This deck is my love letter to Alpha/Beta Deathspeaker in a meta that is full of charge minions, Archimagos gaining 14+ life in a turn, and a Druid who plays sick drum solos.
Here’s a breakdown of my design choices:
Apprentice Wizard, Sisters of Avalon, and Land Surveyor: The standard draw package for Deathspeaker. I went 3/3/3 because realistically, I don’t like the Apprentices or Surveyors as 4 ofs. They eat valuable card slots for bigger, meaner cards if you run more than 3. Land Surveyor, along with Common Sense, are the only reasons I run Earth.
Grain Sparrow: 2 of, weirdly enough. It’s an Airborne weenie that gains 4 life per bird. It’s my compromise with myself to not run Divine Healing.
Sir Lamorak: He clears the area around him when he dies. Great fit. Bolt him for a DIY Poison Nova. Bury him to kill Root Spiders.
Sir Morien: Objectively one of the best cards in the deck. 5 power on 3 bodies, prevents Flamecaller, Pudge, Archimago, Nelly Longarms, and a bunch of other things from blasting you in the face. Stops piercing projectiles. Did I mention he’s an army in a can?
Dame Britomart: She can trade her attack to recycle mortals. I’m not sure it’s objectively better than 4 damage in some cases, but recycling the Sirs, Death Dealer, and Grandmaster Wizards aligns with my plan quite well. Or maybe you blew your Boudicca too early. Ruler of Thul also is fun to reanimate, and makes up for the lack of damage. She does way more than she says on the card. 3/5 with a Lance is also pretty big.
Questing Beast: It’s a big, fat, stealth minion that moves extra steps. It’s kind of stupid how good this card is in a vacuum, and as a general value piece. It’s really easy for this thing to dump itself on your opponents Avatar.
Nimbus Jinn: This guy, 6 cards in hand, and a Vile Imp = 20-Door. Probably not fast enough these days, but exists as an alt wincon. A 4 power airborne minion doesn’t suck, either. Might experiment with leaving my love behind. If I did, Selfsame Simulacrum would be an option for 1 to 1 swaps.
Boudicca: this card is a war crime with this many weenies. Sir Morien represents 14 damage alone if he’s well placed and she comes down. A Border Militia might as well say “target opponent goes to Death’s Door” since Foot Soldiers attack sites for 4 damage. I could go on and on, but she’s insane. Worth triple fire threshold every day of the week.
Ruler of Thul: My favorite water card, other than Atlantean Fate. The reason this deck (along with Atlantean Fare) originally splashed Water honestly. He’s less good than Boudicca, but he’s the OG. He’s still really good.
Border Militia: It’s bodies. This deck wants bodies to gum up the board, then swing for way more than they’re worth. It’s a good party trick, and I’m debating on whether or not it’s better than “Guards!” at sucker punching people in combination with Boudicca.
Pendragon Legacy: This deck has a shocking amount of Uniques, why not capitalize on this? It cycles at worst, recycles Feast For Crows, Boudicca, Sirs, Dame, Death Dealer, unique sites, Cores, Ring, Princess, etc at best. High floor, higher ceiling. Prevents Peasant Revolt from totally making your day awful. You should probably Feast For Crows Peasant Revolt if you’re that worried though.
Considerations:
Selfsame Simulacrum: It does too much. Two Questing Beasts? Four mana GMW? Four mana second Morgana? Make a Monstrous Lion to slam into their Monstrous Lion? Make a second Sir? Overkill with a second Boudicca on turn 8, so your piddly foot soldiers attack sites for 7? Reuse any Genesis on the battlefield for 4 mana? Ruler of Thul #2? Why isn’t it in the deck? I’m struggling with cuts and it feels a little bit “win more.” Drawing it on a blank board as the only card in hand seems terrible. However, so is Nimbus Jinn in the same situation, so is Land Surveyor, etc.
Lady of the Lake: She can shuffle into your spellbook and summon a dead mortal to her site. Dame and her synergize well, but Lady is triple water threshold in an already greedy deck. I probably still want her in a later iteration.
Sir Mordred: Genesis and Deathrite kill spell? 4 power? Realistically, I want him, but am struggling on cuts.
Guards!: It feels awkward to get 9 maximum Foot Soldiers at 6 mana. Realistically, 6 of which can attack the next turn if your avatar is in the second row. Border Militia costs 3, is single threshold, is Common Sense-able, and gets you 3-5 Foot Soldiers. I’m probably wrong. I just can’t justify it currently.
Root Spiders: “7.8/10 too much Water” - IGN, 2014, in their review of “Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire”
Angel’s Eggs: They’re phenomenal. They’re dead vs Archimago. I can’t really justify them. Grain Sparrow is Common Sense-able and gains life in bursts.
Hyter Sprites: I want to believe. I can’t currently predict my opponent’s hand. Lookout could fix this. Medium on them currently. They can prevent things being cast from the cemetery, too.
FAQ:
”What about Bower of Bliss?”
I can’t say any real decks run it. It’s also the age old “what about Roots of Yggdrasil?” question. If they have it, they have it. I have a Smokestacks and a Atlantean Fate. I got nothing else.
”What about Archimago gaining a full 20 life?”
Foot Soldiers + Value Chumps + Boudicca / Ruler of Thul = OTK. If they have the nut draw, they have the nut draw. I’ve got Impenetrable Copse and Sir Morien, projectiles don’t really scare me.
“What about Charge Aggro?”
Errr, we try to throw things under their feet until they stall out or I get a Poison Nova / Atlantean Fate. Trade minions into theirs. Gain some life off Sparrows. Vile Imp does a lot of heavy lifting. If you can maneuver them correctly, maybe takes out 2-3 of them.
”What about Funeral Pyre?”
As long as you don’t let things rot in the cemetery, you can kinda play around it.
”Isn’t this deck extremely weak to Peasant Revolt?”
Yeah. Yeah it is.