Intro
My last post was about an aggressive Nature Wild deck featuring Pack Stalk and buff cards at 4 and 5 mana. It occurred to me this was the exact strategy that Amazon decks use, but that Amazons might be better at it.
- They are better at getting wide
- Their buffs are stronger
I decided to start play testing a deck. I don't have all the new CSR cards, but the deck is already performing well. This post won't be as in depth, as I recently made this post outlining Amazons in detail.
The Deck
Deck Code:
GU_1_5_CExCExCBfCBfBELBELBEuBEuCGAICGICGCFuCCOCCOCAvCAvCDYCDYBCCBCCBCnBCnCFyGAsBCRBCRCAECAEBGtBGt
I only just got Riverjumper Captain and have started trying her out (hence the only 2 games played with this exact deck). More on her in a section below.
The bulk of the deck's price are the 2x underbrush boars. Feel free to swap in more Amazons for something easier on the budget.
Strategy
Same idea as all aggro Amazon decks: have board at 5 mana and hit Arkmonian Onslaught or other buffs to win the game. See the previous post for more details.
New Additions
- Pack Stalk
It's incredibly easy for an Amazon deck to put 3 creatures on the deck in a single turn. This means that - even from behind - you can have huge turns to swing the game. However, this requires some discipline I learned playing temp magic: if behind on board, you can't play your creatures out 1 or 2 at a time. You've got to save up and get that big swing in a single turn. Feel free to use Animal Bond to stall.
When ahead, Pack Stalk is more straightforward. Instead of dropping Arkmonian, drop one more amazon first. Then Pack Stalk into the buff.
- Riverjumper Captain
In this deck, I'm running 1x Steadfast Scout and 1x Riverjumper Captain. It's close, but I think you have to give the nod to Riverjumper Captain. On an empty board, the Captain is much (much) better than the Scout. On the other hand, their bonus stat pay offs work differently:
- Scout: having 2 creatures (of any kind) means you wind up with 8 total stats.
- Captain: needs 3 amazons on board to reach 8 stats, but probably breaks even at 2 amazons given her ward. Of course, the ultimate high roll (5 other amazons) means a monster 5/4 warded Amazon hitting the board with ward for 3 mana. If you have 5 other amazons on board, you've probably already won, though.
Ward is key here given the biggest weakness of Amazon decks: board clears. Even a 1/4 with ward can stick around long enough to get buffed and be great. A sad 1/3 with no cover is just eaten immediately.
Also, for 4 mana in a single turn, you can go from empty board to this:
If you have a lot of cards in hand plus Pack Stalk, you can see how the captain would fit in nicely.
Gameplay
This game shows me using Pack Stalk on turn 2 to get an extra creature on the board rather than try and high roll a better combo later. My assumption is that my blessing would get me at least 6 favor or maybe a zombie and then I can go for maximum favor generation and out tempo my opponent. Even with a bad blessing, I was generating a lot of favor that turn with FFB and Pixies. I ended up drawing 3 cards from the sanctum before my opponent drew their first.
We simply out tempo an aggressive war deck and we never even drew our payoff cards.
FWIW, my first 3 cards in the mulligan were the ultimate high roll if going second. Because I was going first, I decided to try and get at least one card to open with. I didn't add it all up, but those opening pixies generated a ton of favor over the course of the game. MVPs.