Hey all,
Nature isn't in the best spot at the moment (aggro or control), but I tweaked my control deck to add Shines on Us All + Dearly Departed. Let's see how it went.
Deck Code:
GU_1_5_CFxIDYIDYCCOCCOKDSKDSLAHLAHBCCBCCGCOGCOCBxCBxKBCLAILAIPAOPAOOAIOAIGAmGAmOAJOAJPAmPAmPAfIBy
I started off with 1x copy of Shines and Departed, but I basically never drew the combo. I decided to double down and go for 2x of both. The idea is straight forward: for 5 mana, you play Dearly Departed and remove a creature from their hand and then play Shines to transform Dearly Departed into a new copy of itself. When it dies, it doesn't give them back their card.
This made my deck quite a bit less effective against aggro. Although, I will say that Shines On Us All is a nice tool against Olympian buff decks. In my second gameplay vid, you get to watch me lose as I scramble to draw Shines in time and fail to.
Much of the rest of the deck is standard control nature, but you'll notice 2x Encumbered Looters and 2x Vow of Champions.
These are basically the only sources of card draw for nature. Vow is also a cheap (but versatile) replacement for Compost Charm which I don't have. You can draw, heal, or do some spot damage for critical removal. The trade-off for the versatility is that it's not great at any of them. Just OK.
The win cons are Polyhymnia and Wisp as a backup.
Simple gameplan: they cast creatures; you remove them. If you can't, you lose.
Some control nature decks have the ability to be aggressive early game against control. This one, not so much. There are so few creatures at low mana that they are trivial for your opponent to remove. I need to play them to avoid over-drawing, so I'd go easy on the card draw against control. If you don't get your DD combo by 7 ish mana, then you can always start drawing then.
As you get comfortable with opposing control decks, you'll quickly learn when to cast Shines. You basically have to cast it before 8 mana against Control War, because they always have Avatar of War. If you see magic casting Ramp at 8+ mana, odds are they have a Polyhymnia in hand they want to play.
Steal their win cons then either beat them with Poly or fatigue them to death with Wisp.
Draw like crazy for your own combo. You can't outrush them with face damage. If you can't draw DD + Shines you lose. If you can, then at 5 mana (or 4 with a pip) you need to steal their critical combo piece. Look for them to start reducing mana and then steal whatever they reduced (hopefully) before they can even clone it.
This first game features the combo going off perfectly and wrecking Control War's gameplan. I steal AOW right before he can play it on 8.
The early turns are quite slow/boring (as most control vs control games are). At 6.5 mana (~4:30 into the vid), I pip into Hortuk and the game starts in earnest.
I clean up the counter Hortuk pretty efficiently using all the removal cards I never had to use during the early turns. Drawing cards is nice - even when you don't get what you want, you're that much closer to it.
I haven't gotten my combo here, and with his pip, I'm guessing he plays AOW next turn. I also have enough board presence left to clear him and apply pressure to face. This lets me pick up relic hate from the sanctum. With that + my second Poison Dart, I'm not worried about AOW. Part of me wanted to pick card draw from the sanctum, but the expected value of relic hate was far higher.
There she is! The second piece of the combo. It's not obvious to me what line to take, though. I could have played it right then to remove AOW, but a 9/6 on board could change the game in a hurry. I'm also able to freeze AOW one more turn using Rune of Strength. Being so close to death means that he can't swing with the relic or he dies before he can leech.
Nice play from opponent. The leech gives him breathing room to finally play AOW next turn and turn the game around. Unfortunately for him, it's combo time. He has both AOW and Anagreos, but AOW is his only way to stay in the game long enough to play Ana, so taking it is the smart play. Even if he does make it to 9 mana, I'm at 30 HP and Ana is easily cleared.
For Shines, I decide to play it on his Viking hoping to draw something for 8+ mana. That doesn't work out, but it was purely a bonus delve chance anyway.
Importantly, I opt not to clear his Grand Hall with my LS. I know he has Anagreos in hand, and that it's his last chance to win the game. LS is going to sit in my hand until he plays it. That + GP kills it. Even if he somehow has multiple creatures, I can LS + Vines to guarantee I kill it. Lastly, I have poly in hand and in my deck are wisp and 2 cards that heal me for 20 health each. I'm winning the fatigue game.
At this point, the game is over. It's just how long it takes him to realize it.
I clear with Vines, but looking back, I wish I had played Talisman + Ember Oni. I'm guessing I wanted to save the heal, but Oni would have gotten regen + 2. On the other hand, maybe I wanted to save my pip. Not sure.
The clearing continues. I also play War's Wake. If he forgets I bought Rune of Fire, I might have surprise lethal.
You might be wondering why I filled the board last turn knowing he had Ana in hand. Well, it's the same reason he doesn't pip into it this turn. He needs more than just Ana on board or I kill it with LS + GP. He needs to get board back (somehow) first. His GP + SS combo is his attempt. I think about just GP'ing him, but playing poly is actually really safe here. With no way (that I know of) to damage Poly, he can't End to War obliterate it.
In short, I'm giving him 1 turn to live. Either clear poly or die (RoF in hand).
The frontline is a great play. Fortunately, that Vow comes off the top. I take a second to make sure I've got lethal and then let it fly.
I haven't found this deck to be all that great. It's fine and a nice change of pace, but I'm losing more than I'm winning. If you want, watch me struggle desperately to find Shines on Us All to counter-act the buffs in this Olympian War deck. I do my best to hang on, but in the end I can't.
Nature is still 'meh'. When amazon nature is the best archetype, you know nature has problems. The combo is satisfying when you pull it off, but if you aren't in Diamond or Mythic, you actually don't face that much control. In those cases, you've gimped your deck against the onslaught of aggro you will be facing.
Maybe 2x of each combo card was too much, but honestly, if I didn't, I'd still be recording games trying to pull off the combo! 馃槅
