P.S This is for Week 126 (January 14th - January 17th) weekend ranked, the ptr balance changes delayed this post.
Aggro/Midrange Nature managed to take 3 spots in the top 10 scoring 24/25 wins each amidst a sea of Control War and Board Wipe Death. Nature is a budget choice that can compete at the top mythic level on the weekend ranked.
Nature has well-statted creatures and big removal albeit they are random. It plans to overwhelm the opponent with big creatures and big spells.
You can check out my previous top players nature deck analysis post to see what top players run and compare to what performed well this weekend.
My Weekend Ranked Deck
https://gudecks.com/decks/18003
I went 19/25 this weekend with a similar deck to what I run last time. Good results, not as well as two weeks ago but that's more due to matchmaking.
The deck is heavy on 1s and 2s since I like to have creatures early to fight for the board so I can land my random removal, and protect my value cards like Finnian, Stag, and Selena. The deck is tuned against aggro decks, war and nature mostly since that are what the majority of players play. You can trim some of the early cards for more late game if you know you're going to be facing control decks.
Card Changes
I made a few changes to my nature deck since the top players post. I am trying out Falling Star over Guild Enforcer. Guild Enforcer helps against aggro decks but not against much else. Falling Star is 6/6 stats, buffs your creatures, and is slow removal. I don't find myself getting the burn and the buff to pay off at the same time, sometimes they have no creatures and I play it for the bodies and buff, sometimes I burn one of their creatures and get a few 2/2s.
I swapped Rhinos for Jaguars. Rhinos are fine but I find myself fighting for board early on so I like more early creatures.
I teched in Iron-tooth Goblin over The Hunt. I usually don't need the board wipe since I fight for board early and the relic removal is nice since there are a bunch of relics from every god in the meta, like Pallas' Wand, Scepter of Artistry, Necroscepter, Enduring Shield, Blade of Styx, Ritual Rod, Cudgel of Atonement, Faeflame Blade, Moonlight Charm. Especially with carnage sweep around, no worse feeling than seeing your war opponent with a relic and overcommitting into a board wipe.
Win Rate
I've gone 58/67 for a win rate of 86.6% with this deck and similar builds. The majority of midrange nature decks run similar cards so I'm not sure if the different cards choices make a huge difference or if it is just variance.
God Power
I run animal bond against magic, death, and nature. The body helps again magic's and death's removal. Badgers are good against 1/1 zombies and they throw off nature's random removal.
I run selena's mark against deception, war, and light. Deception usually has small creatures that you can pick off with mark, you also don't want to go too wide against rapture dance. War has protected creatures or 1/1s that mark helps clear against. Light is board-focused and has summon acolyte which is better than your badgers, so you use mark to clear protected or ward to help clear board.
Mulligan
Going first look for sticky creatures, like Netherborne Binder, Marsh Walker, Skeleton Heavy, and Black Jaguar to establish board presence early. One removal is good to have.
Going second look for reactive cards like Underbrush Boar, Faeflame Blade, and Canopy Barrage, to not fall behind too much.
You want to play cards on curve, if you fall behind too much your deck strengths are nullified. The deck is best when you have the board to fully utilize cards like lightning strike without getting lucky.
Notable cards to look for in each match-up are noted below.
Matchups
This deck has the best matchup against zoo decks like zoo nature, slayer war, and zoo light. Your overstatted creatures and removal let you get board advantage early that let you snowball with value cards like Finnian, Stag, and Selena.
Hidden Rush wants to rush you down, so focus on trading and outlasting them. Be careful about going wide at 6 mana, rapture dance will ruin your day. An early The Hollow is dangerous since it is hard to remove with ward, backline, and order and will get them a lot of card advantage. If they play the hollow by itself god power or low-hanging into canopy takes care of it.
Canopy is especially good in the mulligan because of armor lurker an exceptionally strong card run in all deception decks.
Tempo Magic depends on who can establish board first. If you do, then you can keep their board clear so you can land your removal on their order creatures. If you go second, they can establish their value cards like All-seeing Spire, and Miraculous Familiar. It is going to be hard to stick creatures on board with all their removal while they keep their hand full from their value cards.
Marsh Walker is tough for them to kill unless they want to spend a Starshard Bolt on it. Faeflame Blade is great for killing Shadow Scryers. Relic removal is good here to stop Pallas' Wand from drawing too many cards. Low-hanging Fruit is great for picking off Demetrios.
The deck doesn't do well against Control War, they have so much stuff, protected, blitz, leech, big creatures. Your removal isn't that useful since their creatures have protected or blitz. They have too much leech to be able to rush them down. If you go wipe early and don't draw relic removal, you're liable to get wiped by carnage sweep. All in all, you can't kill them before they overwhelm you with their power cards.
The same thing against Board Wipe Death, you build a board early, get some damage in, they sleep you, heal up, then board wipe you, and you're out of cards. Getting board advantage early isn't useful against board wipes, so your deck's strengths are nullified.
Zombies can be tough if they get their zombie makers going, your random removal is bad against the 1/1s. Look to get board early at any cost, if you get behind it's hard to catch up.
Top Player Decklists
Let's see what the top decks run and see what different card choices they make.
Dreadnaught27
A conventional list, most of the cards are standard. Has a very high win rate of 96.2% across 52 matches. Munosian Infiltrator is good against aggro decks being able to weaken their early creatures. I find it hard to make room for it.
lorisini
A couple of interesting cards choices. 1 Low-hanging fruit and 2 Vanguard Axewoman, interesting running 3 1 mana removal, I usually see 2 of either. Rabid Bear over Stag for the body. Bladefly without Wildfire is unusual. Valewarden Minotaur over Brazen Moose is something I find pretty different. I'm not sure if the health gain and card generation from Valewarden come up often enough to warrant the not having the extra stats and blessed from Brazen Moose. The most interesting card here is Photogenesis, for 7 mana you generate 4 random nature cards then refresh 6 mana. It's good for getting cards late game but random nature cards are all over the place, you could get a Dense Fog or a Dionysus. Leans towards late-game value more with Valewarden and Photogenesis.
Changes:
+2 Vanguard Axewoman, -Chiron, -Low-Hanging Fruit
+Iron-tooth Goblin, +Nefarious Briar, -2 Black Jaguar
+2 Bladefly, -2 Pyramid Warden
+2 Rabid Bear, -2 Stag
+2 Valewarden Minotaur, -2 Brazen Moose
+Photogenesis, -Selena
https://gudecks.com/decks/GU_1_5_BAfBCCBCCBHMCAsCAuCAuCAvCAvCAxCAxCBxCBxCCOCCOCDLCDLCDfCDfHAFHAFIALIALIASICOIDFIDFIDNIDOIDO?godPowers=101311&creator=lorisini&userId=1824944&archetype=Other%20Nature
Iwan Smith
The strangest list here, so many singletons for no reason I could think of aside from budget. The list is copied for the most part from Voland's list from the previous top nature post. Heavy focus on buffs with Gloam Druid, Sip from the Spring, and Wildfire. Lacks a bunch of reactive cards.
+Wild Hog, +2 Rabid Bear
+Gloam Druid, +Sip from the Spring, +2 Wildfire
+Overgrown Rhino, +Starving Sabertooth
+Jaguar Staff
-Munosian Infiltrator, -Pyramid Warden, -Underbrush Boar
-2 Low-hanging Fruit, -2 Faeflame Blade
-Lightning Strike, -2 The Hunt
https://gudecks.com/decks/GU_1_5_BALBCCBEXCATCATCArCAuCAuCBxCByCByCCOCCOGAbGAnGAwHAEIALIALIAOIASIDFIDFIDKIDKIDMIDMIDOIDOIDS?godPowers=100121&creator=???&userId=1332245&archetype=Big%20Beasts%20Nature
General Analysis
The nature core largely remains the same with Chiron, Marsh Walker, Canopy Barrage, Finnian, Underbrush Boar, Lightning Strike, Brazen Moose, and Giant Pangolin. Falling Star is seeing more play now.
The game plan is still the same, get an advantage early with big stats and removal then continue to overwhelm with power cards.
The 3 decks mentioned all have their spin, conventional big stuff, midgame value, or buffs.
Card Choices
You can check out my previous top players nature deck analysis to see my reasoning for my card choices.
P.S The ptr balance changes don't affect the deck much. Giant Pangolin is still a great 6 drop, big body, has blitz, usually 2 for 1s. Finnian is a lot weaker now at 2 health, still great if you can proc frenzy, even worse if you're behind, not an auto-include now.
Tech Choices
Let's see what different card choices the decks run.
- Iron-tooth Goblin: Good for early relic removal. Most decks run relics that are worth having removal for.
- Munosian Infiltrator: There are a lot of early creatures that this hits hard: Pyramid Warden, Skeleton Heavy, Marsh Walker, Warmonger Smith. Any 0 strength creature dies.
- Bladefly: I don't find Bladefly good, 3 2/2 bodies die to a bunch of things and give your opponent favor, only useful if you run a bunch of buffs to make use of the multiple bodies.
- Nefarious Briar: Nefarious Briar comes down a little too late to stop early relics, you don't usually need to take off 5 durability, and the 3/4 body is on the low side for 4 mana.
- Valewarden Minotaur: The health gain can be useful in an aggro meta, or getting a random card if it is a slower meta. The 5 drop slot is tight with Brazen Moose, Falling Star, Jaguar Staff, and Guild Enforcer.
- Photogenesis: I don't know about this one. Your mileage will vary wildly with 4 random nature cards.