From Solar to Mythic with Team Up. Reaching the Top Rank with Budget Aggro Deception Deck

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Two weeks in a row, I played aggro Deception mostly in Mythic and won MJ leggies on both WRs. Not fantastic ones though:

Shadow Cadence... Hope they'll buff it. The Gods Unchained? Probably, it is Avraxus of Mortal Judgement... A curse of the set. 😁

After getting 2 useless leggies, luck has turned its back on me. I started losing oftener - probably, because Meta just changed, too many LV cards appeared so my deck got outdated.

I decided to try a zombie deck with 2 An Empire Reborn. Much fun but... it was a mistake. I eventually deranked to Solar and dived into Auric several times. I tried to play aggro Deception again but it didn't help to climb higher. A lot of super aggro War decks in Solar - this left me no chance. I needed a response to them.

A Fork

There is an unpleasant fork when you are building a deck. In case of aggro Deception, it is like this:

You either make the deck more aggro (more buffers, more big hidden creatures), and, thus, become stronger against Magic and Deception, both aggro and control. But that makes you weaker in matches against aggro Nature and Light.
Or you add more means to beat aggro Light and Nature like Lady Marcella, Umber Arrow, strength-reducers, etc. The deck becomes slower as a result and you become weaker in matches against Magic and Deception.

Trying to find the golden mean is headache. I got totally exhausted and even thought I needed a week break in playing Gods Unchained.

A Card that Helps in Both Ways, Team Up

The response has been found. At least, it helped me to leave Solar and reach Mythic this WR.

Against Aggro Light and Nature

Twin strike makes Armor Lurker a killer (even more killer than it is). Together with strength-reducers (I have 2 Beguiling Blades in my deck), you can clear the board with Switch Duelists and keep hitting the face. Bulky creatures like Sneaky Bruiser and Heroic Brawler (especially the last) with the twin strike can clear the board and hit the face at the same time.

Scene 1, casting Team Up.

Scene 2, the opponent's board has been cleared and 9 damage has done. And all creatures are hidden. The opponent has no chance.

Against Magic

At the same time, Team Up hides creatures without damaging them. So, 4-health creatures can be safe from Shaped Blast.

You also can hide an early aggro attack, for example, a couple of Switch Duelists.

A hidden creature with the twin strike can kill a frontline (1 of City Walls of City Planner, for example) before hitting the face.

I have no scene of an early attack against a Mage but look at this:

Scene 1: casting Team Up on turn 4 + pip.

Scene 2: two enemy creatures killed and 9 face damage was done. All creatures are hidden and ready to finish the opponent on the next turn.

Synergy with Umber Arrow

You can steal a creature, team-up it and, if you are lucky, remove two opponent's creatures and lose the stolen one. Thus, you have a chance to remove 3 enemy creatures altogether paying 5 mana (2 for Umber Arrow + 3 for Team Up).

Hiding 1-Health Creature

For 3 mana, you can hide Lady Marcella's rogues, echo cards, Switch Duelists, etc. Two hidden deadly rogues can completely paralyze the opponent.

My Updated Deck

gudecks.com

Deck code: GU_1_2_CCQCCQCCmCCmCDDCDDCFVCFVIAlIAlCEPCEPCEwCEwIClIClKCdKCiKCiKDSKDSICyKCpKCpCAbCERCEcCEcKCsKDL

What's new:

2 Team Up
2 Umber Arrows
only two 5-mana creatures instead of 3-5 I had before.
the full set of buffers (6 ones). In spite of such an emphasis on aggro, the deck beats aggro Light almost always. Nature is often a problem, not a good matchup for aggro Deception in general but I won Nature regularly with this deck.

Playing against Magic is hard but wins happen.

gudecks.com

53 matches probably mostly in Ethereal Diamond - I left Solar quite quickly. I entered Mythic today. Can't say it was easy - I only succeeded after the third try.