Maehv:
Summary
Red Tide: Midrange Dying Wish, S rank
Summary
http://www.bagoum.com/deckbuilder#MTozNTUsMzoxMTA4NCwzOjE5MDUwLDM6MzU5LDM6MjAwNDksMzoyMDE5OSwzOjM0MSwzOjEwOTc2LDM6MTEwNTcsMzoxMDMwNiwzOjM0MCwzOjMwMDM5LDM6MzIyLDM6MTExMjEsLTM6MTA5NTcsLTM6MjAzNDgsLTM6MTAwMTIsLTE6MTEwOTM=
I am very fond of the list and I have taken it all the way to S#2.
Dagona is a fish with a dying wish, a red tide involves lots of dying fish. It is a card that very rarely sees play, but with the return of shimzar dying wish can now run both Lurking Fear and the new Carrion Collector to really accelerate the deck, between that and a lack of efficient hard removal Dagona actually fits in perfectly here, and is the main thing that separates it from more aggressively oriented lists. Dagona is also fun when mixed with Lightbender.
Shimazar also brought back one of Maevs favorite staples back, Gnasher, who fits naturally into a dying wish deck. Between a medium curve and the combination of Nekoma/Desolator, which, along side ramp, are always high priority targets to dig for, the deck rarely struggles with card advantage even though it can vomit it’s hand after a couple ramps. You very rarely want to play more then two Ramp cards as it eats into your hand a bit much at that point, but getting one or two off really let’s you just push out a crazy amount of tempo. The deck avoids expensive dying wish minions because with the amount of transform/bounce based removal running around spending your turn playing a single threat is not very effective, so instead we look for immediate impact like Dagona, or cheap enough that we can play a couple of threats per turn.
Azure Shaman is the real back bone of most Maev decks due to how it works with her BBs. Not only will it buffs things it dies around but it will also buff the newly created husk for a staggering 4/8 for the cost of three mana.
The side deck lets you cover yourself versus artifacts, and has a single copy of EMP as a good catchall. But mostly the side deck allows you to shift gears into a rather different deck, one that I call Deviation which you can find below.
While teching the deck for either more lategame or more aggression are certainly decently options, I think this one has the perfect balance between early tempo and lategame snowball, complete with healing, dispel, AOE, and some control letting you be prepared for nearly any match up and having the ability to switch gears between aggressive or control as needed.
Deviation: Dying Wish/Unbirth, S Rank
Summary
http://www.bagoum.com/deckbuilder#MTozNTUsMzoxMTA4NCwzOjE5MDUwLDM6MzU5LDM6MjAwNDksMzoyMDE5OSwzOjIwMzQ4LDM6MzQxLDM6MTA5NzYsMzoxMTA1NywzOjM0MCwzOjEwMDEyLDM6MzAwMzksMzozMjIsLTM6MTA5NTcsLTM6MTAzMDYsLTE6MTEwOTMsLTM6MTExMjE=
I decided to go with Alpods suggestion for its official name:
as the one I came up with may be a bit inappropriate: Abort…Cus you know…dying unbirth…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7lxL9LVO00
Built on the same shell as my Red Tide Maev deck I strongly considered just mixing them together as one deck. In fact it is only a six card difference so you could easily combine them if you have access to a side deck, but this ones favorite trick can really drastically alter how you play the deck so I decided to give it its own separate write up.
This deck features Abhorent Unbirth and Saberspine Tiger as a way to pull a massive out of hand burst off. For those that don’t know how Abhorrent Unbirth works, it destroys all minions on your field, and summons one giant abomination with all the combined stats of the destroyed creatures as well as their keywords, but you need to make sure you get rush on him or its just to risky to play, and in this decks case our rush source comes from tiger. Sadly it only includes key words that always do the same thing, so no fancy dying wish abominations.
The reason I am running Unbirth along side dying wish is at its core its still just the double ramp dying wish engine favoring cheap midrange dying wish units so you can constantly drop a couple threats a turn without falling into the traditional ramp trap of if the big card you pushed out gets answered you struggle. And thanks to the fact that you throw out two or three decent sized threats nearly every turn means your eventually going to get a decent board to stick to use with unbirth, or just kill them long before the combo. And if your lucky you may even have zero cost units to throw down on your Unbirth turn.
Chakram is also amazing here again your rarely without board, it’s good with tiger, tombstones, reaper, and it’s great with unbirth. Oh btw yea the abomination steals temporary buffs like Chakram, and then Chakram buffs him again after he is done forming.
How I play is digging hard for ramp for your opening play or turn two, combo tends to get replaced this early as seven mana is the earliest you will use it plus it’s a back up plan not the main focus, although certain match ups its a higher priority, and I do tend to hold onto it a couple turns in if it looks feasible. I rarely play more then two Ramp cards unless I have been blessed with excess Deso/Nekoma, and finding at least one deso/Nekoma is a high priority at all times.
Its a scary deck complete with crazy a mounts of tempo, card advantage, ping, healing, and between Chakram and Gnasher you are covered on AOE. While the Unbirth tricks are not great for every match up its really nice to have the option, and while you may sometimes miss the tech spots the combo fills up the ability to win games out of no were on seven mana is quite worth it.
Alcuin Xor: Highly Competitive
Summary
http://www.bagoum.com/deckbuilder#MTozNTUsMzoyMDA1OSwzOjIwMjI2LDM6MTkwNTAsMzoxMTA4OCwzOjIwMDQ5LDM6MzI2LDM6MjAyMDAsMzoxMDMwNCwzOjIwMDU3LDM6MTkwNDUsMzoxMTA1NywyOjExMTQ0LDM6MzE4LDE6MzU3
Underlord Xor is such a neat card, when it was spoiled I was certainly hyped. Before the most recent patch it was really tough to get it out at a reasonable speed. But with Drain buffed, Gor returning to us, and the neat synergy of the alcuins and darkfire this deck can really push out Xor at lightning fast speeds. Mix multiplying Sarlacs and unkillable shadowdancers together and you have something pretty deadly.
Aside from gor the deck is also pulling out another largely forgotten shimzar card, Inkhorn Gaze. A card that was never bad, but just never really made the cut. Its really good here because not only is it removal in a pinch that maintains our card advantage, but it can also just be used to hit a sarlac/gor to progress your trial.
This list really focuses on getting xor out fast boasting an impressive 12 sacrifice cards on top of maevs BBS which can be spammed with crypto, and of course the sacrifice effects are multiplied even further by the Alcuin brothers. Combine that with a powerful control suite, a good chunk of healing, and quick xors and the deck is actualy pretty good at closing the game out.
Azure Shaman is the real back bone of most Maev decks due to how it works with her BBs. Not only will it buffs things it dies around but it will also buff the newly created husk for a staggering 4/8 for the cost of three mana, and in a pinch you can use your other sacrifice effects on azure as well.
Sarlac and or Gor tend to be fairly high priority finds as with out them you tend to run out of sacrifice targets. In general remember that your a xor focused deck so digging for sacrifice cards is usually worthwhile. Learn your matchups for when to dig for removal, aoe, and or healing and you will stand a decent chance vs most decks.
Tempo Dying Maev: Highly Competitive
Summary
Win Fast
http://www.bagoum.com/deckbuilder#MTozNTUsMzoxOTA1MCwzOjM1OSwzOjExMDg4LDM6MjAwNDksMzoxMDAyMCwzOjIwMTk5LDM6MTExNDYsMzoxMDk4MiwzOjM0MSwzOjEwOTc2LDM6MTEwNTcsMzozNDAsMzozMDAzOQ==
Infinite Gas
https://www.bagoum.com/deckbuilder#MTozNTUsMzoyMDA1MiwzOjEwOTkzLDM6MTkwNTAsMzozNTksMzoyMDE2NiwzOjIwMDQ5LDM6MjAxOTksMzoxMDk4MiwzOjM0OCwzOjM0MSwzOjExMDU3LDM6MzQwLDM6MjAxNTQ=
The first version is a strong Variant of my Red Tide Maev that focuses on aggression. I am not a fan of aggro decks as they are more easily countered then just raw tempo, and while I certainly prefer my more midrange version, this ones extreme pressure and aggression is certainly a force to be reckoned with. But if you do not find your ramp early and or your opponent is prepared for an aggro match up you are going to struggle.
The second version is the more contemporary build for Dying Wish Maev focusing on the midgame while sporting an excess of draw so you can ramp as much as you want, and should the late game happen Rite will fill your hand up with zero to low cost cards. Consuming rebirth can accelerate your clock when used on Carrion and is pretty nifty on most of our dying wish units giving you another good way to proc our powerful effects aside from Maevs BBs. It is a deck that relies on highrolling, featuring Aether Master to further increase early ramp consistency, and man can it highroll. Even without highrolls it just never runs out of gas.
Unfortunately when you do not draw your ramp cards early both the decks have a very poor curve and end up not being aggressive enough to really pressure early and or ends up with an overfull hand without enough mana to make good use of it. When the decks are winning there is very little that can be done to stop them, but when they are not they are pretty average.
The extreme highrolly potential certainly earns them a highly competitive rating as they can easily steal games and push you far on the ladder, but I do not think they are nearly reliable enough for an S rating.
Unbirth Xor: Highly Competitive/Gimmicky
Summary
Highly Competitive
https://www.bagoum.com/deckbuilder#MTozNTUsMzoyMDA1OSwzOjIwMjI2LDM6MTEwODQsMzoxMTA4OCwzOjIwMDQ5LDM6MzI2LDM6MjAzNDgsMzoxMDMwNCwzOjIwMDU3LDM6MTkwNDUsMjoxMDAxMiwzOjExMTQ0LDM6MTExMTIsMTozNTc=
Highly Competitive/Gimmicky
http://www.bagoum.com/deckbuilder#MTozNTUsMzoyMDIyNiwzOjE5MDUwLDM6MTEwODgsMzoyMDA0OSwzOjExMTIzLDM6MzUxLDM6MTExMjYsMzoyMDM0OCwzOjIwMDU3LDM6MTkwNDUsMjozNDEsMzoxMDAxMiwzOjMwMDM5LDE6MzU3
Highly Competitive/Gimmicky
https://www.bagoum.com/deckbuilder#MTozNTUsMzoyMDA1OSwzOjIwMjI2LDM6MTkwNTAsMzoxMTA4OCwzOjIwMDQ5LDM6MzI2LDM6MjAzNDgsMzoyMDI1NywzOjIwMDU3LDM6MTkwNDUsMzozMDAwMiwyOjEwOTYxLDM6MTExMTIsMTozNTc=
Another few Xor decks that have some nifty tricks by combining rush with either unbirth, xor, grimwar, or chakram.
The first version makes some minor changes to the go to alcuin package in order to fit our two rush units and unbirth. Likely the most stable of the bunch, it also has been refined enough to step away from the gimmick tag.
The second version goes all in on the rush plan sporting both tiger and metaltooth as the cheapest rush units available with just enough spare mechs to make tooth reliable.
The third version opts for Grimwar and a pretty different supporting package. While it still can pull off Rush/Unbirth Combos with Letigress it is instead more focused on trying to win with Grimwar by blowing up its own field with either Unbirth or Blood Echos and then punching with GrimWar. Shoutout to @zerounderscoreou as he heavily inspired the list.
Abhorent Unbirth mixed with rush gives you a way to pull a massive out of hand burst off. For those that don’t know how Abhorrent Unbirth works, it destroys all minions on your field, and summons one giant abomination with all the combined stats of the destroyed creatures as well as their keywords. And yes it steals temporary buffs like Chakram, and then Chakram buffs him again after he is done forming. Sadly it only includes key words that always do the same thing, so no fancy dying wish abominations.
If you do manage to complete the trial rush units with two or less health can get real silly real fast giving you the potential to just run them into the enemy general over and over until they are dead and or clear the field. Unfortunately as neat as this is both bad spawn locations and the turn timer can really screw you out of getting the most out of your rush units.
In normal Unbirth decks you tend to want to avoid using unbirth unless you can mix it with rush and a decent field, but here it also progresses our trial for us. Just slamming down a decent sized body made out of Sarlacs and husks is nothing to sneer at.
Mix all that with various maev/trial staples and you have a decent deck. Unfortunately its a bit slow, trying to get a field to stick and assemble a multi part combo is tough, and the unreliable nature of Rush spawns post Xor keeps this deck from being consistent enough to be more then a gimmick.
ReliQ: Combo, Competitive/Gimmicky
Summary
https://www.bagoum.com/deckbuilder#MTozNTUsMzoxOTA1MiwzOjExMDE2LDM6MTA5OTMsMzoxMTA4NCwzOjE5MDUwLDM6MTAwMjAsMzozNjMsMzoxMDk4MSwzOjExMTI2LDM6MTA5NTcsMzoxMTEzMiwzOjMyOSwzOjExMTM2
This deck packs a lot of healing and utility two drops, stuff maev likes to run anyways. But in this deck we go a little overboard and have almost nothing but two drops complete with cycle and extra replaces.
The deck has one major goal, and that is to play Q on six mana, stabilize on seven, and then string together back to back Arcane Devouerers into Reliquarian combos which assuming you were replacing correctly after Q should be 100% chance of drawing after Q deletes most of your deck for you. You tend to replace and dig for Q, and you usually toss away the other combo parts since Q makes them easy to draw, although if your around five mana plus you tend to hold onto them so as to make drawing them even more consistent after Q, or just incase you cant find a Q.
For those that don’t know how Reliquarians effect works, it sacrifices an abyssian faction unit to create an artifact with an attack bonus equal to the sacrificed units attack, and when you attack a minion with it you steal health equal to the attack bonus. So if you sacrifice an arcane devouerer you get a whopping eight bonus to attack so you can do ten damage face, or if you hit a minion you get a sixteen health swing. Due note that if you sacrifice a neutral minion you only get the attack buff and no lifesteal affect, and if you somehow have a different faction unit in your control it has a unique effect depending on the faction. But for the most part you really only want to be sacrificing arcane devouerer.
While extremely consistent and devastating when successful the fact sadly remains that having a weak midgame and not going off until eight mana leaves it as little more than a gimmick in this powerhouse of a meta.