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Warhelm Rakano Aggro (Post Patch Update!)

Throne Deck By
Paradox
Paradox+3422
Team Rankstar

+45

Cost Curve

Type

Faction

Information

POST 1/17/19 BALANCE PATCH: The nerf to Rizahn and FJS in general have helped Rakano Aggro out tremendously while hurting them very little. The rise of Reanimator also looks to be beneficial to the deck, though we'll see how things pan out. I think a much more linear path with more 1-drops in the form of District Infantry are the way to go now with less decks capable of gaining a ton of life at the end of the game and shutting you out of reach. Shoutout to chriseay who took this deck to 3rd place in the ECQ and evolved the deck into what I think was the best direction for it at the current time.

It is hard to say how the metagame will settle, but for the time being, I think this Rakano Aggro is very well positioned. The inclusion of x4 Vanquisher's Blade is particularly good as there are a lot of scream and reanimator lists that are vulnerable to the blade. Valkyrie Enforcer is also very good right now, which means it is a very worthwhile inclusion for our deck. Happy grinding!

_________________________________

Here are some tips for playing the deck.

1. Warhelm is here because it actually becomes pretty good with Renown targets. In particular, it is absolutely insane alongside Highland Sharpshooter. Helm + Sharpshooter gives your top unit +5/+3, Warcry, and Charge (+4/+2 from the Sharpshooter and another +1/+1 from the Warcry.) I don't think I ever lost a game where I got the combo. If you have the two in your opening hand, I would play them on Turn 3 and play another 2-drop on turn 2 if you have one. You should also save Warhelms for when you get another unit to get more surprise charging units.

2. Don't go out of the way to try and save Hojan. It's great if he lives but don't foil your whole game plan just to let him live. Just play him out on turn 2 and if they kill him then your 3 drops and charging units are more likely to live. You don't need to gain any life if they're just dead.

3. Redraw for an aggressive hand. Oni Ronin and District Infantry are nice, but not always necessary. Just make sure your hand has a plan and can put the opponent on a clock between it's 1 and 2 cost units.

4. This is accidentally budget friendly and can be made to be even more budget friendly. Inquisitor's Blade can be replaced by finest Hours or putting Elder's Feather's in the mainboard. The Deepforged Plate could also be replaced for an Elder's Feather or another big weapon or unit.

Good luck and have fun!

Details

Shiftstone Cost
Does not include campaign cost
26,350

Premium Cost
143,200

Influence Requirements
2 2

Power Sources
14 16 8 4

Power Calculator
Shiftstoned Icon View Deck on Shiftstoned

Deck Rarities
19 24 25 1

Card Types
32 12 10 0 26

Contains Cards From Campaigns
Dead Reckoning [Set1003]

Archetype
Aggro

Updated
January 19, 2019

Added
December 20, 2018

Views
29,345

Eternal Version
Balance Changes

BBCode For Comments

Deck URL

Revisions (Since last major patch) January 19, 2019


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Comments

Silvernight Eternal Version: 1.42.3
I have not played since last year, threw away far, tried your deck, complete darkness, cannot do anything at all. Where so many advantages? Perhaps it was not bad at the beginning, but at the moment it is rubbish.
zafuri Eternal Version: 1.42.3
Hey Silvernight, the deck was the one of the most fine tuned at the moment.
I too, facing the same issue currently as people already adapted to how this aggro deck works and will shift their tempo to out grind us. Therefore, to be honest, I think at the moment traditional aggro decks will have more volatility in terms of performance compared to early - mid season of Defiance.

But that aside, would you mind sharing what issues you are facing? For me is simply just opponent's creatures and board quickly outclass mine and their removals pin pointing correctly at the right units, making me powerless in front of their progressive board and removal piles. Therefore I opted for more Aegis units such as Kosul Battlemage and Crownwatch Paladin instead of Hojan and Whirling Duo.
zafuri Eternal Version: 1.42.3
I've some issue with the list, my units cannot keep up with the removals of FJS and the Time variants that are popular in Masters 300 - 200. Once the Time big dudes hits (Sandstorm Titan especially), if I did not aggro enough, it's too demanding on my removals.

That aside, I do have some fair success with Kosul Battlemage instead of Whirling Duo thanks to Aegis. The unit has been kind of underwhelming to me. Not sure about what other's experience.
chriseay Eternal Version: 1.42.3
Thanks for the shout out and the deck is looking good. I'll still be tinkering with this as the month goes on!
Paradox Eternal Version: 1.42.3
Of course! I haven't touched it much lately so I'm excited to see if you are able to develop it much.
JoeCool Eternal Version: 1.42.3
Tx for the update.
Dearthair Eternal Version: 1.42.2
What is the rationale for so much potentially depleted power? I love this deck, but it seems like the banners and seats should be just sigils or waystones. We only need one fire and two justice to unlock the whole deck, and, for example, you only have about a 55% chance for a seat to be active turn one on the play. I haven't tried it yet, but I suspect that having more undepleted power will be more consistent than having so many potentially depleted duals. Granted, this is coming from a long time MTG player, where having tapped lands in an aggressive deck is almost considered blasphemous.
Paradox Edited Eternal Version: 1.42.3
Though this is a good question, I don't believe that fully applies to this deck. Seats and Banners are very standard for a 2F aggro deck, and they are only occasionally depleted upon entry. The Shugo's are acceptable due to their ability to become a game-winning combat trick, and the rest is undepleted. However, I will answer your question in the event I thought this were true, as there are several aggro decks that play crests and several other come-into-play-depleted power.

I also have a long history of MtG, and while I do agree it's much more vulnerable there, in Eternal it's not as big a deal unless you're playing several 1-drops (like 8-12+). In general, your power curve in this game has been dramatically less important than in MtG due to the very pushed lifesteal cards which are likely to entirely reverse any life advantage you gained—there have been very few metagames in the past year or so where true linear aggro was actually a good strategy (at the higher parts of ladder.) Because of such pushed lifesteal cards, the main importance becomes just a) playing your cards in the first place and ensuring you have the influence you need, and b) just playing the most powerful cards with less concern for curve. This is why Haunted Highway exists: it's an aggro-combo-ish deck that is very slow out the gate with a heavy 3 faction requirement, but the combination of the cards available in those three factions make a deck so powerful that it makes up for the slow start. This Rakano deck here is not that way, but regardless, with only one 1-drop (which the old version had), the CIPD power just doesn't make a difference.
Dearthair Eternal Version: 1.42.3
Thanks for the detailed response! I hadn't considered the relative lack of one drops. With only one one drop, having undepleted power turn one is much less important. Still Loving this deck, although I do have Unseen Commando in place of Enforcer (mostly because i have a playset). I honestly don't know which is better. There are games I would have won with a silence effect, but the Commando has won me a bunch of games, too. An evasive lifestealer is pretty good, and having it come down with charge and +5/+3 can be a massive swing. Once I get around to crafting a set if enforcers, I'll test them out as well.
Comment Deleted
Spazzie Eternal Version: 1.42.2
You're an amazing deck builder. I've been using a similar deck that deployed most of the Units and spells that you're using in your deck - but the way you quantified it, how you sorted out the number of cards and how your synchronized the overall consistency of the deck; is just phenomenal. I was riding a lose streak with a deck that's two cards different from yours - but your brilliant way of sorting out card quantity to improve consistency made me get back on my winning streak as previous times. Thanks for this piece.
ArKan3 Edited Eternal Version: 1.42.2
You going to update the description with this new list? It's nothing like the list you actually describe and give tips for.
VoidKing Eternal Version: 1.42.2
This deck is really pretty solid considering it's aggro. Much more solid than Face Combrei, albeit not quite as fast in most cases. A credit to the builder, even if the meta doesn't favor it at the moment. It has great synergy, and in many games you end up winning with much still left in your hand to play (a rarity for most aggro decks I've played).

But, boy, if ever you needed proof that the gauntlet cheats, try spamming it with this deck. It truly gets quite comical xD.
Zado Eternal Version: 1.42
How is this deck doing right now?
Paradox Edited Eternal Version: 1.42
I think it is still a great deck for hitting masters and even playing in low masters, but at the top of masters (200+ rank or so) people have adjusted and the deck is no longer as strong as a result. I'm working on a new Ixtun deck that uses many of the same cards, so if it successful, I will post it.
OSPerry Eternal Version: 1.42
It may just have been a bad string of luck, but I was really disappointed with it seeing that it couldn't handle casual. I had just entered Diamond for the first time, and I was looking for something to propel me to masters. I thought I would play around in casual and get familiar with the deck before trying it out in ranked, and then it got devastated in casual. I was afraid this deck would knock be back into gold.
Paradox Eternal Version: 1.42
Also, believe it or not, casual is hardly anything but casual and is usually filled with all manner of players (including many people in top 100 who don't want to lose their ranks) and people with strong decks attempting to do the same thing you were—test a deck before taking it on ladder. Again, I think this deck is pretty average now that people have adapted, but I wouldn't suggest using casual as a place to expect only bad decks to walk over.
Paradox Eternal Version: 1.42
I am sorry. Again, it was extremely successful for myself and a handful of other players for a while, but the metagame evolved and other things are very well positioned towards it (namely, the new breed of Peak decks.) My goal is not to convince people to play a deck, but help them. I only gave the deck the praise I did because it really was pretty good for a few days.
mauric Eternal Version: 1.42
the deck is brilliant. I see it all over the place and it's doing well. It beats skycrag and goes under peaks. Great stuff!
OSPerry Eternal Version: 1.42
Not exactly the outcome I was looking for. Only playing casual.
https://i.imgur.com/rSQveV0.jpg
Paradox Eternal Version: 1.42
I mean, variance is always gonna happen. The deck is also a few weeks old, which matters a lot at the beginning of the set release when lots of new things are being tried a lot. I think it is still a great deck for hitting masters but a lot of people have adapted and it is no longer as strong as it used to be as a result.
TaxMan5x Eternal Version: 1.42
Well that was a waste of time and shiftstone. This deck has no game against tokens or any other decent aggro strategy...and rolls over to other heavily played cards like Vara and Haunting Scream. Needs a lot of work.
mauric Eternal Version: 1.42
it's great on ladder atm. probably the best aggro deck around. It has answers to vara. very good in the current meta.
LycaNinja Eternal Version: 1.42
What happened to the market? Why remove Bore?
delete_This Edited Eternal Version: 1.42
This deck is good because it focuses on Charge and Aegis, it's really efficient against all the removal pile BS infecting the ladder.

This is the best Rakano deck for that reason alone.
abyssion8 Eternal Version: 1.42
Substituted Jawbone for a Deepforged Plate (since I had one) and it won me a game very quickly.
chrisjoiner Eternal Version: 1.42
Got me to masters thanks man
Abeneezer Eternal Version: 1.42
Jesus, the sharpshooter combo is stronk. Wouldn't be surprised to see that nerfed a bit.
mauric Eternal Version: 1.42
I've been testing this for an hour or so. Definitely an unreal deck. works very well in the current meta.
Aetherllama Eternal Version: 1.42
Cool, I was trying something similar (Warhelm with the 3 Defiance units), but yours looks even better. If you are looking for a Rebuke replacement, maybe Valkyrie Enforcer or Cloud of Ash?
Paradox Eternal Version: 1.42
Hahaha I hadn't even seen your list! That's awesome. The Rebuke was there just as a catch-all for any threat, be it SST or whatever, but I think LycaNinja's suggestion for Avigraft might be good, even if it's 1 more power.
LycaNinja Eternal Version: 1.42
I put Avigraft there.
OneAntic Eternal Version: 1.42
I've also been loving these rakano aggro lists with maindeck warhelms lately. My go-to market card for pushing unit damage through has been mindfire, which seems really good now with basically no darudes running around