Hey all! I got back from vacation late Friday night. Hadn't played in a week and decided to mess around during weekend ranked but not worry too much about it. I started off in Mythic going 0/4 with zombies. Then picked up 3 wins with nature and 1 win with deception (against our very own 
I changed up my Guild Deception / Strength Steal deck to a version of the more-meta hidden rush. I watched Sewlie play it on stream and tweaked it just a bit based on my cards.
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The deck has a ton of card draw between the Looters, Instigators, and Shakedown. I have the shakedown in diamond, which is part of why I started running it, but after playing with it for a while I really like 1x. Even without strength-steal creatures, it's still usually a 2 mana draw 2. For a full-on aggro deck it might be too slow, but this deck has 2x GE and 2x Sneaky, so it can stretch a bit and transition to midrange if you get behind.
Whisper Baron is OK, but I actually like it better in a deck with strength steal and echo. I may swap this for another answer card like Counterfeit or Bound By Her Will (but see section on nerf impacts and why I'll probably keep it). Of course, if you have Pyramid Wardens, you can slot in one and look for the Warden + Assassin's Aim opening. Or maybe toss in a random Shadow of Lethanon or something that's really hard for certain decks to answer. The problem with the cats is now there are lots of answers to it for each god. In fact, I think Death might be the only god that can't deal with it now that Light has Eucos. I see even aggro light running that fairly often these days (deals with lurkers, cats, sparrows, AND switch duelists all in one go). It also opens up new levy targets with the strength reduction. Very strong card.
Anyway, you could easily drop Shakedown and Whisper Baron and slot in 2x of whatever you want.
Pretty straightforward: be as aggressive as possible. You're not looking to trade but go face and make them trade on their turn to try and slow you down. Going first, you're looking to play 2x 1 drops like a Sparrow + Duelist and follow up next turn by buffing them. Going second...it's still pretty much the same thing! Although I'll hold something like Umber Arrow in the mulligan if going second.
Almost never hold Assassin's Aim in the opening. Your low mana cards all have 1 hp except Pickpocket, so Aim is a dead card until your 4+ mana drops start hitting the board. When playing against magic, be a bit more hesitant with Assassin's Aim if it will put your creatures into shaped blast range. On the other hand, if you have a small board, it's still a great way to get in some extra face damage and draw out Shaped Blast. In short, just try not to over-commit resources against magic.
When would I hold assassin's aim? Going first against light with a Patient Pickpocket. You open with Pickpocket, they have no answer and then you assassin's aim turn 2. A brutal opening. That might be the only time I'd hold it (and only if I already had the pickpocket in hand).
Guild Enforcers and Sneaky Bruisers provide our finishers. A buffed Guild Enforcer can be re-hidden forever. If they drop a front-line, your Stoneskin Poison can get it out of your way for two turns while still hiding your Enforcer. For that reason, Poisons shouldn't be used early unless they will make a big impact (as seen in my gameplay vid).
Source: https://blog.godsunchained.com/2022/09/08/balance-update-september/
The only one that might change this deck is Ronellan Sparrow. It's still a good card, but deception has many good cards. I might be swapping in either:
I like Beguiling Blade, but I'm thinking Blade Borrow's extra value is worth more than the 1 extra mana. It's a guild creature (hello Whisper Baron/Instigator/etc), the strength reduction is targetable (hello enemy switch duelist), and of course, the echo still only costs 1 mana. It also plays nicely with our shakedown. Finally, if you check our mana curve, we definitely have room at 3 mana for a creature that brings both utility and aggression to the table. Being able to set an enemy creature's strength to 0 often means an extra turn before they can trade. Either that or they have to spend a buff first. Either way, you come out ahead.
Beguiling Blade's biggest advantage is that it can kill a switch duelist while still hidden, but any competent deception player can play around that in the mirror. You don't play the switch unless you have something stronger on board. In addition, it can actually be better to kill the duelist AFTER they buff it and get in a face shot. One less Dark Knives to worry about.
I've got an aggro match up here which I think gives 2x the exposure to how to play this deck. Our decks appear nearly identical. I wind up coming 1 damage short of lethal, but it's a solid game.
I'm going second, so I open with the lurker looking to trade and gain board advantage. Turn 2, I opt to trade health to remove the Looter with makeshift shiv and buff the lurker. The thinking is to go face with lurker and then force him to trade the duelist into my lurker. Instead, he has the answer with Stoneskin Poison AND further buffs his duelist.
This should be GG, but I topdeck the only answer: stoneskin poison. On the opponent's turn, Duelist will switch to an 8/1 but burn will kill it before it switches back. The duelist represents a lot of value (the card + 2 buffs), so there's hope for me. This is an excellent opportunity of when to use Poison early for big impact. In fact, in the mirror (unless he was deck peeking), going all in on a Duelist is a risky play. Strength Steal would also kill it easily.
At 5 mana, the choice is to play Pietro or Whisper Baron. Baron is just too slow. For all I know, he has two buffs in hand is already threatening lethal. We get a solid roll from Pietro, but not quite enough to finish. A farmer instead of the 2/1 would have been a win for us. I do misplay the final turn. I should have gone face with Pietro to get favor then played the card draw from sanctum first. Once I realize the mistake, I decide to play the card draw anyway just to see if the misplay cost me the game. Would have lost anyway, but it could have been one of several buffs left in the deck.
Always play card draw first!
I had fun playing different decks over the weekend and managed to snag some decent rewards while doing it. I clearly need to re-tool my zombie deck. I've been seeing people having success with more midrange decks going out to 7 mana overseers, so I may try that. My Sudden Bloom nature list is as good as ever. I also need to figure out how to play Card Draw Magic!
