“Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Heart. With your powers combined.”
“I’m gunna save you the heart break, three colours won’t work. You will variance your way out of this tournament.” – Geoffrey
This deck came 2nd in the SorceryFest 2026 Grand Contest in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands.
THE DECK PHILOSOPHY
Shout out to @Aadu who I think was the first person to really figure out the Imposter theory I’m using – hit hard and early, and force your opponent to choose between putting their resources into removing the Pathfinder Mask, or removing the early game pressure we aim to apply. The first generation of decks we brewed with this philosophy (that I was involved with) were running Mixes and Four Waters, but in Earth/Fire at the moment I don’t think they are required as there are plenty of powerful 3-drops we can deploy.
The deck is designed to incrementally accrue a value differential with the opponent on board by trading with 4+ power minions, whilst drawing 1 additional card per turn with the Pathfinder Mask early.
In the late game, you have the flexibility of the 9 other masks in the collection, as well as a number of ‘tricks’ to deploy across 3 colours.
We stretch to:
4 pips for Earth (for Michael, Gargantula, and Paladins) though majority 2 pip.
3 pips for Fire (for Peasant Revolt, and Morgana) though majority 2 pip.
1 pip for Air. Towers are good enough to run in non-Air mono element decks in my opinion. That we gain access to some incredible spells is just icing on the cake.
THE ATLAS
The site selection is almost entirely threshold based, and ordinary as much as possible.
By simulating drawing 7 sites off the top of a shuffled deck, I was able to verify that not hitting my thresholds is highly improbable (though obviously still possible) post mulligan.
I have 8/30 opportunities to hit the single air threshold I need.
I only run 3 Elite/Unique sites:
Mount Ussar – So many Sorcery games come down to a double death door situation, and fleeing with a Ward can allow you to tie-break these games.
Valley of Delight – Flexible threshold selection allows 3 elements to work.
The other benefit of this site selection is a partial immunity to Atlantean Fate (which can win games on turn 5) via the 12 ordinary sites – there will almost always be somewhere to stack up minions.
THE SPELLBOOK
Minions Package
The minion package is a fairly generic Earth/Fire selection, with a focus on being able to drop a threat on turn 3 OR a Stefania to disrupt the opponent (depending on draws and matchup). We have a reasonable curve up to 7 mana maximum.
Pudge Butcher is one minion I think has been under-rated for some time. 4 mana for 5 power, with the ability to yoink the opposing avatar or annoying minions across the realm is incredibly valuable. He can lock down columns, or be silenced/blinked to suddenly re-emerge as a threat. Far too frequently I see players ignore Pudge Butcher, because they don’t want to take a turn to step to the side, and instead rely on a blocker between themselves and the Butcher.
The Common Sense Package
I run 2xCommon Sense, which have 11 options:
1. 1xBlink – A Pudge Butcher enabler, a cantrip, or a kill spell.
2. 1xCritical Strike – One of the best ‘tricks’ in this deck, that can enable you to Door the opponent from 20 life. This works with Michael, and can also be played, flashed back with Magoo to allow you to hit the enemy avatar for 4x damage for 7 mana.
3. 1xDispel – Ompholoi and the Ring and Atlantean Fate are everywhere, this requires no explanation.
4. 1xFirebolts – Kills through Ward or blockers as the projectiles are one at a time, or just mops up token minions.
5. 2xGift of the Serpent – Excellent value with Collicky or Kobolds. Also a cantrip.
6. 1xGift of the Wolf – For value trading + a cantrip.
7. 1xLightning Bolt – Kills Ironclad.
8. 1xBury – Can be minion removal, but can also just waste an opponent’s Omphalos in minion heavy decks, or just get rid of Ring.
9. 2xGrapple Shot – One of the reasons I’m splashing Air, and an enabler for big bursty damage.
The extensive use of cheap spells means I can frequently drop a threat + gain value with a magic each turn from the midgame onwards. This also fills the Cemetery for Archimago Mask value in the late game.
The Board Wipes
1xPoison Nova – This card is so incredible, it was a tough choice to only run one. However I think given the Power of the minions being deployed, frequently I’m ahead on board, and this is more of a last resort OR fantastic in a situation where my opponent is racing me, and our minions are on opposite sides of the realm.
2xEarthquake – Really requires no explanation. Earth decks run this.
2xMajor Explosion – I chose this over Craterize because I don’t really want to be going over 7 mana if possible. This spell already does plenty enough damage.
Everything Else
1xTithe – As an Imposter, you will have games where the opponent has a Lightning Bolt from the mulligan, or some other way to get you off Pathfinder Mask quickly. In these games, Tithe enables you to continue drawing 1 spell each turn to out-value them.
1xPeasant Revolt – Truly the MVP of this deck. It can only hit 3/30 of our sites, and absolutely wrecks many other decks that have loaded up with Unique/Elite minions and sites. This card can single-handedly win the game against Air/Water Necro, who’s the big bad of this meta.
1xGigantism – Big attack good.
2xDisintegrate – Unconditional removal, and a banish for annoying deathrites or minions that could return (Green Knight).
1xRing of Morrigan – Every deck should run this, but I would mulligan it away against any Water deck. Swap is death.
2xTrinket – Value trade with your opponent! Get ahead on board.
1xRuby Core – Imposter loves ramp, and an extra Fire threshold doesn’t hurt.
THE MASKS
I think of the masks as incredible 3 mana spells, that can reuse their effect once per turn for 0 unless you take direct damage.
In rough order of importance:
Pathfinder – This is the heart of every Imposter deck. +1 card per turn.
Sorcerer - +1 card per turn from site 7 onwards.
Ironclad – Ironclad… on a Gnome Hollows… with a Spider under it…
Deathspeaker – With 3 colours, we have the opportunity to utilise our opponent’s graveyard a lot. Archangel Michael can be a big surprise.
Interrogator – One line you can take if PF Mask is destroyed, or if the opportunity presents itself, is Interrogator. The opponent will almost always allow you to draw, allowing you to draw sites for turn (effectively inversing the PF Mask).
Avatar of Earth – It’s an Earth meta at the moment, and this mask can swing for 6.
Archimago – Almost always just to flash back one spell for the finish, anything under 5 mana in the graveyard is up for grabs.
Enchantress – Almost entirely for removing the opponent’s Auras as I only run The Great Famine, but if you happen to need 4 extra damage…
Witch – Sometimes you just really need 2 damage. More rarely you can curse to stop a Craterize.
Savior – This was my flex slot, and I did consider Flamecaller instead. I think I only got value from this Mask once in the entire tournament, but if you don’t have anything else to do on a turn it can be quite threatening to leave up.
THE MATCHUPS
This deck was built to combat the AW Necro plague, and I can report it’s highly effective. We have deserts to ping skeletons, we have Dragonettes/Kobolds to ping skeletons. We have disables and defensive sites for their early big minions. We have Orders who stop skeleton production entirely. Pudge Butcher is ready to yoink them (or just remove 1 skeleton per turn for the rest of the game from the back row). And all the while they live in fear that the Peasants are coming…
The deck runs no Archimago hate, and the only 2 losses I took were to Archimago (one to Felix in the Swiss which was avenged in the semi-final, and to Geoffrey in the final). However the deck still has a decent chance (I would estimate 45:55 in favour of the Magoo).
The games I played were:
Mud Sorceror
Water Pathfinder
Dragonlord Talamh Dreig (quite possibly the most terrifying game)
Dust Ramp Sorceror
2x AW Necro
3x Archimago
Mud Imposter