"Aggronyst" Shidai

[Ben4d90]

So I’ve been trying to refine and make my Arcanyst Shidai deck more consistent for a little while and have come up with this:

I call it Aggronyst Shidai, because it can put out a lot of damage in a very short time. It also seems to be far more consistent than a list fully devoted to arcanyst combo’s. I removed the slower arcanyst cards and replaced them with strong aggro/tempo choices such as Ki Beholder, Killing Edge and Flameblood Warlock. The result is a list far less dependent on setting up board and more about making strong tempo plays in the early game and then finishing off with reach.

With the combination of things like Four Winds Magi, Killing Edge, Ki Beholder and Phoenix Fire you can find yourself reaching lethal very early. Here’s an example of this:

https://play.duelyst.com/replay?replayId=-LOnBnVpBZKj1YDXHR74

“Why Shidai instead of Reva?”

I prefer Shidai in this list because being able to cast 2 spells and receive an instant buff to my minions or instant damage/healing from Magi tends to have more impact and result in lethal quicker than summoning a single minion that often can’t be used until the next turn. Plus, the spell you actually get from Shidai’s BBS can sometimes be very useful in the given situation and provide even more instant value.

I feel that the deck is pretty strong. I’ve consistently beat some of the meta decks using this list (The example above is Wanderer Reva which was ranked 5th in Duelystcentral power rankings) so I’m thinking this could probably place fairly high on the list but I would need some opinions of veteran players to confirm that and place it. Thoughts?

[Ben4d90]

Fair to say this deck does alright

(Currently in Gold 6, will probably hit Plat with this deck)

[seraphicreaper]

I like it. May I recommend 2x manaforgers and 3x flamebloods? Manaforgers aren’t worth their draw past the 1st or 2nd turns, while flameblood always serves it’s role at any point in the game; helps increase the odds of draw.

How’s the ki beholder work out for you? It looks disconnected from the rest of your trope, so was curious. Goodluck climbing up the ranks

[Ben4d90]

Yea, I was considering making that change. Manaforgers can still be useful in the late game though as a proc for Trinity Wing or just as a low threat minion that they don’t bother to remove which you can then suddenly buff with Killing Edge etc. It also gets the health buff from Owlbeast so that’s useful too.

Ki Beholders are absolutely amazing. They can put in rediculous amounts of work in the early game if they can’t immediately be dealt with. Playing Ki Beholder + Inner Focus is a strong T2P1/T1P2 play and a Killing Edge onto one of these guys is brutal. I really can’t praise this card enough.

It works fine in this deck because actually getting a huge board presence and buffing everything at once is not the objective of this deck, but rather just using spells for tempo while having minions that also benefit from the spell procs.

[Ben4d90]

Update:

I felt like the deck needed some more sustain other than just Four Winds Magi so I’m trying this:

Sun Seer provides a great amount of sustain in the early game, especially when I can get an Owlbeast on board the turn after to keep him alive.

I decided to cut the Warlocks as I never really played them that often. Same with Trinity Wing. I put in a couple of Cryptographers to fill out the 2 drops and for more spell procs.

Funnily enough my first game putting the Sun Seer’s in was against Decispikes and it worked out amazingly. Here’s the replay:
https://play.duelyst.com/replay?replayId=-LOrzPKQI2xKXnJ-hKYD