After getting beat down with an 11/25 score in this week's Weekend Ranked with my Nature deck, I decided that I wouldn't give up there and then and got busy with modifying it. I felt that the original Nature deck that I used for the Weekend Ranked matches was a little too unoptimized and included too much randomness for my liking. With a couple of tweaks, I'm proud to say that this modified version of the deck achieved a pretty good 81.3% win rate in the Ethereal Diamond/Mystic bracket on the weekends! If I had achieved this win rate during the first 25 matches, it would have translated to a 20/25. (A little sad that my actual Weekend Ranked rewards are so much worse...)
While writing this post, it somehow became a full-blown review and guide. As the post turned out a little long, do skip around to the sections that you're interested in. Let's get right into it!
Deck Overview
Deck Link: GUDecks
It's not a special mid-range Nature deck, but there are certain card choices that I deliberately included which helped make the deck feel a lot nicer to play, which I'll explain in the next section. The strategy for mid-range decks is often to control the board until the mid-game (about turns 7-8) before unleashing an unstoppable attack on the opponent. This has to be done before the opponent manages to drop their late-game units and spells, otherwise, a loss is likely.
Card Choices
Low-Hanging Fruit is awesome at dealing with early-game creatures. Together with Faeflame Blade, it can easily clear some pesky creatures while spawning a Vibrant Fruit, which is another valuable unit.
These early-game creatures help to secure board control. With buffs from Vibrant Fruits, Shieldbearer, and Felid Janissary, they can be formidable threats in the early game.
I opted to put a 1x of both the Shieldbearer and Felid Janissary into this deck for good reason. A +1/+1 buff is extremely strong in the early game and I have experienced this multiple times - A Skeleton Heavy buffed with a +1/+1 trading with my opponent's Black Jaguar, leaving a 3/2 on the board along with a Felid Janissary. I really like these two cards and I think more decks can include them for better performance, especially since most early game creatures have low attack but high health.
The MVP. Faeflame Blade is not only useful for dealing with early-game threats; I often use it to hit the opponent's god directly for an extra 3 favor to buy cards from the Sanctum. When wielding the Faeflame Blade, don't be afraid to hit the same creature twice, even if it costs you 6 health. Like everything else, health is a resource, but lost health points don't matter if you win.
The only 2 fast removal spells that I included in this deck. They are very strong, but you don't need too many of them.
Finian Fruitbearer is a great legendary that fits in most Nature decks, but the downside is that it is responsible for half the cost of the deck at 0.023 ETH. A 2/3 that repeatedly summons a 1/1 creature that buffs if not dealt with? Sign me up! Finnian Fruitbearer has won me games by providing a constant stream of board pressure to the opponent. Being a legendary, only 1 copy is allowed in a deck so it doesn't always get drawn in a game, but in the games that it is drawn, it is a game-changer. The deck should still work decently well without a Finnian Fruitbearer, but it will also likely be quite a bit weaker.
My choice of 4-drops. Instead of the commonly included Overgrown Rhino, I decided that a +1 strength bonus wasn't worth the Confused keyword and put in Wetlands Ogre instead. I have never been happier to know that all my attacks are hitting the correct things; I also never found the reduced attack to be a major gamechanger in all my matches.
In my opinion, Svart Basilisk is a great tech card against both sleep-heavy decks and relics for just the cost of 1 health. As a 4/4, it stands well on its own and isn't a liability to the overall theme of the deck like . While this deck tends to fare a bit worse against War decks, Svart Basilisk can help to equalize the playing field a little.
I have learned to value the Celestial Stag a lot more after my trial with this deck. Against the vanilla 3/4, the Celestial Stag trades 1 health for an ability that generates a lot of value. Celestial Stag's ability won't guarantee you random cards that will be useful every time, but they can be really valuable when the game drags on. I'd include this over Rabid Bear (3/4 with Roar: If you are frenzied, give this creature +1 strength and confused) or Hunt Warden (vanilla 3/4) any day.
My choice of big mid-game creatures. Bigger stats = more gooder. Enough said.
Falling Star isn't direct removal, but it summons three 2/2 badgers, which is pretty nice. While the downside of Falling Star against a single big creature is that you give your opponent one turn to trade their big creature, the upside is that you get a bunch of small creatures that can swing board control back over to your side after your opponent's turn. I don't think it's good enough to run a 2x of, but a 1x fits nicely.
Sudden Bloom is great. With creatures that actually know where they are attacking, Sudden Bloom can easily wipe boards while dealing a ton of damage to the opponent god. It is one of the strongest mid-game finishers that you can play as a mid-range Nature deck in my opinion.
Why not X?
In this section, I'll explain why I didn't include certain cards in this deck.
To me, Confused simply isn't worth the extra +1 strength that Overgrown Rhino and Rabid Board provide. I played 25 matches with an Overgrown Rhino, and 32 matches with a Wetlands Ogre - I found that the +1 strength often didn't matter, and the extra control that Wetlands Ogre provides was a much better experience than always hoping that I would hit the correct target.
If I didn't include Overgrown Rhino or Rabid Bear to reduce randomness, why didn't I switch out Brazen Moose for Helios Battlesworn? A +1 attack may not be enough to justify the Confused keyword, but throw in an extra Blessed and you've got my attention. The Blessed keyword tips the scale just a little in favor of the Brazen Moose for me. On top of that, it is able to deal with the common Guild Enforcer in one hit unlike the Helios Battlesworn.
On turn 7 when 6 mana gems are available, I'm already primed for a loss if I don't have board control then. Playing The Hunt might clear my opponent's board, but it also gives them one turn to set everything up again. Plus, The Hunt often turns out to be a dead draw when drawn too early, or when I already have board control.
Wildfire just isn't strong enough in this deck. With 4 mana, I could play more creatures to gain even more board control - there just isn't enough mana in the early game for Wildfire to make an impact. Against Zombie Death decks this might be helpful, but I don't think they fare well enough against this deck to consider including this as a tech card.
Alternative Cards to Consider
The cost-to-performance ratio was an important factor to me while building this deck, but you can always optimize the deck further with these cards. The explanations are brief because the improvements should be quite clear.
Chiron is almost always a strictly better Shieldbearer. The only thing is that it costs about $183, or nearly 500x the cost of the humble Shieldbearer.
It's a Black Jaguar with pseudo Rush. It also costs $130, a 130x over the Black Jaguar.
At $433, I'll let you decide if a better Brazen Moose is worth the price difference.
Matchmaking Breakdown
Starting Rank: Ethereal Diamond
Play Period: Weekends
Ending Rank: Mythic (1530 ELO)
Score: 26 wins out of 32 games (81.3% WR)
| Opponent Deck | Score (Wins / Total Games) |
|---|---|
| Nature | 12 / 15 |
| War | 4 / 7 |
| Magic | 1 / 1 |
| Death | 4 / 4 |
| Deception | 3 / 3 |
| Light | 2 / 2 |
| Total | 26 / 32 |
With my previous deck, I had lots of trouble with Magic decks, losing 5 out of 6 matches. This time around, they were nearly nowhere to be seen. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't have the chance to exact my revenge against those no-fun-allowed decks, but revenge will have to wait.
In the mirror match against other mid-range Nature decks, this deck performed pretty well. I can't quite put a finger to why this deck feels stronger, but having more control over my creatures has made a marked difference in how well I fare in the mirror match.
My worst matchup was against War. Even with Svart Basilisk destroying their relics, it wasn't enough to stop the onslaught of War creatures. A lucky Out of Its Misery into a 5/7 Warmonger Smith is really hard to stop on turn 3.
I'm not sure if I was lucky, but I managed to win against all the other decks, including Zombie Death and Board Wipe Death. Maybe it's just variance working in my favor this time.
Gameplay Footage
In this section, I'll show you how I played this deck.
vs Nature
Mulligan Phase (0:00): Mulliganned for a good curve. Going second, cards costing 2/2/4 can be curved out nicely using the extra mana gems.
Turn 1 (00:27): Against the opponent's turn 1 Skeleton Heavy, I play one of my own, knowing that my Faeflame Blade can help finish my opponent's Skeleton Heavy in the next turn.
Turn 2 (00:42): The opponent cleared my Skeleton Heavy with a Canopy Barrage, sadly. Even though I can't deal with the opponent's Skeleton Heavy yet, I play a Faeflame Blade and cheat out a Marsh Walker to start asserting board pressure.
Turn 3 (01:20): My opponent didn't do much, only playing a Black Jaguar. I drew a Felid Janissary, which can make Marsh Walker a much bigger threat. I play the Felid Janissary buffing my Marsh Walker, as well as a Finnian Fruitbearer. The Marsh Walker and Faeflame Blade kill the Black Jaguar, and I hit the opponent's god directly with the Faeflame Blade to activate Finnian Fruitbearer's ability. In just one turn, I've managed to swing board control back over to my side!
Turn 4 (02:04): My opponent plays a Bladefly, creating 3 2/2s on the board. Nothing too interesting happened here; I played a Wetlands Ogre and decide to buy a Shield Maiden from the Sanctum since I'm running low on cards.
Opponent Turn 5 (02:38): The opponent manages to deal with my Finnian Fruitbearer, but he also killed one of my Vibrant Fruits which resulted in a 5/6 Wetlands Ogre.
Turn 5 (03:14): With a dead hand, I clear the board, holding off buying cards from the Sanctum with a "wait-and-see" approach.
Turn 6 (03:41): I misplay a little here and attack with my Wetlands Ogre before trading in my Vibrant Fruit. All's fine though, as I clear my opponent's side of the field and get ready for a Sudden Bloom buff to finish the game.
Turn 7 (04:32): The opponent plays a Giant Pangolin but it is too little, too late. Knowing that my Wetlands Ogre knows where to attack, I attack the opponent's god directly before applying the Sudden Bloom buff and kill my opponent's Giant Pangolin.
Turn 8 (05:02): With another Giant Pangolin, my opponent manages to kill off my Wetlands Ogre but this hands the initiative back to my side. I buy a Wind-Up Roller from the Sanctum and play it together with a Wetlands Ogre to make full use of my mana gems.
Turn 9 (05:42): My opponent's Guild Enforcer is no match for my Giant Pangolin. I make sure to clear the board to prevent any last-minute shenanigans.
Turn 10 (06:28): Game over, I won!
vs Zombie Death
Mulligan Phase (00:09): No perfect curve this time, but two 2-cost creatures can tide me over the first two turns.
Turn 1 (00:33): I played a Skeleton Heavy. Together with the Shieldbearer in my hand, a 3/5 on the next turn is hard to deal with.
Turn 2 (00:56): My opponent plays a pretty useless spell. Without any creatures to attack, I simply play a Black Jaguar.
Turn 3 (01:25): My opponent's board is not strong enough - I clear the creatures out and play a Celestial Stag.
The rest of the game felt like a steamroll as Zombie Death decks tend not to have any comeback mechanism. It also helped that I lucked out a Wildfire from a Celestial Stag ability when my opponent finally played their Necromancer and Cursed Obelisks.
vs War
Mulligan Phase (00:06): No perfect curve here, but at least I have a Marsh Walker in my starting hand.
Turn 1 (00:30): Marsh Walker was played.
Turn 2 (00:51): My opponent cheats out a Valka's Captain. Deciding that I would rather not spend my Canopy Barrage on a 2-health unit, I activate Selena's Mark and kill it with my Marsh Walker. Since Marsh Walker has 1 regen, it can't be killed off with the relic that the Valka's Captain generated.
Opponent Turn 2 (01:14): My opponent plays a Tavern Brawler and kills off the magnificent broccoli. Sad.
Turn 3 (01:20): I cheat out a Wetlands Ogre since a Celestial Stag can be killed by my opponent's board easily. Bigger body = more gooder.
Opponent Turn 3 (01:37): My opponent found a way to deal with the Wetlands Ogre and played another Valka's Captain. Quite annoying.
Turn 4 (01:53): Without much of a choice, I played a Canopy Barrage to deal with the Valka's Captain alongside a Black Jaguar.
Opponent Turn 4 (02:24): I could sense my opponent losing steam as he simply played a Styx Blade to deal with the lone Black Jaguar.
Turn 5 (02:42): Even though I had two Celestial Stags in my hand, I didn't play any of them as they would simply be killed off by the Styx Blade. A slow turn for sure, as I played a Faeflame Blade and ended my turn.
Turn 6 (03:26): Thankfully, my opponent decided to attack my face with the Styx Blade to gain Overkill on his Archangel Bruiser. I deal with his 2/2 and play a Celestial Stag without any other choice.
Turn 7 (04:19): As I expected, my opponent had a Redfume Serum in hand that he played on his Archangel Bruiser to deal massive damage to me. Thankfully, I had a Giant Pangolin to deal with it.
Turn 8 (04:42): As my opponent runs out of steam, he plays a Styx Blade and attacks me directly, hoping to end the game ASAP. The Svart Basilisk comes in clutch as I destroy what remains of his Styx Blade, and I attack his face with my Faeflame Blade to get enough Favor to buy a creature. My Sudden Blooms are waiting.
Turn 9 (05:20): The time has come. My Faeflame Blade shows its usefulness once again by activating the Frenzied effect of Sudden Bloom, and I clear my opponent's board while dealing lots of damage to his face.
My opponent resigns, knowing that there is no way to come back. Good choice!
Conclusion
So it turns out that mid-range Nature still stands a pretty good chance in the Weekend Ranked. Less Confused bullshit and more board control with buffs seemed to be my answer for building a much better deck, and I enjoyed playing it much more than my previous deck! I went into the Weekend Ranked trying to replicate the results of inexpensive Nature decks that performed well, and I think I finally got my version of it. Hopefully, this helps someone who's struggling to piece together a decent Nature deck to play at the Mythic levels. Cheers!
Post Header image source: Gods Unchained Media Kit
If you chanced upon this article and are interested in starting Gods Unchained, you can use my referral code to sign up to play here. It's free to play and free to earn!
Some of the card images in this post are generated by GUListCreator, a tool I created for fast card list lookup and creation to write posts like this on Hive. Do check it out if you like to create content for Gods Unchained!