week I hope you win!