I didn't know this when I built the deck, but this Avatar (used to be) the most hated because it requires only 2 braincells to rub together for a victory. There's a lot of lines in this primer, but you only need to read the next 4 to understand the deck:
1) Put earth sites in the center of the mat
2) Put Avatar there and attack
3) ????
4) Profit!!
Contents
UPDATES
1/17/2026 -- Sin CIty Open was a banger of an event. Managed to pull a 2nd place standing with no sleep, and I was imagining this deck bad against Necro, but I did still come out over at least 1 Necro list. Standout cards from the event:
Gargantula
Toolbox
Forlorn Keep
Shield Maidens
Smite
Sinkhole
Simple Village (breaking wards)
Kind of want to try out Sister Stefania and possibly Sisters of Silence after seeing the spicy 1st place Imposter list.
11/8/2025 -- Just won the 1st New Mexico Cornerstone event with this list. Just want to say it was a great event with a wide spread of so many cool decks, and very cool people.
The only glaring thing that came to mind is that I would like an Ordinary creature I can get with common sense.
2/1/2025 -- This deck and Battlemage seem to have fallen out of favor. The reality is, the game is just more aggressive/creature based than it used to be. This deck could jut sit there and deal 5 a turn using the Avatar with little repercussions. Now, even control decks play many minions. The addition of seems seems necessary to adjust for this if this deck is ever going to win consistently. I also play a lot against my least favorite matchup at my LGS: + control.
11/30/2024 -- Arthurian legends has obviously begged this deck to make a lot of updates. The change here is to only play Earth sites. The Towers are are great in their own respect, but it's extremely detrimental to take a turn off to draw a non-Earth site that was planed to be in the center of the board. I've managed to have a deck that only plays Earth Threshold sites, and only 1 Air threshold is needed. Just mulligan until you have an air threshold, and you'll be set.
4/18/2024 -- With Enchantress being so popular, I'm starting to like the idea of playing a few more big critters (guys that can kill and animated Aura). I don't mind that the Unicorns hold a bit of a "lightning rod" moniker so early. Better them than Pudge or Phalanx.
General Strategy
The core of this deck is:
1x -- Best card in the game. Play this or walk.
1x -- Auto include in Earth based decks. Remember, it also comes into play as Spellcasters too!
4x -- I win almost all games off this card alone
2x -- At least 2, play more if you want
2x -- As a turn 2 play, it just moves your best card forward a turn while cantripping.
2x — Removal, mobility, and buffs our avatar in one card. Play as many as they’ll let us.
2x — A very real threat at 5 power for 5 mana that effectively is cast in the opponent’s face every time. Simple and devastating.
2x — There is no other card I want more in my opening hand. This card often put’s an opponent’s site in front of the starting position of your Avatar. The game will snowball very quickly in your favor soon after.
3x -- Card has utility and is explosive. Like Earthquake, play as many as they'll let us.
The Earthen Trinity:
These are the cards that just force your opponents to make decisions or take massive amounts of damage
Aside notes in this strategy:
Game Progression
Briefly, just get down enough sites to bridge the gap between your Avatar and your opponents board, which is typically 5 sites max. So most games you're just going to keep drawing from your Spellbook since 5 is the max amount of mana you'll ever need.
Early -- Paying for your tokens is pretty common, while also playing for ''no reason'' as it moves your Avatar, and draws a card. Just to be efficient with mana, I don't mind playing a for a grapple shot or .
Mid -- It's Simple: drop what are hopefully the highest power minions on the table, and start bullying everything you can. Play your 's and 's when needed.
Death Blow -- It's not difficult for this deck to count to 20, but Black Jack can be a little rough to land. All your mobility effects are really what makes the deck tick. The general game plan is show your opponent that there's no place to run. Don't forget cards like and are special effects too that can end the game. Currently testing for a game winning effect as well.
Specific Card Discussion
I'm not going to go over the commonly played good cards, but I'd rather talk about fringe cards or cards I've tested and have moved on from.
-- This is a metagame call. This card is phenomenal against a lot of water based decks.
-- An Ordinary card that can snipe a win. It's also some pretty decent beef otherwise. Seems like it could use a test.
-- Off the bat, this card is always useful. You should be getting comfortable using your Avatar as removal in this deck, unlike many Avatars in this game.
--I've won many games off a dumb foot soldier who sat there eating lunch for 5 turns. Best finisher in the game after Grapple Shot
-- I played for a while, but it feels a little clunky and overkill. I like the option to fetch with Common Sense too, so I'm testing Overpower in place of Gigantism. Also, the dream play of Gigantism + is much more reasonable with Overpower.
-- I think this card has sat dead in my hand too many times. It's most useful when you don't have the Earth sites to kill a unit with your Avatar. In this case, I'd rather have that is a little similar, but playable turn 2 rather than not having any gas.
UPDATE: This card is useful as a sideboard card against decks that don't play Earth.
-- A lot of mana to often only pump your avatar
-- I haven't had much luck with this card at all. It's been hard to cast with it being 5 mana and 2 wind threshold. I'm sure it would be playable if you were to play some more Towers in place of Villages, but I'd rather not sacrifice power for the Avatar as it struggles when not playing against another Earth deck.
-- I used to have a problem with this card because of the threshold, but now that I'm definitely all in on earth, it should be worth testing again.
-- A unique card in that it works to "gain life" even when at Death's Door. And the fact that it's 4 power for 4 mana is pretty good on rate if it did nothing else.
-- They never disappoint as a turn 2 play. They are searchable and playable in the same turn with Common Sense. I'm teetering on keeping at least 1 in the deck.
-- Has proven to be pretty good on power, and it synergizes with the Villages easily so the deathrite pretty much always triggers. A weird side affect is also getting to rearrange his positioning on recasting which is a little sneaky.
-- Seems like they really need to only come in against Fire decks.
UPDATE: Fire, and specifically Poison Nova is becoming very popular at my shop.
-- Testing another option for synergy with Common Sense. Seems like good tech against given it's errata -- your opponent gains control until it loses stealth.
-- Has been good so far, I like that it can be searched with Common Sense, but I dislike that I've never been able to cast it the same turn. might prove to be better in all honesty.
UPDATE: Testing Roaming Monster here which seems like a catch all to the problems I’ve been talking about.
-- Janky Grappleshot that draws a card. Seems worth it! if it was Ordinary, it would totally be worth it. I'd like to test this card, but not in place of a blink.
— Cards like and are incredibly popular. It’s also not uncommon to see ’s or ’s. Since it can also kill artifacts, this will always be useful mainboard.
-- Philosopher's Stone is phenomenal, obviously, but I've made this much more of a mono element deck which makes the Mix's better.
UPDATE: Yeah, slamming or on turn 2 is pretty nasty.
"Spell Lands" and
Spell Lands are a bit out of place in this deck. There just isn't a lot of times you're not positioned well for these to be of any use, and you should stop drawing sites very quickly in this deck. How you want to play these is really up to your playstyle. I've been getting better with Holy Ground so I've gone back to those. To summarize the two:
Holy Ground -- better vs aggressive control cards, , , and
Quagmire -- Better against aggressive creature strategies, and .
-- In this deck it seems great. It's another Windmill, and it's not often we need to play sites next to it.
Matchups
The Good
The ...fair
The Ugly
1) They can manipulate and gum up your board easily.
2) Bury//burrow doesn't work. Goodbye .
3) and are just nasty.
Recorded Gameplay
More of a how to video on Sorcery and TTS. The more interesting aspect of this gameplay is showcasing how detrimental it can be to not draw your critical mass of Earth sites.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6FGwHTQW8c
Outside Sources about the Strategy
Gencon 2023 Finalist Decklist --> https://curiosa.io/decks/clla1bv8t000ykx0g82n9a3ua
AoE Showcase, The Winning Agenda Decklist--> https://curiosa.io/decks/clf3gywls001xjs0fq0oymxrw