This was my first WR in Mythic in quite a while. I decided to play my aggro deception deck mainly because my diamond Shakedown makes it the shiniest deck I have that can actually win. I wasn't really focused on weekend ranked, but I got 11 wins out of my first 14 games, so I started to have hope of setting a personal best - or maybe even exceeding it.
Of course, that performance was more about RNG working in my favor than any improvement in my skill as a player, and sure enough, RNG turned aginst me. I won only 1 out of my last 4 games. Still enough to be my best weekend ranked, but not enough for the ever-elusive 2x Expansion leggy packs.
The gods were good, too:
The Deck
Code:
GU_1_2_CCmCCmCCQCCQCFVCFVIAlIAlCDDCDDIClIClCEPCEPKDSKDSKCdCEwCEwICyIAkIAkCFTCEcCEcKCuLALLALKDLKDL
It's a pretty basic aggro deception deck. The Blades of Whiteplain are where the price tag comes from. Plenty of cheaper options:
- Guild Enforcer
- Frumentari
- etc
Deck Breakdown
Lots of hidden creatures and early aggression mixed in with a few tools to help if you fall behind.
- Umber Arrow: critical against Anubians and Light. Given how popular Light is, I got a lot of mileage out of them. You also find opportunities for surprise lethal by stealing their creatures and hitting them with Dark Knives or similar.
- 2x Shiv: most people run 1x because 5 durability actually takes a while to use. However, I find them incredibly useful for board control or generating favor while going face. Safeguard Incantation is a joke with one of these in hand. They never expect the second.
- Lady Marcella: 5/5 worth of stats for 3 mana. Two of them with deadly. Great to play on an empty board against most opponents. We can also mitigate her afterlife with Shivs and Godpower. Often, you'll have their board choked with barrels, too.
- Surprise Delivery: 6 damage for 3 mana seems decent? Also, it clogs up boards really nicely. One of my light opponents did cast protective benediction on them giving them armor and frontline, though. He eventually beat me to death with them. Wasn't pretty. MOST of the time, though, they are great. Lots of games with aggro deception are a race to the finish line. In two games, I pinged a barrel with my GP to win and had I not I would have lost next turn.
- Shakedown: card draw is the difference between gassing out and winning games with aggro decks. I never keep it in the mulligan, but I'm usually happy to see it from a top deck and you nearly always get 2 cards from it.
Blades are in because they're OP, of course, and they are one of the only truly OP cards I own. I have 1x Martyr, too. Maybe it deserves a spot in the deck. Pietro has a great roar ability (and blades of course). Getting cards back to hand also helps prevent empty hands. Maybe drop a shiv for it?
My Weekend Experience
I played a variety of different decks. I was too fast for combo and control war. Never saw a 7-mana creature so no Demos or other whale shenanigans.
Anubians were difficult. I went 1/3. My win was due to finding both Umber Arrows and stealing both priestesses. Then I was able to keep my creatures hidden and go face. The two losses saw my board destroyed by Ragnarok and then never able to catch up.
Light came down to who went first (as it always does). My final game was a loss going second to this deck:
I'm linking to it, because whoever it is waited until the last second for max MMR and is shooting for a top 10 spot. When I played them, it was "???" so I'm curious to see how they finish and who they are. Their deck was also shiny AF with lots of diamonds, a gold Sern, etc.
https://gudecks.com/decks/GU_1_3_BDlBDlBEXBEXBGPBGPBHMKALKALKAYLAKLAKLALLALCABCABCBMCCsCCsCFfCFfGAfHAFHAFIAqIAqICbIChICkICk?godPowers=100115&creator=???&userId=166287&archetype=Aggro%20Light
I shouldn't complain given I own blades, but decks like this are why I don't enjoy Mythic these days. At least not during the weekend. I'd love to see game modes with price caps on decks in the future. Maybe based on average met prices over the last week or something. Could be a lot of fun.
I really enjoyed my games against nature. Challenging but interesting. One of the highlights of the weekend was filling a nature opponent's board with 6 barrels and being able to pass until it killed them. Wish I had recorded that one. I did record a more interesting come-from-behind against nature, though.
Luckily (RNG remember?) I didn't face much Magic, but I was too fast for both control magic decks I did face. Love to see Safeguard Incantation while sitting on a Shiv.
Gameplay 1
I was basically sure this game was over but didn't give up because it was the weekend. It wound up making a great video.
Turn 1
No option except to play Armor Lurker into an almost guaranteed Canopy Barrage. It of course shows up.
Turn 2
I'm bricked and just play a shiv. They take the board.
Turn 3
Now I know they are amazons, and I'm behind on board. The only way to win is to do whatever it takes to get their board clear. We set one on fire. They proceed to take the board even harder.
Turn 4
This where the correct play was to quit. I take my chances and do my best to trade out. Our hand is terrible, but at least we have some of our tools to keep us in the game. They completely brick their turn, which is huge for us.
Turn 5
They're brick lets me get a Sneaky Bruiser down, but I'm expecting another barrage or Lightning Strike. Luckily they don't and instead play a sniper.
Turn 6
We're able to trade out the Riverjumper, which was the goal to begin with. We're behind and forced into the control position. Our mission is to stabilize the board and stop the bleeding. We don't have much to play, but at least the lurker can't get pinged to death by the sniper.
Turn 7
Big turn. Able to trade out their 2/3 and ping off their sniper, which let's us reach the 3/3 ward in the sanctum. This is the beginning of the end for our opponent.
I give them a lot of credit for not trading out on that turn. They realize they are the aggro player and only have 1 card left in their hand. They go face trying to beat it out.
Turn 8+
Umber Arrow + GP clears their board. Then we start pushing face damage. Sneaky bruiser next turn protects our Lurker from Lightning Strike, and I play Felid just to get as much threat on the board as possible. He misses the Tracker with his GP, and that's game.
Gameplay 2
I just wanted to share the joy beating a $2300 deck. Part of the reason I went with Hidden Rush was to win before Mythic players get to play their demos and other toys. Their GP identifies them as control from the start, so I know what I'm up against.
Turn 2
A lot of indecision on that Selfless Guildmate I know. Ultimately I decided to go for it knowing full well that some blitzer is going to kill it. I figured it was either go fast or lose.
Turn 3
Same dilemma: go fast or draw 2 cards? Since Looter gives a card anyway, I go that route.
Turn 4
PW is a problem. I go to the well with Shakedown but don't get much help. I decide to also sack Looter for an additional card. I should have sacked him and drawn a card before playing the second looter, though.
Their ironborne sucks.
Turn 5
Hey! It's my OP card! What a turn! Such skill! I decide to trade out the Looter in hopes that the Blade survives the next turn. Not only does it, but our opponent sacrifices their 1/1 and draws me another card. I can only assume setting up a Carnage Sweep.
Turn 6
One of my favorite turns of the weekend and the game-winner of this match. Importantly, note that my hand is full of cards, which gives me all these options to choose from. I think I found the line that inflicted maximum pain.
Our opponent goes ahead with their Carnage Sweep. However, we stole his OP card, which gives us back our OP card because it was on the far left. Fun times.
Turn 6
Here I basically dare him to have the second Carnage. It's a solid bet. One I'm also comfortable making because I have plenty of cards to play next turn if he does have it. I also have 2 turns before demos drop.
My other option would have been to play Assassin's Aim and Dark Knives on the Martyr. I decide against it. Carnage Sweep would still be an out for him, but now other outs like Savage Strike also save him. Even Devouring Blade would have a 50/50 shot to save him if he kills the Switch Duelist. The Pietro play reduced his outs to a single card giving me the highest chance to win.
KAG goes digging - likely for a Savage Strike which would at least prevent me from using Assassin's Aim on my 2/2s, but he fails to find it. And that's GG.
Conclusion
Sunday night is not the best time to play weekend ranked games. The sweatiest of the sweaty min/max by playing late in the weekend. This is because MMR breaks ties between the top 10 players. Starting later means your opponents have higher MMR compared to right after the MMR reset (all mythic players start the weekend at 1350 MMR). This in turn means later players gain more MMR for wins compare to earlier players. All of my opponents Sunday PM had hidden names and expensive decks.
I started off the weekend expecting nothing and basically just played for my 3 wins a day. I wound up with my best performance in a year of playing GU.