I miss playing War, but the relic OTK deck lists popular at the moment aren't much fun (for me anyway). I've tried some armor lists in the past, and they are more fun, but I wanted to focus on a combo that I realized would be brutally effective:
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Currently playing with 1x Flame-Touched Paladin, but I may cut him. I treat him like a swiss army knife: can bypass frontline, can hit ordered creatures (although those are rare right now), and can heal which is a nice combo with some armor mixed in. 5 HP for 4 mana means he also fits the theme of being hard to remove.
We're running just about every hidden neutral card we have access to. Our non-hidden creatures are either tough to remove or reactive blitzers to help us control the board. Combined with relic support, spells like Savage Strike and Sole Survivor, and an aggro mana curve, we should be able to gain board control from most opponents.
Board control is key and opens up our win conditions:
When either of those happen, Slayer gives us the reach to finish the game.
Unlike the other two, Sneaky Bruiser is hidden until you decide to attack. In our aggro list, it will be rare you don't want to attack asap, but don't forget the option is there.
Importantly, Shapeshifter and Bruiser both have 4 HP. This is extremely important for hidden creatures to avoid Shaped Blast removal. Played on curve, these creatures are very hard to remove (nature being the exception: lightning strike and canopy barrage).
Dockside is an appealing option if pipping out 2 creatures early, but he's also a great card to spend that 1 extra mana on instead of floating it. He's also cheap enough to toss out before buffs like Hearts of Bronze.
If you aren't packing enough reactive cards, you are going to struggle going second - so half your games. War has excellent reactive cards low on the curve. These are a huge part of the win in our gameplay vid.
A Moramag at 6 mana. Clear everything on the board and then smack your opponent for 9 damage right in the mouth.
If you have the alternative win condition set up (a board full of armored creatures), then naturally hold off on Sole Survivor until it gives you lethal. If you are behind on board, this combo is still a pretty reliable clear. You do need to be able to survive the turn. If their board is full of protected/warded creatures, you win chances go (way) down, but blitz creatures and savage strike might just pull you out of it. At 7 mana you can savage strike and sole survivor same turn.
Going first: Enduring Shield plus some 1-2 drops is fantastic. Especially Tavern Brawler and/or Axewoman. Hoplites and Prowlers are great, too.
Going second: Depends more on what you're up against. Nature? Blitzers, Savage Strike, and relics. Control? Enduring Shield is back on the menu. I love a Hoplite + Enduring shield in that case. They can't ping the shield off. Magic has to burn bolts and you can re-apply the shield next turn. Light is going to levy anything less than 3 strength, so consider that before buffing with shield or Hearts of Bronze.
Other than Enduring Shield, don't hold any buff cards in the mulligan. You can win without them in hand, but you will lose without creatures/relics.
We actually match up against Armor War, and you can immediately tell based on the Enrage god power. I high-roll a great opening hand and don't mulligan a single card.
Turn two had several lines, but the one I chose was optimal in order to keep a protected creature on board and play around Wolf-cult Vanguard or other blitzers.
They play Smith's Hammer, which is just a bad card. I wish it was better, but it is SO slow for 4 mana. He is able to get decent value out of it, and Wolf-cult definitely helped make the hammer play suck less (I still won't play it). On turn 5, the absolute critical task is to clear board. If you let hammer put 2 armor on the same creatures, you're gonna have a bad time. Luckily, Blade of Styx and Axewoman save the day.
Turn 5.5 we get to see the huge value in sneaky bruiser. I'm behind on board, but it's a safe play. If we can draw Sole Survivor it's game over. Even if we don't, we'll have options.
Turn 6 is the game-winning turn. You can tell it takes me a bit to think it through (and I almost mess it up), but that's what I like about games with complex board states. You haven't seen the same situation 100x times before, so your reaction requires some thought. We clear his board once again - removing all residual value from the hammer. I also hold on to my relic. Unlike other War decks, I'm more interested in using it for board control while letting my creatures do the face damage. Also, our opponent is clearly playing a creature-heavy, board-focused deck.
That decision pays off the very next turn. I go digging for Sole Survivor with Rune of Sight, but don't see it. Also a misplay: if you are ever going to draw a card, draw it first. Had I found Sole Survivor, for instance, I wouldn't have had to kill his creature with the relic and take 5 face damage. Anyway, I play more hidden creatures he can't answer, instead. Over the next couple of turns we wrap up the game and flash the "GG".
This is a fun deck that I wouldn't call trash/meme tier. I need to play with it more, but so far it feels at least B tier (as opposed to A or S tier). I think Savage Strike and Wolf-cult Vanguard are going to be staple cards for War for some time. The flexibility provided by Empower on those cards is excellent. I don't think anyone would call them OP, either. I think the same goes for most cards in this deck. I love Bruiser, but I have yet to see anyone complain about him. I feel pretty safe from the nerf hammer (famous last words).
