As I mentioned in my last post, Guiding Light seems as good as Canonize, and likey better in a decklist with even minimal other Chosen One support. I've decided to to start working on deck to do just that. So far, I'm still in Casual queue with it and making tweaks, but I want to share progress and get feedback.
The (Current) Deck
Code:
GU_1_3_BCYBCYCABCABCBLCBLKDQOACOACHAFHAFBEXBEXCCsCCsIAqIAqCEdCEdCFbCFbICkICkCFaCFaICbICHLALLALOAB
Note I don't have pyramid wardens, so I'm running 2x Vexing Vicars instead
A very aggressive curve.
Basic Themes
Many of the themes in this deck mirror this one I submitted for the Light's Verdict competition using Forged in the Light. I'm not running FitL in this deck, but some highlights:
- Fewer creatures and prioritizing creatures that make good chosen one candidates
- More spells to control the board
- Relics for more control
Creatures
The creatures in this deck are included both for their own utility without Guiding Light, but also because they are at least decent GL targets. For example, Thaeric Extortionist (the new Lights Levy) would be a terrible fit for the deck. Humble Benefactor would also be solidly lackluster. The weakest GL targets in this deck are probably Illuminated Warrior and Vesper given that the latter already has protected. If you don't want to run relic removal, you can drop vesper. Our other 1 mana creatures:
Dryder Sailweaver becomes a 5/5 protected/ward for 1 mana. Axewomen are 5/5 protected blitzers for 1 mana. They are arguably one of the best GL targets because they can make up for lost tempo immediately. At 5 mana cast GL and axewoman on the same turn. No tempo loss and you probably gained it with a favorable trade.
At 2 mana, Janissary gets full value from GL becoming 5/5 protected and also boosts another creature 1/1. Obviously, Pyramid Warden becomes a nightmare. In my deck (sans PW), Vexing Vicars become 4/4 protected/ward for 1 mana. I could argue that in a world with Curse of Greed and various hard removals, Vicars are almost as good as PW (considering no PW downside).
Our only creature at 3 mana is Militant Theist.
Just a great card offering much-needed flexibility. An amazing answer to Armor Lurkers, Vexing Vicars, etc. One card that I think needs to find its way into the deck:
Frontline makes it a solid Guilding Light target, but using its effect to get your Chosen One back is huge.
4 is Sern, because Sern should go in every light deck.
5 mana:
Guild Enforcer is "eh" at the moment. On his own, he's blade food, but as the Guiding Light target he's a menace. 6/8 protected with 1 armor. Nasty. However, at 5 mana he's expensive and having a 4 mana GL turn followed by 5 mana Guild Enforcer is very slow. The reason I gave him the nod is that he is a veritable wall, which helps recover tempo. If he gets ordered, though, you cry.
Blade of Whiteplain seems obvious to me. Answers for their Guild Enforcers and anything else with 3 strength. Strong tempo play. Card draw. Solid GL target. At 6/6 it will basically always be the strongest card.
Kadmos is another great card, even though I admit I took some convincing (thanks @meltysquid). Let's break the card down: a 3/4 stat line is a vanilla 3 mana creature (e.g. Hunt Warden). So what do you get for 2 extra mana?
- Frontline
- Bounce any creature back into the deck (not hand). Even a Polyhymnia.
- Minor bit of flexibility to buff chosen one +2/+2.
What is the bounce worth? That depends on what you bounce. If you bounce a 5 mana creature, they have to spend 5 mana to play it again. Not only that, but they didn't get to draw a card on their turn. It's like paying 1 mana for a Wrong Path (minus card draw).
Non-Creatures
Light's Levy is worth a note. In most aggro decks these days, you run Thaeric Extortionist, but you don't want that becoming your Chosen One, so you run Levy.
Cudgel of Atonement can be swapped for Mace of Calling if that's what you have. I really like Cudgel for it's ability to be played turn 1.
Guiding Light is obvious. The deck is built around it.
Wrong Path is something I'm playing with. 2x of it plus Kadmos and 3 cards that give order is a lot of board control. Also, if you bounce a creature with 1 order left, it still has order when they play it and loses it at the end of their turn. This avoids the often painful issue of ordered creatures losing order on your opponent's turn and then attacking. Wrong Path is not good at all against wide boards, though, so perhaps it needs to go. It excels against large single targets, as you'll see in my game against nature.
Radiant Dawn is a stable. Amazing anti-sleep tech + a board buff.
Gameplan
The basic idea is to be an aggro deck. You aren't focusing too many resources into a single Chosen One. Instead, you are simply playing those cards as single buffs. Most games you won't buff a Chosen One after the first time. It's a sneaky way of approaching the usual light approach: get board then buff board. Here, we are buffing the creatures before playing them. The hope is that this gives a lot more consistency.
Mulligan like a usual aggro deck. More reactive cards if going second. Proactive creatures if going first. Don't hold Guiding Light in the opening hand. The best time to play it is when ahead on board, so you need to start with cards that get you ahead.
Gameplay
You'll notice some cards in this game that are no longer in the deck. As mentioned, the deck is a work in progress, but this gameplay shows the deck in it's element - even going second against nature.
1 Mana
Our opening hand sucks and we are going second. Wonderful. The pass feels terrible. It's just casual queue so I honestly considered bailing for a better recording.
2 Mana
I considered Militant Theist on the Jaguar. Next turn (without wildfire) that would open it up to a Levy top deck. Instead, I decide to get two 2/2s on the board and hope for confused creatures to do what they do.
3 Mana
Well that plan didn't work. I promise we win this game. With Blade coming up next turn, I decide to Theist the jag. This way even a wildfire can't stop me from destroying it.
4 Mana
Going second and constantly having to change your gameplan is a challenge. If I play the Blade on the Jag now, then the Sabertooth eats the blade and then has regen. Time for Merry Kadmos to give us some tempo!
5 Mana
Some time to think on this one. I'm going to play Theist + Radiant Dawn, so then I have to figure out how best to use Theist. There may have been a better line (please let me know if you see it), but here was my thinking.
- Debuff Minotaur gives me another target for Blade.
- If I kill the debuffed Minotaur, he will just trade his Marsh Walker and still have the jag.
- If I kill the Walker, he would still have to trade in both the Jag and Minotaur to kill Kadmos.
Of course, this is predicated on him not having wildfire since he hadn't played it yet. A Lightning Strike would have also sealed the game. Maybe taking out the Minotaur and guaranteeing removal of the biggest threat was the right play. Even if he traded out the Walker, that's still 2-for-1. I got greedy and went for the 3-for-1 and it could have cost me the game.
5.5 Mana
We get the 3-for-1 and the game has turned 180 degrees around. Luckily, his Selena's Mark hits the wrong creature and he trades in both to clear Kadmos. I can't pass up a juicy Blade target. I realize that a Guild Enforcer could drop the very next turn, but a clear board is much safer. Sudden Bloom would have been terrible.
6 Mana
An excellent time for Guiding Light. I've got a decent shot at being able to play whatever creature I draw. I know I'm going to clear the pangolin with blade.
6.5 Mana
So this is when Chosen One is fun. 7/7 Vexing Vicar with Ward + Protected. Amazing.
7 Mana
We know he's got a 7 mana creature from his Minotaur. It turns out to be the 8/8 sleepy grizzly. The only thing worse than having to play that card is having me bounce it to your hand on my turn. 7 mana wasted and no card draw for you. Lehel, understandably, can't stomach playing that card again and concedes. We would have just ordered it anyway and continued going face.
Conclusion
This deck is a nice change of pace. I'm sure it can be optimized. Bouncing creatures can be amazing unless:
- they have a strong roar or
- they are just a 2/2 on a board filled with 2/2 creatures or
- it's a 9/5 Sneaky Bruiser that will re-hide.
Then bouncing sucks. Since the meta aggro decks are either hidden rush or 6-wide light, Wrong Path probably isn't the ideal choice.
Like I said, the deck is definitely a work in progress. I know @cautionfun has been using a smattering of Chosen One cards in his light decks. Have any recommendations?
I definitely recommend this deck for some fun in casual queue! Hopefully, we can improve on it together!