Last week, I tried my hand at playing Control Nature after the Sage of Renewal rework and got a pretty good result of 19/25. However, I theorized that the strength of Control Nature was artificially higher last week than what it actually is due to people not knowing how to play against it since it only gained popularity recently. After all, it isn't that strong of a control deck when compared to alternatives like Board Wipe Death or Control War. That being said, the meta still contains many mid-range decks, and I managed to score a cool 19/25 this week as well! Follow me as I talk you through my Weekend Ranked experience.
Giveaway Results
Every week, I give away a few units of Hive SBI which help to upvote your Hive posts for visibility and rewards for as long as they run - you don't have to do anything on your part. I explained the mechanics of how this giveaway works in another Weekend Ranked Rundown post, but in short, the more active you are in the GU Hive community, the more chances you have to win. You can check your HBI status here.
This week's winners:
Deck Overview
Deck Link: GUDecks
I made two small changes from my first iteration of the deck, but otherwise, the rest of the deck has remained the same. The theme of the deck remains unchanged - survive the early and mid-game and crush the opponent with unprecedented amounts of value in the late game.
I swapped 2x Low-Hanging Fruit for 2x Athenian Archer. In this deck, the Vibrant Fruit hardly ever gets to buff anything in the early game where Low-Hanging Fruit has arguably the most impact. Unlike in Aggro/Midrange Nature, it is essentially a 1-damage ping to a semi-targeted enemy with a 1/1 body in this deck. Athenian Archer is a 1-damage targeted ping and a 1/2 body, being able to remove Ward and Protected with much more ease. The choice is obvious!
This may be a more experimental swap, but I swapped out both my Skeleton Heavys for Vow of Champions. I found that the Skeleton Heavys were often simply killed off as soon as they touch the board - Light's Levy, Canopy Barrage, Starshard Bolt, etc. Since this deck has very few early-game creatures, I figured that the Skeleton Heavy just wasn't good enough. In place of it, Vow of Champions served as a Swiss-army knife by being able to draw, heal, or deal extra damage.
Performance and Matchmaking Breakdown
Starting Rank: Mythic
Wins: 19/25
Reward Packs: 2x Core Rare, 2x Core Epic, 1x Core Legendary, 2x DO Rare, 2x DO Epic, 1x DO Legendary
Theoretical pack value based on current pack prices: $43.95
| Opponent Deck | Score (Wins / Total Games) |
|---|---|
| Nature | 5 / 6 |
| War | 4 / 6 |
| Magic | 3 / 3 |
| Death | 3 / 4 |
| Deception | 3 / 4 |
| Light | 1 / 2 |
| Total | 19 / 25 |
Since this is most likely going to be the last Control Nature run before the Core Set Refresh (and thus a new meta), here are some of my thoughts on Control Nature's match-ups.
Favored Match-ups
Midrange War/Nature, Tempo Magic/Aggro Magic
Midrange decks don't have enough firepower at the start of the game and don't have enough value in the late game. These match-ups should be the easiest to win with Control Nature as long as you don't have too many dead cards in the early game.
Zombie Death
If you manage to draw Iron-tooth Goblin to remove their Necroscepter early and/or equip a Blazing Talisman early, it's almost a guaranteed win. The goal of this match is to survive until turn 7 (6-mana) when you have access to The Hunt and Enchanted Vines, both of which should wreck any remaining winning chances for the opponent. Of course, always be wary of Corpse Explosion if your opponent's deck contains it, which can deal 15 or more damage in a turn.
Order Deception (without Cutthroat Insight)
Order Deception is annoying with how many cards they can steal from your deck, but thankfully most of them are useless against you since Control Nature is full of removal but hardly any creatures. It also isn't fast enough to kill you off before The Hunt and Enchanted Vines come into play. Winning is almost guaranteed - that, is if they don't have Cutthroat Insight, which can ruin your day easily if they play it at the right moment.
Ramp/Structure Magic
This is honestly more of a toss-up depending on whether they have something like Trial of the False Reflection for their Polyhymnia since you often need 2 turns to clear it. If their sole threat is a big 9-drop, it's favored for Control Nature. If they have multiple threats, it depends on how well your Sage of Renewal rolls go.
Unfavored
Board Wipe Death
Almost a guaranteed loss. There really isn't any strategy you can employ with this deck that can give you a fighting chance against BWD. Perhaps if you manage to remove Neferu's Khopesh, you might be able to fend off everything, although that is pretty unlikely.
Aggro Light/War
Simply put, with a control deck, you have a higher chance of bricking your hand in the early game. Aggro decks have tremendous firepower early, and losses can come swiftly without something like a Blazing Talisman.
Deception with Cutthroat Insight
Unless you get lucky with your draws, Cutthroat Insight on a 7-mana turn can easily snipe Dionysus, Guerilla Gardener, or Sage of Renewal from your hand. Not very fun when that happens.
Highlights and Game Footage
vs Order Deception
Against Order Deception, it's sometimes necessary to remove their creatures that steal cards from you, like Patient Pickpocket and Vault Vagabond. After all, you don't want them to be playing your big cards against you.
In this match, you can see that I "wasted" a Frenzied Ritual against a Vault Vagabond on turn 4, but I think it's well worth it to ensure that my opponent doesn't get something like a Sage of Renewal to ruin my day.
In general, even though I got somewhat lucky with my draws to clear my opponent's board, I felt that my opponent didn't stand much of a chance once I got out my Blazing Talisman.
Historical Performance
While I'm really satisfied with the performance of Control Nature, I'm also looking forward to switch up my deck after the upcoming Core Set Refresh, which should be pushed to the live server after the weekend event. Even though I enjoy playing greedy decks, it takes a lot of time to play 25 matches during the weekend! GUDecks states that my average number of rounds in the Weekend Event is 15, so... make do with that what you will.
I'm excited to try out new decks and explore the new meta when the Core Set Refresh drops! Hoping that it'll bring about fresh deck archetypes to the meta and more exciting gameplay. Personally, I'll most likely shift to a more aggressive deck archetype in the next week, but we'll see!
Last 10 Weekend Ranked posts and performance in order of recency:
| Time Period | Deck | Score (Wins / Total Games) | Starting Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2022 W1 (Current) | Control Nature | 19 / 25 | Mythic |
| Feb 2022 W4 | Control Nature | 19 / 25 | Mythic |
| Feb 2022 W3 | Tempo Magic | 18 / 25 | Mythic |
| Feb 2022 W2 | Tempo Magic | 19 / 25 | Mythic |
| Feb 2022 W1 | Tempo Magic | 18 / 25 | Mythic |
| Jan 2022 W5 | Tempo Magic | 19 / 25 | Mythic |
| Jan 2022 W4 | Mid-range Nature | 17 / 25 | Mythic |
| Jan 2022 W3 | Mid-range Nature | 15 / 25 | Mythic |
| Jan 2022 W2 | Mid-range Nature | 11 / 25 | Mythic |
| Jan 2022 W1 | Aggro War | 18 / 25 | Mythic |
| Dec 2021 W4 | Aggro War | 19 / 25 | Mythic |
Concluding Thoughts
This wraps up my last Weekend Ranked event before the Core Set Refresh! I'm sorry to all the opponents who've wasted lots of time playing against this deck, but I'll try my best to change things up next week 😆 Catch you next week!
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