All three decks have one central theme between them, that being fault on six followed up by a zero cost Pantheran. Rae is the usual go to for Fault decks, but between thunderhorn, Revenant, and the like, Rae is a bit of a liability while also being a pretty dead card outside of the combo. Where as Pantheran is decent at any time, even if he is just played on curve rather then cheated in.
Longwinded explanation for the decks
Unearthed prophecy made this deck feasible thanks to Duskweaver, which is a dervish btw, who gave the deck a massive consistency spike, and Fault which gives additional motivation to play panther.
I have always liked Pantheran, but I feared the decks would be really bad. I wasn’t wrong, I went through dozens variations of panther decks, most of which were really bad, but after much testing I finally got a couple to start performing really well.
Having all the wishes lets you turn any minion into a formidable early game threat that baits removal and dispel buying you time and clearing the way for your late game threats. And if your against a slower control deck that does actually have enough removal to answer all that, Fault gives those kinds of decks a really hard time.
Between its medium curve, Duskweaver, First wish, occasionally being able to win really quick, and the fact, that once fault hits, your hand barely matters, the decks don’t have an issue with card advantage. Third wish, rasha, and blood of air ensure you have an ample amount of ways to deal with back-line threats.
Between rasha, dusk, blood, and Zirixs BBs getting third wish off is not difficult, although you usually want to use it just when you have the mana and a target rather then saving it for a surprise, that way you make sure you can get it off early for panther, rather then it sitting around as a dead card. If fault is no where to be found its ok to just throw down free panthers if you think you need to, but you usually want to try and save at least one panther to combo with fault. On the flipside if your against a quicker deck and or it just doesn’t look like your going to be able to pull off the combo feel free to replace fault early on and go ham with panther. Even when you dont find either the decks can just sustain and tempo its way through most match ups. Other then the previously mentioned tech cards you tend to dig for healing vs songhai and cass, removal vs lyonar, and rasha vs Reva or if you suspect titan, or phantasm.
I wish I could fly. Compeitive/Gimicky
http://www.bagoum.com/deckbuilder#MToyMDEsMzoyMDI4NiwzOjEwMDAxLDM6MjAwOTUsMzoxMTA4NCwzOjI0MSwyOjIwMDk5LDM6MjAwOTYsMzoyMjYsMzoyMDA5NywzOjExMDM1LDM6MjAyNTQsMToyMDI5OSwyOjIwMjYyLDM6MjMzLDE6MTEwOTM=
Couple funny replays where I highroll all three combos:
https://play.duelyst.com/replay?replayId=-KvmrXRdkkfRyLDpNU7C
https://play.duelyst.com/replay?replayId=-Kvn8I51f7-8BV800DUT
https://play.duelyst.com/replay?replayId=-KvnJOZ5PP7sUeTzgKjq
This is the highroll deck, its hard to argue with the raw power that Azure summoning adds to decks and dragon lark costing either one or zero adds another great early fault tool. Azure also helps a ton by thinning the deck out making the rest of your combos more consistent and making running one ofs for tech practical, and flying units are great buff targets even outside of the Azure combo.
Unlike normal flying vet this one almost always opts to try the combo as early as possible even though a good portion of the time you only end up with a couple units, but this is fine as it thins your deck out so you can find a fault combo easier and helps you get a dragon lark in hand to use with said fault if you cant get the panther engine online, while forcing your opponent to answer your field.
Due to the extra reach flying minions add I cut one of the rashas to make room, and I fit azure herald since aggro is our worst match up when we dont highroll early azure. Its certainly a strong deck, the Meta has heavily adapted to deal with Azure Vet but its really hard to deal with azure and fault, much less occasional high roll panthers who are even decent played on curve.
Its a very powerful deck, I played it and the good cat version a lot on my way from diamond to S but as often as it can highroll, its low rolls can be pretty rough especially since it just does not have a lot of room for tech to help with the harder match ups.
Good Cat Competitive
http://www.bagoum.com/deckbuilder#MToyMDEsMzoyMDA5NSwzOjExMDg0LDM6MjQxLDM6MTA5ODEsMzoyMDA5OSwzOjIwMDk2LDM6MjI2LDM6MjAwOTcsMzoyMDI1NCwyOjIwMjk5LDM6MjIwLDI6MjAyNjIsMzoyMzMsMjoxMTA5Mw==
This is the last of quite a few variations of the deck I made, and it was the one I expected to be the least competitive, but it surprised me with how high its win rate was in Diamond. While Panther is an inherently gimmicky card this deck really brings out its strength resulting in a surprisingly effective deck resulting in a consistently good deck.
Instead of trying to cram in another archtype I just filled the deck with good stuff and tech leaving it well prepared to deal with aggro, having mirage to help vs magmar and abyss, and emp to help with walls, structures, titan, artifacts, and mechazor.
It may not be top tier but it can certainly compete with the best of them and it is tons of fun.
Pervish Gimicky/Compeitive
http://www.bagoum.com/deckbuilder#MToyMDEsMzoyMDA5NSwzOjIxMSwzOjI0MSwzOjIwMDk5LDM6MjAwOTYsMzoyMjYsMzoyMTUsMzoyMTAsMzoyMDA5NywzOjIwMjU0LDI6MjAxMDUsMjoyMDI5OSwyOjIwMjYyLDM6MjMz
Panther+Dervish=Pervish.
Since were running third wish I figured I would try out its classic partner in crime, Sandhowler. At that point I figured I may as well just make it dervish focused. Sandhowler+buffs in this dispel light meta is super strong. We get a ton of value out of Fireblaze which also makes starsfury extra potent. Stars is decent tech as it helps vs walls, azure vet, and swarm. Rest is vet staples. Its
Its a strong deck but it struggles with aggro so its ultimately just a gimmick. Perhaps I could rework it to be less dervish focused and just include the Sandhowler, but for now I am keeping it as is since it has some pretty tight synergy.
I have made it to S rank for many seasons now, with frequent top 50s when I have the time to play competitively and occasional top tens. Since I have not had time to start streaming like I want, I figured I would just share some of my stuff each week and get my name out there so the community knows me a little better for when I do eventually get around to it. You can check out the rest of my stuff here: