I've been having some decent success with midrange nature lately and thought I'd share the deck. The meta is dominated by wide aggro decks (aka zoo light) and control decks designed to counter them. This gives a window for a value-oriented midrange deck to succeed. I thought about value/guild deception, but I opted for nature instead. Some early attempts went big beast, but after going 0/X I recalibrated to what I have now.
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For a budget option, you can run the deck I started with that eventually turned into the one above (credit for the deck to [VN]WK).
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Even MOAR budget: swap Underbrush Boars with another Canopy Barrage and Black Jag. Giving up a few % points of win rate, but saving $80.
The curve is really nice. Most games, you should be able to find 1 and 2 drops to play early. This makes mulligan targets typical nature fare: going first you want two 1 drops and a reactive card (boar, faeflame, etc). However, in this midrange deck, I also keep charms in hands like this (going first):
or even better:
The boar makes up for the lost tempo almost immediately. Dagan of course is the nuts with Charm, but with only 1x in the deck, I don't go looking for it.
Still fairly usual. I like reactive cards (canopy, boar, lightning strike), but I'll keep 1x 1 drop in case my opponent passes the first turn.
Moonlight Charm is an interesting one. I keep it against control magic even when going second. The value is insane, and magic is incredibly slow. They don't usually play any threats until 6-7 mana. Instead, they want removal, and MC soaks up all the removal. Example below in the gameplay. Against aggro, you can't afford to keep MC going second.
Standard midrange thought process: enough removal coupled with favorable trades to slow down aggro decks and burn them out. Meanwhile, the ability to threaten lethal against control opponents before their win conditions come down. Against control magic, the goal isn't speed but value. If they use their Pyrrhics and Second Flames to clear the board, you are way ahead.
So how do we do this?
This isn't quite as extreme as my meme-tier overflowing value deck, but it's a really solid core. If you have 2x Martyrs obviously run the second one. Getting back Valewarden Minotaurs wins games. These cards also don't sacrifice much tempo (except Charm). This is how you can keep up with aggro.
Lightning Strike and Blade are critical for removing 3/X frontliners. Lightning Strikes are probably the best answer to Demo, as well.
Chiron is just excellent, and I like to run Svart over Nefarious Briar. Both handle common problems like Necroscepter, but Svart doubles as anti-sleep. When I first started running it, I thought it sucked, but it was actually me who sucked. You basically have to fight all your instincts and hold onto it until it either surprises for lethal or makes the follow-up turn lethal highly likely.
Of course, if Sudden Bloom is in the deck, we're running Feral Shapeshifters. We have enough creatures at 4+ hp that board wipes struggle to clear the board completely (and charm helps with that, too).
If you've been drawing out removal from your control opponent all game, Green Giant is just really hard to deal with. It's generally terrifying for aggro opponents.
The deck winning against control Magic. This is how multiple games against CM have gone. I can't say they are fun, but that is more to do with how boring Control Magic is. TLDW: we draw out his win conditions and removal spells by playing too much value.
We start with a great opening hand. I'm guessing he's control magic since I haven't seen tempo/card draw magic in a while, so I hold the charm. We score the charm + boar combo which is really great against some decks, but at least a 5/5 boar will require multiple removal cards to answer.
He passes (as is often the case against control). Unlike aggro nature, I'm in no hurry against control magic. No reason to use a pip.
He wastes removal on a 1 mana 1/3. Great for us. We get the charm equipped.
Makes three basically dead dead turns from our opponent. We get stag down + charm buff + pip out the walker for immediate value from stag. The game is going according to plan: out-value.
The charm continues to pay dividends making the Walker much harder to remove. I decide to play Boar + GP. Getting wide without playing that many cards lines up a Wildfire, but a Shaped Blast doesn't punish us too much.
I didn't think about relic removal in the santcum, and the shaped blast lets him get it. A set back for sure. In hindsight maybe I should have just GP'd last turn. Blade of Whiteplain on a 1 mana 2/2 is definitely not ideal. Watching the replay, I think paying Jag + Wildfire (with my pip) was the better play. Holding Whiteplain for any GEs or the 3/6 Stormstress and then having more stats on board was the right line. 2 bad plays so far.
I play the wildfire. Taking out Demetrios somewhat makes up for floating 1 mana. Happy to see Lightning Strike, because we're getting into the turns where we might need it.
I wrestle with going face vs taking out the 3/3 Leyhoard. When I doubt, I go face against control decks, as I did here, but I think the 2 regen on Walker meant I might have been better off trading.
Seeing the Pyrrhic Knowledge isn't terrible. Yes, he is able to clear my board with it, but that's his first win con used up clearing board instead of sending damage to my face. Still, if I have cleared Leyhoard the turn before, Walker survives the second Shaped Blast. Our hand and board look a little sad.
And the first demo drops. AND it hits my jag. Lovely. Lightning Strike limits the damage.
Aaaand the Thaerial. Jesus. We top deck a Sudden Bloom. My ordering on this turn isn't ideal, but it works out well enough. I plan to swing 2x with FFB into Thaerial forgetting I had already swung once. Luckily the badger takes him out. Also, taking 12 damage would likely have cost me the game.
Opponent overdraws Wyrmbreath, which is big. 5 less damage to the face and one less amazing target for his second Pyrrhic. I get Svart but no one runs 1x Demo. If you see one, you have to expect the second.
At this point, my strategy is primarily dictated by what I top deck, so not terribly interesting. I end up in the danger zone HP wise. I'm worried about Flame of the Second Shattering. I'm able to calculate favor properly and get relic removal from the sanctum rather than blowing my Svart. That's nice. And we win. Also nice.
In the gameplay vid, I only played a single Blade of Whiteplain (and it was a misplay). None of my other LV cards were played. My underbrush boars would have been just as good this game as Black Jags (there was nothing to attack when I played them). The expensive cards in this deck didn't win it. The cheap ones did.
This deck has no matchups that feel like auto-losses. That keeps me coming back to it. The cheap version doesn't sacrifice much except the price tag, although I will say I don't like Vicious Manticores in this deck. Probably better 5 drop candidates like the Moose or Angry Hippo. Guild Enforcer is not a terrible option given Charm is in the deck to counter Blades.
