For many of us who were playing Gods Unchained a year+ ago, Chosen One decks were a nice change of pace. The decks weren't ultra-competitive, but they were fun. One of Light's godpowers was to give +2/+2 to the Chosen One and move it closer to the top of your deck. There were (and are) lots of Genesis/Expansion cards to support Chosen One decks, but when GU devs removed the God Power, the deck collapsed.
With the release of the Light's Verdict mini-set, Developers have released a new card in hopes of breathing life back into the archetype:
Many top players have been trying to build decks around it. I'll leave it to AQUA to comment on their efforts:
Ouch!
I'll first dive a bit deeper into the card and then we'll see if we can make a deck that could potentially work with it.
The card is shuffled randomly just like any other. It's not like the Mythics that are guaranteed to be in your starting hand. Between your mulligan and drawing 10-15 cards per game, you are likely to see it, but there will be games when you don't. In my opinion, this is the first reason you can't build a deck focused solely on the Chosen One.
Once played, your god power changes to a worse version of the original. The Chosen One is buffed +2/+1 instead of +2/+2 and it does not move up in your deck. Yes, you do draw the Chosen One, but when it dies, your God Power no longer helps you find the next one. This is the second reason you can't focus too heavily on the Chosen One.
The final reason why you can't focus on the Chosen One is the same one that existed in the past: too much hard removal. Consider that you are paying 2 mana to add 2/1 stats to the chosen one. A 2-mana card with a vanilla 2/1 stat line would never be played. As you continue to dump mana into the Chosen One, the value of its stats per mana point spent goes down. Not to mention a single Ratify wiping him out completely. Even War now has "An End to War" to wipe him out. Each time you use your God Power, you actually make your Chosen One more susceptible to Hunting Trap.
Do all of the above problems make it hopeless? Challenging, but maybe not hopeless. Now that we understand the limitations of the card and god power, we can identify mitigation strategies.
For starters, how can we counteract the decreasing value of 2/1 stats for 2 mana?
A creature with armor becomes much harder to kill with each HP added. There is no way (outside meme decks) to pick which creature becomes the Chosen One, but I think the best Chosen One deck is going to have a little more armor than the average Light deck.
Some interesting choices in addition to the obvious Guild Enforcer:
What about hard removal?
The obvious answer. There are plenty of light creatures that already have ward:
The obvious problem with these is that they don't have armor. Furthermore, ward only protects us from a single Athenian Archer ping or Mage Bolt, and then our Chosen One gets destroyed. We need ways to add ward to the chosen one multiple times.
Finally, as with my Coronet deck, the challenge is to build a deck where the Chosen One is a win condition but not the win condition. This is even more true for a Forged in The Light deck, as it is generally weaker than Divine Coronet (which wins games by itself in Combo Magic, for example).
Deck Code:
GU_1_3_BCYBCYCDjCDjIBxIBxBEXBEXCCsCCsCFXCFXLABGBaGBaGBgCEdICRICRICkICkGBdGBdICYICbBGPBGPICHICHGAZ
Do I see this deck taking over the ladder? No, but let's look at a few things going with to see why it might work some of the time.
Aggro light normally relies on creatures with strong roar buffs. Unfortunately, these make terrible Chosen One candidates. This deck uses 4 relics and 9 spells instead. The relics are designed to help us battle for early board control without needing things like Humble Benefactor, which would make for the saddest Chosen One ever. Spells help us draw, heal, levy, and buff, but we of course run Forged in the Light and 1x Fated Arrival to make sure the deck can shift to a Chosen One focus.
The deck does run 2x Felid Janissaries simply because her utility is worth the small risk that she gets Chosen. Buffing armored creatures is great, and you could probably add Intimidating Uplifter to this list for the same reason.
Overall, though, the composition of this deck is meant to increase our chances of having a solid creature Chosen. Preferably one of our armored ones.
When you play Kadmos in this deck, Lysander becomes the Chosen One. Since he is our dream target for a Chosen One, this is a good thing. Not only that, but if Kadmos is attacked, Lysander gains armor. In most decks, this combo is marginal and not worth the effort. In our deck, this is a win condition. We have two cards that can then immediately draw Lysander to hand. We have access to a god power that can buff him. We also have cards that can re-apply ward when he loses it.
We definitely have this box checked. Venerable Paladin and Kadmos not only have armor themselves, but they also spread armor to others. Skeletal Hoplites and Guild Enforcers are good on their own while GEs make solid Chosen One targets.
A subtle sub-theme of this deck is the healing synergy. It's not a win condition, but it does boost the deck's power a bit.
I didn't lean hard into this synergy with something like Engaged Healer or Field Nurse. The primary appeal of Recovering Sigil is to draw cards, cycle our deck, and further reduce the number of creatures in our deck. Sern is Sern, of course. Belongs in every light deck. Sern works well with Lysander to draw us a card each turn he heals.
Don't over-invest in the Chosen One. The worst thing you can do is boost your chosen one while your opponent develops their board. When you finally play him, he just gets demolished and you lose. Imagine playing Animal Bond every turn while your opponent plays real creatures. Yea, this is even worse than that. Play your cards and boost the Chosen One when the opportunity presents itself. Remember that you can buff him even when he's on board.
Remember that the deck is designed to win without the Chosen One. Canonize on a Guild Enforcer is game over against a lot of decks. Several armored creatures on board plus Radiant Dawn is another.
You can also make use of Chosen One mechanics without Forged in The Light. Fated Arrival giving Ward to Kadmos, Guild Enforcer, etc is great. When played, Sentry gives the Chosen One +1/+1 and re-applies ward.
This was my attempt at building a playable Chosen One deck. Cards like Parthene Shieldmate and Tartessian Sentry push towards a creature-focused deck rather than something like Control Light where the low mana cards are mostly about stalling and bringing back from the void. We make use of a high percentage of armor creatures to make the most of Chosen One buffs while also being solid cards in their own right. The key to making this deck work (to the extent it can) is to know when to transition to Chosen One, when to buff it, and when to focus on midrange light plays.
Thanks for reading and let me know how to make the deck better below!
