Deep down I've always been a basic nature player. Big-statted creatures make for a straight-forward gameplan:
Step 1: Put creatures on board.
Step 2: Kill opponent with those creatures.
This is probably what draws me to big-statted nether/zombie decks, too. This weekend a managed to score 10/18 wins and a leggy pack with my nature deck. Nevermind the "Ethereal Diamond" - since WR I deranked playing some odd decks for fun (and honestly losing some with good decks 😄)
I'm also excited about the 3 epic packs. Been trying to unpack some Faithbreakers. I currently only have 1 plain. I'm sure I'll get more catapults and ballista, though.
The Deck
This deck has gone through some tweaking, which explains the low game count. Also, 2 of those losses shouldn't really be counted too harshly against the deck. My last 2 games of weekend ranked I couldn't quite outrun Dralamar and then bricked hard against Ryhan (one of my vids is the Ryhan game).
Code:
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My latest tweak was to remove 1x canopy barrage and 1x howler for 2x black jags. This is meant to tilt the deck a bit more towards a solidly aggressive list, which is what it should really be. However, adding confused creatures to a sudden bloom / charm deck is less than ideal. The more you invest in buffing a creature, the more painful it is when it misses due to being confused. Maybe 2x howler 1x jag is better.
My previous change shifted from 2x Falling Stars and 1x Lightning Strike to now the opposite.
Lightning Strike lets you remove a guild enforcer and finish the game. Falling Star is a bit slower but arguably more value. So again, the shift is to make the deck faster / more aggressive. Falling Star may come out completely. I generally dislike singletons at 5 or more mana as it messes with the early game and mulligan. I'd love to replace it with Dagan if I can win one. Maybe a stag for now.
My final tweak was to swap out Briar for Basilisk:
I'm still on the fence about this change. I definitely ran into sleep this weekend, and I drew svart in both games, but I was still unable to secure the win. The ideal case is you have already cast sudden bloom, they sleep you, and then you cast svart and win. This is a small amount of extra win %, but I think it does exist. The problem is you basically have 1 turn (6.5 mana) where you have to have already cast Sudden Bloom and before Apoc Now can drop. You get a little wider window against control deception, though. I think I'll stick with it for now. Briar isn't amazing, but removing 4 relic durability does make it a better shot at removing Pallas' Wand when facing card draw magic. I'm just not sure which edge case is better to tech for.
Game 1
This is how things are supposed to go! Luckily we get to go first against anubians and we have a strong turn 1 and 2. Charm gives us a beefy-AF beetle, and because he isn't confused we get to take full advantage. Anubians are incredibly strong, so even at 8 to 22 hp I didn't feel safe.
At 6 mana I get jammed up because both our best options are relics and he just bought relic removal which in hindsight I should have bought. I was thinking the rune would let me finish the game even if he removed a few creatures. Got punished by the full wipe. So we just play svart and go digging (because the rune wouldn't give us lethal). We get the sudden bloom we were looking for.
The misplay: My Sudden Bloom strikes are on auto pilot these days: hit face then hit the creature with the lowest strength. Well I wasn't expecting the order of operations, but the zombie leech happens before my damage from overkill splashes. If I had hit the 3/3, it would have been lethal.
Lukcily, 22 to 1 is past even what zombies can come back from. At least in this game.
Game 2
This is mainly a reminder that all card games have an RNG component. I completely brick (and against a well-known player!), which is a bummer. I mean my mulligan options were terrible and then I drew them again in my early turns. 18 of my 30 cards are 3 mana or below!
I do have a question for the community, though. Particularly and
: did I misplay by pipping out the Marsh Walker on turn 2? I'm honestly not sure. I know it ended up not mattering because a drew my second Bloom and completely bricked, but bad beats aside, I'm wondering what was the optimal play.
If I had held on to the pip, I would have been able to play up to a 4 mana card the next turn or the walker and up to 3 mana. In the end, I was just trying not to lose tempo.
Conclusion
I won a leggy pack with a nature deck, so let's hope the gods of Eucos favor me with that Dagan! In my mind, this is one of the top two deck archetypes for nature right now. The flourish + dagan + dalia regen deck is also really good.
Let me know in the comments if you have suggestion on how to improve the deck. Should Falling Star come out? I already have plenty of answers for hidden deception. Jags vs howlers? I'm constantly tweaking to try and squeeze out even 1% more chance to win.