On November 23, Gods Unchained implemented a new balance patch. Numerous cards were buffed and balanced, spicing up the ranked ladder, and introducing new deck archetypes as well. Some of the Guild tribe cards were buffed in this last patch, and all of a sudden, Guild Deception seems like it could be a fun new deck to play on the Gods Unchained ladder.
Both Desert Mercenary, and Frumentarii Instigator were buffed. Desert Mercenary is now a 3/3 that reduces the cost of 2 and 3 mana Guild creatures in your hand to 1 mana. Needless to say, bagging into a 3/3 on turn two, then following up with three 3 mana creatures the next turn is very powerful. In that scenario, you spent 3 mana, but played 9 mana worth of tempo, and big tempo plays that early on tend to win games. Deception has access to a handful of strong 3 mana Guild creatures for Desert Mercenary to synergize with, including Jinxblade Duelist, Vault Vagabond, Shady Merchant, and Diligent Architect.
Frumentarii Instigator is the other Guild creature buffed in the most recent patch. The new and improved Frumentarii Instigator is a 4 mana 3/4, with a Roar effect that draws a card for each Guild creature on the board, including your opponent’s. Using cards like Portal Wrangler as a reference, a 4 mana 3/4 that generates a resource is very powerful. Frumentarii Instigator arguably has even more potential power than Portal Wrangler, since Frumentarii Instigator can draw multiple cards.
Frumentarii Instigator also lines up perfectly with Desert Mercenary. Desert Mercenary cheapens your hand on turn two, then, you play three Guild creatures on turn three, and draw four cards on turn four after playing Frumentarii Instigator. Filling the board with powerful creatures and reloading your hand afterwards makes for a very potent early to mid game strategy. The only thing left to do is figure out what style of deck the Guild package fits best into. Below are two examples of potential Guild Deception decks.
Favor Guild Deception
Recommended God Power: Cheat
Seeing as Guild creatures like to be spilled out onto the board in great numbers on one turn, cards like Student of Society and Ghostly Chariot capitalize on the Guild tribe’s strategy, and generates heaps of extra favor. Student of Society, in combination with Mugging and some cheap Guild creatures can pile up favor very quickly, allowing you to activate the ability of the strong, conditional effects of cards like Hydna, Reef Raider, Pious Giant, and Ghostly Chariot. Despite the fact that the Guild package and the favor package work quite well together, and are capable of creating very powerful turns, all of the cards need to be played in combination with other cards in order to be powerful. A deck with this many mini-combos has a non-zero chance of drawing the deck in the wrong order, causing the player to crash and burn. Favor Guild Deception may not be consistent enough to play during the Weekend Ranked events, but it is certainly a fun new deck with a very high ceiling.
Decklist: https://gudecks.com/decks/2235
1x Orfeo, Champion of Deception: Free, always gets to destroy a creature, and has the Guild tag.
2x Student of Society: Generates tons of favor in combination with cheap creatures. Great With Mugging.
2x Switch Duelist: Amazing creature in general and has the Guild tag
2x Foreign Diplomat: Meh creature, but generates favor and is Guild.
2x Mugging: Good removal and great with Student of Society.
2x Pyramid Warden: Good card.
2x Vanguard Axewoman: Good card.
2x Desert Mercenary: One of the Guild pay-off cards, this cheats out a ton of mana for big swing turns.
1x Diligent Architect: Desert Mercenary likes 3 mana Guild creatures.
2x Ghostly Chariot: One of the favor pay-off cards, and capitalizes on playing multiple creatures in one turn.
2x Jinxblade Duelist: Great card in general, and Desert Mercenary likes 3 mana Guild creatures.
2x Vault Vagabond: Pretty good card in general, and Desert Mercenary likes 3 mana Guild creatures.
1x Avatar of Deception: Good card.
2x Frumentarii Instigator: One of the Guild pay-off cards. Good sized body, and has the potential to draw multiple cards.
1x Hydna, Reef Raider: Generates favor/capitalizes on favor.
2x Slip Blade: Often 2 creatures worth of hard removal for 5 mana.
2x Pious Giant: Favor pay-off card. 9/9 for six mana is big.
Aggro Guild Deception
Recommended God Power: Cheat
This deck is essentially the standard Hidden Rush Deception deck with the Guild package squeezed in. Hidden Rush Deception naturally runs a few Guild creatures already, so including the rest of the package, without weakening the deck’s overall power is doable. As stated above, the Guild package excels in the early to mid game, which is perfect for an aggressive, tempo oriented deck like Hidden Rush Deception. Frumentarii Instigator is the most exciting addition to this Hidden Rush Deception deck. Frumentarii Instigator provides a much needed card draw element. For the last couple of weeks Hidden Rush Deception has been one of the top tier decks on the ranked ladder, however, the deck has a clear lack of card draw, causing it to run out of steam in long games. Frumentarii Instigator can help remedy that problem. Hidden Rush Deception is often ahead on board, but behind in card economy. Frumentarii Instigator converts your board dominance into future resources, which is exactly what Hidden Rush Deception needs.
Decklist: https://gudecks.com/decks/2234
2x Dark Knives: Face damage.
1x Orfeo, Champion of Deception: Free, always gets to destroy a creature, and has the Guild tag.
2x Shadow of Lethenon: Great aggro card, great with Dark Knives.
2x Shieldbearer: Great with Shadow of Lethenon and Switch Duelist.
2x Switch Duelist: Amazing creature in general, and has the Guild tag.
2x Trial Spirit: Great with Shadow of Lethenon and Switch Duelist.
2x Mugging: Good removal and makes creatures.
2x Pyramid Warden: Good card.
2x Vanguard Axewoman: Good card.
2x Desert Mercenary: One of the Guild pay-off cards, this cheats out a ton of mana for big swing turns.
2x Jinxblade Duelist: Great card in general, and Desert Mercenary likes 3 mana Guild creatures.
1x Shady Merchant: Desert Mercenary likes 3 mana Guild creatures, and relics are good for tempo.
2x Vault Vagabond: Pretty good card in general, and Desert Mercenary likes 3 mana Guild creatures.
1x Avatar of Deception: Good card.
2x Frumentarii Instigator: One of the Guild pay-off cards. Good sized body, and has the potential to draw multiple cards.
2x Shade Walker: Goes face, then gets bigger and goes face again.
1x Slip Blade: Often 2 creatures worth of hard removal for 5 mana.
Thanks for checking out this archetype analysis covering Guild Deception!
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Written By: themudman
themudman is a competitive Gods Unchained player for TST. He enjoys building decks, streaming on Twitch, and topping the ranks. His playstyle lends itself to decks that are mostly aggressive and tempo based. His only goal: get his opponent to 0. Find him in the [tst]lounge or the RNG Discord at 
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