Hey everyone!

I've been having fun with this light deck. It's a one-trick pony, but the trick is a strong one. I wanted to share it with everyone - particularly because it's probably the cheapest deck I've played.

The Deck

Deck Code:
GU_1_3_CDFCDFKABKABCDOCDOICCICCCBNCBNKALKALHAFHAFKDQKDQCFfCFfCFYBAqBAqBGKBGKKDfICkICkKAYICjICjCBM

This deck was popularized by someone else. I've made a single change: I removed 2x Gleamweavers and put in 2x Planetar Acolytes.

Gleams are good for dealing with Martyrs and the occasional anubian deck, but in many matchups (like aggro war) it's just a 1 mana 2/2 that feeds your opponent favor. The acolyte has the same stats, but its effect is much better for a deck like ours that runs on tempo. Just last game I opened turn 1 with two of these. I chose:

1. Gain 9 favor your opponent gains 3 favor.
2. Gain 6 favor

I was immediately able to buy cards from the sanctum. The expected value of "Blessed" is ~6 favor. That's half way to a cheap sanctum card. You can also high-roll on turn 1 and get a 1/1 zombie. In this deck above all other decks, that 1/1 zombie is a big deal. We can buff it along with the rest of our 1/1s.

The other change I'm considering:

Removing Gleamweavers means I only have 2 Vexing Vicars in the deck that are Mystics. The bonus durability from Ritual Rod is basically never going to happen. Cudgel's heal is guaranteed. It's still a cheap card, and the healing is nice against other aggro decks. So while the extra swing from Rod is better than the heal, the expected value of heal is probably higher.

Pilot's Guide

The gameplan is straight forward:

1. Get Wide
2. Get Buffed

Going first, the ultimate open:

Turn 1 you pip out both Vicars. Turn 2 you drop Holy Writ. This basically never happens, but you get the idea.

Holy Writ is the only buff I'd hold in the mulligan, and I only hold it going first. The other buffs cost more and can't make the same impact early.

Going second, some good ones are:

In general, reactive cards are good, but vicars are just so good that it's fine holding them. Ritual Rod in particular makes Vicar worth keeping. Pip them both out T1 and you are set up for several strong follow-up turns.

Ultimately, you're looking to have 2-3 small minions on board (more = better) and play a board buff. The deck has a ton of them, so you're going to find one most games.

Chaining of the Gods

Everyone messes up this card at least a few times before figuring it out, so don't sweat it. You just need to know two things:

1. The order you pick your options is the order the effects will happen.
2. The first effect happens first and then the second effect considers the new stats.

So, for example, if your opponent has a 3/3 creature on board and you select:

1. Strongest creature gets -3/-2
2. Weakest creature gains +2/+3

The following happens:

1. Their 3/3 goes to 0/1.
2. That creature is now the weakest creature (99.9% of the time) and will get buffed to 2/4.

So you just have to be thoughtful about the order of operations. One other important thing to know is that board fully resolves before the second effect takes place. This means if you kill a creature by giving it -3/-2, then it goes to the void and isn't considered for the second effect. You can use this for taking out armor lurkers early and then buffing your minions.

Madame Denholm

Huge value card. Basically our version of Cursed Obelisk but better for several reasons.

1. It's hidden
2. It is eligible for all our buffs, which make her basically impossible to kill.
3. When the time is right, she can attack!

She basically spits out 1/1 tokens (that this deck likes) all game and then jumps in for the kill (or to save us in desperate situations). An MVP for sure. If she winds up in my opening hand, I pip her out asap to start generating. The exception is against Magic, where I might not want her dying in the Shaped Blast that is all but guaranteed at 4 or 5 mana. If I can play her and buff before then, though, I will.

She is one of the keys to beating aggro war. Popping protected with the generated 1/1 exposes their weak HP stats and allows for much better trades. It also takes two savage strikes to take her out (if playing against control/olympians).

Benediction

Being successful with this deck also means knowing what to choose in which situations. I'm still learning, but some common ones:

1. Against Mage: armor and protected. Armor prevents them from pinging your protected off (or clearing with tracking bolt). This forces them to spend a lot of mana on removal.
2. Against Hidden Rush: armor and frontline. They've only got so many ways to get past frontlines. 5 frontliners on board is GG. Armor prevents their GP from whittling you down. It also stops umber arrow from making trades.

I'm still figuring out when to pick +2 health, but in general I don't think its a great option for this deck. Getting a 1/1 to 1/3 doesn't seem worth it. Maybe against nature running the Hunt or something. Open to suggestions on this!

Gameplay

Mulligan

I talked about how good Denholme is, but I mulligan her away in this matchup because I'm facing nature. They have a lot of removal that doesn't need a target. Pipping out Madame just to have it killed by Underbrush Boar or canopy barage is not a good idea. I use all my mulligans and wind up with a decent starting hand.

1 Mana

Again, normally you're looking to pip out 2 1 mana creatures, but the extra 1 HP on the trapper won't save it from anything. You could argue that having the 1/1 out as a decoy is worth it, though. Maybe it was, but with only 1 pip going first, I want to save it for a big turn. That's a theme with this deck: big swing turns.

2 Mana

Lots of options here. I take the line that removes the jag and gets really wide, but 3 of my creatures have 1 HP, so Wildfire in 2 turns is a big risk. Call of the Light in hand helps mitigate this risk as does Vexing.

3 Mana

Our opponent has had an atrocious start, and we just drew a win condition: Protective Benediction. I play all the cards I can. I play Vicar instead of an Acolyte, because the Acolyte would just be killed by the staff.

4 Mana

Protective benediction is tempting here. Maybe it was the right play. I decide to try and push the board more in my favor before playing it. This turn also points out another key for this deck: going face with lots of 1/1s lets you get to the sanctum incredibly fast. At the end of the turn, any wildfire he might be holding doesn't seem so appealing.

5 Mana

Again more greed on my end, but my choice of targets allows me to clear the board and replace 1/1 creatures with 2/2 creatures (which won't get wildfires).

Respect to Sjiznit for playing Jag Staff! Haven't seen that in ages.

5.5 Mana

No more reason to stall. The board can't get much better. Time for Benediction. The concede is a common occurrence after playing benediction. Once benediction goes down, it's just a matter of time before more buffs follow. In our case, Radiant Dawn would have followed next turn. Asterius is somewhere in the deck. Etc.

Conclusion

For the dollar price, I'm not sure you can find a more effective deck in the current mage-heavy meta (in mythic). This deck can also be successful against aggro-heavy ranks like Gold, but budget zombies might be better down there. Either way, its a fun deck to play. Definitely give it a shot!