This deck is feeling pretty busted after continued play. Wolf Recruits is the main offender, and many games wind up with hands full of 1 mana 8/8s or more. It's a cheap deck, so I highly recommend playing it. The strategy is pretty basic, too. Let's jump in.
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Like zombies, you can get the full package with just a few core cards. Any death deck with 2x Scepters and 2x Obelisks basically has the "Zombie Package." Olympians require a bit more commitment, but within the Olympian tribe, there's a lot of flexibility. I first saw this deck when it ran me over, so of course I wanted to try it. The fun quirk about this one is Tartessian Mob, which I'll go over.
Of course, you need to be running Olympians, but these are the core cards for the deck:
As stated, Wolf Recruits is clearly OP. Enjoy it for now, and let's hope they nerf it without killing it. Village Vendor and Blood Oath Binder ("Bob") combo really nicely with Parthene Guardian.
So our core cards naturally lead to a slower (midrange) play style. We aren't dumping all our mana on the board every turn. We are going to let our opponents get ahead of us and then need to come back with stats. Removal spells, frontliners, and blitzers to the rescue.
Don't be fooled by Felid Protector. The idea is that you're dropping him at 5/5 or more for 1 mana. Trojan Golem isn't as good as Parthene Guardian, but he's a close second. His afterlife triggers Vendor and Bob. One advantage over parthene: you can't clear both frontliners with a single spell.
I run 2x Savage Strikes. It's a great way to manage the board early, it's fantastic against zombies, and is also great at clearing Hidden Rush deception creatures. This deck has 1x retribution, which has been enough so far, but you could easily run 2x.
Wolf-Cult is arguably Core. It's just amazing. You're not going to run this deck without this card.
Chimera's blitz + leech is huge. Especially when comes roaring out at 8/9 and completely turns the game around. Reious is obvious: blitz and she transfers stats into your hand.
Pyros' heal becomes so much better when you've got large creatures on board. It works similarly to armor at that point.
These cards are flex spots. I liked this deck when I ran into it due to Flame-Touched Paladin and Tartessian Mob.
The first time I saw this deck, I was playing control and thought I was safe with my Helian Elite on board. He dropped 3x 9/8 Mobsters and just ran me over. It was wild! When they die, the wipe your board. I like him as a 1x better than Hector, which is what I was running. He just synergizes so much better with this deck.
Minotaur Phalanx is a nice frontline. Importantly, his stats are solid even if you top-deck him and he has no buffs. Feel free to switch him out, though. Ditto for Tartessian Talionis, however, if you go late game against a control deck, he's going to be massive. Hopefully, he's caught some health buffs, too. In any event, these two cards would be the first cut for other options.
Tartessian Minotaur is a solid 1x choice. When you have a wide board, he can close out the game. If not, he's still catching buffs and has solid stats.
Always Slayer GP.
You've usually got plenty of time to be greedy. You really want Wolf Recruits in the mulligan or Vendor + Parthene. You're almost always passing turn 1 and usually turn 2 after hitting your God Power. On turn 3, you're either using Wolf Recruits or pipping into your combo.
The main idea is to hold you creatures in reserve and then flood the board all at once with beefy 1 and 2 mana creatures. They can't answer and then lose. Remember that this deck also has a secret weapon against control in Tartessian Mob, so if you get him buffed, you can go the distance.
Arguably the harder matchup. Especially against super fast aggro like viking aggro war and HRD. You want at least 1 removal spell. Preferably savage strike. You're still looking to save creatures until 3 mana and get the buffs rolling. If you can't get them rolling quickly, you're in for a bad time. You can sprinkle in some of your frontlines to slow them down if you're desperate.
I'm currently bouncing back and forth between the gold ranks playing random decks. For ~7 games in a row, I faced either Aggro War or Zombies (designed to beat aggro war). I decided to swap to Olympians and - lo and behold - I get another zombie deck. We're ready this time.
Not a great start. Wolf-Cult is the one bright spot. I can't play a 0/3 Bob. That would be sad. So we just pass.
Haha I didn't realize I forgot to GP until watching the replay! I was just so disgusted with no cards to play. Bad form.
Wolf-Cult to salvage the board state. Note we still don't have Wolf Recruits or our combo. Getting these is just about an auto-win. Not having them...it's still possible. You draw them eventually, right? The saving grace is that he doesn't have necroscepter.
There's Village Vendor! Now we can start doing things. The 0/3 Bob is still sad, but the hand buffs are key. Getting it immediately bligth bombed stinks, but there was no way he didn't have it.
Ravenous Chimera gets us right back in the game. Then I'm just about to misplay by trading, but then I see it in the sanctum. The shiny relic hate will win me this game. I go face like a pro and grab it.
Paladin gets the tap. He can get around any frontliners or help heal any other creatures I play. He also assassinates any Obelisks played. We have relic hate in hand, an Obelisk-killer on the board, and Savage Strike in hand. None of our olympian synergies have really popped off, but we're still looking good.
Retribution is clutch here. Without it, the game starts to get away from me. Instead, we counter his 5 mana card with our 1 mana card. Seems good. I opt to clear the board, but maybe I shouldn't have.
Hey! It's Wolf Recruits! We like that card! Parthene shuts down the Rhino for a turn. Plus, it will ward our creatures when it dies. It also gets Bob to a respectable 3/4. Way better than his sad, pathetic 0/3 brother.
This is the game winning turn. Here's how I'm thinking it through:
So I take a minute to puzzle this out and then execute.
His overseer just isn't enough. I go face and get him to 1. I then decide to just put as much pressure on that last 1 HP as possible. I grab the Wand from Sanctum and then drop the Servant. With this much pressure, I can't think of any combo of cards he could play to live (he wasn't running Serris). Even if he had it, I probably still kill him.
In any event, that's GG! I was about the flash the GG, thought he might think its rude, so then didn't. Then he just quit.
This game showcased the deck limping to a W. We had a horrible start, but our opponent did too. We had just enough turns to snag the relic hate from the sanctum. That plus our Paladin kept them from doing zombie things.
I'll probably look at tweaking the deck a bit more. Running 2x Paladins seems fun, but they are definitely slower than our other cards and don't help us catch up. Maybe Lykaios Adherents (empower to deal 1 damage to the board). We'll see.
