Intro
I'll admit it. I was running a midrange/control nature deck for my first 8 or so games. Three of them were mirror matches with Sages healing everyone back up. Always reaching 9 mana. Just generally taking forever.
Guess what's at the top of weekend ranked at the moment? Aggro War!
The Deck
Deck Code:
GU_1_6_CBaCBaHAFHAFHAEHAECDZCDZICOBEXBGWCBhCBhCDqCDqCBBCBBCAZCAZIDkHAcHAcIAZIAZIDoIDoICHICHCCLCCL
23/25 wins. This is a high-roll. He's continued playing the same deck, and is now at 40 games with an 80% win rate. The rest of the field is now at 100 games with a 64% win rate, but that could be poor piloting.
Overview
You beat control decks by winning at 5-6 mana. They are extremely weak in this range. You don't have to have them dead by 6 mana, but as long as you are close enough, Slayer can finish the job. That's what this deck is all about: Fast.
- Get board control early with your 1-2 drops.
- Get either Another Round or Redfume Serum on one of them at 4-5 mana.
- Get a few swings in and finish with relics and Slayer
Interesting Details
There are several interesting features of this deck worth highlighting.
1 Pyramid Warden + 1 Munosian Infiltrator
This is an interesting compromise. Grabbing a Pyramid Warden in the mulligan phase is fantastic. However, you rarely want it after that. That's doubly true if you are trying to win fast. A 1x makes it rarer to find in the mulligan but prevents 2 bricked wardens in your hand around 5 mana.
The Munosian has been growing on me - but slowly. I think of it like a tech card. However, with the meta dominated by nature, hitting a Marsh Walker is huge. You can also hit The Hollow, other Pyramid Wardens, and the increasingly-rare Cursed Obelisk.
Enduring Shield
Some may question this in an aggro deck, but there isn't a better tool for controlling the board early. Combo with a blitz creature, Warmonger Smith, or your Pyramid Warden for early game dominance.
So Many Buffs
Firstly, I love the 1x Sharpen. The combo with Enduring Shield is amazing. At 2 mana, you can play a blitz creature on the same turn for a lot of surprise damage.
6 buff cards is a lot. In fact, they represent the only risk of bricking your hand. The only one I might keep in the mulligan is Another Round! (or Sharpen if I also have Enduring Shield). This is pretty risky, though, as drawing a second buff card would then be devastating. I think the smarter play is to look for cheap creatures to get early game board presence. Have faith that the buffs show up when needed.
Conclusion
I've been feeling some weekend ranked burnout over the past few weeks. I realized a lot of that was because of my mid-range deck selection. It got worse last weekend as I stretched my midrange deck up to 8 mana. Getting 1 or 2 extra wins but then burning out and not wanting to play is not the key to victory. I'd much rather get 15 wins quickly, but be able to fit them in around my life. This deck isn't going to get 23 wins for you unless you play well and have luck on your side.
My first game with this deck was against Portal Wrangler magic. My Sage of Renewal nature deck would have had no shot - my opponent hit Lost in the Depths on turn 1. This deck won the game because I had him at 3 health when the wranglers finally hit the board.