Every weekend, tens of thousands of players put up their best decks to compete in the Weekend Ranked event for a chance at free packs. Every week, I post about my experience playing during this heated event.
With a 17/25 score using my Nature deck, I finally felt free from its chains and set off to find a new deck to play. I craved variety; with all the complaints about War and Nature decks crowding the ladder, I wanted to play my part in trying something else. I initially tried a modified version of @yeetmaster 's Structure Magic deck but I wasn't getting great results probably due to my inability to pilot the deck well, so I decided to try an alternative. Then I saw @copperpitch 's Tempo Mage deck and thought that it might be easier to pilot, so I ran it this weekend. The results? Better than I expected at 19 wins!
Deck Overview
Deck Link: GUDecks
As the original deck list from @copperpitch cost ~0.38 ETH and I didn't have enough ETH on hand, I decided to make a few changes. At a high level, it's a Tempo Magic deck that makes use of the Mage's arsenal of removal, value, and damage to win games decisively. You can watch the original video on the deck for how the deck was formed, as well as explanations for inclusions of certain cards. I'll explain my rationale for some of my deck decisions.
I initially thought of substituting Pallas' Wand for something else (like the Scepter of Artistry) due to its cost. At ~0.045 ETH, Pallas' Wand came in at half of the deck cost and was a relatively hefty investment. Without enough ETH, I paid a small premium and bought it with 50 $GODS just to see if this card was worth it. And after playing 25 games, I have to say that this deck just isn't complete without it. As much as I like budget decks, I just don't see a substitute for Pallas' Wand yet. It is a massive draw engine that often draws me 3 - 5 cards in a game.
I decided to cut Ancient Texts and Form of Power from the original decklist for no reason other than the fact that they are expensive and aren't as important as something like Pallas' Wand. In their places, I included two copies of Illuminate and Flying Carpet each. Illuminate is simply a slightly less flexible Ancient Texts, but it comes at the low, low, cost of free. Since there were no other 1-cost damage spells, I included Flying Carpet, which is pretty decent since it has in-built Ward.
In place of the expensive Pyramid Warden, I included two Iron-tooth Goblins that I already had from buying Genesis cards earlier on. In a relic-heavy meta, Iron-tooth Goblins play a huge role for just two mana. I didn't really like the Goblin before due to its low stats as compared to the Svart Basilisk, but the Tempo Magic archetype really needs those extra mana gems and can't afford two extra mana for relic removal. Including Skeleton Heavys instead might also be OK, but I found the Iron-tooth Goblin an essential part of dealing with the ever-present War decks.
Performance and Matchmaking Breakdown
Starting Rank: Mythic
Wins: 19/25
Reward Packs: 1x Core Rare, 1x Core Epic, 1x Core Legendary, 1x DO Rare, 1x DO Epic, 1x DO Legendary
Theoretical pack value based on current pack prices: $34.47
| Opponent Deck | Score (Wins / Total Games) |
|---|---|
| Nature | 7 / 9 |
| War | 3 / 6 |
| Magic | 2 / 2 |
| Death | 1 / 1 |
| Deception | 4 / 4 |
| Light | 2 / 3 |
| Total | 19 / 25 |
As I played my first twenty games, I got increasingly excited at the prospect of getting 20 wins or more as I had a running score of 17/20. However, things weren't meant to be as I lost 3 games in a row for a final 19/25. Although it's a fantastic result for a deck that I had no experience playing, I was a little bummed that I couldn't hit 20 wins even with such a stellar first twenty games.
I really enjoyed playing this deck, which is quite ironic because I hated Magic decks whenever they were playing against me before. The swathes of fast removal spells and annoying creatures were always a hassle to deal with, but now I was the one who was dealing these annoyances to my opponents. T1 Assistant Alchemist into Demetrios, followed by never-ending Starshard Bolts and Illuminates basically put a stop to whatever fun my opponent had. Unknowingly, I had become the villain...
My toughest match-up was War. Even though they got hit pretty harshly by the nerf hammer, the aggressiveness of War decks hasn't eased a bit and I sometimes got high-rolled pretty hard with no way to come back. Some of these losses to War decks were to unconventional 1-of-a-kind decks, which made the losses even saltier for me. Oh well, that's just the nature of the RNG.
Against the ever-popular mid-range Nature, the deck seemed to perform rather favorably due to the copious amounts of included Warded creatures. Canopy Barrage and Lightning Strike have never felt less useful against a bunch of Warded 1/1s.
The other match-ups weren't too special - this deck performs favorably all-around.
Highlights and Game Footage
vs Nature
Opponent Deck: GUDecks
I chose this game to showcase to show how this deck can win even when the early tempo was lost.
My opponent played a rather fine-tuned mid-ranged Nature, with all the bells and whistles like Chiron, Underbrush Boars, and Pyramid Wardens.
Against my T1 Assistant Alchemist into Street Conjuror, my opponent played a terrifying Pyramid Warden. Thankfully, I had a Starshard Bolt in my hand to make quick work of it.
My opponent then played a Faeflame Blade to deal with my creatures, only to be met with my Iron-tooth Goblin. The next few turns, we just traded back and forth, and on the 6-mana turn, I only had one creature on the field while neither of us was close to death.
Starting from here, I started to run out of steam while my opponent continued to play big creatures like the Giant Pangolin.
My opponent didn't let me have a chance to turn around, destroying my All-seeing Spires as they appeared on the board. As we approached the 8-mana turn, I saw myself faced with 5 scary creatures on their side of the field, with nothing on my side. Surely, this had to be a loss!
Then, I had a Heart of the Cards moment when I drew a Vow of Learning. At 8-mana I could play Monolith of Storms into a Vow of Learning that provided Ward and Protected to it, making it basically invulnerable for a turn. This was my chance - if I could get the Monolith of Storms to deal enough damage to my opponent's face in the next turn, I could win!
Even though my opponent managed to spawn a Zombie from a Blessed effect that helped to heal him to 20 health, it was not enough. With 4 spells including a Wyrmbreath (deal 5 damage), I managed to get the attack of my Monolith of Storms to 15, finishing the game off spectacularly with a boom. What a close match!
Historical Performance
Surprisingly, I managed to get a 19-win run on my first run with a Magic deck. The deck was enjoyable to play, and the balance patch helped to push this archetype up the power scale just a little. As much as I'd like to try running other faction decks, I might stick with this deck for one or two more weekends - it's just too strong (and fun)!
Past Weekend Ranked posts and performance in order of recency:
| Time Period | Deck | Score (Wins / Total Games) | Starting Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2022 W5 (Current) | Tempo Magic | 19 / 25 | Mythic |
| Jan 2022 W4 | Mid-range Nature | 17 / 25 | Mythic |
| Jan 2022 W3 | Mid-range Nature | 15 / 25 | Mythic |
| Jan 2022 W2 | Mid-range Nature | 11 / 25 | Mythic |
| Jan 2022 W1 | Aggro War | 18 / 25 | Mythic |
| Dec 2021 W4 | Aggro War | 19 / 25 | Mythic |
| Dec 2021 W3 | Aggro War | 16 / 25 | Mythic |
| Dec 2021 W2 | Aggro War | 21 / 25 | Twilight Shadow |
Concluding Thoughts
What an exciting Weekend Ranked! Ditching the randomness of Nature was refreshing, and even with a slightly less fine-tuned deck, the results that this deck had were excellent. Will this deck lose its edge over other decks as more people warm up to it? Perhaps. But for now, it's an absolute monster on the ladder for how much it costs.
Have you tried this deck (or any other variation of this deck)? How did you find it?
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