Hi all! I've been having fun crafting/refining this midrange list and wanted to share it. It's a light deck that should be fairly annoying for just about any opponent you match into. I'll explain how it plays and why I think it can be decent against the field. There will also be a budget variant now that LV cards are exploding.
The Deck
Deck Code:
GU_1_3_IAvIAvBCYBCYIAtCABCABKDQCDoCDoIAqIAqCBHCBHCEdCEdLAKCFbCFbICkICkICbLALLALICZCCGIAyIAyCCrCCr
I've played more games than this while tweaking the deck, but overall it's sitting around 60%-65% win rate at the moment.
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the budget deck, which should still be really strong.
Tools against everyone
This deck packs a lot of different tools into one compact package. Ward, order, heal synergy, and stat manipulation. There is something in this deck for every opponent to dislike.
Ward
Our Magic/Death tech.
The annoyance-per-mana metric on each of these cards is high. Parthene and Porphyrion in particular are fantastic at draining magic's resources. Death decks also struggle. No god likes having their god power increased by 2. Light's Summon Acolyte becomes basically unplayable.
In total, we have 8/30 cards with ward in the deck and 6 of them are 3 mana or less. Against spells casters, you are almost guaranteed to find at least one in the mulligan if you go looking for it.
Order
How we shut down creature-based aggro decks like nature and war.
This deck isn't all-out aggression like most of the light decks in the meta right now. This means you can't out-race other aggro decks. You need to make it to 5 and 6 mana to play your game winners. Order is how we slow down aggro.
Order is also how we stretch and finish against control decks featuring large frontliners. (Radiant Dawn provides anti-sleep tech to finish against the rest.) We also have enough order in the deck to warrant at least 1x Divine Judgement. It can remove anything except hidden creatures. So the hope is to ignore big frontliners with order and if we still can't finish them off, obliterate them to buy one more turn.
Obliterate (and Judge Envoy) also solve the problem of what to do if that creature you ordered just keeps getting buffed. War can still Sole Survivor it and wipe any non-warded creatures.
Healing
Our best chance against the deck's weakest matchups.
Hidden Deception and Anubian Death are likely the worst matchups for this deck. You can't order what you can't see, so you can't slow deception down. Our wards do nothing to stop stoneskin poison or strength stealers. We have no void hate (although we can hope to Levy key anubians). Against deception, our best hope is to heal enough + Porphyrion to make Orfero's Distraction too expensive.
Parthene is particularly helpful because you can decide to heal or go on the offensive. If Sern is on board, you can draw a ton of cards.
Stat Manipulation
Useful tools in tight spots.
Having a Judge Envoy in hand at 6 mana with a target feels great. 15/15 ordered Fickle Cambion? No problem. That happened in one of my first games. I could afford to ignore it completely (being mindful of Over the Line and my current health, though). At 6 mana it became a 0/15 cambion. I won that game.
Militant Theist may be my favorite light cards. It's 3/4 worth of stats for 3 mana but better. Either 1/1 of those stats has blitz or you can use it to -1/-1 another creature. Excellent against Armor Lukers and Vexing Vicars. At 6 mana you can combine it with Levy in a pinch.
Devoted Follower is easily cleared by an Axewoman, but otherwise can bring a lot of value. He also checks two of the synergy boxes in this deck (ward and stat manipulation) so makes a lot of sense. Throw him at a Pyramid Warden to make it a 0/3 for your other creatures to clear up safely and bring him back. Use him to make your Cudgel swings less painful.
Levy vs Extortionist
Aggro light topping out with Asterius wants Extortionist. More creatures to hit with board-wide buffs. In this deck, we want the 2/2. Saves space on our board and requires a bit more than a sneeze to clear. That's my current thinking anyway.
Mulligan
After reading the Tools section, the mulligan should be self-explanatory. Look for the tools you need for the god/deck you are facing. Against spells: ward. Against creatures: order. Against hidden deception: thoughts and prayers (and cudgel and theist).
Gameplay 1: A win
Going first is nice. Our opening hand is great, and getting to play Theist 2x due to Martyr is just amazing. I do misplay at 4 mana and miss on 1 damage. I attacked thinking I'd play Devoted Follower but then changed my mind and played Theist to be more mana efficient and to make his Blade swing more painful.
At 5 mana, we get to see order in action. Blood Guard is a nasty little guy that spits out two 1/1s when he dies. So we just don't kill him. We finish him next turn with obliterate to bypass his afterlife. Against an aggro deck like this, we don't need to hold obliterate for big creatures. Sern then draws us our win cons. Thanks, Sern.
I did flub the end of this game. Looking back at his deck, he didn't have Sole Survivor, but I should have expected him to have it. I could have played Judge Envoy on the Viking Longship and cleared board. Instead, I went with the Archpriest. I realized the error half-way through the turn and clean it up next turn.
And that's game.
Gameplay 2: A loss
Going second this game. Also against aggro war. In Solar Gold you run into some really interesting decks and this was one of them. His start was incredibly impressive. Valknir Outrider is a 5/3 for 3 mana and he pumps it to 7 and gives it protected. Unreal.
At 4 mana, I decide to swing face with the relic for three reasons:
- To get the Form of Power from the sanctum next turn.
- I'm going to need the healing without taking more damage.
- I'm not swinging into a 7/3 protected. 😄
At 5 mana, the race is on. If I trade away my board to clear his 5/5, I just lose the game on the spot.
When he plays Another Round, I immediately regret my decision. Luckily, we aren't aggro light and we top deck Judge Envoy.
Now reviewing the video tape, I realize I play this wrong, and it's important to learn from our mistakes. I cleared the 0/8 when I should have gone face. We actually lose by exactly the 8 damage we used to clear the 0/8.
Now imagine my sadness when Devouring Blade comes out of nowhere AND it destroys my 6/6 (25% shot). Then followed by Penitent Spear. Then followed by Savage Strike for perfect lethal. All singletons in the deck.
That's right. You just witnessed a pile-o-cards deck high roll perfectly to win.
I'm not even mad. GG Jlord. That was wild.
Bad beat aside, this game actually does a lot to showcase the power of the deck. The other reason to show this one is none of our Light's Verdict cards showed up and the deck still played extremely well. Stat manipulation and order were stars.
Budget Options
Pretty simple modifications: take out the LV cards and Sern then you have options for what to add. Your best bet would be 2x Canonize and 2x Axewomen. These changes alone drastically reduce the cost of the deck.
To reduce further still: swap Cudgel for Mace of Calling and instead of Canonize go with Guild Enforcers. Yes, they are blade food, but otherwise they are still great and compliment the healing in your deck well. What you end up with a really solid $14 deck:
Code:
GU_1_3_CABCABIAtIAvIAvKDQHAFHAFCDoCDoCFXCFXIAqIAqCBHCBHCEdCEdCFbCFbICkICkCCGICHICHICZCCrCCrIAyIAy
Conclusion
Midrange in general has been given some breathing room. Aggro decks slowed down a few patches ago. Control Magic has weakened a bit as of last patch. The changes to transform also have made Anubians less painful (and less common to see).
I'm naturally drawn to midrange decks. Aggro decks play themselves and generally just depend on what you draw. Control decks take forever. Midrange is, well, in the middle. You get to make some choices so games stay unique and interesting, but they don't take 30 minutes.
Hope you give this one a spin. It's fun and more than viable in Solar Gold. It might be better higher up, but I haven't been up there to test it in a while. Currently 3/1 with the deck in Diamond. Should be 4/0, but I was watching a stream and missed my opponent buying a Rune of Fire!