[Masters] Top 200 Budget Skycragg Aggro - December/2017

Deck that took me from Gold I to Masters exclusively in just a few days on the start of December season in 2017.

Here's the proof of masters with the deck and proof of rank

The reason for all the cheap cards is that I'm still a new player in Eternal (this is my second month playing the game and second time reaching masters, although I do have a card-games background from MtG and HS) and I still lack many of the Legendaries, like Vadius, Clan Father, which is a common inclusion in Skycragg lists and I'm also missing many of the good rares still (Like the Shogun's Scepter, which I only own 2 of and didn't feel like crafting a couple more with the limited shiftstone I currently have).

Despite the holes in my collection, Skycragg feels quite strong right now and this deck has been super consistent for me even in Diamond 1 and once in there, I rode a 7 wins hotstreak straight to top 200 masters, winning against a few 100 rank players on the way.

The aim of this deck is to stun early blockers or kill them with rockslides and torches and hit face a lot, finishing with either pressure on the board with so many small units that the enemy can't handle or by obliterating their face, sometimes over two turns, after they've taken enough damage from the early turns of the game. The ideal mulligan would be two fire and a blue, with a nice mix of 1-2 power units, but the deck can navigate well on mono fire or just a fire and blue in the early turns. Having one or two tricks and removal in the opening hand is also great. Let's go into some of the card choices:

- The Rockslides feel great against all the other aggro decks rampant on ladder, like Rally Queen and opposing Skycragg decks. Switch one out for another Cinder Yeti though if you're facing more control and midrange decks, as they aren't that good in those match-ups

- Obliterate was a card I chose to include after seeing a reddit post from IlyaK where he's using the card in his Skycragg deck and decided to give it a try. It helped me many times to close out games after the opponent had stabilized the board and started turning the aggression around. It was also clutch in other aggro and mirror matchups, helping to finish the opponent before they could finish us. It also is a clean answer to Sandstorm Titans which are everywhere and can really halt this deck's aggression if you can't deal with it. Running 4 of is a must so you can have or topdeck at least one at the right times.

- Champion of Fury is definitely the MVP and a nice turn two with charge along with your 1 drop or when hit by a few warcries.

- Skycrag Stranger is mostly a filler card, a roleplayer in here, as you might have imagined, but he has good reasons to be in the deck. He provides fixing needed sometimes for the Scepters and Obliterates, has sinergy with the Ruthless Strangers and helps with pumping up Champion of Fury influence requirements more consistently. Have only 2 power, no more power in hand and can't fully activate Chafu? Play the Stranger this turn and the next one you should get him fully activated! This card alone makes sure you always have a 2 drop 4/2 with charge. He can also fix your influence for you when you get unlucky and start only with primal sigils in hand, which is very rare, but I had it happen. With all that said, I feel like he's one of the flex spots in the deck. I'm not quite sure yet what to replace him with though. Another plus side about him is that many times you can play him when you know the enemy has a torch or some other removal like that in hand and let him eat it, leaving your other good units in your hand safe to come down the turn after and do some more damage or get their warcries on.

In some games, the draws might be clunky (drawing double obliterate in the opening hand feels awful, I know right), but don't be fooled, that's just variance, you'll still win more games than you will lose with this deck. This is what I mean when I say that!

Hope you enjoy the list and good luck on your climb!