Went 18 - 3 and coasted through Diamond to Masters post-Endra nerf.
Big Combrei seems to be in a pretty good spot post nerf since you can ditch the excess stand together and silence effects for higher threat density and most everyone I faced was playing decks that couldn't deal with the density of our fatties/sword of unity.
This deck tried and succeeded in finding a spot between aggro lists that couldn't deal with Sword of Unity and slow tri-color decks that weren't running 4x harsh rules. It doesn't seem to have a good MU against Elysian midrange decks and will have to make a bunch of swaps if time midrange with Carnosaurs become popular post buff.
Qirin ascendant instead of Saber Tooth Pride Leader as an experiment in the market. Rarely had the body be relevant for some reason.
How to play:
Market your 2 drops like Teacher and Longhorn if you can't play them on curve and do not desperately need them to block against aggro.
Try to always ramp up and play minions ahead of curve. Slap sword onto fliers against decks that can build large enough boards to block well on the ground. Parliament for 2 Owls is perfectly fine in most cases. For 1 owl it's usually better to take the 7/7 or a Sword.
Cards you probably shouldn't touch:
Teacher
Tocas
Merchant
Enforcer
Sword
Behemoth
Initiate
Seek Power
Desert Marshals
3-4 of Ascendant/Telut
Ironthorn
Flex Spots:
Everything Else
Market Flex:
Warden against void decks
Qirin/Prideleader vs Relics
Refer to sideboard for possible alternatives.
Initiate of the Sands
x4
1
Seek Power
x3
2
Aamri's Choice
x1
2
Desert Marshal
x2
2
Intrepid Longhorn
x4
2
Teacher of Humility
x4
3
Auralian Merchant
x4
3
Knight-Chancellor Siraf
x2
3
Tocas, Waystone Harvester
x4
3
Valkyrie Enforcer
x4
4
Sandstorm Titan
x4
4
Sword of Unity
x3
5
Marshal Ironthorn
x3
5
Worldbearer Behemoth
x4
6
Mystic Ascendant
x3
7
Telut, Queen's Hand
x1
Justice Sigil
x4
Time Sigil
x3
Amber Waystone
x2
Combrei Banner
x4
Combrei Insignia
x4
Crest of Progress
x4
Seat of Progress
x4
View Deck on Shiftstoned
Some more random card thoughts: the eight 2 drop 3/3s are great. Tocas is insane and beats combrei aggro and rakano aggro by itself. The Amri's choices have only been OK for me, whereas the Desert Marshal and Enforcer have over performed. I've often found myself wanting to draw an Ironthorn both in the mid game and late game. The one Telmut has been great, even if it doesn't have many sigils to fetch.
I don't have final recommendations to make but - despite my success with this deck as listed, so far - that is where I see some slack to play around with.
SST's big butt isn't particularly relevant since we have lots of other similar sized units which are also more synergistic.
Then we can fit in more Marshals, Teluts, etc.
Like, I started back in beta where SST was always an auto include but maybe now we have enough cards to get by without him!
The power and flexibility this deck has in this meta remains impressive.
also re: power & flexibility yeah we run OP time legendaries plus OP Justice effects attached to bodies.
The main thing about SST other than not blocking as many 5 damage fliers from before: Shelterwing, Impending Doom, Soulfire Drake,
Is that if you hit a merchant or Tocas on 3 power you'd want to play a 5 drop instead of float 1 mana.
How have the 2 Siraf been working out for you? This deck was originally designed as a midrange deck fighting the 2 aggro decks like you mentioned, and also random tri-color slow decks. She does work blocking 3/3s and grinding out control. Now that I'm in such low masters, I mostly fight jank combo decks that she is too slow for.
Also, I was thinking of trying the 2 mana Siraf instead. I haven't used her enough or found a table of her average rolls.
Lastly, I'm experimenting with Minotaur plate maker. Double Damage is great with Sword of Unity and also he's a mana sink for small amounts instead of needing 7 for Siraf.
The Sirafs are definitely another flex spot. The thing is she is great vs. aggro decks. Being 3/4 and multicolored makes her tough to remove... but maybe the 4/4 minotaur is just better in that role if that is the need? As a mana sink she has been pretty mediocre. Needing to exhaust is a big downside unless the opposing board is empty. Whenever my opponents have an active Siraf they seem to churn out 6/6s and 8/8s, while I always seem to get a string of 2/2 and 0/6s. That said, 3 and 5 drops are key. I love platemaker in renown decks - but I'm not sure about playing him before maxing out on SST - though playing platemaker alongside small Siraf is always powerful.
Maindeck great parliments also get better if you are moving away from SST.
- 4 longhorns - 2 Aamri's choice - 2 Combrei Siraf - 1 SST, - 1 Desert Marshal - 1 Amber Waystone
+ 2 Great Parliament + 2 Justice Siraf, + 2 Platemakers + 2 Telut + 1 Justice Sigil
am currently running a lot of different cards, cut the longhorns since I rarely get value from them and am running platemakers and multiple Teluts and 0/5 Siraf.
svrQQ+6532
As with most mid-range decks, knowing the other decks in the format and when to play the beatdown role and when to play the control role is key. This deck also really rewards knowing when to shift roles in game. Sometimes you can just roll an aggro deck by beating down on the play. Other times that transitions happens much later. Often times I like to begin the race the turn before I play sword (if possible).
Yeah this is more of a mid-range deck so it wants to run the OP Combrei 3/3s package. The Amri's choices have also been only OK for me too and were an experiment. Probably better to run more marshals, I agree since seems to be a lot of silence value generators that don't attack in.
Yeah fetching Sigils is mostly win more, the debuff and free weapon are strong enough alone. Been seeing a lot of Azindel lately, making his 1/1s unable to attack is huge.
That said, I did stick some chains in main deck just to finish off stalls, and it worked well.
In short, I don't have Siraf and lack 1 mystic ascendent, and 1 sword of unity so that gave me 4 spaces to dick around with.
I swapped Reality Warden for shen-ra speaks just because i alwaays like to have a wipe just incase.
Added chains has been working out really well. Can market it away if you really need to, but it's been the finisher I needed many times over. (Although sword of unity can finish really well when on something like a mystic ascendant with giant stats)
https://eternalwarcry.com/decks/d/RU7GJv77YWc/big-combrei-little-chains-tier-1-meta-monday